Comments on: Spotting Scope Resolution at 1000 Yards (in Ideal Conditions)

By: VT52

VT52 — Thu, 29 May 2014 09:12:13 +0000

Some of the high end scope mfg-ers should pay attention to CA and color seperation. Despite the claims of HD and ED glass, the fringing and CA is through the roof on high contrast items, on par with some $50 scopes.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 29 May 2014 04:36:00 +0000

For NRA highpower, seeing bullet holes beyond 300yd is of little value. What is important is to see mirage as early as possible to ‘see’ the wind. If you want to see bullet holes, buy a camera system which is much cheaper than a high-end scope.

Steve: These are all good points. We agree 100% that a camera system is the best way to see bullet holes at long range. However, target cams are not legal at this time in High Power, F-Class, or long-range benchrest (where shots are not marked on the target).

By: SPClark

SPClark — Wed, 28 May 2014 16:23:30 +0000

A few years ago a fellow had a Pentax ‘scope out at a 600 range I was at, we could see 6mm holes in the white that day.

Last Monday at Lodi WI around 1 PM at 1,000 yards I could barely see the AIMING BLACK thru my Palma sights because of the mirage present.

It’s ALL about CONDITIONS when it comes to seeing stuff that’s “way, WAY out there” no matter what’s aiding your eyes…

By: highmaster82

highmaster82 — Wed, 28 May 2014 15:14:57 +0000

30 years ago at camp blanding fl I could see 30 cal holes in the white at 600 with a 25x bushnell spacemaster jut about anytime I wanted to.

By: Geoffrey

Geoffrey — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 01:01:59 +0000

BTW, the Pentax PF100ED has been discontinued.

EDITOR: Geoff, you are correct. Fortunately, the wonderful Pentax eyepieces fit other still-produced spotting scopes in the Pentax line-up as well as spotters that take standard astronomy-type eyepieces.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:39:35 +0000

It is all about the conditions once you have good glass. Try shooting down here in South La. in the middle of summer. Even at 400-600 yards a 4″ shoot-n-see black dot dances around in the mirage like crazy. If the climate and atmosphere between you and the object you are viewing is not ideal you can have the best glass you can find and still not see what you are looking for. Think they are expensive scopes now wait till they figure out how to removed the motion from mirage and wind lol.

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:29:18 +0000

Same in Australia. We have seen 30 cal bullet holes in the white with the Leica spotting scope and with the March 80x scope.

But the conditions have to be perfect and the window for this to happen when a match is on is very small.

By: Tenring

Tenring — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:37:54 +0000

This might be the Zeiss 60 spotter referrred to above.
http://hudisco.com/spotter_60.htm
Price tag is just under 5 grand. Where will this price madness in a depressed economy end?

By: Paul Stimac

Paul Stimac — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:42:21 +0000

Nice report. It would be interesting to see how the xw 7 – (90 power) and xw 5 (125 power) eyepieces would perform on your Pentax 100 vs bullet holes at 1000 yards.

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:30:40 +0000

Eric,

The Pentax PF100ED has been around for a few years. We’ve tested it side by side with a Swarovski 80mm HD and the Swaro is maybe a little bit sharper with both scopes fitted with zoom eyepieces. With the 63X 10mm on the Pentax, it is virtually as sharp as the Swaro, and the Pentax’s light gathering is better in early morning. The Swaro is much more compact, making it more stable on a tripod. Also we prefer the large focusing ring on the Swaro to the small diameter single knob on the Pentax. The Pentax PF100ED is a very long scope. We note that more modern designs have used computer-aided design to achieve high magnification in a shorter length. That’s a good thing.

We’d love to test the Kowa TSN-883 Prominar, the Swaro, and the Big Pentax together.