I understand what you are saying. The devil is in the mechanicals, not the glass. I HAVE already come to believe that when it comes to chinese mechanicals, there IS ALWAYS reason to worry. But I wasn't really thinking about that part of it, as it would apply to a scope. I haven't had it long enough, or shot enough rounds using it yet, to come up with anything definitive yet. I CAN say that I don't like the reticle setup. It has too many horizontal lines, and ALL of the lines are too thick, covering up too much of the target, if it is very small, like say, a bull's eye. But for the 70 bucks that I paid for it (used), I am pretty amazed at what I got.
I also have a jap (tasco) 6-24x40 scope. But That one also has x-hairs that are too thick for my liking, as compared to my brother-in-law's leupold 6-18x(40 or 50, I forget), on his 22-250. I could have the reticle on the tasco changed to one that has very fine x-hair lines like the leupolds have, right? I do love running high power (40X) though, where you can see where your shots landed (holes in paper targets, for example) at long ranges, without the need for a spotting scope. As far as mirage goes, I haven't encountered it yet, because I bought the scope during the winter months, and it hasn't gotten hot enough yet this year. I take it that the point about that is, that the higher the magnification level that you use, the harder it is to see your target clearly through the mirage. The power CAN be turned down, when the phenomenon does present itself. But then the question becomes: Does the scope's zero drift, as the power level ring is turned? With a top-end brand, THAT issue should not need to be questioned, right?
With all of the money I've spent on other things recently, I won't be able to afford any top-end optics, at least in the near future. Would I be better off putting the tasco back on my LR rifle for now? If it turns out that the NcStar cannot hold it's zero, or something like that, I WILL go back to the tasco. I know someone that has a tasco 6-24x50mm that I think he might be willing to hook me up with, real cheap. He has already GIVEN me the sunshade off of it. But it won't fit mine, because at the time, I didn't realize that mine was only a 40mm. Should I look into picking up the 50mm tasco, or is that brand also considered to be sub-standard, for precise LR shots (even if the reticle is changed to fine-wire x-hairs)?
