Tag Archives: rifle scope

Airsoft, Shooting Sports

UTG 2-7×32 Scout Scope

The KelTec Sub2000 is an unusual rifle in many respects. It is a pistol caliber carbine that is designed to split and fold in half for easy and compact transport as a ‘backpacking rifle’. But because of this design, the built-in Picatinny rail for optics is located on the top of the handguard and not the top of the receiver.

That’s fine for red dots but the far forward position means that the only magnified scope you can use on a Sub2000 is a long-eye relief scout scope or pistol scope. Only a handful of companies seem to make scout scopes with variable magnification over 4x: Burris, Hi-Lux, Vortex and a few dubious no-name models “made for Mosin”.

I thought I’d try out a pistol scope instead, which have slightly longer eye-relief than scouting scopes. I chose the UTG/Leper 2-7×32 because it was the only scope in it’s price tier with something other than a duplex reticle (a BDC reticle has it’s issues but can be worked with if you learn its dope).

The turrets are old-school and small. They are meant for hunters and not competition shooters, featuring capped turrets without a zero stop. I’ve owned this scope for about 5 years and it’s held its zero after hundreds of rounds of 9mm.

Mounting on the Sub2000 was not without challenges. The Sub2000 has unusually tall front sights for which even high scope rings were not sufficiently tall enough to clear. I had to add a Quick-Detatch 1″ riser (the Sub2000 is designed to fold when stowed so I needed a quick and easy way to remove the scope). I had an oddball riser in my spare parts bin but if I had to get one today, I’d probably go with a wing nut style QD riser.

The 2-7 variable optic scope was a welcome aid for my old eyes on 100yrd targest. While the optics are not in the same class as a Vortex or Burris, this scope is quite effective and usable. I could easily see and aim at 3″ targets from 100yrds.

If you’re interested in buying a UTG 2-7×32 scope they’re available on Amazon through this link: https://amzn.to/3PvDLiM

For a Quick Detach riser, I recommend the Ohunt 1.1″: https://amzn.to/3ACTRCt

Shooting Sports

Sniper ZY 4-14×44

Texas Precision Optics sent me a Sniper ZY 4-14×44 FFP scope to test and its specs were impressive. With a street-price just under $140, you get a First Focal Plane (FFP) scope with HD glass, illumination, locking turrets, and a set of high-rise scope rings and additional accessories. Too good to be true?

Like many of TPO’s scopes, the ZY came pre-mounted out of the box. The scope rings are typical budget/generic Picatinny scope rings. No recoil lugs and rounded cross bolts. It has a 30mm tube and many shooters will likely buy higher quality rings or mounts.

The scope itself appeared will built with solid looking turrets. There was a fair amount of slop between clicks. This is not a precision long-range scope but it did hold zero at the range.

The scopes most unique features is the cogwheel shaped ends. The Sniper’s OEM was definitely going for a gear and tool aesthetic in the externals. Unfortunately the cogweel at the eye-piece had pretty sharp edges, making changing ocular focus uncomfortable. It could really use a bit of sanding/buffing the edges.

Optically, the scope has better than average sharpness and resolution for a 4-14x scope. There was noticeable blurring toward the outside edges of your field of view. The thin inner reticle can be illuminated in red or green with 5 level of intensity.

Available on Amazon
https://amzn.to/3Hjv48m

RESOLUTION
Group: -2
Element: 6

OVERALL RATINGS (out 5)
Build: 4
Glass: 4
Reticle: 4
Holds Zero: 4
Turrets: 3
Eye Box: 3
Value: 5

Shooting Sports

Leupold Mark3HD 8-24×50

I bought my first Leupold a Mark 3HD 8-24×50 to pair with my new Ruger Precision Rimfire 22LR rifle. Its optical performance did not disappoint. In my camera testing and naked-eye observation it produced stunningly sharp and bright images with its HD glass.

Using the USAF-51 optical resolution chart, I could see resolution lines down to Group 0 which put this scope in the same league as some 60mm and 80mm spotting scopes! In glass performance, this is the sharpest and brightest scope I’ve tested in the sub $900 tier. Not surprisingly, only its big brother, the Mark 5 was able to resolve even smaller elements on the chart but that scope is four times the price.

