Anatomy of a scope 1m.47 Objective lenses 5m.55 Hunting scopes 12m.36 First and second plane 13m.45 Eye relief 16m.03 Buying a scope 17m.40 Reticles 19m.30 Mounts 23m.15
Another great video. The first and second focal plane explanation and demonstration is the best and simplest I’ve seen to date. Thanks. On the safety video, for break barrel, not under lever, if you get the chance to mention that pellet loading can be done before fully cocking the rifle, I.e. load literally after breaking the barrel and the cock, it would be great. I was taught this at Pete’s Airgun farm and yet I never see it mentioned in any videos. Cheers all the same and enjoying your informative videos. Thumbs up from Me. 👍
I have a question for you my friend, but first I'd like to say that I've greatly enjoyed going through your videos,.. They're very informative, down to earth, humerus and delivered by a true expert in their field,, which I can tell you are because true experts can always explain the complicated to the layman in ways that are easier to understand and you most certainly do as such. I used to shoot FT around 25yrs or so ago before moving to full-bore HP, but I've recently decided to come back to air rifles and am currently working on putting together a good HFT platform, and choosing the right scope is proving to be the most frustrating part as, I need a low mag for HFT but I also want to use it on a full-bore.. but I've been in contact with Optics Wear house and hopefully they can help me make the right decision. I'm pretty sure that I will have some more questions for you as I progress into HFT, but the question I'd like to ask for now (If you don't mind answering?!) is... Over the last decade when looking through air rifle magazines, I've noticed that many competitors now seem to have their scopes mounted really high, some using raised receiver blocks as well as high mounts... What's the reason for such high mounting systems? Cheers!
I must take issue with your comment that the point of aim changes with magnification on a scope with a second focal plane reticle. Zero remains zero whatever the magnification. It is the value of the divisions on the reticle that change with magnification when using them to determine holdover or holdunder. For example I use a Bushnell Elite 6500 2nd fp scope. At 10 magnification the reticle divisions are true for holdover and holdunder for targets at different distances to my zero but this changes if I increase or decrease magnification. Sorry to be pedantic but it is important for people to understand this when hunting.
ffp vs sfp at 15 min into video is not correct explaind, 30y crosshare zero will remain same for ffp and sfp the differance is in the other aiming points for a sfp scope that are different for other magnification.I am sure you know this.
I’ve 4 optisans my favourites are the ES 10x44 and EVX gen 2 4-16x44 ffp I’m not a huge fan of the 3-12x32 CP as the parallax isn’t in focous for a wide range like the EVX and ES
Hi Gary Great video very informative to someone like myself and consider myself to be a novice to hft. What is your opinion on the use of prismatic fixed mag scopes. I have purchased a 10x40 with hft in mind
I have an immersive 10x40 only got it last week so still learning about it. I'm trying to get a set up that suits me. Dealing with being cross eye dominant specs wearer into the bargain lol
Turrets, I bought a £1000 scope, you would think the turrets belonged to two different rifles, neither of them good. Still in discussion with the warehouse I bought it from. Not happy.😤
Hi Gary, Many thanks for the super explanation. I’m guessing this is a non-starter, but can you offer some advice please for a single scope option to shoot both FT and HFT? I’ve been shooting about a year and enjoy both types of course, but only have one rifle / scope to use. I’m shooting in SWEFTA region, so can change my parallax on HFT courses before sighting the target and hence I’m not worried about small / large depth of field, and have been looking for something along the lines of a 10-50 x 60, but which also has a half mil dot reticle at 10X. The idea being to shoot HFT set to 12x maximum mag using the half mill dot at 10x to hold over / under or aim points, and then on FT use 50x for range finding. The problem with this is all the higher mag scopes I’ve seen so far the reticle is at 25x, meaning I loose half my aim points, effectively giving only 1 full mil dot range to cover all targets from 10 to 55 yards. I know the answer is to have a separate rifle / scope combination for each type of course, but if there is a possible compromise, I’d like to explore it before spending a lot more on new kit. Many thanks
Have you thought about a weaver rail, that way you could have two scopes that click in and out instantly? I can't think of a scope that would work, but I'll make a few calls for you and ask people who know more then me.
@@simonthompson6343 everyone's a winner, if you do go down that route, could you send a picture in that I could use in the mounts video and airgunner article we have coming up?
