AO scopes compared to Non AO's

[CharlieDaTuna]

Just kind of wondered about different opinions comparing the two and how/why your choice. You can adjust most non AO scopes for a given distance but you need to be careful when doing it

There are very few scopes that focus down to 10yards and are airgun rated in non-ao. Guess that's why I choose AO all the time. I like being able to adjust and get that super clear view. If I'm hunting and don't want to mess with the AO that much, I just turn down the power and it is clear through a wider range on the objective.

[daved]

Pretty much ditto what Robert said.  Bob, how do you adjust a non-AO scope?  I've never heard of such a thing.

Dave

[ribbonstone]

Not really recommended...and only when scopes are constructed a certain way...but basically re moving the front lens elemates in or out.  Not something you'd want to do on a $400 scope...but perhaps on a $30 scope.

Troulbe is, can only set parlax for one range; usually not sadisfactory when adjusted to short-short range.

Buy an AO airifle scope.

[CharlieDaTuna]

It's pretty much as ribbonstone says. It is easy to do on most inexpensive non-AO scope and I have done quite a few of them. Many of the expensive ones are sealed pretty well and you need to be careful when doing it and I wouldn't really recommend doing it on gas filled scopes.

In a nutshell................

So many people get upset because they shoot poorly with a scope and blame the scope. In a good many instances, it's not the fault of the scope. If you look through you scope (the scope needs to be held very steady) with the cross hairs on a line of reference at different distances and while holding the gun steady, bob your head up and down, what happens to your line of reference in relationship to your cross hairs?  Interesting huh??? When right, or zeroed for a given distance, there should be no change or movement in the picture. The cross hairs should stay right on center with no shift.

 The problem with a non-AO is that the parallax is set for a fixed distance and it may be the distance that you normally do not shoot at. It's very simple to do the head bob test to see how far and how much it is off. Unless you learn how to compensate for it, you will quite often find that you are not hitting your intended POI consistently and you will more than likely see vertical shifts as well as possible horizontal shifts. In essence, being that the scope is fixed, all you are doing is changing the distance that it is "fixed" for.

Adjusting is simple but try to use a good fitting spanning tool (to fit into the ring notches) and be careful not to damage the lens or the coating on the lens. The locking ring will also have very fine threads so be very careful not to cross thread when re-installing it. The objective lens usually has a locking ring in front of the lens. You can remove the locking ring using a spanner tool of sorts. You can then get to the objective lens to adjust it using a spanner either in or out. You determine the distance that you want to set it for and set up a point of reference, say 30 yards out, "target" that has a horizontal and vertical lines on it and simply adjust the parallax as you would with any AO scope .When finished adjusting, reinstall the locking ring but do not over tighten.


There are articles on my website addressing scope adjusting on the airgun info page.

[rabbit]

All,

     Don't do this unless you want a worthless scope. Once you break the seal it is ruined. It will fog from now on. That's what Adjustable Objectives are for.

                                        Rabbit    

[ribbonstone]

Darned few scopes are really sealed; of the oens that started taht way, even fewer stay that way.

Truth is, the more moving parts to the tube, the LESS likely a scope is to stay sealed.

Bu I do agree with buying an AO scope whenever possible...even if you intend to set it to the one range you shoot and never fiddle with it again.

Back in the old days, when basically a dirt-poor student, knew about AO scopes but couldn't afford them.  the trick an old timer taught me was to set the scope a little too far forward...just far enough that there was a dark ring aroung the field of view.

If you center the field in the objective, leaving that slight dark ring all around, then your head is in exactly the same place each shot...no paralax problems.

Now back then it was a .222 and a 6X Weaver....but the same technique will work if you think you are having paralax problems with your airgun.....just move your head ack a bit, center the picture in the dark ring around the objective, and then shoot...whatever your error, it's not parallax.

[CharlieDaTuna]

You are right ribbonstone...few scopes are really sealed or sealed well. Fewer still are gas filled unless you spend an arm and a leg.

The statement about the more moving parts, the greater the chance of the seals holding is true but not only that, with a springer, the greater the chance of it not holding up also. Just more parts to get "shocked" loose.

 And....learned something new. The part about setting the scope forward for more relief is interesting too. I've never heard of it until now but it does make sense. Gonna have to try that sometime.

[ribbonstone]

Sometimes you get lucky.

Had a house 1/2 block from the 17th street canala in New Orleans...Katrina put 12 feet of very fast moving water through the house (house was a total write off...is an empty lot now). Was moving fast enough to put a truck through the back bedroom.

12 feet of salt water...rattled the safes around, earing them from the walls and depositing them towards the back fo what was left of the house.  Water sayed over the level of the gun safes for at least 3 weeks.

ONE scope came out alive (95% of the guns didn't...including stainless steel).  Nikons, Leupolds, Redfields, Unertls, Lymans, Weavers, Simmons, Tasco, and Bushnell all were water filled and corroded/rusted past redemtion.

Why one cheap 3-9X Bushnell Sportview lived and all the others died is beyond me.  I still own it...it still works.
----
BTW: wat to try this test at home?

Take a 12 foot high PVC pipe.
Toss your guns into it.
Fill it with salt water.
Add in a dead cat, a spoon full of EVERY chemical in your house, a dash of gasoline, and five shovels of dirt.
Take a dump in it.
Cap it.
Roll it around forcefully.
Poke a 1/16th inch hole in the bottom of the pipe and walk away for four weeks.
----
Also became a beliver in RUGER stainless steel....only two stainless guns to survive were Rugers. S&W stainless, Taurus stainless, Colt stainless all rusted and corroded past repair (in some cases, the trigger guards were rusted completely away).

[Gene_SC]

Ribbonstone

Sorry for you loss and thousands of others with there homes and memories ruined. Hope that you had insurance on your house and was able to recover your loses. I have often wondered myself how I would recover from such a disaster. Probably not well.

Gene