Long Range Air Rifle Scope

[Kevin]

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone has used the Bushnell Sportsman 3-9 x 32 with the target turrets. I am looking for a cheap air rife scope that I can dial in elevation with. Any other suggestions, up to $200 ish retail if fine.

[esshup]

If you can find one, get a Simmons 44mag AO 6.5-20 with TT's.

[ol mike]

Look at the LEAPERS brand -pyramid air sells them.

I have one and a friend had two - the 3x12 w/side focus is unbelievably clear and rugged.
Only buy the top of the line models -not the gold-star level.

[Kevin]

ol mike, how much elevation adjustment is in that leapers scope?

[squirrelduster]

I agree with Mike I have one on my Beeman R1 and it is great.
It is the 3x9 with mildot. It was around 50 bucks. I have not had any problems with it drifting and the gophers in my yard are scared.

[Kevin]

Thanks for the advise. I just wanted to give a little update and feedback on what I purchased. I bought a LEAPERS 3-9 x 44 OPTICS Crazy good value for the scope!

I would say the optics were inline with what I expected. They didn't blow me away but I wasn't disappointed either.

Illuminated reticle was surprisingly good.

138 inches of elevation adjustment in the scope!! And it was very repeatable. Knobs didn't have any reference as to how many turns off bottom it was, so that was a bummer.

One downfall was that the focus knob had quite a bit of play in it, but it did work, and yardages did correspond to how it was marked as long as it was dialed from a longer to close range focus.

Overall I was impressed and it has proved to be durable so far. I have shot with it for over 1000 rounds now.

[FAL Shot]

Nick Jenkinson, a UK air rifle champion, designed the Hawke SR6 and SR12 special reticles for air rifles and subsonic rimfires. You can use them for any type of rifle and the free Hawke software lets you dial in your scope reticle without a lot of wasted ammo.

I found my SR6 reticle worked perfectly with my BSA Lonestar .25 cal and Baracuda pellets when zeroed at 50 yards and JSB Exact pellet when zeroed at 60 yards. Each slash in the Christmas Tree downward from crosshairs represented an increase of 10 yards almost perfectly. This is at 6X power, but a slower or faster bullet would work if you changed the power accordingly. Use lower power for slower bullets and higher power for faster bullets. The SR 12 reticle works best around 12X, so it is for target/varmint work. For general hunting, especially night hunting, the SR6 reticle is best.

I got my Hawke 3-12x50 scope on sale from E. Arthur Brown Co. for under $200. It has red illuminated reticle that works MUCH better than the cheap Leapers scopes. I gave away my Leapers scope, it was so aggravating.

You are ahead of the game if you use a scope with a reticle designed for an air rifle. The common firearm ballistic reticles don't have enough aiming points. Also, adjustable parallax is an absolute must for accurate air rifle work.

The Hawke scope also has a ranging device that is useful on prairie dogs. It's faster than using a laser rangefinder, and with average sized prairie dogs quite accurate. I use the laser RF to find the true distance, than note where the PD fits in the scale of the scope rangefinder. After a while you don't need the laser RF out to 100 yards if a PD is out of his hole. If making head shots, then I use the laser RF. Vertical drop is critical on head shots, but not on standing PD's. Wind is a far greater problem with standing PD's at distance.

Hawke scopes work great on air rifles because air rifles are a big deal in the UK and Hawke is a UK company. None of our scope companies care diddly squat about air rifles, you will not find a single air rifle reticle in the Burris or Leupold line. The best you can do is the mil-dot or standard ballistic reticle.

Twiddling knobs is too slow for air rifle work, and there is much more holdover in air rifles than in firearms. You will be twidding the elevation knob for many more turns than if you used a faster firearm. Get a proper air rifle ballistic reticle and you are way ahead of the game if hunting. Target knobs work best in target work, not in the hunting field where fast response is needed.