Why do people chintz out on scopes?

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Hmm. Maybe we should look at this from a long-term standpoint in monetary terms, too? I'll keep it simple:

My deer rifle, from 80's to today:
Redfield 5-star (archived as a spare scope)
Tasco WC (utter crap, sold)
Bushnell Trophy (broke down)
Nikon Monarch (retired and donated to a family member)
Zeiss Conquest (on a plinker now)
Meopta (current, should've bought one to start with)

Moose rifle, from early 90's to today:
Bushnell Trophy (moved to a rimfire)
Leapers (a big mistake, couldn't even sell it, gave it to my son who hates it too)
Leupold (dependable but you can't see a thing in dark, on a lever action now)
Nikon Monarch (broke down)
Zeiss Victory (great scope, better suited to my grouse gun)
Zeiss HD (current, should've bought one to start with)

So... if I think of this as what I'd like to have in the first place, avoided all the frustration in the woods, some unexpected QC-related problems, maybe unnecessary boxes of ammo sighting them in after unexplained loss of zero and so on, the SMART thing to do would've been to stop clowning around, get one Meopta and one Zeiss to start with, and be done with it.

This is how I see it now when I look back and realize what I did earlier.
 
I have mixed feelings about Vortex. I've had two Strikefire II's crap out but my Razor HD is excellent. Probably dependent on where it was made more than anything. Their warranty is great but I'd rather buy something I can trust, rather than a great warranty. I bought a used Viper HST but it's also not made in China.


mavracer said:
There are some here calling your $400-$500 cheap junk.
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I'm not sure it's quite that extreme.


hq said:
Psychological projection. People who are well off are likely to be framed as financially irresponsible morons because so many who aren't are desperate to feel better about themselves.

In reality it's quite the opposite mindset that leads to financial independence.
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Agreed.
 
I think another factor that plays into this is how often you shoot. If I'm lucky I get to shoot once or twice a month, this year less than that by a long shot with everything going on. If I went hunting on the regular, shot every week, etc.. I'd probably invest more in optics. As it is, I doubt I'll see any of my scopes fail any time soon just based on round count. There's also the fact that the most powerful round I shoot is 308 Win, so my scopes aren't exactly seeing the worst recoil. Any rifle hunting I may do will be squirrel or coyote on a whim.

Would I love to have a $500+ scope on every rifle? You betcha. Can I afford that? Not even close. At this point I couldn't even afford it on ONE rifle especially with changing jobs at the end of the year. And before someone says I should buy less rifles and more expensive optics, I own a grand total of 5 rifles.

I don't mind being told that I'd appreciate better optics if I tried them. I'm sure I would. What rubs me the wrong way is when someone looks down their nose at me and/or insinuates I'm too stupid/poor/uninformed to really enjoy the hobby which is kind of how things come across sometimes.

Its not a thing unique to the shooting community, don't get me wrong. Years ago I was big into slow pitch softball, and guys in that community are just as into gloves, bats, etc.. I own a $250 softball glove because I decided to splurge. Can I tell it is better than my $50 one? Hell ya, and it will last longer too. With how often I play anymore though, I'll never really see the difference. Same goes for bats, though that is where you really do see more performance differences. There as well you see a point of diminishing returns though. There were guys paying $500-600 for bats, and you might get an extra 10-20 feet on your hit vs a $200-300 bat. If someone plays every weekend that may be worth it to them. As a guy who only played recreationally during the summer, though, I was content with my less expensive bat and only moderate distance home runs.
 
Get one that works. I don't care how much money you put into it or what your preference is.

Firearms are a lot like the old CB radios, where the ongoing joke between me and a friend was "CB means 'continually buying'". Classic example, put a CB radio in the car with a cheap $9 Radio Shack antenna...and can't talk to anybody once you leave the parking lot. Spend more on a better antenna and get better range. Then buy a linear amp, burn that antenna up, buy a better antenna, get more power, burn that one up, buy another antenna, move up to an actual ham radio, upgrade the alternator/battery in the car, blah, blah, blah. Next thing you know you've dumped hundreds and hundreds of dollars piecemeal into a system you can quite literally talk to someone on the opposite side of the planet, open the garage doors across the street from you, cycle touch lamps on and off in the entire neighborhood, and blanket entire sections of the town all at the same time.

