Sloppy fast Focus eye pieces and their effect on accuracy?

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

      In the post this morning I got back that Nikko Sterling Gold Crown that I returned to the importers as faulty. The boss finally took the time to examine it and found nothing wrong with it as it appears that "ALL" fast focus eye pieces have some play in them  this didn't sound right to me so I open up the storage and start checking scopes to see which ones that I have that are of the fast focus type and found that I have Ten scopes with this feature and the results are:-

6x42 Schmidt & Bender ................................. No Play
3-9x42 Tasco Titan  ...................................... No Play
6x42 Deutch  ............................................... No Play
3-9x42 Lisenfeld ........................................... No Play
7x50A Meopta ............................................. No Play
6x40 Apollo 5 Star ........................................ No Play
4x40 Nikko Sterling Platinum ........................... No Play (interesting this one as it appears to be an older Platinum)
3-9x40E Tasco ............................................. Lots of slop ( which is why I never fitted or used it)
3-10x44IR Hawke Nite Eye ............................. Some play
3.5-14x50AO Nikko Sterling Gold ..................... Some play

    Now I never noticed the play in the eye piece of the Hawke scope until I really checked it this morning and I have been using this rifle/scope combination for some time now    I put the rifle in the workmate to hold is steady then put my Collimeter in the bore and sure enought the reticle appears to jiggle about but it stays on the same point on the collimaters grid  so now I am confused.

    What is apparent is the fact that the three scopes with play are all new and from China  seems that quality control is lax but we knew that  the strange thing is that the Deutch scope was assembled in the far east not sure where as the importer was evasive about it but they claim the lenses are European. It does give a clear bright picture that's for sure I brought it new in 1997 and it's been fine on my Brno ZKK 601 in 308 Win. The Apollo 5 Star scope is Japanese and was a budget price scope like the Deutch. The Tasco Titan is Japanese made and not a budget model, this scope was on the rifle when brought and when I looked them up on the web I was shocked at the price of them, only just a little less that the Schmidt & Bender 6x42  .

    Just phoned Highland Outdoors and spoke to John the boss to let him know the scope has arrived and ask about the mounts that were with it (part of the new scope package) he said he just noticed them on his desk .... whoops .... and will pop them in the post today. A human moment  no biggie.

Now the next step is to mount the scope on a rifle on known accuracy and have another scope of known reliability and test them side by side this might mean taking a scope off another rifle. Right looking at them and having a quick think it's decided that the Pecar Berlin 3-7x36 scope will be swapped with an old Nikko Sterling 4x32 Special Sporting that dates from the 1950's-1960's and as the rifle is from around 1952 it's still in keeping. So next Sunday it's back to the range for the test, just have to decide which rifle to use and mount the scope(s) and load some ammunition, rifle will depend on the mounts I have on hand.


Edit:- Forgot to add the Meopta scope and Apollo which makes Ten in all   

[300S+W]

WOW!!! Quite an assortment there,Bh. Ever have any brands that just didn't work out for ya?

til later

[Brithunter]

Yes in fact I did, you see due to not ever having much money I have to look round for S/H scopes I acquired two from the estate of out club secretary a Khales Helia 4L2 alloy tube with Tri  Post reticle in 4x mag and a Swaroski 4x32 steel tube in it's box complete with leather lens covers. This Swaroski had very limited elevation sdjustment and I had gotten both for a VERY good price so I sold that one on never using it on a rifle and invested the money in something else. It was used in trade on a rifle 

    The Schmidt & Bender I got a ripping deal on new, display model with no box but apart from the disappointing new Chinese made scopes the rest were used. Those listed are not all of them only the ones with the fast focus eye piece. I also have:-

Weaver (steel tube)
Bushnell Scopechief (just ordered a Trophy)
Pecar
Leupold
Rhino
Zeiss Jena
Hensoldt
Carl Zeiss

     Not all are on rifles right now some have been acquired fairly recently like the Carl Zeiss 4x32. Need to remove the old claws from the rail so I can sort out some mount to fit a rifle. The Hensoldt was brought to go on a Ross M-10 280 rifle but the dealer sold it to someone who offered him more and had to return the money I had put down on it  it might yet go on anohter classic rifle but it like the Zeiss 4x32 is a rail mount.