Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Dare I even ask?...Tasco..

I've owned a bunch of of Tasco scopes made from the early 80s to present; they all helped me shoot good groups and I don't remember a failure.

I still shoot an '86 Japanese 2x7 Pronghorn on a 22 and I like it. I also had a Taiwanese made 4x16 "Mag IV" that shot good groups and stood up to many rounds of 300 Win. Mag.

These Tascos were inexpensive and and worked just as well for me as certain more expensive units.

In the past, Tasco made some nice higher end stuff, (World class Plus). As far as I know, all of the recent "Tasco" scopes are very modestly priced, and seem very decent for what they cost.

I'm suspecting that y'all are lucky, but I don't know that. I had one Tasco that went down the road with the rifle it came to me on. It was a 4x Pronghorn on a Marlin .30-30. The two worked well enough while I had them, but I wanted something different.

I've never lost a zero on a tasco scope. Never had bad groups either. The eye box and quality of glass is pretty low, but I've had scopes that cost 10 and 20 times more fail in both regards. If it works don't change a thing.

Japanese era Tasco scopes are good scopes.
Chinese era Tasco not good scopes.

Have not tried Tasco scopes since Bushnell bought the brand. Do not have an informed opinion.

Started using Leopold in the late 90's...never looked back. If one has to explain why good glass is important...the other person will not get it. I have a loner rifle with a VX 2 Leu. I just let people hunt it a couple of times. It's not long before they own one.

I find that although most low priced scopes will hold a zero, like said above the quality, clarity and brightness of the glass is the biggest difference.

I have one of those early 80's Tasco World Class 2x7 Pronghorn scopes sitting on my bench that I just took off of a rifle that has had it for years. That scope has been on a few different rifles since purchase in the 80's new and has worked flawlessly. As others have said the glass is not great by today's standards and the eye box is tight but they work.

I have no Tascos now and haven't bought one in thirty years, but don't recall problems with several that I had. I quickly found out years ago, however, they had little in the way of resale value.

I have used several World Class scopes.
They adjust more reliably than many of my Leopolds.
One did have the whole turret screw off the tube, when I was removing the cap.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I had a Japanese Tasco that held up for years on a 338 Win Mag. I saw the front lens of a Chinese Tasco literally fall out of the scope!

Some of the "Euroclass", "Titans" and other Tasco's were real finds. Now Bushnell has glommed onto Tasco, Bausch and Lomb etc and you aren't quite sure what you might be getting!

I have a Japanese Tasco World Class 6-24 target scope that served me well for several years on my silhouette rifle when I was poor. It lost focus one day and I sent it in for service at the time that Tasco was going under. When it came back the focus was OK but I had lost a full revolution of elevation travel and they had boogered up screws and bent the edge of the objective ring. I replaced it with a Leupold FX-3 12x that wouldn't track at all, but that's another story. I can't say that the Leupold is any better scope than the Tasco except for image quality.

Good glass is important. Thats why I own so much Z glass. Much better than comparably priced L stuff.

I have been a Tasco advocate for decades. In all those years I had one that would not track correctly. Their "Supercon" lenses give about the same results on my optics chart as my Weaver V24. They are tough as nails having never failed on the .300 Weatherby and .375-.416 Rem.

I should add I've had tasco over the years and they have all been ok scopes. Glass quality left to be desired but durability was fine except for 3 in a row 2.5 X pistol scopes that a redhawk in 44 mag toasted, they replaced, kept the last one for something, I"m sure its somewhere in the gun stuff...

The reason Americans don't think of Tasco as a worth consideration is because they can be mostly seen ion bubble packs in Walmart.
The Japanese scopes are still chugging along because they never gave their owner a reason to doubt them. The only flaw I have experienced was a 6-20 that got a little fuzzy in the parallax adjustment when the power got up to around 18 but that doesn't mean the scope was useless under normal usage.

The best products I used were the Titan and the World Class Plus (Both Japan) which is nit the same scope as the World Class. The optics were right there with VAriX111 and turrets fine.
John

As should be noticed by now, the Japanese made scopes were decent for the money while the Chinese made scopes are generally to be avoided. I have several 25+ year old Tasco scopes on a few rifles which have given me good service over the years. I can't say the same for the newer ones.

I recently bought a fixed 4x which is going to replace the newer 3-9x Tasco on a slug gun. Te variable tracks and holds zero well until the power setting is changed. Going from 3x to 9x will change point of impact as much as 5". Worst part is, the change is not predictable with changing magnification moving impact first one way and then another. I currently have the scope set at 4x but figure someone will change it at some point as the gun is a loaner too. A fixed power will stop that problem.

What cheap Tascos I have get tossed on rifles I sell if the buyer insists on a scope. I explain the potential problems and the only solution before sending both off to assuage my conscience. I haven't heard back from any buyers so either things worked out for them or they had a confidence attack and replaced the scope.

Guess I've been lucky once again...

I've had few issues with them... and when I did, they were replaced by Tasco.

as far as glass quality... well for a long time, I've had "Tasco" quality eye sight...
so their glass wasn't a big issue for me either...

As far as Bushnell buying the Tasco name...

I did have one 4 x 16 that went south on me, one day at the range on a 223 no less..

I went thru a bunch of handloads that day trying to get it figured out...

being in a bad mood, didn't help...

one the way home, I threw it out the window of the car driving at 50 mph or so..

went back and picked it up due to feeling guilty about littering...

got home.. and still being pissed at it beat it on a rock in the backyard a couple of times
before throwing it in the trash...

glass stayed in it, but the body was all beat to crap and scratched up as expected..
threw it in the trash...

when I went to the dump a month later, it dumped out of the trash can with the rest of the trash..

I picked it up and on a wild hair, sent it in to Bushnell... it was made pre Bushnell days...
Sent a note on what a POS it was....told them to keep it...

3 weeks later out of the blue, I get a 'refurbished' 4 x 16 from Bushnell with no explanation...

I still think they were laughing so much about getting it back in the condition it was in...
they just sent me a refurbished one, for the entertainment...

who knows, but I still have it on a 10/22....

got a couple of their Air Gun Scopes around here also.. they don't track worth a damn..
but they sure have some really crisp glass on them....a lot better than the others ...

I only have 1, a Pronghorn 6X that was on a tang safety Roberts when I bought it a couple of years ago. Took it off and replaced it on the Roberts but was going to try it out but when I unscrewed one of the turret caps, an O-ring came out with the cap. Don't know enough about if that means the gas would have escaped in it or not but threw it in a corner where it still sits.

P.S.-I find it amazingly sad that practically every thread on the optics forum turns into opportunities to bash Leupolds.