Compact Scopes for a Compact Rifle

[hiroller]

I was at a local sports store yesterday and couldn't pass up on one of their 79.00 Recons.  My wife and her young nieces love target shooting indoors with me, but my Varmint Hunter is a bit too heavy and overpowered for them for the 10 yards we shoot in the house.  I was pleasantly surprised by this rifle - feels and looks good and easy to cock.  It also packs a nice little punch.  The trigger also feels a little better than the other stock Gamo triggers I've tried, but a GRT-III is still going to be installed.  

The 4x20 scope it came with is complete trash.  I tried sighting it in but gave up after 30 minutes and took it off.  I spent the next hour free sighting the rifle and putting round after round through it.  Even without sights and a scope it was pretty fun and the wife had a great time with that little challenge.  It didn't take long to figure out a decent point of aim to get within 1" of a target every time.  We put about 300 rounds through it playing a game of horse.  Due to the size of this rifle, I'm thinking of going with a compact scope of some kind.  I've seen a Centerpoint that measures about 8.25" in length and a Leapers Bug Buster that's about the same and like the price of the Leapers.  

For those that have used or use it, what do you think about the Bug Buster for this little 500fps rifle?  From the looks of the Bug Buster, and gauging by the total length it looks as though the scope rings would need around 1" of space between their mount points on the scope and the rings themselves be no more than 1" wide.  Are there any one piece scope mounts that would work with this?  If not, what set of inexpensive rings would you suggest?

[daved]

You can use a standard set of rings, Jay, they just have to be mounted close together.  A one piece mount can't be longer than 3", most one pc. mounts are 4" long.  When I had a Bug Buster on one of my rifles (for about 5 minutes!), I used the BKL short cantilever mount, I believe it's a model 263.  Not cheap, but a great mount for one of those scopes.  Regarding the Bug Buster, for your use it may be okay.  I tried 2 or 3, and all of them had really lousy optics, practically worthless at more than 15 yards.  The eye relief is really short, too, shorter than the 3" claimed by Leapers.  CenterPoints are just rebadged Leapers, same scopes, models, and factory.  Of course, Crosman may be doing some more stringent QC, so that might explain the slightly higher price.  I'd be interested in hearing an opinion of the CenterPoint version of the Bug Buster, though.  I still like the idea, and if the optics were usable, I could see putting one on one of my Talons.  Hope that helps, and keep us posted.  Later.

Dave

[leftcoast1]

The 4x bug buster will work fine. I believe it will focus down to 7 yds. Archer Airguns sells the 1 piece mini mount for this scope, You could use the standard 2 piece mounts by accushot ( leapers ). They run about 10.00. I would recommend 2 piece mounts on a compact scope of this size. You will get more flexibility in positioning of the rings or you may need a offset mount from BKL.

[hiroller]

After days of research I went ahead and ordered the 6x Bug Buster and went with a 2 piece mount.  The scope has mixed reviews all over the place but I figured I'd give it a shot since it's one of the very few that fits the bill of what I'm looking for.  I started by sighting it in at 10 feet, then 10 yards (all indoors).  It didn't take more than a dozen shots to get this thing sighted in and the AO works great for my needs (shooting within a 20 yard area).  

The Recon I'm using this on only has a couple hundred rounds through it, so I'm going to give it more time to break in, but right now at 10 yards I'm grouping at about a 1/2".  This definitely fits my need for a compact scope and with AO and Mildot and I'm happy with the price (59 @ Pyramyd).  My only issue with it are the knobs; it'd be nice if they were knurled like some other scopes I've used - they're smooth metal and it sometimes makes it a challenge to turn when my fingertips are moist from sweat.  I'll post an update after a few weeks of shooting with this.  Thanks for the suggestions and info!

Edit: I can't add an image using the rich text editor - every time it shows up while inserting it, but once I hit submit the bb code all shows up in-line.  Any suggestions?