[JHawk]

I presently have both old eyes and a Burris Landmark 15X-45X-60mm spotting scope. Fine at 100 and 200 yards.......

I am starting to use my clubs 500 yard range. In looking to upgrade my equipment it seems the following scopes would meet my needs and budget - although pricey I am wanting to keep it under $1,250. I have looked through a Kowa at a match and it was crystal clear. Looking for your thoughts/suggestions. Thanks.

- Leupold Gold Ring 12- 40X60 HD Spotting Scope -$1,200

- Kowa TSN 82SV 82M angled Spotting Scope with a 20-60X eyepiece - $1,000

 

[Bamban]

Go to the bird watchers forums and look up their evals on spotting scopes. Those guys are critical on the spotting scopes that double for their digiscoping. The Pentax in the same price range and feature gets excellent reviews. I don't own either what you mentioned nor the Pentax, I have other brands, but if I were buying one I'll give the Pentax a serious look. A fellow shooter who did not want to spend the $ on German optics bought the Pentax. They are impressive for the price, they are above the Kowas.

 

[Bimmer]

Looking for your thoughts/suggestions. Thanks.

- Leupold Gold Ring 12- 40X60 HD Spotting Scope -$1,200

Since you asked... three thoughts:

1. I don't think that 40x (the Leupold) is going to be enough at 500yds.

I assume that you're going to be looking for .30" holes, and I have a hard time doing that with my 20-60x Konus at 300yds (I can see holes in the white, but not in the black).


2. AFAIK, at longer ranges conditions impact visibility more than the quality of the scope, i.e., mirage and shadow are a bigger problems than cheap glass.


3. Don't forget to budget for a decent stand or tripod. In my limited experience, the stand/tripod jiggling was the biggest problem.

A decent scope stand is $200+, and a nice tripod is probably as much.

 

[JHawk]

Since you asked... three thoughts:

1. I don't think that 40x (the Leupold) is going to be enough at 500yds.

I assume that you're going to be looking for .30" holes, and I have a hard time doing that with my 20-60x Konus at 300yds (I can see holes in the white, but not in the black).


2. AFAIK, at longer ranges conditions impact visibility more than the quality of the scope, i.e., mirage and shadow are a bigger problems than cheap glass.


3. Don't forget to budget for a decent stand or tripod. In my limited experience, the stand/tripod jiggling was the biggest problem.

A decent scope stand is $200+, and a nice tripod is probably as much.

Good comments. I was thinking that the 40X might be marginal at 500 yards. I understand what you are saying about the range conditions and know it won't be a perfect solution.

I already have the scope stand picked out - a First Strike stand that is made right down the road from me here in N. Georgia.

I would love to have some Kowa users and others with optics in this price range chime in!

 

[plsmyk]

The Kowas are the standard against which all others are judged in the High Power Rifle community, so I would tend to lean towards the 82SV. I wouldn't think you'd be able to use much past 30x anyway, so you may as well get a 25xLER fixed power eyepiece. The Long Eye Relief eyepiece really helps when wearing glasses and looking through the scope. Here's a link to a thread on the National Match forum in which they discuss the 82SV:

http://www.usrifleteams.com/forums/...=0&p=163025&hl=kowa&fromsearch=1&#entry163025

You can also do some searches there and see what High Power competitors have to say.

 

[Ratguner]

+1 to plsmyk.

You are looking at mirage and the shot spotter/value marker, not .30 cal holes.

 

[MackR]

If you want a good deal on a Kowa spotting scope contact MSGT Jim Owens, USMC/RET at....

http://www.jarheadtop.com/

I bought my Kowa TSN w/27x eye piece about 10 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made with regard to a spotting scope. Top Owens will treat you right.

 

[JHawk]

MackR, I will check out Jim's Jarhead site and products - I like doing business with folks like him.

PLSMYK, I could not read the review as your link took me to the sign in page. Any way to copy it ? Thanks to all.

 

[Ezekiel]

Kowa 82SV hands down! You can switch eye pieces; 30x Wide Angle, 20-80x zoom and the one most serious shooters use is the 25 Long Eye Relief. Kowa is the most dominant scope on all shooting firing lines. It costs a lot BUT you get what you paid for AND the resale is great! You can sometimes get back 80-100% of what you paid for in the years to come if you want to sell.

I use my Kowa for bird and hawk watching too. I also can but a camera on were the eye screws in take nice pictures too. Its a great scope, get a Kowa 82SV, the best value for the Kowa series of scopes.

