As some of you have witnessed the jumbo-sized "telescope" I have mounted to my rifle (see article [url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=20270[/url] for what I'm talking about), I have come to the conclusion that I need a smaller scope...and quite possibly a new mount as well.
I will describe some of the scopes that I looked at that were $400 or less (my spending limit), which can also be found in the above topic.......
-Nikon "Monarch" 6.5-20x44 Matte, Fine Reticle, $400
[url]http://www.swfa.com/riflescopes/nikon/index.html[/url]
-Pentax "Lightseeker" 4-16x44 Matte, Fine Reticle, $400
[url]http://www.swfa.com/riflescopes/pentax/index.html[/url]
-Redfield "Golden Five Star" 6-18x40 Matte, Plex(?) Reticle, $330
[url]http://www.swfa.com/riflescopes/redfield/index.html[/url]
-Springfield Armory Tactical .223 (Gov't) Reticle (and bullet drop cmpns.), 4x14-40, $324
[url]http://www.swfa.com/riflescopes/springfield/index.html[/url]
-Weaver "Grand Slam" 4.5-14x40, Matte "Dual-X" Reticle (said it was comparable to a VariX-III, so it can't be all that bad), $325
or
-Weaver "Grand Slam" 6-20x40, Matte, "Varmint" (thin-reticle, dot in middle), $350
[url]http://www.swfa.com/riflescopes/weaver/index.html[/url]
-and then of course is the Tasco series. There has been nothing but wonderful reviews for their "Super Sniper", from many sources I might add. The most expensive is about $300 (for the non-M model)
[url]http://www.swfa.com/riflescopes/tasco/index.html[/url]
...someone had also mentioned the ATN 6-18X65LU (which I saw a while back and liked) for $300 at [url]www.aimdiscount.com[/url] . The only qualm I have with this is that it's 16" long, only 4 inches shorter than mine. I am looking for a scope within that zoom range (up to 18 or 20X) but around 14" overall length. That's one of the reasons I'm getting rid of this one; 20" is too flimsy on such a small (in comparison) weaver mount, and it can be moved by putting pressure on the end of the scope.
This brings me to... Scope Mounts. Mine is fairly decent, a 7.5" long weaver see-thru mount, which can be seen here: [url]http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=1278646[/url] . In fact, I believe it is the same brand, Leapers. The mount, for the price, is fairly stable, but the outer walls of the mount [b]DO NOT[/b] fit perfectly within the walls of the carry handle. There is a tiny litle bit of space on either side between the outer walls of the mount and the inner walls of the carry handle, and this can, will, and probably does lead to innaccuracy due to slight instability.
If you've kept up with me so far, thanks. Here are my big 2 questions:
1.) Which of these scopes above would you recommend, as far as price, overall quality, and overall length of the scope are concerned? If you know of one that's not on the list, but meets my criteria, please don't hesitate to bring it up!
2.) I need a similar size (in length) mount to fit the scope I will be using. I can make do with this one, but if I'm upgrading my scope I dont see why I shouldn't do the same for my mount: "..only strong as the weakest link", ya know? I don't think ARMS makes one similar to this (besides, they are WAAAAY out of my budget), but can you suggest anything fairly inexpensive that will do my dirty work?
This means a lot, gracias...
Jewbroni~