Fine, Good or Great Glass - your pick?

[Matt@Nearfield]

So I've taken the Black Friday deals as a chance to buy some nice glass. Ive tried all sorts and I have to say I really enjoy great glass.

Can I get by with ok glass- sure. Is my shooting any better with great glass- absolutely NOT.

But I do take pleasure from nice things. I get just as much pleasure from looking through great glass as I do from shouldering a lovely gun.

I appreciate I've chosen to have just one gun and one piece of glass (or will when this exercise is over), and others may get more pleasure from having multiple guns.

I also don't spend money on range time, no anual fees or petrol costs.

I only make this post as it appears there is a general feeling that great glass is unnecessary but great guns to be encouraged, so thought I'd ask the AGF collective their thoughts

 

[Marky807]

I heard somewhere that you should spend twice as much on your scope as your gun

 

[crissdee]

I heard that as well, and thought it was a stupid idea. For ninety percent of people, good enough is good enough. Most of us, if we are really honest, are nowhere near good enough shots to really take advantage of the tiny percentage of improvement you get after £500 or £600 worth of glass. Argue all you like, I simply don't believe it.

 

[That hurts]

Whatever works for you ... have seen people with low end scopes (i.e. sub £100) out shooting so-called experts with very high end glass (ZCO, S&B, Valdada et al).

 

[Paynut]

Whatever suits your eyes, set up and budget

 

[rocketdogbert]

The great thing about scopes is you can move them from rifle to rifle.
Buy the absolute best you can afford, but it is definitley diminishing returns.
Is my £3.5k PMII four times better than my Strike Eagle? No. But is the Strike Eagle four times better than a cheaply £200 scope? Yes

 

[Nords]

A good place to post this, be warned it is an hour and a half of your life you’ll never get back!

I would say go with whatever you like and can afford. I have a mixture of £100 scopes to £2.4K.

 

[Wing Commander]

When we look through a scope this is the view we have of our chosen hobby/sport.
It is obviously a personal choice, but a session at my club can last for several hours, and if the picture coming back to my eye is bright, crisp and sharp, it puts a smile on my face, and makes the session for more enjoyable.

If the view through the scope is dull and blurry, for me, this diminishes my enjoyment of the game, and I certainly wouldn't want to endure it for a long session. . I can do without the eye strain and the headache.

Does better glass make for improved accuracy? . . Who knows, but if you can see what you're aiming at, you stand a better chance of hitting it.

Put it this way: Would you drive your car with all the windows misted up?

 

[Gummage]

I like good glass, but it can get expensive, and mid range products are my mainstay, say £350 to £850.
I do also use some cheaper, they are ' ok'.

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

I heard that as well, and thought it was a stupid idea. For ninety percent of people, good enough is good enough. Most of us, if we are really honest, are nowhere near good enough shots to really take advantage of the tiny percentage of improvement you get after £500 or £600 worth of glass. Argue all you like, I simply don't believe it.

I can see where they are coming from. When you start looking into what goes into a scope, the number and quality of lenses and coatings, stuffed into tubes, within tubes, with micro precision... and then engineered to mive about on demand but absorb knocks and shocks without loosing those settings its quite incredible what they achieve. To my very limited understanding rifles seem much much easier to make. But what do I know .

With regard to diminishing returns is it fair to say its no different to air guns themselves?

Sorry, not picking on you, just a good post to reply to

 

[chouchin66]

I'm in the " great glass" camp. A scope of the outlay over a " lesser" model, having better lens coatings, a better tolerance lens grind, will be way easier on one's eye, ( less eye strain) whether one consciously realizes it or not. Better grinds/ coatings/ alignment will also give better service at lower magnification, in less than optimum lighting conditions & you'll likely get tougher/ more repeatable internal mechanicals. There is though the omnipresent law of diminishing returns, in play.

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

it puts a smile on my face, and makes the session for more enjoyable.

Whilst agreeing with your whole post I cherry picked this line because its really important to me.

As with airguns themselves, but with all my things, what's wrong with just buying things that give us pleasure?

