The Bad News: My 20-60×90 spotting scope took a wind-caused tumble and the intergral base that mounted to the tripod is broken beyond repair and I am now in the market for a new spotting scope of comparable magnification. I’ve found Kowas like this one for a decent price (I’m able to may a bit more than that), but I would like some suggestions. Please leave them in the comments or the email addys are at the top of the right hand column.
The Good News: One piece of equipment I was so amazed with that I had a hard time shutting up about it was the Hensoldt Fero Z-24 scope I wrote about a couple weeks ago after mounting it on The Hun Bastard.
There are three different models advertized by CTD: The Model 1 , the Model 2 , and the Z24. They even have new production models w/o the STANAG mount for you guys who already have the mount.
I really don’t think it matters which one you get, except maybe to your pocket book. Pick your poison and buy one now, and here is why:
The scope has a built in bullet drop compensator for 7.62×51. I had originally thought that it was set for 147gr mil-surp ball ammo, of which I brough a decent selection, but I wanted to see what it’d do with the 168gr HPBT ammo, of which I had brought a whole bunch of.
I dialed the BDC dial to 400 yards and called out my target to David; an 8×10 box someone had been using the day before at the 385 yard line. After two shots and no noticable hit anywhere around it, we decided that the 14in steel gong on the right hand side of the trees. I held a bit to the right for the wind and !!CLANG!!
I was apparently hitting the box, so there would have been no miss marks.
After repeating that a couple times, I dialed the BDC up to 600yds and found another steel gong about halway up the hillside. I held off for the wind again and another !!CLANG!!
Alas, the 4x magnification was not enough to see the Boomers, so it went home without hitting any, but I was just happy knowing that having sighted the rifle in for 100yds put me in business for 600.
You HK and HK clone owners: Go directly to your Hensoldt surplus scope dealer of choice and buy one now.
And now, at long last, Boomer Clean-Up!
At the end of the day, after everyone has shot their full, Joe calls a ceasefire and his excellent crew scours the hillside for any undetonated Boomers. They collect them and bring them down to the 385yd line and stake them down. The brave (and energetic) wander on down to within 30ft of the line with their pistols and carbines (minimum 1200fps cartridges).
The call is made and the firing commences. It continues until all the Boomers are gone.
You sharp eared folks will hear a full-auto carbine in the noise. A couple of Idaho Army National Guard members checked their M4’s out of the armory and brought them along for some fun. 30rnd burst strings sound like freedom to me.
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As as alternative to the Kowa spotting scope, go over to Orion telescopes and look at their Apex line of Maksutov-Cassegrain spotters. They’re great little scopes, and very compact. Each scope should come with one eyepiece, you’d change magnification by changing to another eyepiece (you can also get zoom eyepieces to vary magnification, or get a Barlow lens to jack up the eyepiece you have). These are spotter versions of astronomical scopes. I have the 127mm/5″ version for a grab n’ go scope, been quite happy with it.
http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=11
Or, check out their Short Tube 80-T, which is a fine little scope, been around a while. The T version refractor is lower power/wider field (lower f/ratio) than the Maksutov, and comes with two eyepieces to vary power.
http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=264649&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=13&iProductID=264649
Jim Owens sells a 80mm 20x-40x spotting scope.
Konus is an Italian brand, but the scope is Hecho En China.
You can find it other places [online] for less,
but I figure the money goes to support him and High Power.
http://www.jarheadtop.com/
Link to scopes is about halfway down the page.
I first heard of him because Dillon was carrying his instruction books.
hth, and thanks for the blog,
Erik in Colo.
For scopes, check out the Celestron Ultima 80. Our party started checking them out last year after reading some excellent reviews on birding and shooting forums. We’ve used them for two Boomershoots now (two of the standard model at $180 and one with ED glass for $499) and they work great. They compare favorably with scopes 5x their price. We’ve resolved .30 cal bullet holes at over 500 yards with them.
Mount the scope on one of these: http://www.amvona.com/?page=shop/flypage&view=1&product_id=1838 They are Chinese knock offs of the Bogen/Manfrotto tripods and ball mounts. I can’t distinguish any functional difference betweem my Amvona clone and my partner’s original. The ball mount allows you to instantly point the scope where you want it, and then lock it into position without any creep or movement.
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