I've enjoyed these videos but I think you tried to cram too much into half an hour and it skips and jumps and the info comes thick and fast. For a beginner, I think it would be better in several slower shorter videos. Take one scope element at a time and after that vid, split into videos for FT/HFT/Hunting. Just a suggestion. ATB MMMD
I have a question regarding scope mounts, and I hope someone out there can answer me. Am I the only one who constantly has to deal with scope mounts that won't center the scope horizontally? It all started when I bought an HW75, which, for some obscure reason isn't made with a more or less standard 11mm dovetail. Now, I can understand Weihrauch's wish to sell more scopes, but what if I'd prefer something a little better than a 2x20? I mean come on, the pistol is _way_ more accurate than that, it's sold as a "6-10m entry-level competition pistol" or something along those lines, but in my experience, it can easily make one-hole groups at 18m, and probably longer ranges. The problem is though, that with my eyes it's damn near impossible to actually _see_ the bullseye at that distance. And iron sights simply take up the whole picture so you have no idea what you're aiming at, at that range. So I decided I had to put on a scope. And a stock while I was at it. For good measure of course. So I did, and that's how I found out how accurately I could shoot it at ranges beyond what it's being advertised as being capable of. _But,_ it _did_ take a whole heap of research and subsequent tinkering, the solution in case there are others out there who need to put a rifle scope on an HW75, is to use a Hawke 9-11mm Dovetail to Weaver Adapter (catalog # 22 403 or 22 404), as those have _two_ movable clamping jaws, instead of a regular set-up with a non-adjustable jaw and an adjustable one. All that is needed is to shim it, and it'll fit any size dovetail. Expect you'll have to give it a once over with a file, or a mill, to make it fit. _But,_ seeing how this worked, made me realize that most of my scopes, on most of my rifles, weren't actually _centered._ They looked like they were, but once I started measuring, I found out that most of them were slightly off. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference as long as you shoot at a set distance, but it should be obvious that POI won't coincide with the aiming point at other distances, on the horizontal axis. So now I'm slowly switching all my mounts from rings that'll fit "roughly somewhere in the hypothetical vicinity of about 9-11mm dovetail rails" as scope ring manufacturers apparently don't agree on the length of a millimeter, to these Weaver adapters. And, what's up with "9-11mm"? Clearly, a set of regular rings that'll center a scope on a 9mm rail, won't center it on an 11mm rail. This makes no sense, scope manufacturers _must_ be aware of that... So, after all that, my question is, what do you other shooters do to make sure your scopes are dead center on your rifles? Wade through tons and tons of rings to find a set that matches? Gary named a couple of rings he uses, and I'm sure he knows what he's talking about, but when airgun manufacturers don't agree on the size of mounting rails, and scope mount manufacturers disagree just as much, what should have been an interesting sport, becomes more of a mechanical trouble-solving task...
Hi Mace, first of all congratulations for the best comment ever :-) Tolstoy would be proud :-) To, be honest with you, it has never been a problem. Lets say that the dovetail is 1mm left of the center of the barrel. As long as it's 1mm all the way and the scope is not twisted, you can set up without error. There are shooters out there who are right handed but shoot with their left eye and have a scope mount with the scope 4" left of the barrel. I will try and put a link up. Does that make sense? Gary
Safety: Coming from fullbore shooting, we would always use breach flags/safety flags to show that the rifle is safe, this doesn't seem to be a thing in the air rifle community, why is this?
Think television... distance vision (German Fernseher... far seeer). The sights are true telescopes. The adjective telescopic and verb to telescope are derived from the characteristic variable-length tube of a telescope - which was used to focus it. We therefore say that the legs of a tripod are telescopic - but they are not, they are collapsible in the manner of a telescope, you can't look through them to see things afar. It's like the word gate: The original word was geat or yat (depending where you lived). It meant gap - the gap between houses that we call a road, or the gap between a river and a hill that was used as a route. So Whipmawhopmagate is a road in York, and Symonds Yat is the road between the River Wye and a hill called The Doward - and on the other side of the Wye is Yat Rock, which was originally Yeattelinde... lime-tree road. What we now call a gate was once a bar, so Bargate in Worcester was a road which was gated. We still talk about barring someone's way, and barring a gate. To bar someone is to put up a barrier to their entry - a barrier... a thing that bars. Words change their meanings. A Roman road was a street... like Watling Street, not a road. Don't get me started.