I have Lie Neilson hand planes, and Japanese chisels, and other fine tools. Do they make my joinery any better, no, do they make me smile every time I use them- hell yes

I could just have any of a number of airguns, they are all almost certainly more more accurate than me... but i choose the ones that make me smile

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

I'm in the " great glass" camp. A scope of the outlay over a " lesser" model, having better lens coatings, a better tolerance lens grind, will be way easier on one's eye, ( less eye strain) whether one consciously realizes it or not. Better grinds/ coatings/ alignment will also give better service at lower magnification, in less than optimum lighting conditions & you'll likely get tougher/ more repeatable internal mechanicals. There is though the omnipresent law of diminishing returns, in play.

I've been through an epiphany recently thanks to those videos @Nords keeps posting. Great glass really is a joy!

 

[Marky807]

I heard that as well, and thought it was a stupid idea. For ninety percent of people, good enough is good enough. Most of us, if we are really honest, are nowhere near good enough shots to really take advantage of the tiny percentage of improvement you get after £500 or £600 worth of glass. Argue all you like, I simply don't believe it.

Yep, I've just bought a scope for £45, will be more than good enough for me

 

[Marky807]

Whilst agreeing with your whole post I cherry picked this line because its really important to me.

As with airguns themselves, but with all my things, what's wrong with just buying things that give us pleasure?

I have Lie Neilson hand planes, and Japanese chisels, and other fine tools. Do they make my joinery any better, no, do they make me smile every time I use them- hell yes

I could just have any of a number of airguns, they are all almost certainly more more accurate than me... but i choose the ones that make me smile

A lot things we have/do in first world countries are surplus to requirements, I know the joy you're talking about, if you get that feeling without taking illegal substances or harming yourself or anyone else then more power to you. One of the best things about airgums is there is so much choice, it's flippin ace and I flippin love it

P.s. got any scope pics?

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

A lot things we have/do in first world countries are surplus to requirements, I know the joy you're talking about, if you get that feeling without taking illegal substances or harming yourself or anyone else then more power to you. One of the best things about airgums is there is so much choice, it's flippin ace and I flippin love it

P.s. got any scope pics?

I've given up fag's, booze, chocolate, carbs and feel if I want to indulge in sone glass that helps me see better it only makes shooting safer for everyone else.

Not really any pics to be honest.. no idea why I didn't take any

 

[Driver]

"Date the rifle, marry the glass!"
Is that true? Perhaps, I did a side by side twilight test of my better scopes and the most expensive was the best although this obviously wasn't a "blind" test.

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

I'm in the " great glass" camp. A scope of the outlay over a " lesser" model, having better lens coatings, a better tolerance lens grind, will be way easier on one's eye, ( less eye strain) whether one consciously realizes it or not. Better grinds/ coatings/ alignment will also give better service at lower magnification, in less than optimum lighting conditions & you'll likely get tougher/ more repeatable internal mechanicals. There is though the omnipresent law of diminishing returns, in play.

Also often gets you better perceived field of view, better ret, more forgiving parallax, more stable and forgiving eye relief.. lots and lots I feel, as you know, but often doesn't get mentioned.

 

[Marky807]

I've given up fag's, booze, chocolate, carbs and feel if I want to indulge in sone glass that helps me see better it only makes shooting safer for everyone else.

Not really any pics to be honest.. no idea why I didn't take any

You need a decent camera next

 

[2506sendero]

So I've taken the Black Friday deals as a chance to buy some nice glass. Ive tried all sorts and I have to say I really enjoy great glass.

Can I get by with ok glass- sure. Is my shooting any better with great glass- absolutely NOT.

But I do take pleasure from nice things. I get just as much pleasure from looking through great glass as I do from shouldering a lovely gun.

I appreciate I've chosen to have just one gun and one piece of glass (or will when this exercise is over), and others may get more pleasure from having multiple guns.

I also don't spend money on range time, no anual fees or petrol costs.

I only make this post as it appears there is a general feeling that great glass is unnecessary but great guns to be encouraged, so thought I'd ask the AGF collective their thoughts

So what did you buy?