Battle of the Cheapest air rifle scopes - A comparison and review

[MacWa77ace]

I have a Crosman Powermaster 66 I got at a garage sale for $10 a few years ago. Its a VPP and it wouldn't charge up but I bought it anyhow, and it came with a few antique tins of 177 pellets. A few drops of pellgunoil later and it fixed it. Works perfectly fine.

It's 'iron' sites [plastic really] aren't great of course as the front site is about 2mm wide, so shooting at a 5 inch target with a 2 inch bullseye at 25 yards you're basically covering the entire target with the front site [when holding for drop]

Might be time for one of those air gun or rimfire dovetail mount scopes.

Anyhow, my rule of thumb for glassing any rifle is spend at least what you spent on the rifle for the optic. So getting a $12-15 scope would align with my rifle glass values. Right?

So I ordered a Hatsun branded 4x20 Optima scope. And then ended up ordering two more, a Tasco 4x15 and a Daisy 4x15. As you're probably aware Hatsun, Tasco and Daisy are pretty reliable names in the air rifle world.



I got the Hatsun from Amazon for $9.99, I thought it being a 4x20 might get more light in than the 4x15 scope options.  You see how the objective lens is flared out?



Well this Hatson Optima 4x20mm Scope didn't work out, It's garbage and doesn't really even fit properly on the Powermaster 66 due to the mount heights and the rear iron site height. I have to mount it too far back to get a proper eye relief, or remove the rear site which I don't want to do and keep track of those parts.

Additionally while I can focus the reticle perfectly, the image behind it from close range out to infinity is pretty blurry across the entire field of view. Junk.

That's when I walked into Walmart and bought the Tasco 4x15 for $10.99. See I had just been given a Daisy 856 VPP a week or so before and wanted to put a scope on that too. [I'd had a cheapo 4x15 on a Crosman 760 when I was a kid, don't remember the brand or what I had paid for it, but I do remember that out of the box the wire reticle had a bend in it.] The Tasco's Objective lens is 15mm. This one was much better, I can focus the reticle and the background or main image is mostly focused. From close range out to infinity. I say mostly because its got blurry spots at the edges and possibly in spots in the middle parts of the field of view, and is ever so slightly out of focus [no its not my eyes] but definitely usable. And since the receiver on the Daisy 856 is higher than the barrel, and the rear site is slightly lower than that of the Crosman, I could properly mount the Tasco with the exact eye relief needed and not have to remove the rear site.

I noticed that both the Hatsun and the Tasco scopes had the exact same scope rings, exactly the same, and had exactly the same lens covers front and rear.

Since I had two scopes now, and two air guns with dovetail mounts, and since I am going to trash the Hatsun, I needed another scope for the Powermaster 66. So I ordered a Daisy branded scope to put on the daisy and I will move the Tasco over to the Powermaster 66.

Here's the before and after photos. There seems to be some design issue with the Crosman's rear sight because even the 15mm has to go behind the rear site. Which causes an eye relief issue.

This is the Hatsun 20mm on the Crosman 66 and the Tasco 15mm on the Daisy 856.


And this is the Daisy 15mm on the Daisy 856 and the Tasco 15mm on the Crosman 66


Note the location of the scope mounting on the black gun, behind the rear site. The eye relief is only slightly off but I do have to adjust my cheek each time I ADS.

CONCLUSION
Yeah, these reflect the price of <$12 each. The images aren't very clear in the ones that aren't outright blurry. At least the reticles aren't bent like the wire one I had as a kid, but I'm thinking these might be laminated reticles and not wire anyhow.

Looking at how the scope on the Crosman lines up [centers} with the slot in the rear site I'm thinking there's going to be a lot of horizontal adjustment to get this sited in, because it was pretty close with just iron sites.

[Moab]

This is a great premise for a review. Because sometimes a $10 pellet gun with a $10 scope is the perfect answer. 

Good on you for writing this.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I've got an older version (I think it's from the 70s or 80s, not sure.) of that Tasco scope somewhere. Picked it up at a thrift store for 7 bucks years ago. 

[MacWa77ace]

I've got an older version (I think it's from the 70s or 80s, not sure.) of that Tasco scope somewhere. Picked it up at a thrift store for 7 bucks years ago. 

I think the one I got for my 760 back when I was in middleschool was expensive. Meaning 20-30 bucks. I just can't remember its price or brand but it was a 4x15mm. And the lenses were perfectly clear and in focus. Bet it was made in the USA.

You still have yours? How's the clarity?

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I've got an older version (I think it's from the 70s or 80s, not sure.) of that Tasco scope somewhere. Picked it up at a thrift store for 7 bucks years ago. 

I think the one I got for my 760 back when I was in middleschool was expensive. Meaning 20-30 bucks. I just can't remember its price or brand but it was a 4x15mm. And the lenses were perfectly clear and in focus. Bet it was made in the USA.

