Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics SWFA 10x42 Surprise

I just bought my first SWFA scope 10x42 SS because I was curious what all the fuss and fawning by many of you was all about.
For $300 bucks I wasn’t really expecting much...I figured based on past Fire 🔥 Threads it would be mechanically sound but I didn’t expect the clarity of the glass to be as good as it is. Nice surprise when I looked at a clearcut 1300 yards away and saw how crisp the sight picture was edge to edge. Well worth the price! Made in Japan seems to mean something.

I have several older Sightron SII scopes that are Japan made. Comparing them to my new Sightron SII scope which is identical except made in the Philippines. The Japan scopes have better glass clarity without question. 😎

Wait till you start adjusting.

The glass in most ss scopes is much better than most people realize. Their HD glass is very good.

That’s gonna be the joke on me for awhile...I bought the scope to teach myself how to use turrets for distance shooting. Small investment with a big upside in unexpected quality...I am very happy...Now the learning begins.

Glad you're happy with it

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with my 3-9. It’s a keeper.

I had a 10x42 surprise today too...

Ordered a 3-15 that was on sale and had a 10x in the box. Receipt is correct(shows the 3-15) butbwrong scope. Hope I don’t have a hard time getting them to exchange it.

Mine's a 6x, but you're right, they're impressive for the money. Shortening the supply chain and not making a bunch of cosmetic and feature changes just for the "churn" no doubt helps keep the price down, and the factory is probably getting prerty good at making them correctly.

I've been widening my optical horizons a good bit in the last year, purchasing not only the SS, but a Tract, and two Hawkes from Doug, all but the SS deeply discounted. Too early to tell much but all have worked well so far.

Pappy: I don’t read enough about all the new products being offered by newer companies to comment or recommend...Scopes matter and I’ve been happy living in my Leupold, Sightron bubble.

I once had a frail minded moment and bought 5 Vortex Vipers 30mm scopes in 6-20x44 w/side parallax from Doug for a few varmint rifles... I was never really that impressed. Sold off 4 of them. I did buy a some Vortex Viper HD 10x42 nocs that I still use on occasion.

Sometimes expensive equals quality and sometimes inexpensive will surprise you...The latter usually ends up either going out of business or costing more to meet demand and increase profits...Glad to get a good deal in price and quality for a change.

Like I said a while back in one of Form's threads, why pay a bunch of money for a scope that holds up like a $200 one. Just get the $200 one.

The Hawkes look and feel like solid goods, especially the 8x56. I'm hoping that at 22oz, there's some beefy innards. Someplace I read that they're all airgun rated. If so, that might help them withstand the odd bump a bit better than ones designed to handle recoil from only one direction. Got an airgun-rated Bushnell that took the vibration from a thousand or so shots from a magnum springer then whacked a deer atop a .243.

At least as good as a tasco Titan

I have two of them and absolutely love them. I have shot deer, from close, to over 400 yards at last light, as well as targets. I have had no issues so far.