Question for Magnification Scope Users

[sherlockbonez]

Hi everyone,

I've had the same gun for close to 3 years now, and have been debating for about the same time to get a low mag scope for it.

I was wondering if you guys find it useful at all airsoft gaming. I know you're not gonna be able to shoot at everything you see, but does it help in shooting at elbows and half a head peeking around buildings? I played with reddots before, but was wondering on target acqsition time vs iron sight. I've played with a few over the years on other ppls guns, but they were never sighted in for me, want to see other's opinion on it.

[LUTNIT]

I use a Bushnell shotgun scope with 1.5-3x magnification and I love it. The 1.5x is low enough that you can keep both eyes open without any distortion and I always hate red dots because the dot is so hard to find all the time in bright conditions, even on the max setting. Higher magnification (3x on my AEG's and 9x on my M24) I only really use for visually scouting an area, its easier to see into bush and to see movement when your zoomed in.

Used a Bushnell holosight last game and I'm in love, I don't know why but I find it much easier to acquire targets then with a red dot though it was at a field with really dense bush (foxden in Ottawa) so I don't know what it will be like on more open fields where sun glare makes me lose the dot on a red dot.

[sherlockbonez]

Lets say that you're looking around and see someone 50-80ft away around a cornor, with practice, can you put the crosshair on target area as quick as ironsights? I find that I always ends up looking at pball stains on the building and have to look around for the target.

[SEALs]

its quite usefull especially when you do recon, I use M3 replica scope on my M24 and my SR25, altought on assault weapon, to me, I found it useless

[LUTNIT]

Its what your used to, when you use a scope enough you get a lot faster with acquiring a target.

[Gryphon]

I used to have a 3-9x on my KJ M700. I left it at 3x most of the time, but occasionally when I wanted to observe things at long range or identify the target the 9x magnification was invaluable. Depends really on the distances you plan to play at.

[bigbadbob17]

also depends on what you wear for protection. I use a full mask and I find the scope to be a little hard to aim with because of the mask. Its great for checking out things at a distance though, I use it for ... 20% of my shots

[takatorikku]

agreed. even the 1.5X carry handle scope on my G36 is rarely used, although when i do use it to sight a target, i never miss. thing's spot on.

when i had my type 96 with a 3-9, i usually left it on 4X and i used one of those cheap golf range finder monoculars to spot with. laugh you may, but i found the $15 mono dead useful in the field. i was able to determine range, elevation and windage all with that little thing. such fond memories...

*cough*

anyways, it will be awkward at first, but you get used to it. it really depends on your playing style and what field you're on. for a field like Flagraiders, you're better off with low mag scopes or even red-dots and holos. for big ass fields with wide open areas, use a long range scope. hell, our guns have rails, just swap a low mag with a hi mag whenever you need it.

[LUTNIT]

I have really bad vision and my eyes are quite slow to adjust focus so that may be a bias here but I find I can bring up a gun with a low mag scope (1.5-3x) that I am already used to shouldering and pop off shots real fast but with a higher mag scope (6x +) I have to wait a half second or so to adjust.

I also find that I cant get nearly the accuracy with iron sights I can with a scope, though I am slightly faster at acquiring a target with iron sights for faster shooting but once I get used to a certain scope/gun combo they are about equal but I get much smaller spreads with the scope.

[Gryphon]

I find that most non-weapon magnified optics I cannot use in the field without removing my eye protection simply because they're designed to have extremely short eye relief. Riflescopes on the other hand intentionally have a longer relief so the recoil of your gun doesn't drive the ocular bell into your eye socket (and that doesn't always work either, ask me and my .300 Win Mag how we know). Are there any mono or binoculars out there with a longer eye relief?

[takatorikku]

i remember bushnell making a mono with i think up to 3-4 inch eye relief, but that was back in the days when i was in school and messing around with .22s.

Airsoft simply doesnt shoot far enough to need anything more then the lowest magnification you can find. at 9x, even on an upgraded sniper rifle, you can see waaay farther then you can shoot.

Personally, target acquisition is easiest with iron sights or a RDS system, simply because in airsoft we are dealing with such short ranges. Scopes are designed for long range.

I dont mind a scope on my gun though, I can shoot fine with it on low magnification, and on huge area like Rawdon, the high magnification is handy as an observation device.

[FOX_111]

I use my scope on my M24 for aiming at minimum magnification. I rarely use the 9x.

I find it very usefull for spotting. When I don't play as a sniper in the field, I often wish I had something to zoom in on people just to identify my targets.

So yeah it's usefull, not for aiming unless a sniper or using an upgraded and precise gun.

[Gryphon]

Don't forget that not all games are constant run-and-gun affairs. Operation Keystone Strike 2 had a lot of lulls in combat where one force was silently waiting and observing the enemy before staging an assault. It's times like this where that 9x magnification can be very useful.

Then again I was packing my M249 during that op so I may not have a clue what I'm talking about.

[CDN_Stalker]

I have an RDS on my main MP5 (and am buying the same cheap, Tasco Red Dot for my other MP5............. redundacy is key to success!) and a 3-9x40 scope on both my sniper rifles. High scope mounts are important to those that wear goggles, primarily paintball goggles.

As for my usual settings, I keep them set low, generally 3-4x most of the time, because that way I can have a wider field of view, and can easily catch the flight of the BB and watch it. I'll only go higher than 5x to do some longer range spotting/recon, and for target ID if the person if dug in pretty good. Overall I'm pretty good and fast with my scope, and shoot with both eyes open always, even at 9x. Have to actaully concentrate more to keep my left eye closed when looking through the scope.