FFP Mildot Scope

[MajorSpittle]

Hi- I am currently looking at getting one of these two scopes:

Barska 4-16x50 IR Tactical Riflescope AC10774 Rifle scope FREE S&H AC10774. Barska Rifle Scopes.

or

CounterSniper Optics 4-16x Tactical Rifle Scope FREE S&H DOH332, DOH333. CounterSniper Optics Rifle Scopes.

Looking for a Scope I can use for hunting and at the range to take me out to 600 yards or so. It will be mounted on a Tikka T3 Lite 30-06. Looking for accuracy first, optical quality second.

From the looks they are both built in the same Chinesse factory so I am thinking the Barska may be built just about as good. $450 for the Counter Sniper seems kinda high for a company that you can't get crap for info on and appears to be rebadging china built optics that for all I know could be worth scrap in 5 years.

So does anyone have any experience with either of these? Can anyone recommend a similar scope for less than $400?

 

[42769vette]

reviews on either scope should be easy to find. both scopes will be wasted money.

here is one on the counter sniper
Counter Sniper scopes?????? - Sniper's Hide Forums

Mike's Counter Sniper Review! - Sniper's Hide Forums

barska

Barska SWAT - Sniper's Hide Forums

in my opinion you need to either adjust your budget or adjust your needs

 

[bruce_ventura]

Ditto here. You're asking too much for that price, unless you find a good used scope.

Let me be blunt. Counter sniper scopes are low quality in all regards - I've inspected them. The company is run by marketing BS artists. They largely make sales off of people who are ignorant and don't use the Internet.

Barska makes a few decent scopes, but also a lot of junk. it's hard to keep on top of it, so I don't bother.

Also, I wouldn't assume that two scopes are made in the same factory just because they look similar. There is a lot of copying done in China.

I recommend that you either increase your budget or back off on features and focus on basics. For long range hunting you need good mechanical and optical performance. Within your budget you could find a few decent mildot SFP variable mag scopes. Or, you could consider a fixed 10X, 16X, or 20X scope. There are several out there, even with 50 mm objectives (preferred).

I personally like Hawke Sidewinder 30 scopes. All-around good scopes for the price. Call Alicia at HighPowerOptics.com for a good price on Hawke scopes. Tell her you're a member here. I just got a Super Sniper 20X50 for a project at work. I'll post my experience with it in a few weeks. Lots of folks here like Vortex and Sightron scopes, but I think they are better suited to range work because the contrast is sub-par.

 

[submoa]

i do have a barska and it works good for me but i would not recomend them but i would recomend the vortex vipers. at about $450.00 bucks there a great value or a millet for a little cheaper both great scopes

 

[dust]

IF you want to go cheap, look for a Falcon Menace, BSA MIL/MIL, or see what happens with the Primary Arms FFP scope. All three seem to be spawned from the other.

 

[MajorSpittle]

Thanks for the feed back, and I took your advice and decided that my expectations were too high for my price range. I then started looking at the Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14X40 with Adjustable side parallax and BDC and decided to pull the trigger on one today that they had at a local store.

Well, while at the store looking at it I decided to compare it to a Redfield Revolution 4-12X40 scope with their Accu Range Reticle and a Bushnell DOA just for a sanity check to verify that Nikon was worth $320.

Well to make a long story short I walked out with the Redfield even though my heart was set on getting a scope with adjustable parallax.

Why I went with the Redfield:

thinner reticle, lighter more compact scope (going on a 6.1 lb hunting rifle), eye relief, less sensitive to eye placement (quicker handling), sight picture was more like looking through a window vs looking through a tube, seemed less sensitive to glare, better FOV, and warranty.

The things I liked better about the Nikon was:

Much better turrets and adjustments by far, side parallax really gave a superior sight picture for range type shooting but not terribly useful for deer hunting, most reviews say that the Nikon would be better for light in the evening but the Redfield seemed brighter and more crisp to me in the store/out window at trees but both were better then I am use to.

Things I learned, don't buy a scope online look at them in person. Don't get fixated on "must have" features so much you lose sight of what is important to accomplish what you will be using the scope for.

oh, and I didn't take cost into consideration at all because I was budgeted for the Nikon already, but as it turned out the Redfield was $170 out the door because all they had left was the display scope and they were closing them out for some reason to only carry the Redfield Revenge Scopes. So that was **** near half the cost of the Nikon and I feel like I ended up with the better scope. Makes me happy knowing the US is competing and winning in Manufacturing something in the China-Mart era.

Now off to shoot some 1/2" groups on a rifle that I for once don't have to worry myself to death over the scope being banged around. gun)

 

[JeffP40]

You missed the boat on the Nikon. I have three, two mil-dot and one duplex. I could not be happier with them. They track great, and I am cranking two of them a lot. the clarity is fantastic, no distortion, very clear, focus good, two have side focus, one AO. I bought all three used for $200 or less. By far my favorite scope. I don't even like looking through my two Vari-x IIs any more. I don't like the BDC monstrosity, take op too much area in the sight picture for me. Although they are not FFP, they work better than their price, even when new.

 

[MajorSpittle]

I'm probably would have liked the Nikon better on the range but it wasn't better for hunting. It was heavier, bulky, and the eye box and eye relief wasn't as well suited for hunting either.

I am coming to grips with the fact that I am not hunting Mules on the Missouri River Breaks anymore and live in Oregon. I still like accuracy and range but I'm gonna keep the rifle light and quick handling also for hunting in the Oregon Jungles.

And I also dislike the reticle, I would rather it had the BDC from the Revenge scope for ranging animals without taking your eye off the scope. I think that the Redfield Revenge will eat up the Nikon ProStaff's market share before long with that reticle and the zero set turrets.