I look at firearms accessories in view of that experience. Find a decent holster and pay the bucks necessary for the quality. Find decent self-defense ammo and pay the bucks required to shoot it enough to be confident in it. Get a scope that's going to do the job and handle the stresses required of it (because recoil DOES hammer more than just your shoulder).

The only scoped rifle I've ever had was my old Marlin 783 bolt action .22 WMR. I put a cheap Walmart $9 scope on it and went squirrel hunting for years with no problems. Even took a number of groundhogs out to 100 yards with no problems. These days, with my eyes, I'd go a much better scope for long range but back then that scope suited me quite well. No way would I have put that scope on something like my oldest brother's 30-06, though.

There is no substitute for quality. Which means there is no substitute for doing your homework on this, like anything else. Do you NEED to spend $1,000 on a scope just because you spent $1,000 on the rifle? No. I'm sure you can buy an excellent scope with that philosophy, but the answer to that is still "no". What you NEED is one that suits your purpose, suits your eyes, and is build solidly enough not to fall apart for a great many years (if not a lifetime).

I need to get to work every day, too. But I don't need a Vayron to accomplish that.
 
I have neighbors across the road that always seem to be broke. I had a nice rifle I was willing to sell them cheap. Way cheap, just so his boys could deer hunt. Didn’t have the money.

Guy works kinda off and on. Wife babysits one kid three days a week.

Funny. Fireworks are legal here and every 4th of July they have several thousand dollars to spend on big boomers. Goes on several nights for several hours.

Local company was hiring delivery guys to service quick marts, gas stations. It’s hard work. You have to go in early, many times work late in all kinds of weather. But, it pays about $125,000 a year. Maybe in some areas that’s not a lot, but around here that super top end money.

Naw. Not interested.

Priorities. Life’s all about choices
 
Back to the original question, I think to myself did I go through the proverbial five stages of grief.
1- Denial
2- Disbelief
3- Anger
4- Sadness
5- Finally accepting the fact my new scope cost $1200.00 .
Now I just need a covert method of receiving the package so the wife doesn't see. :uhoh:

The problem is they can smell your fear
 
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South Prairie Jim said:
Back to the original question, I think to myself did I go through the proverbial five stages of grief.
1- Denial
2- Disbelief
3- Anger
4- Sadness
5- Finally accepting the fact my new scope cost $1200.00 .
Now I just need a covert method of receiving the package so the wife dies see. :uhoh:

The problem is they can smell your fear
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I just tell mine a friend sent it to me so his wife dosent see.......
 
hq said:
A major question is also how well. Some can be so crappy that you secretly start hoping that they fail just to get an excuse to get a better one you've sworn you don't need to buy.
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Ive never experienced that....ive always just gone..."well this is awful"......"which one of my friends can i give this to"

I had a BSA and late 90s Tasco Pronghorn like that.......they did still work for what i NEEDED them to do, i just didnt like them.
 
There are deals on some very good scopes that get discontinued or have a new generation coming out. Display or Open Box scopes also. It doesn't take much looking around on the internet to find some great deals.
A couple years ago I bought an Athlon Cronus and Ares BTR scopes for 40% off regular price when they were being updated with the Gen 2 versions.
Recently, I replaced some cheap scopes on a couple 22's with Bushnell Nitro scopes. The Bushnell Nitro's were over 50% off regular price.
I also bought a new Steiner T5Xi scope for $1100 off regular price.
The deals are out there, you just have to look for them.

High end scopes can be bought used for some great prices also. I've bought Swarovski and Schmidt & Bender scopes used for close to half price, and they didn't have a scratch on them.
 
hq said:
It all seems to boil down to how much you're willing to compromise and even risk potential problems. Scopes don't last forever, not even the best ones. All of them crap on you sooner or later. Better ones just have a far better chance to stay intact and do what they're supposed to because of build quality and QC that's been put into manufacturing them.

See what kind of scopes the military uses. Would anyone think they'd substitute any of them with a $299 Black Friday special? Reliability under fire is of course a different situation but personally I'm not willing to give up or just wound game just because I cheaped out and used a scope that has to be explained as "good enough for me and what I use it for", instead of simply saying "Zeiss, Victory HT" (or equivalent) and be self-explanatory. Not a chance. Never again.

