On Scopes

Over the past several years I've come to have some opinions on scopes that are out of the mainstream. I like optics on some rifles, but the trend toward ever more complicated scopes baffles me. I'm a big fan of the Weaver brand of fixed-power scopes, like the K4 and K6. There's less to fiddle with, less to go wrong, less to worry about. They either work or they don't. Mostly, they work and work well for years.

So, I'm reading Field and Stream and I go over to Dave Petzal's blog and read what one of his correspondents has to say.

“In regard to optics I have had a lot of scope problems for a long, long time, regardless of make. When I’m asked what my favorite make of scope is, my reply is ‘I hate them all equally.' I have crippled and destroyed dozens and dozens of them. Between loose erector systems, separated lens elements, parallax adjustments going deep-six and flash dots blinking their last, I’m amazed we haven’t all gone back to Lyman 48s.

“Bum optics come in all shapes, right out of the factory box, usually within 50 rounds or after several hundred rounds, the latter being the worse case as it always happens when the client is standing in the middle of the Moyowosi Plain—or at the bench or a shooting editor.

“The one exception to this is the lowly fixed-power scope. I have a 3X that I’ve used for 30 years to break in rifles, and it’s probably survived 5,000 rounds of .375, .416, and .458 with never a hiccup. But the optics companies are giving the public what they think they need, which is variables. I understand it’s not easy to make a scope; that a lot of crap has to fit inside. But I am the guy who has to wring the whole mess out, and I don’t believe in Santa anymore. When asked to try out the latest optical marvel I feel like sitting in the corner and puking on my shoes.”

My feelings exactly.

That's not to say that I don't own variable scopes. I own variable scopes because what I want in a fixed power scope is hard to find or overly expensive. I believe that I could do all the shooting I want to do with a good fixed 10X, a good fixed 6X and a good fixed 4X.

I've got an old Burris 2.5X fixed power scope mounted on a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. That scope was sighted in sometime about 1980 for the Remington 200 grain factory load. Today it still shoot true with that load. I reload for it now, but I've found a load that duplicates the factory fodder. At 100 yards, you can still cover the group with the edge of your fist.

My .30-06 carries a fixed power Weaver K6 and that has always been enough scope for that rifle.

I'm not saying that a high-dollar 12-36X variable doesn't have a place on a rifle. I'm saying that those are scopes for precision uses. I'd venture that there aren't a thousand people in the US who uses scopes like that. I don't see that I need to buy one.

I really wish that someone (Burris, Weaver, Swift! You listening?) would make a decent 10X fixed power scope and market it at about $250.00. I wager they'd sell a lot of them. I know I'd buy a couple.