BurmKiller
Member
Hello Everyone,
Your forum was recommended to me by some fellow competition shooters. (No, we do not shoot birds – just paper and steel targets). Since we know a lot about bullets and nothing about optics, I figured I would check over here and see what the real experts have to say. As way of background, in our sport we have a shooter and a spotter. The spotter must pick out bullet splatter on black steel (in about 0.1 seconds as the steel target falls) or holes in black paper from 100M to 500M away, very quickly, in order to give the shooter the information so that he/she can adjust their sight settings. Since we shoot strings in a short period of time, accurate and quick identification of hits is a must. To add a layer of complexity we are all wearing protective shooting glasses, which tend to be slightly further from the eye then general eye glasses.
To that end we generally purchase the best spotting scopes we can afford, thrown on Bogen/Manfrotto tripods. In my case, I came across a deal on a complete Leica APO Televid 77 with a B32X WW eyepiece, a 20-60 zoom eyepiece, a camera adaptor tube and a couple T rings and a 77mm filter. When I got it home and started watching the birds in my yard and the chipmunks and I was VERY impressed. The color/clarity was much better then the Kowa scopes that most shooters have. Then the moment of truth – off to the first match with it. I was quickly disappointed.
The 20-60 eyepiece is basically not usable. With shooting glasses on (and the eyepiece set for eyeglasses) it was like trying to find the small picture in the center of a large black abyss. (I think this is called vignetting, only severe.) The 32X was much better, but still only about 75% of the available view was visible. We packed it up and pulled out the old trusty Kowa. In the Kowa the focus (clarity) of images at distance is no where near as sharp. The colors are also washed out looking. But even at the highest magnification and shooting glasses, 100% of the available real estate in the eyepiece shows an image – not black. This means the target can be very readily picked up.
Now, do not misunderstand me – the Leica is an incredible scope – but horrible for my purposes and destined to soon be on eBay (Any pre-offers?). That said, does anyone have any recommendations for other scopes? I use Swarovski EL 10x42 WB binoculars as well – and although very expensive, no other binoculars that I have ever looked through at any price (even ones that have higher magnifications) even come close. So I was considering a Swarovski scope. The Carl Zeiss scopes are also highly rated on some web sites. Unfortunately I live in an area of the country where I have no hope of finding a stocking dealer.
I would appreciate any feedback anyone is willing to offer. Thanks!
Your forum was recommended to me by some fellow competition shooters. (No, we do not shoot birds – just paper and steel targets). Since we know a lot about bullets and nothing about optics, I figured I would check over here and see what the real experts have to say. As way of background, in our sport we have a shooter and a spotter. The spotter must pick out bullet splatter on black steel (in about 0.1 seconds as the steel target falls) or holes in black paper from 100M to 500M away, very quickly, in order to give the shooter the information so that he/she can adjust their sight settings. Since we shoot strings in a short period of time, accurate and quick identification of hits is a must. To add a layer of complexity we are all wearing protective shooting glasses, which tend to be slightly further from the eye then general eye glasses.
To that end we generally purchase the best spotting scopes we can afford, thrown on Bogen/Manfrotto tripods. In my case, I came across a deal on a complete Leica APO Televid 77 with a B32X WW eyepiece, a 20-60 zoom eyepiece, a camera adaptor tube and a couple T rings and a 77mm filter. When I got it home and started watching the birds in my yard and the chipmunks and I was VERY impressed. The color/clarity was much better then the Kowa scopes that most shooters have. Then the moment of truth – off to the first match with it. I was quickly disappointed.
The 20-60 eyepiece is basically not usable. With shooting glasses on (and the eyepiece set for eyeglasses) it was like trying to find the small picture in the center of a large black abyss. (I think this is called vignetting, only severe.) The 32X was much better, but still only about 75% of the available view was visible. We packed it up and pulled out the old trusty Kowa. In the Kowa the focus (clarity) of images at distance is no where near as sharp. The colors are also washed out looking. But even at the highest magnification and shooting glasses, 100% of the available real estate in the eyepiece shows an image – not black. This means the target can be very readily picked up.
Now, do not misunderstand me – the Leica is an incredible scope – but horrible for my purposes and destined to soon be on eBay (Any pre-offers?). That said, does anyone have any recommendations for other scopes? I use Swarovski EL 10x42 WB binoculars as well – and although very expensive, no other binoculars that I have ever looked through at any price (even ones that have higher magnifications) even come close. So I was considering a Swarovski scope. The Carl Zeiss scopes are also highly rated on some web sites. Unfortunately I live in an area of the country where I have no hope of finding a stocking dealer.
I would appreciate any feedback anyone is willing to offer. Thanks!