That was a marathon. Brilliant, but I've got to watch it again and sleep on it.
Anatomy of a scope 1m.47
Objective lenses 5m.55
Hunting scopes 12m.36
First and second plane 13m.45
Eye relief 16m.03
Buying a scope 17m.40
Reticles 19m.30
Mounts 23m.15
Another great video. The first and second focal plane explanation and demonstration is the best and simplest I’ve seen to date. Thanks.
On the safety video, for break barrel, not under lever, if you get the chance to mention that pellet loading can be done before fully cocking the rifle, I.e. load literally after breaking the barrel and the cock, it would be great. I was taught this at Pete’s Airgun farm and yet I never see it mentioned in any videos.
Cheers all the same and enjoying your informative videos. Thumbs up from Me. 👍
This channel has been a one stop shop for info, so much to learn before buying so it’s appreciated :).
Cheers Timmy, glad it's helped - Gary
Right one time Gary! Super! I like it!!! from Czech Rep.
Got to agree with @Kris Darowski on the focal plane bit. No nonsense straight to the point and no faffing. Thanks Garry.
Great video Gary, nice to see a BSA front and centre for a change
12:19 not so great 🤣
I didn't notice that 😀
Thanks Gary. New to the sport. This video has really helped in the dark art of scopes.
Glad it helped - Gary
Thank you Gary!!! Your videous are great!!!
Thank you again Gary for another very informative and interesting video.
Absolutely brilliant video
So informative and interesting - I just found your videos and am surprised more people aren't subscribed
Cheers Tony.
Thanks for that informative piece on the various scopes available, it answered a few questions I had, well worth a watch or two 🙂
Thanks for the information. A big help.
So many fantastic tips! Thank you!
great advice thanks.
Brilliant ive seen more videos than most thought i had seen it all but this is for me a great delivery of excellent content thank you Gary
Great job. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Fantastic video my friend. Very informative and instructual. Clear and concise. We love are sport!
Glad you enjoyed it! - Gary
Really helpful. Thank you. Alan
Glad it was helpful! - Gary
Excellent 👌Just ordered the Optisan CP Scope with fixed magnification. To be honest I couldn't really put anything else on my TX200 for HFT😎
I bought a bsa r12 clx pro and it came with an Optisan evx 10/44i I haven’t zeroed it in yet I’m hoping the gun and scope will be a winning combo.
Thanks that has really helped me to understand things
Gary did you ever do a piece on the stoger pcp, if you did try to give some direction to it.
Not yet, I'm trying to source one
I have a question for you my friend, but first I'd like to say that I've greatly enjoyed going through your videos,.. They're very informative, down to earth, humerus and delivered by a true expert in their field,, which I can tell you are because true experts can always explain the complicated to the layman in ways that are easier to understand and you most certainly do as such.
I used to shoot FT around 25yrs or so ago before moving to full-bore HP, but I've recently decided to come back to air rifles and am currently working on putting together a good HFT platform, and choosing the right scope is proving to be the most frustrating part as, I need a low mag for HFT but I also want to use it on a full-bore.. but I've been in contact with Optics Wear house and hopefully they can help me make the right decision.
I'm pretty sure that I will have some more questions for you as I progress into HFT, but the question I'd like to ask for now (If you don't mind answering?!) is... Over the last decade when looking through air rifle magazines, I've noticed that many competitors now seem to have their scopes mounted really high, some using raised receiver blocks as well as high mounts... What's the reason for such high mounting systems?
Cheers!
I must take issue with your comment that the point of aim changes with magnification on a scope with a second focal plane reticle. Zero remains zero whatever the magnification. It is the value of the divisions on the reticle that change with magnification when using them to determine holdover or holdunder. For example I use a Bushnell Elite 6500 2nd fp scope. At 10 magnification the reticle divisions are true for holdover and holdunder for targets at different distances to my zero but this changes if I increase or decrease magnification. Sorry to be pedantic but it is important for people to understand this when hunting.
ffp vs sfp at 15 min into video is not correct explaind, 30y crosshare zero will remain same for ffp and sfp
the differance is in the other aiming points for a sfp scope that are different for other magnification.I am sure you know this.