While I had this on a 22LR, this scope is better suited for a high-power rifle. At 8x, it’s eye relief was well over 5″ behind the eye-piece at low power. This proved to be a challenge in filming as my phone/camera mount could not really be extended that far. At high-power the eye relief contracted slightly but the eye-box did quite profoundly; at 24x its eye-box was rather unforgiving.

It’s low, hunting profile turrets were a bit disappointing. The clicks were soft and muffled. But the tracking was dead-nuts accurate. The elevation turret had a precise and easy to use zero-stop and the windage was covered by a cap, hunting-style.

It has a 2nd focal plane Mil-Spec metal P5 TMR reticle. They way Leupold designed their Mk3, it uses the exact same reticle scrim plate as the lower power Mk3 but enlarged at a fixed 24x size. Because its a 2nd focal plane, the reticle size doesn’t change. Unfortunately, this also means the reticle appears overly thick at low power. This may be great for hunters who prefer a reticle that doesn’t get lost in their field of view. But a thick reticle is anathema to precision shooters because it obscures small targets and bullseyes.

Full P5 reticle design vs. P5 reticle presented in Mk3 8-24x. You only ever see the center portion.


Unfortunately this was a dealbreaker for me. While I love the glass clarity and Leupold’s reputation for reliability, the reticle made this a hard-pass for me. Regretfully, I returned it and will have to look for one of Leupold’s other models for my needs.

Available on Amazon
8-24×50 https://amzn.to/3xq9hsA
6-18×50 https://amzn.to/3KKZSzH

RESOLUTION
Group: -1
Element: 5-6

OVERALL RATINGS (out 5)
Build: 5
Glass: 5+
Reticle: 3
Holds Zero: 5
Box Test: 5
Turrets: 5
Eye Box: 5
Value: 5

Shooting Sports

SVBony Scope Rings

SVBony is a Hong Kong maker of budget astronomy optics, microscopes, and spotting scopes. I’ve reviewed a number of their budget hunting spotting scopes but to be perfectly honest, I never knew they made rifle scopes or for the matter, scope rings. They sent me a set of their 1″ budget rings to test out.

They sent me four pairs of rings, a low and high set of 11mm dovetail rings and a low and high set of Picatinny rings. They all fit 1″ (25mm) tube scopes and SVBony also sent me their 3-12×44 AOE scope to test them on.

My first impression was that they looked like every other no-name Chinese budget scope ring with their lemon shaped design. These kinds of rings are often packed with cheap budget scopes for free. But on closer inspection I saw a key improvement, the clamp block in the base were machined from a thick block of aluminum rather than cheap stamped metal.

I borrowed a ring lapping kit to check the alignment of the rings and was surprised to find that they were pretty accurately aligned. This really shouldn’t surprise me because most modern scope factories use CNC milling machines which churn out high quality mass produced rings. This means that lapping is mostly unnecessary except for the competition precession obsessed.

SVBony only sell rings for 1″ tubes (probably because their only rifle scope has a 1″ tube). The rings don’t have flat recoil lugs or the wide surface area I would think required to handle higher recoil. Though rings of this size and type were used on hunting rifles back in the 70’s and 80’s so it’s possible. The rings are best suited for light recoiling rimfire (22LR, 17HMR) or airguns. They currently retail $8 price make them among the cheapest available on Amazon.

SV185 scope rings: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MTPC8F6?ref=myi_title_dp

SV177 rifle scope: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LB4MNGG?ref=myi_title_dp

SVBONY store link: https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/DCFE958E-C429-4584-AEB9-10745E22703F?ingress=2&visitId=3624e090-28be-44d7-9332-2f4accd37f08&ref_=ast_bln

Shooting Sports

Shot Show 2022: Hawke Frontier34

Break barrel hunting airguns are notorious for destroying even the highest end scope because of their jarring 2-way recoil. So any scope that can hold zero on an airgun has to be exceptionally well built. Hawke Optics may not be as well known in the US as Burris, Bushnell, Vortex, and Leupold but this British optics brand is the largest maker of airgun scopes, which says a lot more about their durability than a mere warranty (and yes, they too have a “No-Fault Lifetime Warranty”).

At their Shot Show booth I got a chance to inspect their newest scope in the Frontier line with a 34mm tube. This scope’s feature set and price put it in competition with Vortex and Leupold top-tier offerings for long distance optics. I hope to get my hands on one when they release it later this year.

