Tasco Rifle Scopes

[silvertip-co]

I have had a lot of Tascos over the years, clear back to 1971 when I was a gun dealer in NCPA and never really had a bad one. Oh I had some that was better than others, and some that was worse than others(never as bad as a Simmons) . The one on my wifes Rem 700ADL 243 is a Tasco Gold (not golden antler) made in Japan ( 80's) and is every bit as high quality as the Redfield Widefield TV view that is it a clone of (sorry about the preposition). And last week I ordered a new Tasco 3-9x40 mildot thru WallyWorld online cause I wanted a mildot 10x or under without paying a Leupy type price. I put it on my 7mm rem mag and it works great. Bushnell owns Tasco now and has for a year or so, so I anticipate their quality will be at least Bushnell Trophy mfg std or above( I'm all about manufacturing) . None of that has to do with what I saw yesterday on the History Channel...

They were re-creating the Carlos Hathcock shot where he shoots the slope sniper thru the scope at 300 yrds and takes him out. They had an M40A3 set up at only 30 yrds from a gel dummy with a Tasco in front of him to imitate the enemy sniper. At 30 yrds with a 308 ( 7.62x51 ) and Lake CIty Match 172gr SMK ammo (std mil match/sniper ammo) the bullet did not penetrate the Tasco on shot one. Or on shot two. Or on shot three. So after using up their 3 Tasco (el cheepo Silver Antler) scopes, they put a Russian 'PU' scope on the bracket and of course it shot right thru the scope and hit mr gel'dummie in the head and passed thru.

At that point and after a few loud WTHs??? ( I was alone as usual) I wondered how many $750+.00 scopes could stand up to what them three cheapy Tascos did. Hmmm...

 

[MNbogboy]

The Tasco name has really been tarnished since they started building them under the Tasco name in China....I have only had one, an 80s model from Japan 3x9x50 World Class....Back in the day the $80 (about three days pay back then) price tag was considered a mid price range scope and worth every penny....The Japanese optics quality were very comparable to German glass...At least mine was and still is....The internals of mine too are every good as scopes that cost 5 or 6 times that price today....The clicks are clean and crisp and track beautifully up and down....with a click value of very close to 1/4" at 100 yards....My last test put it at about a .265 average which is just a tad over 1/4 MOA......Its biggest downfall is the lack of parallax adjustment...That is why it doesn't sit on top of my long range rigs, however I still use it on one of my carry rifles but keep it at a 450 yard limit.....It has sat on top of two of my 25-06s and now it is perched on my grandsons .243....Back in the day I had the turret marked at 250, 300, 350 and 400 yards....It works perfect as a poor man's "Tactical" because it tracks so well and always returns to zero...Last year in MN it sat on one of my Savage 25-06s...spotted a buck across a clear cut ranged a tree right behind him at 304 set the turret at the 300 yard mark and it was lights out....i may have very well missed an antelope at 368 last year in WY but I couldn't find it..I am pretty sure I did hit it though because I saw him slump in the scope at recoil...Some guy in a future thread may want to embellish a little in his account of this but if thats what he thinks so be it...I don't give a rats behind....The same guy called me an SOB for getting sick on my hunt and leaving him all alone in the "wilderness"....I don't care what he calls me but he owes my mother an apology.....The other three shots he talks about hit my 13"(not ten) antelope exactly where I aimed...one in front of the right front leg which ended up in the left rear ham (more quartering than I thought) and the other two were two inches apart at the top of the neck....This was all I could see as I was trying to dispatch him quickly (antelope can be very tough if not killed right away as most of you know...He had invited himself to hunt with me and I didn't think it through (I couldn't believe anybody with have as self rightous as him)...A man should not resort to lying because he is such a spoiled sport and is not open to critcism....He vowed never to talk to me again but he obviously can't even keep his own word....My guess is he joined this forum because he knew I was a member and waited for a reason to attack me...Guess what I don't really care because his other posts and arguements in this forum have shown a lot of others what kind of person he really is.

The scope has been tough too taking several spills over the years, without even requiring re-adjustment....No wonder there has been reports of guys paying $300 bucks for these old Tascos on Ebay.....

I hope that Bushnell can turn them around and get the quality and reputation back in the Tasco name....I have a pair of Bushnell Legend ED binoculars...they actually "suck" the deer out of the woodwork...Unbelievable quality and clarity...
I recently picked up a Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24 rifle scope which so far again has proven to be great (advertised click value seems to be about 20% long, but I can live with that).....I have two Bushnell range finders a 450 and 1200....both are good and seems you get what you pay for with range finders.....The 1200 will pick up more distance than I will probably ever shoot.....

I am glad there are others out there that will defend the "old Tasco name like I do"......BTW that old Tasco of mine has seen well over 100 whitetails fall, almost as many or more than all the other scopes that I have had combined....