 

[plsmyk]

JHAWK,
I apologize...I thought the National Match Forum would let you sign in as a "Guest". There were 15 posts in the thread so I'm not sure How I could copy them. The general gist of the thread was that Jim Owens or Champions Shooters Supply has the best price, however I just checked Eagle Optics and their price seems hard to beat:

http://www.eagleoptics.com/spotting-scopes/kowa/kowa-tsn-82sv-82mm-angled-spotting-scope

http://www.eagleoptics.com/spotting...-60mm-66mm-scope-25x-long-eye-relief-eyepiece

 

[TheTinMan]

Any suggestions on a high quality, table top tripod?

I've got the Burris spotting scope the OP mentioned. The tripod that came with it is garbage.

 

[JAILDOG]

Are you going to be looking for a bullet hole or a spotter disc? If the hole have fun with anything. If a spotter you can see them fine with a 20 power. 500+ mirage will be your killer of groups and you will need to learn how to use a scope to get wind. My .02

 

[KYShooter]

Leupolds are nice but for the money, the Kowa scopes offer a LOT! As mentioned above, the Kowa's own the High-Power rifle game and for good reason - high quality optics at a fairer price.

Also, as mentioned already, you aren't going to be seeing bullet holes at 500 yards regardless of what you use unless you can eliminate mirage and keep a background on the target that is opposite color than the target. Then it is a "maybe".

I use a Swarosky (sp?) but wish I had a Kowa with 27x LER eyepiece.

 

[45.308]

What Bimmer said. It is very hard to see holes in targets past 300 unless shooting splash targets and/or conditions are perfect.

Between those two, Kowa, no question. The Loopy is known to be dark on high power. No I do not have one but when I investigated on my purchase to upgrade, that seemed to be the consciences, its dark on highest power.

I went with the Bushnell Excursion HD mildot and am very happy. I can see 308 splash holes in targets shooting in Alaska out there pretty far past 300. But, we do not have much soup to look through. I used a Bushnell Trophy for 30 years that i probably paid around $50 and could see 308 holes out to around 300 and a $150 Alpen seeing the same holes. Moral of the story, its not so much about the glass but the conditions. If I did not want a mildot ret I would still be using my $150 Alpen as it worked out to around 400 with 308 splash targets in very little to no soup of Alaska.

This is the tripod I use. There may be better but it does everything I want at a decent price and is light enough to tote in the backcountry for hunting and shooting.
http://www.precisionriflesolutions.com/apps/webstore/products/show/839281

Good luck

 

[Bimmer]

Any suggestions on a high quality, table top tripod?

I started another thread on tripods on this forum... I don't know what "high quality" means to you (how much you want to spend), but I found a Velbon DF Mini to be an ideal table-top tripod.

Specifically, I like the three-way head (not a ball head), and I like that the legs splay out almost horizontal... I used it a couple weekends ago to spot birds' nests at 60x, and it wasn't jiggly at all (except for when little kids bumped it).

They retail for $40 or so, but I found one like new on eBay for $25 shipped.

 

[vanagonjon]

I have an older KOWA TSN-1 that is a 77mm with a 25 LER eyepiece that works great. I bought it used about two years ago and use it for 200 -300 matches. Most of the other serious shooters have the newer KOWA's and nobody seems to have any issues at all with them.

John

 

[wifetrained]

Any suggestions on a high quality, table top tripod?

I've got the Burris spotting scope the OP mentioned. The tripod that came with it is garbage.

Try a Ewing's scope stand. The best I have ever used in my life. It was made by a shooter, 35 years on the Army's match team, for shooters. They come in a variety of styles, ie; high power, Palma, tactical. And they are 100% made in the USA. DI5

 

[TheTinMan]

Try a Ewing's scope stand. The best I have ever used in my life. It was made by a shooter, 35 years on the Army's match team, for shooters. They come in a variety of styles, ie; high power, Palma, tactical. And they are 100% made in the USA. DI5

Those look great. Thanks! At that price point though, I might be better off buying a better spotting scope that (hopefully) comes with a decent tripod.

 

[LemmyCaution]

Those look great. Thanks! At that price point though, I might be better off buying a better spotting scope that (hopefully) comes with a decent tripod.

In my experience, decent tripods never come with anything. There's a reason the 'free tripod included' is free.

I'm using an older Manfrotto video tripod with fluid drag two axis head for my spotter. Works well, once the sticks are leveled. A three axis head, or the newer Manfrotto tripods with the 50mm leveling ball are much easier, but a bit more expensive.