Looking to pick up entry level (low budget) spotting scope to save me trips out to my targets. I know you get what you pay for, but any suggestions regarding brand names and power sizes ? I would be looking for something good out to 100 -300 yards. I am not a serious long range competition shooter (tho I may grow into one), just a weekend paper puncher.

Your best value for the distance you are talking about would be the Harbor Freight 20-60-x-60mm spotting scope with tripod #94555. Now if you try to look beyond 300 yards with it you will be disappointed. That scope can be had for around $40 with a coupon. The included tripod is pure junk and should be thrown away.

V

I've been less than impressed with my simmons blazer 20-60. I can't see hits on a 2/3 ipsc plate at 400 yards with it.

I paid $189 for a Vortex Nomad 15-45x60mm spotting scope a few years ago and paid about the same for a Leupold Ventana 15-45x60mm a year or so ago.  Both are good scopes, but the Leupold is better.  The Nomad is no longer available.

The street price on a new Leupold Ventana is right around $250 at present.  It's still a good deal and offers well corrected optics with sharp images, multi-coated optics, good color and smooth focusing.  

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For $110 you can go with this one from Orion.  They sell mostly re-branded Chinese optics (like most brands) but they market them to birdwatchers, so the quality is still pretty good.   There are, believe it or not, some well made chinese spotting scopes with good performance.  They form the mid range of many major brand's offerings.

Orion Grandview 16-48x65mm

This is another lower priced option that will still offer ok performance out to 200-300 yards.

Celstron Ultima 16-55x65

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With a 60mm or 65mm objective, none  one of the above scopes will give great image quality above about the mid range of the zoom, but that's true for nearly all spotting scopes and you need to buy one with that expectation in mind.   There is always the temptation that more magnification will make small holes easier to see, and thats not often the case.  The objective size and the quality of the lenses have a significant impact on resolving power, and adding more magnification to low quality telescope just produces a dim, grainy, low resolution image.  You're better off using lower magnifications with an optic system that can generate decent images that are bright and have minimal chromatic aberration and false color.  

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There is always a temptation to go with something like this but it's almost always a bad idea:

Bushnell Sentry

I tried one a few years ago.  It's light, compact and durable, but the mirage quality is poor, it's not sharp edge to edge and looking through it quickly becomes a strain.

It's worth spending another $50 to $100 to get something better.  If should be able to look through a spotting scope for a few minutes and not notice any effort.   If you notice the effort, it's a really poor choice.

Most if not all of the scopes below about $300 will be Chinese with various brand names.

V

You may get better responses in the precision rifles section, under optics. In any case. if you want to see .224 bullet holes at 300, you'll want a solid mount in addition to a decent optic. You're probably looking for a minimum of 24x (depending on how good your eyes are, and how sharp the focus on the scope is), and a minimum aperture of 55mm, unless it's always bright and sunny where you're at.

Your better off using a quality rifle mounted scope for spotting shots than buying a cheap spotting scope. Even decent quality binoculars will shake too much to see shots in the black.

Talk to the sales people at Champions Choice, they'll suggest one of their budget models which will work better than other similarly priced units found elsewhere.

I like Kowa 45 degree spotting scopes with the extended eye relief 25x eyepiece. Your talking $289.00 for the eyepiece alone, another $650.00 to $1900 for the scope body based on what your budget allows. I own a 24x Unertl 45 degree EER purchased in the mid-1980's for $275.00, it's now worth close to $800.00. Good spotting scopes hold their value, junk remains junk for life. People gasped at the price tag when I bought it new. $275.00 for a spotting scope in 1985 was quite a bit of money. I get approached at tournaments every year by someone who wants to buy it, it's not for sale.

I've used one of those before, loaned from a friend.  If his is any indication, the scope should be thrown away, too.

Despite the lower magnification, more detail could be resolved with my 12X SWFA SS than with that harbor freight scope on any magnification level.

I've got the Konus 20-60x80 and I can spot .224 bullet holes at 200 yards in the right conditions, and at 300 yards if the target is backlit.

Almost any scope works out to 200 yards.  

At 300 yards, your ability to see shots in the black is dependent upon atmospheric conditions and lighting as much, or more, than optical quality.

Sir, +1 on the sales people at Champions Choice.  I've spoken with them many times at their store on commercial row at CP as well a various NRA annual meetings.