 

[Topgun 30-06]

MNBOGBOY: "Back in the day I had the turret marked at 250, 300, 350 and 400 yards....It works perfect as a poor man's "Tactical" because it tracks so well and always returns to zero...Last year in MN it sat on one of my Savage 25-06s...spotted a buck across a clear cut ranged a tree right behind him at 304 set the turret at the 300 yard mark and it was lights out"


Hey Randy---Tell us how many antelope fell to that Savage 25-06 with the old Tasco and all those big black Magic Marker marks last year on the elevation turret in Wyoming unit 27, LOL!!! Zippo!!! Nada!!! Zilch!!! Four misses, but it was all the fault of your partner, LOL! Oh, and then there was the other 25-06 with the Mueller on it that took three shots, one in the ***, at 200 yards on that 10" goat, but I forgot that was because of those crummy old Berger bullets you were using, LOL! Oh, and how about that range finder that you were using that you said was a *** on another website and that it wouldn't range decent past 300 yards, but you were using that last year in 27 too!!! PS: I owed you one big time fella and finally got to use it!!! I knew sooner or later you'd shoot your mouth off on here about that scope, LOL!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Awful quiet on this thread, LOL!

 

[Trickymissfit]

I have had a lot of Tascos over the years, clear back to 1971 when I was a gun dealer in NCPA and never really had a bad one. Oh I had some that was better than others, and some that was worse than others(never as bad as a Simmons) . The one on my wifes Rem 700ADL 243 is a Tasco Gold (not golden antler) made in Japan ( 80's) and is every bit as high quality as the Redfield Widefield TV view that is it a clone of (sorry about the preposition). And last week I ordered a new Tasco 3-9x40 mildot thru WallyWorld online cause I wanted a mildot 10x or under without paying a Leupy type price. I put it on my 7mm rem mag and it works great. Bushnell owns Tasco now and has for a year or so, so I anticipate their quality will be at least Bushnell Trophy mfg std or above( I'm all about manufacturing) . None of that has to do with what I saw yesterday on the History Channel...

They were re-creating the Carlos Hathcock shot where he shoots the slope sniper thru the scope at 300 yrds and takes him out. They had an M40A3 set up at only 30 yrds from a gel dummy with a Tasco in front of him to imitate the enemy sniper. At 30 yrds with a 308 ( 7.62x51 ) and Lake CIty Match 172gr SMK ammo (std mil match/sniper ammo) the bullet did not penetrate the Tasco on shot one. Or on shot two. Or on shot three. So after using up their 3 Tasco (el cheepo Silver Antler) scopes, they put a Russian 'PU' scope on the bracket and of course it shot right thru the scope and hit mr gel'dummie in the head and passed thru.

At that point and after a few loud WTHs??? ( I was alone as usual) I wondered how many $750+.00 scopes could stand up to what them three cheapy Tascos did. Hmmm...

a long time ago I had a Burris 8x-32x Signature scope on a 6mm Remingtion. It was a constant fight with mirage and image shift when zooming it up and down. The eye relief was also a pure pain, and just never could ever find a good combo. But the most glaring problem was backlash in the turrets. Lots and lots of backlash! Sent it back to Burris with a long note (actually the dealer sent it back) and a phone call. The scope came back about six weeks later in the exact same condition! Dealer sends it back with a stinging note plus another three or four bad scopes. They didn't even take the scope out of the box! Just returned it as fixed. While this was going on I needed a scope for a hunt, and the dealer had just gotten in a Tasco World Class + 8x-32x. Looked like a Leupold MK.IV! We mounted it, and off to the range I went. Half to one third of the mirage that the Burris had, and probably about 1/10th the backlash in the turrets. Eye relief was better, but still could have been longer. I liked the scope so well I bought a second one, and asked the dealer to see if they made a strait 24x. They did, and I bought one. Wasn't bad, but I liked the other two better. A little later my brother and I are at the range punching paper. He's a Leupold guy 100%, and he shot a few rounds thru a rifle that had one of the 32x Tascos on it. He thought it was a MK. IV scope! Looking back I think Tasco missed the boat by not doing a 4x-16x and a 6x-24x off that same tube.
gary

 

[jakebrake]

Funny I was just talking about Tasco to a friend today.Just out of the Marines and didnt have much money.I bought a Savage model 110 I put a Tasco fixed 4 power on it.All my friends had pretty Brownings.But they couldnt touch my Savage and Tasco for accurcy.That was in the late 80s.I think I payed 20 bucks for that Tasco and never had a problem and it was mounted on a 30/06.Ya now I have bought a few of them pretty Brownings and none was 1/2 as good as that 230.00 Savage.I got rid of them and would never own another.But I would try another Tasco