ok guys, clear something up for me.

[toecatch]

FWIW, My experience with "cheaper" scopes is as follows. My 25-06 has a Leupold Vari-x 2 3x9. I have hunted with these scopes for twenty years, and absolutely no problems, low light or otherwise. A couple of years ago, I picked up a NEF 22 Hornet for a good price, and topped it with a (cough) simmons $30.00 3x9. When I sighted the gun in, I got three shots touching at 70 yds. with factory ammo. I was impressed. The first time we called a 'cat in at dusk, all I could see through that $30.00 scope is glare, no matter what power it was on. Accuracy wise, it's still dead on, and this little gun takes a beating. The lack of ANY light gathering abilities, from lack of lens coatings, makes me absolutely hate this scope for varmint hunting,which is what this gun was bought for.

take this for what it's worth, but my dad always told me that a lot of people purchase their guns and scopes backwards. i.e. they buy a $700.00 dollar gun and top it off with a $150.00 scope, when the opposite will gain you better results. I wish I would have listened

[REM223PA]

that don't work for me

i need a good gun as much as a scope

i am sorry you whaited to get out hunting at dusk before you found that out.

here's one my dad sed to me
( you get what you pay for)

[toecatch]

REM223PA said:

that don't work for me

i need a good gun as much as a scope

i am sorry you whaited to get out hunting at dusk before you found that out.

here's one my dad sed to me
( you get what you pay for)

That is so true! At least this lesson only cost $30.00, and is easily corrected

[Ricochet]

Return to zero's been mentioned. Another problem to watch for is aimpoint drift with magnification change.

I'm a user of cheap scopes myself, and don't own any really nice ones. The only real problem I've encountered is improperly set parallax.

[Ricochet]

Oh, yeah, mounts! Cheap mounts can give you a lot of grief! And preinstalled package rifle/scope combos at the discount stores may not have the scope mounted properly. (e.g., no Loctite on the screws, no tape inside the rings, reticle not straight...) Been there.

[GroovyDon]

I tend to classify scopes.

1) Tasco and like brands

2) Simmons, weaver, leupold and like brands

3) Swarovski, Schmidt & Bender, Zeiss and US Optics

Buy what you can afford. The class 3 scopes will outperform the other 2 classes in durability, light utilization, clarity and repeatability. Hands down, no contest.

I had a Bushnell scope on a 336 Marlin (35 Rem) for 20 years. Never had a bit of problems with it. I had several Leupolds. One in particular gave me fits, it was a 2.5 to 8 and I sent it back 3 different times for a broken reticle. I have since moved on to better scopes, since I can now afford better.

My list of scopes include:
Schmidt & Bender 1.5 to 6 X 42 - on my 375 H&H AI
Swarovski 2.5 to 10 X 42 - on my 7mm mag
Schmidt & Bender 4 to 16 X 50 PM II - on my 300 win mag
Swarovski 6 to 24 X 50 Target Scope on my 22 CHeetah MK 1

A few weeks ago, while hog hunting in Texas, in the dark, I had no problems at all seeing the hogs and my crosshairs using my 7mm mag and the Swarovski 2.5 to 10 X 42 scope. We had another hunter in camp that lost his crosshairs when the sun had set - he was using a Leupold.

Don