Rifle Scopes Does Your SWFA SS 10X42 Resolve .30 Cal Holes at 200 Yards?

[Eight_Ring]

I had a 10X42 out at the range the other day. It was a VERY impressive scope for the price. I was particularly struck by the brightness and sharpness and contrast of the glass, and the MIL-Quad reticle seemed very good for longer-range shooting--but one thing that struck me as odd (especially considering the brightness and sharpness of the glass) was that the holes in my target (a white-and-red Champions Choice grid target) were not resolving for me. If I knew exactly where to look from checking my spotting scope I could kinda get an impression that bullet holes were there, but not with any degree of confidence.

I have other scopes (and cheap ones) that I can discern my group at 200, and I find it curious that I can't with this particular SS 10X42.

Do I maybe just need to experiment a little more with the eyepiece focus and parallax some more to get 100% clarity, or is this lack of resolution one of the limitaitons of this particular scope?

Does YOUR SS 10X42 scope resolve .30 cal holes at 200?

Please advise.

For the record, I'm absolutely thrilled with the build quality of the scope for the price.

 

[BCP]

Not really. You need a spotting scope for that.

 

[scatsob]

Or more magnification or higher end glass or both. One can easily see 30 cal holes at 200 with a Premier Heritage on 15x.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Depends on the target... on plain paper I need a spotting scope to see them clearly, but on enhanced targets like Stoot-N-C I generally don't have a problem.

 

[sib1948]

I can just barely see 260 holes on Shoot and See targets at 200 yds with my Vortex Razor HD at 20X on a bight day. Too many variables. My March scopes, however, show those same 260 holes easily on 15X. Great glass beats magnification "all day long" when it comes to resolution!

 

[Onewolf42]

Both my SWFA 12X scopes easily show 6.5mm holes in white paper at 200m. As long as the mirage is not bad I can also spot 6.5mm holes at 300m. YMMV.

 

[Eight_Ring]

Not really. You need a spotting scope for that.

Thank you for your reply.

Just for the sake of clarity, and just so we're all on the same page--would you please confirm that you personally own, have used, and/or are referring specifically to the SS 10X42 (non-HD glass?

 

[Eight_Ring]

Or more magnification or higher end glass or both. One can easily see 30 cal holes at 200 with a Premier Heritage on 15x.

Thank you for your reply as well--and again, for the sake of clarity--are you speaking from a specific knowlege of this specific scope, or are you referring to budget/cheapo 10X scopes in general?

 

[Eight_Ring]

Both my SWFA 12X scopes easily show 6.5mm holes in white paper at 200m. As long as the mirage is not bad I can also spot 6.5mm holes at 300m. YMMV.

There may well have been some mirage at play on this particular day. I may just head back to the range this afternoon and have another look.

 

[Eight_Ring]

Both my SWFA 12X scopes easily show 6.5mm holes in white paper at 200m. As long as the mirage is not bad I can also spot 6.5mm holes at 300m. YMMV.

OK--interesting. For the purposes of the conversation let's just assume 20/20 vision behind the glass, itself and no major mirage in play.

 

[Onewolf42]

OK--interesting. For the purposes of the conversation let's just assume 20/20 vision behind the glass, itself and no major mirage in play.

I have 50 year old eyes that were Lasiked 13 years ago. Not sure what my current distance vision is.

 

[scatsob]

I have the premier heritage so I was talking about that scope from my experience. I do have a leupold Mk4 M3 10x tactical and I have no problem at 100 yards but I have not used it at 200. Next time I am at the range I'll try the premier at 200 on 10x to see how it does.

Thank you for your reply as well--and again, for the sake of clarity--are you speaking from a specific knowlege of this specific scope, or are you referring to budget/cheapo 10X scopes in general?

 

[MoBoost]

When you buy SS scope you get simple ruggedness, great quality control and customer service ... it doesn't fix the fact that it has "Chinese" glass, nor do they claim otherwise. They are fantastic beginner tactical scope - but they are by no way of form a "target" scope.

 

[918v]

A .30 caliber hole in paper is actually smaller, 6mm or thereabouts. 1mm at 100 meters equals one arc second, a unit of resolution used in optics. So a 6mm hole at 200 yards requires a minimum resolution of 3 arc seconds. For that you'll need a scope costing ten times as much as your super sniper.

 

[garhuts]

With my SS 10x42, seeing 30cal holes at 100 is doable on the red/white 100yd sight in targets. At 200 It's do-able if there's no mirage and I've got my parallax set correctly, but it leaves me second guessing. On the black/yellow shoot'n'see targets it's not a challenge at all.

With my SS 5-20x50 HD glass, it's a walk in the park on 10x .

 

[Eight_Ring]

Amazon.com: Sightmark Triple Duty 8.5-25x50 Riflescope: Sports & Outdoors

When you buy SS scope you get simple ruggedness, great quality control and customer service ... it doesn't fix the fact that it has "Chinese" glass, nor do they claim otherwise. They are fantastic beginner tactical scope - but they are by no way of form a "target" scope.

I absolutely agree--I bought the scope for reliability, not fine optical resolution, I just wanted to make sure that this one particular unit wasn't (perhaps) under-performing.

I have been using this cheap scope as a "placeholder"...






Amazon.com: Sightmark Triple Duty 8.5-25x50 Riflescope: Sports & Outdoors


I only paid $160 for it (free shipping) and it actually does resolve .30 cal holes at 200 on 10X.

It holds zero and tracks pretty well (i.e. it tracks accurately, but needs a "settling" shot after dialing correction, but after that settling shot it shoots perfectly to POA).

The problem with the Sightmark is I can never know when the scope might go tits-up with zero notice--and the SS 10X42 solves that problem nicely, and for around $300.



Thank you all for your input--I appreciate it.

 

[TiroFijo]

It is very difficult to resolve 30 cal bullet holes with clarity at 200 yds with a 10X SS scope, much easier with a 16X SS, and MUCH easier with top grade optics of the same magnification.