I had a Unertl 24X64 straight scope that had the 32X replacement eyepiece.  I don't remember how much I paid for it back in the '80s but it was often possible to see .30cal holes in the aiming black at 300yd.  When I started shooting the .223 it was no longer possible to see the shot holes at 300 with it so I bought a Kowa TSN821 with 28X LER eyepiece.  That didn't enable me to see .22cal shot holes at 300yd either, but this past year at CP I bought a 20-60X zoom eyepiece for it and given the right lighting conditions I can occasionally see shot holes in the aiming black at 300 but not always.

My advise to the OP is to buy the best scope you can afford.  Even the best scopes cannot always resolve shot holes in the aiming black at 300yd + due to atmospheric conditions and mirage.  Even the better scopes will not always resolve .22cal shot holes in the aiming black at 200yd when mirage is heavy.  Creedmoor sports is presently having a sale on some of the Konus scopes, check them out!  Be wary of claims that one can see shot holes at an extended distance.  Although this claim may be true when speaking about shot holes not in the aiming black it is seldom true when speaking about seeing shot holes in the aiming black.  7zero1 out.

Agreed the HF cope is not a quality scope but I have used other shooters scopes at the range that have costs as much as six or seven times what the HF scope cost and were no better in viewing quality.

V

I have no idea what you were using as criteria to say they were "no better".  They are better.  One area where their optical performance exceeds that of a budget scope is in showing you the mirage.  Another area they excel is in eye relief.  Many budget scopes have very short eye relief.  One last point I'll mention is the quality of the image when using zoom eyepieces, especially when zoomed to high power.

If you were referring to seeing holes in the black at >200 yards, they are very little better because image quality is limited by atmospheric conditions and lighting.  This limits all scopes.

Personally, I would not spend $1k+ on a scope.  Also, I would not spend $50 on a scope, either*.  There seems to be a happy medium for me around the $300 - $600 range where I feel the instrument does its job and I did not spend too much on color rendition, etc. and other optical criteria which are irrelevant to a shooter.  


By the way, save some money for a good stand with a 1" diameter tube.  A shaking scope is just about useless.




*  Go read the customer reviews on the HF web site.  Pay special attention to the comments about optical quality when zoomed, the shaky tripod, etc.

I am using a Nikon P-233 on the rifle. It is good  at 100 ( with my 45 year old eyes). Also I am sporterizing an old Mosin Nagant (my only bolt action) to test my reloading and marksmanship skills out a bit further. I have read all your posts and have absorbed the intel. It sounds like I am looking for something  in the 25-60x range and will be spending around 200-300 hard earned American dollars.
I will also repost as suggested in other message board.
I love this website, and thank you all for you input !!!

I picked up a Celestron C90 Mak spotting scope. $190, best scope I have used in 30 years of shooting.

Can see .22 holes at 300 yards on NRA targets. Worth every penny.

The tripod it comes with sucks but will work for range use.

C90 Mak spotting scope

I've seen those and looked thru them, just a quick look.  They were nice and the image is bright.  I was concerned about durability but if you are gentle with your gear, it should be just fine.  How has yours held up.

Weather proofing is another issue the OP should track.

It's held up very good so far, mine is almost two years old. No big spills or drops yet so I can't speak to that part.  It comes in a nice padded back pack type case which is nice for what it is.

Only bad thing about it the POS tripod that it comes with, pretty "flexi flyer" if you know what I mean. I use one of my photo tripods and it makes very stable for the range.

Kowa scopes are very good.

Flare is the killer in the less expensive ones.

Look though some Bushnell binoculars and them try a try of Pentax or Nikon.

Yes, I do know exactly what you mean.  A good stand is an essential part of a good scope.  They are expensive but worth it.  You can always upgrade the scope but a good stand helps you get the best of what any scope has to offer, and it never needs to be upgraded.

I'm not sure what the high power crowd is shooting now, but they seem to update to the lastest and greatest, and sell their old scopes.

That is how I bought my Kowa TSN-821 (?)

A reseller of traded in scopes used to be jarheadtop.com.  I dunno who is the go-to source for second hand scopes is anymore.  Perhaps get in contact with them and ask.

Yup avoid this scope at all costs

I use this one to 1000yards to see hits on steel

In the Precision rifle section I have pictures and videos through it.

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