There are a slew of scopes on the market, but it seems there’s only a few held in high regard. Obviously SWFA has cornered a pretty damn good market share. I reckon Nightforce is unquestionable. Leupold had/has its day and so on.
................ What gives?
I just can't wade through 13 pages, so forgive me if this has been covered.
1.) Consumers by on price. 2.) Consumers prefer variable scopes 3.) Variable power scopes are more sophisticated, have more parts and are more expensive to build than are fixed scopes. 4.) SWFA SS scopes made their reputation on very good reasonably priced fixed power scopes. I have SWFA 6X42 BS 10X42. Clear and rugged.
5.) China can build quality or they will build on the cheap. China builds aircraft carriers, stealth fighters and nuclear bombs. They can reverse engineer anything, and WILL for a PRICE. Just because it is made in China is not automatically make it garbage. The market goes there most to keep costs down. They contract for price and quality is not the driving factor.
About 2 years ago I did a test of three upper end Chinese made scopes. I talked with JB about testing parameters and the ability of the ChiComs to make a quality product. In his words 'they will make whatever you pay them to make."
I took these three scopes, did low light testing, did tracking, did clarity on power adjustment etc on more than one rifle (Mostly 6.5 x 55 and 9.3 x 62). I then wrapped them up and put them in mail to several other members who mounted them on everything from 7 x 57 to .416 and banged away. Not one failed even after being shipped USPS to four different cities and back and being subjected to recoil from various calibers that were all "big enough".
What did I learn? These scopes were heavy. Steel tubes and lead glass. One was a S&B PMii clone that has Schott contract glass. Another wasa a TAC VEctor Paragon with Schott glass. No lead glass manufacturing in Europe so Schott Werks sends it to China. Scope was big and heavy. It worked. I thought it had a parallax issue at higher magnification. I saw that in the others also.
So why do scopes suck?
It's tough to build a high quality variable power scope in the $250-$300 price range. It's nigh impossible for $125. I see that the S&B Chicom clone is now going for $500 on EBAY. Not worth it. Buy a Leupold. Mine now sits on a Ruger 77/22. Another is on a Ruger 7mm Mag. It was a good experiment. For the money I spent on them, the SWFA 10X42 is a better scope.
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