Spotting Scopes

[bladeracer]

I was just loaned a Swarovski ATS80 HD 20-60 spotting scope, an impressive piece of kit but way beyond the price I could justify. I'm doing some 400m .22LR shooting this arvo so I'll see if I can see .22" bullet holes in cardboard at that distance.
https://www.bintel.com.au/product/swarovski-ats-80-hd-w20-60x/

[bladeracer]

I was just loaned a Swarovski ATS80 HD 20-60 spotting scope, an impressive piece of kit but way beyond the price I could justify. I'm doing some 400m .22LR shooting this arvo so I'll see if I can see .22" bullet holes in cardboard at that distance.
https://www.bintel.com.au/product/swarovski-ats-80-hd-w20-60x/

With the 80-power we could see .22" bullet holes in the cardboard at 175m, no further. But it was at 1710 and the light was fading fast which may be a factor as I also couldn't see them through the 18-power scope at 175m, and I usually can. But I doubt I'll be able to see holes further than 200m with the Swarovski even in good light. Rose could see bullets hitting the mud though at 400m which I definitely couldn't see in the 4.5-power scope. I was zeroed at 200m and had the scope wound down to give me 62MoA on the BDC for 400m hits.

[straightshooter]

About a year ago I bought an ebay special, a Visionking 25-75x70. It is a reflector rather than a refractor scope. Specifically it uses a Maksutov-Cassegrain optical system which is very compact and for the money (about $140) it performs quite well. Only drawback is that it has a very shallow depth of field but that's not an issue when looking at a target.
This video gives an indication of what it looks like.
https://youtu.be/76SMWvsqJrA
There appears to be an identical looking Svbony unit available at twice the price.

[bladeracer]

About a year ago I bought an ebay special, a Visionking 25-75x70. It is a reflector rather than a refractor scope. Specifically it uses a Maksutov-Cassegrain optical system which is very compact and for the money (about $140) it performs quite well. Only drawback is that it has a very shallow depth of field but that's not an issue when looking at a target.
This video gives an indication of what it looks like.
https://youtu.be/76SMWvsqJrA
There appears to be an identical looking Svbony unit available at twice the price.

Pretty sure I have the same VK spotting scope. If I remember I'll take both out tomorrow and see how they compare, but that's a lot of gear to carry into where I'm shooting.

[bladeracer]

I took two rifles out today and couldn't be bothered trying to pack two tripods and spotting scopes so didn't take the VisionKing. But we got on the Swarovski 80-power as soon as we got out there in good light and Rose _could_ see some of the .22" bullet holes at 360m in the cardboard, I couldn't see any. Even for her eyes it was marginal, if she didn't know there were holes there she probably wouldn't have picked them out. I fired 180rds today and with the scope at 18-power I only saw three splashes of impacts in the mud/dirt at 360m while Rose was seeing most of them with the 80-power. I wouldn't spend thousands on a spotting scope to gain perhaps 100-200m viewing range over a $200 scope, I'd spend it on a remote camera setup.

[in2anity]

Blade. What higher quality glass also facilitates is the ability to better observe the mirage, sometimes at a rather far away target. Try and see the subtle deformation of the heatwaves at 1000yds with a $200 scope…. vs a $2000 scope.

[straightshooter]

It's not necessarily a function of price but design.
The ability to focus or not focus on mirage is related to depth of field of the optical system which in turn is related to the diameter of the objective lens.
That's why companies like March or Nightforce sell accessories such as MD discs (mirage disc) which sharpen the depth of field so one can have the best of both worlds.
One would expect better mechanical durability and resolution and less colour fringing and image distortion in the more expensive units.