Will a rifle scope handle the recoil found with BP?

[Len Backus]

My son is ready to move on to a scope after failing to recover 2 deer he shot last week using open sights.

Somewhere I seem to have read something about high recoil damaging rifle scopes. Is a scope made especially for BP needed?

 

[7mmSendaro]

Len,

I have used everything from Leupold VXII, Nikon Prostaff, and a variey of cheap Bushnells with no problems over the past 10 years of muzzleloader hunting. I have used them on CVA, Encore, and Austin&Halleck. IMO any good scope will hold up fine.

Brian

 

[Len Backus]

Thanks, I think I'll just put my old 3-9 power Leupold Vari-XIII on it.

 

[J E Custom]

len

The ones to watch out for are the high velocity air rifles.

I know it sounds funny but they have recoil in both directions
and rifle scopes are made for one direction and do not hold
up well.

BP rifles have a slower recoil velocity so they are easy on
rifle scopes except around the primer.

If exposed to these gases they will corrode the scope if not
cared for .

I hope this helps
J E CUSTOM

 

[bwaites]

I'm not a BP guy, but I also understand that BP scopes have a longer eye relief than is typical of rifle scopes.

I know my Nikon is about 3.25 inches, while many BP scopes are 5" or so.

Air rifles are hard on scopes, because they have recoil back from the air discharge, and forward from the air piston.

Bill

 

[urbaneruralite]

Nope. There's plenty of BP package guns out there with cheap scopes that hold zero fine. I've got a China Pentax on mine. When I'm dumb enough to put the whole 150 grains in there, it holds zero just like it does the rest of the time.

The only time I've had a problem with recoil damaging a scope on a centerfire was a semi-auto slug gun. I think that was due to the bolt slamming back.

 

[Len Backus]

Thanks, guys.

My scope is probably over 10 years old but I see that today's models of this one have 4.6 inches of eye relief at the lowest power. (Only 3.6 inches at the highest power)

For Andy's use, he would never use any power greater than 3.5X so it should work just fine.

I will stress to him that you need to clean the powder and primer gunk off the scope or it will quickly corrode.

On that subject, the owner of the company that makes the no-clean powder (American Pioneer) lives not far from me gave me a bunch to try. Anyone use it?

 

[Varmint Hunter]

As a precaution, it's not a bad idea to wrap some black electrical tape around the scope where any blowback occurs. I started doing this AFTER I burned away a little bit of the bluing on a vintage 2x7 Redfield. The rifle was a Knight.

Not sure but ML scopes may have the parallax set at a shorter distance than regular scopes. At ML distance I can't see how it would make much difference anyway.

 

[ATH]

What muzzleloader is he shooting?

No, a centerfire scope is fine. My 300WM kicks a lot more than my T/C Omega, no reason a scope good for the former wouldn't hold up to the latter. Loaded to 110gr I would say it kicks a bit harder than a .308.

I've shot $200 scopes on my MLs for years, they hold up pretty well. Finally killed a cheap $100 Chinese scope after 4 years of rough use.

Most of the newer MLs have minimal blowback. For instance the Omega and Encore have essentially zero that escapes the action, I never see any on my scope.

I cut my teeth on iron sights and recently bought another ML so I can go back to them for closer-range hunting. I think they're a great way to master the fundamentals of marksmanship. While you obviously don't want to lose deer, I'd encourage him to work on his skills in that area. A scope isn't necessarily going to be an easy fix.

 

[RMulhern]

BP and scopes!

Recoil from BP is a lot less violent that that of smokeless powder!! It's just a BIG SHOVE!!

 

[zuba]

He should check the regulations real good too! I think I remember reading that you have to use a 1x scope in wisconsin. That was a few years ago but better safe...

 

[Len Backus]

You are correct as to Wisconsin but that only applies to the right to hunt during the BP ONLY season, not the regular season.

 

[James H]

Thanks, guys.
On that subject, the owner of the company that makes the no-clean powder (American Pioneer) lives not far from me gave me a bunch to try. Anyone use it?

Len
I have not used it but would appreciate a report on what you find.
James

 

[Len Backus]

James, sorry, Andy shoots that gun and hasn't tried it yet. Maybe I can get him to try it this summer.