You still have yours? How's the clarity?

Clarity is surprisingly good for something that's probably older than me.

My eye sight isn't the best, but even despite that I can see through it pretty clearly.

ETA: I just checked and it's not a Tasco brand scope. It's actually a Crosman branded one.

The Tasco box looks just like the Crosman box it came in, which I may have tossed awhile back.

[Rednex]

I got the same Tasco on my Crossman 1477. Don't shoot it much, like i forget what it shot like. Had to get the scope mounts for the pistol they special.

[echo83]

Very cool topic!

I have a UTG 4x32 that I bought off Amazon a few years ago for $40 bucks or so. Threw it on my Crosman Vantage and was pleasantly surprised. No bells or whistles, just a solid scope with a nice field of view.

Because A.) I'm cheap and B.) it held zero after being rattled around by recoil, I moved it to my Marlin 25, which has improved the accuracy immensely. 

I thought about picking up another UTG 4X32 to put on my Marlin 60 but I was stunned that the price has more than doubled. 

So the Marlin 60 is wearing the same Tasco 4x15 (with a kind of cool zoom function) that it's had for the last few decades. Did I mention I'm cheap?

You wouldn't think that 32mm instead of 15mm makes a big difference, but to me it does. 

[MacWa77ace]

@echo83 I have a UTG Leapers Bugbuster 3-9x32 I think I paid $89 for onsale a few years ago. It resides on my Benji 392.

That's got great clarity for the money. The 32mm gives you a greater field of view, so you should notice a difference between the 2 4x scopes with different objective lenses.

Dang, its $148 now https://a.co/d/8Jt0QfD
So right price ratio to be on the Benji 392. But definitely not a cheap scope.

[EBuff75]

I've only got two air rifle scopes and they're both Crosman CenterPoint models that came with a couple of break-barrel rifles (a Redtail Nitro and a Nitro Venom Dusk).  One of them is a 4x32mm and the other is a 3-9x32.  I don't have any of the cheaper ones like what you're talking about, but I remember them coming with many of the kits (gun, scope, safety glasses, paper targets, a tube of BBs, etc.).

I should probably pick up a couple of simple scopes to go on some of my air rifles, but I almost never shoot them, because they're not legal to shoot in my area* (suburbia).  My Crosman 2100B would probably be a good one to scope, along with at least one of my three Crosman 760s!



* Reason 347 to move somewhere that I have more space...

[MacWa77ace]

 I have a Ruger Airhawk that came with a Ruger branded 4x32mm scope. It is not a great scope but its not blurry, except at the edges. It's fine for that gun 'cause it being a spring piston break barrel,  I can't get much accuracy out of it. 2-3" at 25 yds. Nope. I expected 1/2" groups. Not a great gun or scope IMO. But the scope is cheap I'm sure.



The scope rings are raised aftermarket. I didn't use the ones that came with it.

[DarkAxel]

Based on the pics I see, would it be possible to adjust the elevation slider on the rear iron down to the minimum? Aside from that, you might be able to get taller scope rings.

[MacWa77ace]

Based on the pics I see, would it be possible to adjust the elevation slider on the rear iron down to the minimum? Aside from that, you might be able to get taller scope rings.

I think I tried that and it doesn't go low enough. [I'll check when I get home tonight] I could take the rear site off also but don't want to because I don't want to keep track of the hardware. On the Crosman the rear site is mounted with a couple of bolts. On the Daisy the rear site is 'welded' on.



ETA: I can't find any 15mm raised rings that fit dovetail mount. What I do find are at least $12 and that's to much to fix this issue.

[DarkAxel]

I think I see the issue. The rear sight is straight across the top, not cut for a scope. A few ways to handle it. You can either take a dremel and grind the top of the sight so the scope will fit, while adjusting the sight notch, bend the top blade either backwards or forwards so the scope clears it, or find a rear sight that is cut on top for a scope. Either way you'd have to re-zero. Of course, If you can live with it, that might be the answer.

[MacWa77ace]

I think I see the issue. The rear sight is straight across the top, not cut for a scope. A few ways to handle it. You can either take a dremel and grind the top of the sight so the scope will fit, while adjusting the sight notch, bend the top blade either backwards or forwards so the scope clears it, or find a rear sight that is cut on top for a scope. Either way you'd have to re-zero. Of course, If you can live with it, that might be the answer.

That worked. It was a combination of lowering the site to its lowest increment, and then bending it backwards.

This is where it landed just lowering it. Still to high. And I don't know if you can see this but the slot in the rear site is sort of 'off center' of the scope. Its going to be interesting getting this sited. There's also a scratch on the very front edge of the scope, didn't even notice until I looked at the photo. 

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And this after bending it. I can even fit the front lens cover on now.

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