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A finder scope for my 80mm (1 Viewer)

Sout Fork

Well-known member
As a frequent user of high power eps I have often had the need to be able know exactly where my scope is pointing or being able to point my scope exactly.

Anyway I solved the problem by mounting a BSA 30mm Red Dot gun sight on my scope and so far it works very well

Instead of giving a long winded explanation about the whole process I attached three pictures of my scope with the red dot sight on it. If you have any questions in detail just ask.

Good Birding
SF
 

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Does the red dot show up well in daylight at longer ranges? The ones I've seen on guns are invisible to the naked eye after about 30metres.

Rob
 
RobF said:
Does the red dot show up well in daylight at longer ranges? The ones I've seen on guns are invisible to the naked eye after about 30metres.

Rob
This is not the type of sight that projects a dot onto the target. The red dot is projected onto the front lens of the sight and by some miracle of optics appears to be on the target. I've got a very simple and cheap (=£10) one that does not magnify, but is very effective.

Pete
 
Henry B said:
How is it attached ?

Two Weaver top mount bases no. 48047. 6$ for the two of them.
Attached using 3M Industrial attachment adhesive No. 6010ES $2.

Note tried three different adhesives on the main body of the scope but nothing would hold. I think the rubber armour may be impregnated with silicon.
Attached to the lens shade with no problems. I think it is ordinary anodized aluminium.

See pictures.
 

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mrpjdavis said:
This is not the type of sight that projects a dot onto the target. The red dot is projected onto the front lens of the sight and by some miracle of optics appears to be on the target. I've got a very simple and cheap (=£10) one that does not magnify, but is very effective.

Pete

Yes. I think Rob is thinking of a laser sight not a Red Dot.
 
I've never seen these before but am totally confused how they work,
Of what i've read here i'm presuming that you look through this ... A red dot appear's
in the little Scope attached to the Main Scope ... Then what ever the little red dot is
on then the Main Eyepiece will be on it ...
One query ... If your using this because your using high power eps ... Then how would
you see the target through this if your struggling with distance anyway,
What i mean is if your looking for a Small bird at 30 or more Metre's away then how
you going to see it in this little scope attachment?,
I know i must be missing something here as i'm fairly new to Digiscoping,
Would'nt this work exactly the same way as a normal gun Sight?, If so then it's
useless for distance and only useful for getting a bearing on where your aiming rather
than finding an object at distance, Hope this make's sense,
Thank's and take care,
John,
 
Another way to go is the small air gun red spot . I believe it maybe a crossman .I had one on my pronto .Very small & $8 at walmart.
Brian.
 
John . believe me if i could find stars with it ,Birds are no problem .If you live in the UK, look in an air gun magazine & you will see dealers selling them there.
Brian.
 
Modular said:
I've never seen these before but am totally confused how they work,
Of what i've read here i'm presuming that you look through this ... A red dot appear's
in the little Scope attached to the Main Scope ... Then what ever the little red dot is
on then the Main Eyepiece will be on it ...

SF:
Exactly.

Would'nt this work exactly the same way as a normal gun Sight?, If so then it's
useless for distance and only useful for getting a bearing on where your aiming rather
than finding an object at distance, Hope this make's sense,

SF:
I think the term "finder scope" may be misleading.
It's neither a finder nor a scope (it has no magnifiction).

It's purpose is not to use it to find something, but once found, to tell you where the object is or to find something with the naked eye and be able to spot the scope exactly on what your naked eye is seeing.

For instance assume you are scanning a distant ridge a half mile away using a very narrow 75 power ep and you do find a bird. You look up and try sighting down the barrel of the scope with the naked eye. The best you may be able to do is see the general area within 1000 feet. Then look through the Red Dot and the dot is sitting exactly on the particular tree that the bird is sitting on.

Or, turning things around, assume you see the same bird a half a mile away with the naked eye and you are not sure what it is. Lay the Red Dot on the object, look through the main scope at 75x and darn it's not that rare bird you were hoping for after all.

I don't know how many times I have lost a bird using a high power ep because it just took too long, if ever, to find it using a ep that is giving me a real field of view of only 6 feet at 1000 yds. By the time I do find the exact same spot at 75x the bird has moved on.

So I would agree with what you said - "only useful for getting a bearing on where your aiming" but I would strike out the "only". The ability to get accurate bearings I find very useful for my purposes.

Good birding,
SF


Thank's and take care,
John,

filler
 
medinabrit said:
Another way to go is the small air gun red spot . I believe it maybe a crossman .I had one on my pronto .Very small & $8 at walmart.
Brian.

Yes I looked at these also. I figured I would be using it in very inclement weather and the BSA is a sealed unit. Also, using standard Weaver detachable high power gun mounts (repeatable accuracy when mounting and dismounting), accurate windage and elevation click stops and a over-all much higher build quality I went with the BSA.

In the grand scheme of things 20 bucks more wasn't going to change my life.
SF
 
hello Soutfork . I Have a couple of those BSA,S on my comp pistols but but wanted something small on the scopes .I thought it looked a bit neater , Cosmetics you know.
Brian.
 
medinabrit said:
hello Soutfork . I Have a couple of those BSA,S on my comp pistols but but wanted something small on the scopes .I thought it looked a bit neater , Cosmetics you know.
Brian.