I’ve 4 optisans my favourites are the ES 10x44 and EVX gen 2 4-16x44 ffp I’m not a huge fan of the 3-12x32 CP as the parallax isn’t in focous for a wide range like the EVX and ES
Most Excellent....tyvm
Hi Gary
Great video very informative to someone like myself and consider myself to be a novice to hft.
What is your opinion on the use of prismatic fixed mag scopes.
I have purchased a 10x40 with hft in mind
I'll be honest Johnny, I've never used one.
New video idea to add to your list.
See how they stack up
@@Dengieflyer is it the mtc you have?
I have an immersive 10x40 only got it last week so still learning about it.
I'm trying to get a set up that suits me.
Dealing with being cross eye dominant specs wearer into the bargain lol
@@Dengieflyer will you let me know how you get on with it.
Turrets, I bought a £1000 scope, you would think the turrets belonged to two different rifles, neither of them good. Still in discussion with the warehouse I bought it from. Not happy.😤
Hi Gary,
Many thanks for the super explanation.
I’m guessing this is a non-starter, but can you offer some advice please for a single scope option to shoot both FT and HFT?
I’ve been shooting about a year and enjoy both types of course, but only have one rifle / scope to use. I’m shooting in SWEFTA region, so can change my parallax on HFT courses before sighting the target and hence I’m not worried about small / large depth of field, and have been looking for something along the lines of a 10-50 x 60, but which also has a half mil dot reticle at 10X.
The idea being to shoot HFT set to 12x maximum mag using the half mill dot at 10x to hold over / under or aim points, and then on FT use 50x for range finding. The problem with this is all the higher mag scopes I’ve seen so far the reticle is at 25x, meaning I loose half my aim points, effectively giving only 1 full mil dot range to cover all targets from 10 to 55 yards.
I know the answer is to have a separate rifle / scope combination for each type of course, but if there is a possible compromise, I’d like to explore it before spending a lot more on new kit.
Many thanks
Have you thought about a weaver rail, that way you could have two scopes that click in and out instantly?
I can't think of a scope that would work, but I'll make a few calls for you and ask people who know more then me.
www.opticswarehouse.co.uk/base-optics-full-length-extended-9-11mm-to-weaver-adapter
@@garychillingworth Thanks Gary, that sounds like a great idea 👍 Added bonus is I could use low mounts for HFT scope, and high ones for FT 😀
@@simonthompson6343 everyone's a winner, if you do go down that route, could you send a picture in that I could use in the mounts video and airgunner article we have coming up?
@@garychillingworth Sure thing, will do. Thanks again Gary 👍
Should I get mounts to keep the scope objective as close as possible to barrel
Yes, try and keep the scope close to the barrel, it helps with cant issues.
Thanks from Russia.
I've enjoyed these videos but I think you tried to cram too much into half an hour and it skips and jumps and the info comes thick and fast. For a beginner, I think it would be better in several slower shorter videos. Take one scope element at a time and after that vid, split into videos for FT/HFT/Hunting. Just a suggestion. ATB MMMD
Cheers, I agree and will implement this.
@@garychillingworth Brilliant, thanks Gary.
I have a question regarding scope mounts, and I hope someone out there can answer me.
Am I the only one who constantly has to deal with scope mounts that won't center the scope horizontally?
It all started when I bought an HW75, which, for some obscure reason isn't made with a more or less standard 11mm dovetail. Now, I can understand Weihrauch's wish to sell more scopes, but what if I'd prefer something a little better than a 2x20? I mean come on, the pistol is _way_ more accurate than that, it's sold as a "6-10m entry-level competition pistol" or something along those lines, but in my experience, it can easily make one-hole groups at 18m, and probably longer ranges. The problem is though, that with my eyes it's damn near impossible to actually _see_ the bullseye at that distance. And iron sights simply take up the whole picture so you have no idea what you're aiming at, at that range. So I decided I had to put on a scope. And a stock while I was at it. For good measure of course. So I did, and that's how I found out how accurately I could shoot it at ranges beyond what it's being advertised as being capable of. _But,_ it _did_ take a whole heap of research and subsequent tinkering, the solution in case there are others out there who need to put a rifle scope on an HW75, is to use a Hawke 9-11mm Dovetail to Weaver Adapter (catalog # 22 403 or 22 404), as those have _two_ movable clamping jaws, instead of a regular set-up with a non-adjustable jaw and an adjustable one. All that is needed is to shim it, and it'll fit any size dovetail. Expect you'll have to give it a once over with a file, or a mill, to make it fit.
