CHOOSING AN AIR RIFLE SCOPE

[brihacharan]

CHOOSING AN AIR RIFLE SCOPE
Before going into a lot of detail about scopes, you should be aware of the two following points:

1. If you shoot a recoilless air-gun such as a pre-charged pneumatic (PCP), single-cock pneumatic (10 meter match gun) or CO2 air-gun, you can practically use any scope.

2. If you shoot a spring air-gun, you will need to choose a scope that matches the recoil rating of your air-gun.
Ultimately, there are only two features that make an air-gun scope different than a firearm scope.
1.An adjustable objective
2.Optics that are anchored to handle the two way recoil of a spring air-gun.

ADJUSTABLE OBJECTIVE

An adjustable objective is a feature that allows the shooter to "focus" for any distance from a very close distance 10 yards or meters to infinity. Most firearm scopes are parallax set for 100 yards or more to accommodate the long distance shooting requirements of a hunting firearm. Air-gun scopes, however, must allow the shooter to adjust the parallax to accommodate for shorter air-gun distances. This feature is necessary to achieve the maximum accuracy in an air-gun.

ANCHORED OPTICS

Anchored optics is necessary to handle the forward and backward recoil caused by the mainspring's movement. Recoil in a spring air-gun is different than recoil in a firearm in the sense that it isn't only the amount of recoil that matters, but the direction of the recoil as well. Mainsprings cause an air-gun to recoil backward and forward while firearms only recoil in a backward direction. It is this two-direction recoil that can cause damage to non-air-gun rated scopes.

Scopes designed for firearms have optics anchored to handle the backward movement of the recoil. Air-gun scopes require that optics be anchored to handle the two-way recoil generated by the mainspring. Even though a manufacturer may rate a scope for air-guns, it may not handle all spring air-guns. Some air-gun rated scopes are designed to handle only light recoil air-guns while others are built to handle the medium and high recoil spring air-guns.

Hence it is important to check the nature of ‘recoil’ of the air-gun you plan to buy, before you decide to go in for a scope that’s suitable for your air-rifle. It’s also wise to mount the scope using a ‘single piece’ mount as compared to a 2 piece mount that comes with a ‘scope stopper’ fixture.
Briha

[aishwarya]

Hi brihacharan,
I am confused in choosing the air rifle.....U have displayed the post very clearly....Thanks for the nice post....Now I got an idea with this post..........

[roman_2089]

I have purchased a pegasus air rifle but was unable to find a scope that would work with the rifle along with the mount....Request any help or suggestion as to where can I purchase it from as I stay in Mumbai and the store didn't have it during the time of purchase.

Thanks in Advance...