Brian,
I noticed in an old post of yours that you mentioned that you have Burgess eps - which ones do you have, for what purpose and what do you think of them?

Thanks,
SF
 
burgess EP,s

Sout Fork said:
Brian,
I noticed in an old post of yours that you mentioned that you have Burgess eps - which ones do you have, for what purpose and what do you think of them?

Hello SF, I have the swa 16mm , the 6mm tmb & the 4mm tmb . I got these for an astro scope but the 16 is a very good low cost EP that works fine with the PF,s .The 4 & 6 Are a bit more power than the pentax needs but i use them sometimes for stuff a longways off. The great thing about them is the twist up enormous amount of eye relief adjustment. I Recently aquired some stratus EP,s They are exellent in the PF,s & not to costly .But my favorite is the pentax XW,s . Mainly because i can take the eye cap off and screw my nikon 4500 camera right into the EP.
Brian.
 
medinabrit said:
Sout Fork said:
Hello SF, I have the swa 16mm , the 6mm tmb & the 4mm tmb . I got these for an astro scope but the 16 is a very good low cost EP that works fine with the PF,s .The 4 & 6 Are a bit more power than the pentax needs but i use them sometimes for stuff a longways off. The great thing about them is the twist up enormous amount of eye relief adjustment. I Recently aquired some stratus EP,s They are exellent in the PF,s & not to costly .But my favorite is the pentax XW,s . Mainly because i can take the eye cap off and screw my nikon 4500 camera right into the EP.
Brian.

Interesting...
I have the Burgess Planetary 9mm and 5mm.

The 5mm is just too much for my 80mm, too dark, but can be useful if it's a bright day so I keep it around when I'm doing shorebirds at distance.

The 9mm is simply drop-dead sharp and bright at 58x on my 80mm. I never thought I could get such performance at this power on my little 80mm. They got something right with this one. In fact based on this, I pre-ordered the new 7mm figuring at this power (75x) brightness will still be adequate. One can only hope.

Eyecups...
My pet peeve. Most eps I've used are designed for astro use (fair weather and during the night) which are often opposite of nature viewing conditions and not up to controlling ambient daylight. My Stratus 17mm and 13mm have the best eyecups in this regard while all the rest often require me to shield the ep with my hands. Even the 300 buck Pentax wasn't all that good during daylight use with that huge eyelens picking up flair from the sun.

Thanks for the response and good birding,
SF
 
Hi South Fork

I've a similar set up as yourself and I'm looking to purchase a red dot sight for my Pentax PF-80EDA.

Initially I was interested in the following:

Pentax Gameseeker HS10 Red Dot Sight Matte:

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog...pentax-1x-gameseeker-hs10-red-dot-sight-matte

Pentax Gameseeker RD10 Red Dot Sight Matte:

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog...pentax-1x-gameseeker-rd10-red-dot-sight-matte

I couldn't help but notice the aforementioned comments on this thread regarding the Gameskeeper and wondered if you've any views on the RD10?

I generally tend to prioritize function over cosmetics, nevertheless, I am looking for something smaller than the BSA 30mm red dot sight and I was hoping to place the dot sight nearer to the eyepiece, possibly between the eyepiece and the focus wheel.

Any views on this and/or alternatives are welcome. I'd also be interested to know about red dot sight reviews, particularly the BSA's and their sisters with smaller objectives.
 
Hi South Fork

I've a similar set up as yourself and I'm looking to purchase a red dot sight for my Pentax PF-80EDA.

Initially I was interested in the following:

Pentax Gameseeker HS10 Red Dot Sight Matte:

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog...pentax-1x-gameseeker-hs10-red-dot-sight-matte

Pentax Gameseeker RD10 Red Dot Sight Matte:

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog...pentax-1x-gameseeker-rd10-red-dot-sight-matte

I couldn't help but notice the aforementioned comments on this thread regarding the Gameskeeper and wondered if you've any views on the RD10?

I generally tend to prioritize function over cosmetics, nevertheless, I am looking for something smaller than the BSA 30mm red dot sight and I was hoping to place the dot sight nearer to the eyepiece, possibly between the eyepiece and the focus wheel.

Any views on this and/or alternatives are welcome. I'd also be interested to know about red dot sight reviews, particularly the BSA's and their sisters with smaller objectives.
Apologies for interveing Miles, but I have just noticed this post of yours.
The prices of the Pentax RDS's seem a bit high compared to these at about half the price :- http://www.jsramsbottom.com/cgi-bin/jsr.cgi/dynamiclink?a=1&b=0&z=0&aP=0&source=/RED/Reddot_all.HTM

Roger
 
Gordon Bennett! South Fork, Rogers Cloth and now JSRamsbottom... Whatever next! Incidentally there's a footwear wholesaler down Kings Road in Chelsea called, RSoles and apparently 3 MP's on the electoral register called Hugh Anus! What is the world coming to?

I was investigating red dot sights, not red light sights!
 
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