Shooting Sports

Shot Show 2022: Zeiss LRP S5 5-25×56

Zeiss is a legendary optics manufacturer in industry, photography, science, and in hunting; creating world-class rifle scopes, binoculars, spotting scopes. If you own a high-end or +$1,000 scope that boasts “German made glass”, chances are that glass was manufactured by Zeiss.

Zeiss’s rifle scope offerings have been largely catering to heeled hunters. Their rifle scope models start at just under $900 and go up into $4000 depending on your region. They have been slow adopt features from the tactical and LRP world. Most of their scope models remain SFP.

At this year’s Shot Show, they showcased their new “LRP” S5 models which address the growing long-distance shooting market. These scopes feature beefed up locking turrets, a FFP reticle, and a 140 MOA / 40 MilRads of internal elevation adjustment, and of course Zeiss’ famous Shot Glass with 90% light transfer.

While Zeiss claims “best-in-class” elevation adjustments I know that Riton and Vortex have scopes with more than 40MILs of elevation adjustment. Maybe they consider their “class” to be scopes with MSRPs over $3K?

Order this on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3IlJu7r

Shooting Sports

Leupold Mark5HD 7-35×56

I got an opportunity to test out a scope that costs more than any of my rifles. This Mark5HD is one of Leupold’s top of the line rifle scopes with a MSRP of $2499. This high-performance, first-focal-plane scope has HD glass and is optimized for extreme long distance shooters.

It features a Horus-style reticle with a tall grid of of mRad sub-tension marks taking the place of the lower center cross-hair. In addition the scope has 30 mils (100 MOA) of vertical adjustment, twice the range of its windage adjustment range 15 mils (50 MOA).

The elevation turret is wide and exposed but is locked. A wide turret release button is ergonomically place so that you cna press it down as you turn the turret to make adjustments. It has a unique mechanical zero stop that stops every full rotation. The turret cap is held in place with 2 set screws which must be loosened by allen wrench to re-zero. The windage turret is covered with a screw on cap.

The glass quality is exceptional as to be expected from a >$1000 scope from Leupold. Using the USAF-51 test, I could make out details to Group 0, Element 1. This is sharper than many spotting scopes I’ve tested. The eye box is good and the eye-relief is even better. It’s max power eye-relief is actually a bit longer than it’s low-power; 3.8″ eye-relief at max power (35x), that’s longer than most cheaper scopes at low-power.

Despite all of its amazing performance, if I had the opportunity to buy this scope I probably wouldn’t. None of the ranges I frequent are longer than 200yrds and this scope comes to its own at 600yrds or more. It’s complex CCH reticle is actually a bit too cluttered at 100yrds when zoomed up to 35x; so much so that I found it difficult to spot my holes on paper. I appreciate the power and performance of this scope, it’s just a better fit for another shooter.

AFFILIATE LINK
Buy this scope on Amazon : https://amzn.to/3qyD0vI

RESOLUTION
Group: 0
Element: 1

OVERALL RATINGS (out 5)
Build: 5
Glass: +5
Reticle: 4
Holds Zero: +5
Box Test: +5
Turrets: +5
Eye Box: 4
Value: +3*

*It’s over $2000, it’s not a bargain but you get what you pay for

Product Reviews, Shooting Sports

Riton X1 Primal 4-16×44

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Riton lent me one of their X1 Primal 4-16×44 rifle scopes to review. The X1 Primal is an intro level 1 scope in their product line. It is one of the least expensive 16x zooming premium scopes on the market; a good value in a hunting scope. Its unique RUT reticle features a semi-open central dot which I found well suited for long-range target shooting with a 22LR as it allows for clear visibility of small bullseyes.

If it does have a fault, it is the quality of the image at 16x magnification. The scope loses a lot of sharpness and contrast at full magnification. Worst yet, its eye box gets very small making it unsuitable for hunting at 16x, when targets of opportunity are mobile and require rapid change of aim. Still, it’s a quality scope at under $200, where its competition only boasts 9x or 12x power.

PRODUCT LINKS
Optics Planet https://shrsl.com/325oo
Amazon https://amzn.to/3iW4sQl

OVERALL RATINGS (out of 5)
Build: 5
Glass: 4
Reticle: 4
Holds Zero: 5
Box Test: 5
Turrets: 5
Eye Box: 3
Value: 4