_But,_ seeing how this worked, made me realize that most of my scopes, on most of my rifles, weren't actually _centered._ They looked like they were, but once I started measuring, I found out that most of them were slightly off. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference as long as you shoot at a set distance, but it should be obvious that POI won't coincide with the aiming point at other distances, on the horizontal axis. So now I'm slowly switching all my mounts from rings that'll fit "roughly somewhere in the hypothetical vicinity of about 9-11mm dovetail rails" as scope ring manufacturers apparently don't agree on the length of a millimeter, to these Weaver adapters. And, what's up with "9-11mm"? Clearly, a set of regular rings that'll center a scope on a 9mm rail, won't center it on an 11mm rail. This makes no sense, scope manufacturers _must_ be aware of that...
So, after all that, my question is, what do you other shooters do to make sure your scopes are dead center on your rifles? Wade through tons and tons of rings to find a set that matches? Gary named a couple of rings he uses, and I'm sure he knows what he's talking about, but when airgun manufacturers don't agree on the size of mounting rails, and scope mount manufacturers disagree just as much, what should have been an interesting sport, becomes more of a mechanical trouble-solving task...
Hi Mace, first of all congratulations for the best comment ever :-) Tolstoy would be proud :-) To, be honest with you, it has never been a problem. Lets say that the dovetail is 1mm left of the center of the barrel.
As long as it's 1mm all the way and the scope is not twisted, you can set up without error. There are shooters out there who are right handed but shoot with their left eye and have a scope mount with the scope 4" left of the barrel. I will try and put a link up. Does that make sense?
Gary
If you google cross eye dominat scopes and click image you will see what I mean. Gary
Loading a b.s.a ultra gun
I can't find 'Life at the range' on facebook or a website?
facebook.com/groups/212586927158986/?ref=share
Hahaha I was on auto-pilot for a second and accidentally followed "Life at the grange".. Thought the content was a bit unrelatable!
@@mrdjbizzle we've all done that 😀
Safety: Coming from fullbore shooting, we would always use breach flags/safety flags to show that the rifle is safe, this doesn't seem to be a thing in the air rifle community, why is this?
Hello Gary, your video would have maded more sense if you did not keep bracking off.
Fair point, I tried to use the bits on the range to break up the conservatory stuff.
Noted for future though.
Lol... I know I'm being a fooking pedant here but it's 'reticle' ... not... 'reticule'. A 'reticule' is a ladies handbag.
Did I write Reticule somewhere?
@@garychillingworth No .. it's your pronunciation :)
@@WallyHale21 That's cause I'm from Essex init.
Tomatoes and tomatetos 🤣🤣🤣🤣
These scopes do not telescope in or out. Please don't call them "telescopic sights". An old shooter had my life over that when I was a kid.
But they are telescopic sights :-) - I didn't name them
Think television... distance vision (German Fernseher... far seeer). The sights are true telescopes.
The adjective telescopic and verb to telescope are derived from the characteristic variable-length tube
of a telescope - which was used to focus it. We therefore say that the legs of a tripod are telescopic - but they are not, they are collapsible in the manner of a telescope, you can't look through them to see things afar.
It's like the word gate:
The original word was geat or yat (depending where you lived). It meant gap - the gap between houses that we call a road, or the gap between a river and a hill that was used as a route. So Whipmawhopmagate is a road in York, and Symonds Yat is the road between the River Wye and a hill called The Doward - and on the other side of the Wye is Yat Rock, which was originally Yeattelinde... lime-tree road. What we now call a gate was once a bar, so Bargate in Worcester was a road which was gated. We still talk about barring someone's way, and barring a gate. To bar someone is to put up a barrier to their entry - a barrier... a thing that bars.
Words change their meanings. A Roman road was a street... like Watling Street, not a road. Don't get me started.
you are wrong. Telescopic sight and scope are the same one.. Please looking for google. Will be easy for you I think.
WTF is a reticule? Is that supposed to be a reticle?😂😂😂
A reticule is a small italian bag, Somthing I learnt after making the video. Turns out I've been saying it wrong for years.