Once upon a time, there was a little scope company in El Paso, TX, the Weaver outfit. They made scopes for American hunters that were legendary in their time. Good, solid hunting scopes. The K4 and K6 were magnificent and the target line of scopes, the T36 and T24 were regarded favorably among the benchrest guys.
Then, the company passed, as all do eventually. Weaver scopes are today made in Japan, and they're good optics. My .30-06 Savage wears aWeaver K6, and I'm really pleased with that scope. There's nothing to tinker with, no power ring to use. The scope is a 6 power. It's been dropped from deer stands and it's been dinged around in pickup trucks and four-wheelers. It just works. It holds its zero really well, it has enough power for the shots I intend to make and it's rugged.
I own variable scopes. They're okay, but I've long preferred fixed power scopes. Recently, I find myself surfing Ebay, looking at old Weaver and Lyman scopes. There are some remarkably good prices on what were once considered top-of-the-line rifle scopes.
If I bid on one and win it, I hope I won't be disappointed in the quality of the optics.
I've got a Lyman 6X sitting in a box as a backup. It's not real purty, but the glass is good! Another is the old Redfields.
ReplyDeleteI have an OLD Weaver K4 on my Savage 99E (.308). Excellent out to 300 yards, crosshairs a little too thick beyond that.
ReplyDeleteAfter I'd had mine for a few years, I was hunting elk in a fall rainstorm in the Coast Range (should have had a shotgun, max range shot in the timber understory was about 30 yards), but the scope fogged over, badly. I couldn't even get it unfogged by placing it on top of a hot '53 Oldsmobile engine.
I sent it back and Weaver recharged it with nitrogen, after replacing ALL the O-rings. That was 45 years ago and the K4 is still going strong.
Pawpaw, even 20 year old optics don't compare to today's optics. A $30 Wal-Mart Tasco will have better optics than almost all old scopes. Older ain't always better.
ReplyDeleteJ said...
ReplyDeletePawpaw, even 20 year old optics don't compare to today's optics. A $30 Wal-Mart Tasco will have better optics than almost all old scopes. Older ain't always better.
I disagree, at least regarding Tasco scopes.
25 yrs ago Tascos were good entry level scopes, especially the World Class series, and made in Japan. Now Tascos are made in China. I've broken 2 in the last 10 yrs. One broke under recoil from a 9.3x62mm, the other had a wandering zero.
They're junk, and I refuse to buy them anymore. In fact, I've given away or sold all my Tascos.
Termite, I referred to Tasco optics, not to Tasco mechanical qualities. A modern cheap scope will work just fine--as long as you don't change the settings frequently.
ReplyDeleteJ, there's so much more to a scope than how accurately the lenses are ground. In fact, most folks' eyes aren't good enough to detect minor optical imperfections, anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat most folks DO bump up against is the mechanics of the scope: turret adjustments, parallax adjustment, holding zero, and just general ruggedness.
If you put those fine Tasco optics into a good, rugged scope body, you have a Leupold.