Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns New Air Gun Scope

I'm thinking about putting a new scope on my Beeman R9. I have been using a Hawke AirMax EV 3-9 AO that I am thinking of moving to my R7. I'm OK with spending $200-300 or so. I see the new Hawke AirMax has a very fine reticle that may not be bright enough for shooting at black bullseye targets in my basement. What are some good quality scopes that will handle the R9 springer recoil and work well indoors. I would want a reticle that has drop compensating hash marks. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

I debated scope choices for my RWS 350 recently and mounted a Burris Timberline 4.5-14x32 with holdover dots and AO down to 10yds, It's working fine.
The Hawke Airmax 4-12x40 is a favorite and worked well indoors but my target was a black magic marker dot on paper or an airgun target.
A 4th Airmax seemed excessive so I pondered a Hawke Vantage 4-12x40 MilDot AO for $130, all caliber rated.
I suspect the reticle is heavier than the Airmax.
I'll likely get one to try but it'll have to wait a couple months, I've got too many irons in the fire right now, Maybe I can catch a sale at Cameraland!
The Burris functions fine, as expected but as I've noticed in the past, It's not as easy to get behind as many other scopes. It was sitting unused and that was enough for now...

Let us know what you decide!

I'm shooting at a 10 meter air gun target with 5 bulls on it. Each bull is black with a red dot in the center and measures a bit over one inch. So they are small but I need a reticle that can be seen clearly on the black.

There's lot of good choices, I've had a Leupold VXII 3-9x33mm EFR on an R9 for several years now and find it ideal. It's got the standard duplex reticle. I have the same scope with the fine duplex and it's a bit too fine for shooting in anything other than full daylight against white paper targets.

In that price range, you can shop for some nice stuff. AO is basically a must, as well as a "no questions asked" warranty. My R9 has fairly modest recoil, but even that rifle will eat a cheap scope eventually.
They are so accurate that a 4-12 seems like a good match. And thats what they sold the Goldfinger combo with. I dont know if they need a droop mount but I dont think so.
I'm trying to figure out what to put on my RWS 350, so let us know what you choose.

I think I'm going to go with a Hawke Airmax 3-9 x 40 AO. For my purposes (offhand practice at 10 yards) I think 9x is enough power. I can get one from Cameraland at a decent price. I've had good luck with my other Airmax's. Hopefully the reticle will be easy enough to see.

The Airmax scopes have a strong reputation and are true airgun scopes. Good choice.

It must be a true airgun rated scope. The Airmax sounds good. I just bought a Bugbuster. But the parallax adjustment is on the objective due to a lighted reticle switch on the left turret. I didn't notice when I ordered so I got a large adjustment ring. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

I ended up going with the Hawke Airmax 3-9 x 40 AO. The reticle is fine but seems to work pretty well for my target shooting application. I don't think this reticle would be well suited to hunting in the woods but is good otherwise. Good glass and parallax adjustment.

My .30 cal. Hatsam came with am Optima 3x9 that seems to be holding up OK so far. This is a powerful break action rifle, so it should be a good "torture test" for a scope?

Mike Holmes

If the Optima is not using support on the reticle front and back of it there may be some wreckage there. Is the 30 cal a gas ram like the R9 or a PCP? That's apples and oranges! No double recoil in the PCP as in the R9 gas ram. Be Well, Rustyzipper

The .30 is a break action with a vortex piston, but today I put a Hawk AirMax 2x7 scope on it - and I like it a lot!

Mike Holmes