YMMV.
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It's weird. I had a Zeiss Diavari T* and it might have been the nicest thing I ever owned. But I dont have tons of field experience like some of you guys. I know a guy who has hunted all game in north America, is in the vermont record book for largest buck, etc... he is probably pushing 70 and he uses high end quality equipment, but he explicitly told me the other day he would never have another go round with Zeiss. He had two scopes from them, one of them Zeiss Victory HT that he couldnt get Zeiss to address in some fashion or another, he was not a satisfied customer. I was surprised, but it just goes to show. Nothing is infallible. My budget is such that I cant go drop a grand and not sweat it or feel like I've spent selfishly on myself.

Right now I'm trying to select a scope for between $300-$500 and trying to get the best quality I can and squeeze every oz of quality out of every penny. The only reason I can justify spending that right now is because the A bolt I just got was free and I refuse to put a $100 chinese special on a rifle like that..... feel free to suggest a scope.....
 
LoonWulf said:
Any Savage guns with the Nikon BDCs?
Ive always thought those were some of the best packages offered....still came with crap rings tho.
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Yes and my opinion is definitely shaded because I’ve never seen that well through Nikon and I hate their BDC reticle with circles instead of slashes.

I do believe Weatherby got it right. A VX-2 is definitely a cut above your everyday package rifle scope.
https://weatherby.com/store/vanguard-leupold-package/
 
DustyGmt said:
He had two scopes from them, one of them Zeiss Victory HT that he couldnt get Zeiss to address in some fashion or another, he was not a satisfied customer. I was surprised, but it just goes to show. Nothing is infallible.
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Very true, there's no such thing as perfection. Even though Zeiss HT-scopes with Schott glass are a bit of specialty products for extreme low light when light transmission is the highest priority and your description of this person sounded a lot like he hunts (exclusively?) in the US, I'd love to pick his brain and hear what kind of issues he has come across. Victory HT 3-12x56 just happens to be the current #2 on my deer rifle scope upgrade wish list, right behind Schmidt & Bender Polar T96.

DustyGmt said:
Right now I'm trying to select a scope for between $300-$500 and trying to get the best quality I can and squeeze every oz of quality out of every penny. The only reason I can justify spending that right now is because the A bolt I just got was free and I refuse to put a $100 chinese special on a rifle like that..... feel free to suggest a scope.....
Click to expand...
A Bolts are quality rifles. In your price range I'd take a good look at Meopta Meopro / Optika 6 series for maximum value and if you're not in a hurry, a keep an eye out for sales and clearances for the best deal. Leupold VX-Freedom and VX-3 series, among others, are solid alternatives too. It depends a lot on what type of scope you want and what you're going to do with it.
 
hq said:
Very true, there's no such thing as perfection. Even though Zeiss HT-scopes with Schott glass are a bit of specialty products for extreme low light when light transmission is the highest priority and your description of this person sounded a lot like he hunts (exclusively?) in the US, I'd love to pick his brain and hear what kind of issues he has come across. Victory HT 3-12x56 just happens to be the current #2 on my deer rifle scope upgrade wish list, right behind Schmidt & Bender Polar T96.


A Bolts are quality rifles. In your price range I'd take a good look at Meopta Meopro / Optika 6 series for maximum value and if you're not in a hurry, a keep an eye out for sales and clearances for the best deal. Leupold VX-Freedom and VX-3 series, among others, are solid alternatives too. It depends a lot on what type of scope you want and what you're going to do with it.
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What are your thoughts on the Optika 6 compared to the meopros?
 
Totally agree with the last post. Almost all of my rifles are used for benchrest shooting. Having a lot of light gathering, good parallax adjustment, east of clicking on target, consistently staying on target are all things that I need. For many hunting guns, the scopes requirements other than light gathering, may not be a necessary. On my fun plinking rifles where I am not concerned about pure accuracy, I have some very inexpensive scopes.

Bob
 
LoonWulf said:
What are your thoughts on the Optika 6 compared to the meopros?
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I haven't had a chance to put an Optika 6 through its paces in action but a few very unscientific subjective comparisons in LGS suggest that there's no apparent difference in glass and overall build quality. Knowing how Meopros, Meostar R1:s and R2:s perform, I wouldn't hesitate buying one. Meopta has a good reputation so it's unlikely they would flush it down the toilet by introducing a mediocre product.

YMMV, though.
 
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