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AIR RIFLE SCOPE ?

DAMMITDON
I have been told you can,t use a regular rifle scope on a air rifle,but not why. Is this true?
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12 comments

Date Votes
  • grizzclaw
    The reverse recoil of a spring piston air gun is supposed to nock the crosshairs apart i've been told. I use RWS scopes because I didn't want to test the theory.
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  • andrewsw16
    I think it is pretty much an internet myth. Any scope that can withstand the recoil g-forces of a "real" rifle can survive any forward or backwards g-forces a BB gun. [:D]
    Of course, I'd be interested in seeing what a $1500 rifle scope looks like on a $20 Red Ryder. [;)][:D] Be careful. You'll shoot your eye out. [:D]
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  • tsr1965
    quote:Originally posted by andrewsw16
    I think it is pretty much an internet myth. Any scope that can withstand the recoil g-forces of a "real" rifle can survive any forward or backwards g-forces a BB gun. [:D]
    Of course, I'd be interested in seeing what a $1500 rifle scope looks like on a $20 Red Ryder. [;)][:D] Be careful. You'll shoot your eye out. [:D]


    This is not myth. However, it depends on what type of air gun you are talking about. The pnuematics, or PCP guns will not be too hard on a conventional rifle scope. The spring piston guns, and especially the big "Magnum" spring piston guns will destroy a $1000.00 Leupold, or any other brand name, made for conveentional arms. Once again, this is FACT, not fiction, internet myth, nor anything else. I havee seen it with my own eyes and $$.

    Best

    EDIT 1

    elubesme,

    The 760 you have is a PNUEMATIC rifle, not spring piston, and it is by no meansin the MAGNUM class. I am sure your Weaver done just fine. However, put that same scope on an RWS Model 48 and it will turn it into trash in less than 100 shots.

    Best
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  • GONESHOOTING
    Had a regular scope on a rws and it killed it in no time[B)]
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  • beantownshootah
    The specific issue is this.

    Regular firearm rifles only recoil in one direction. . .backwards. . .and the scopes are designed to handle that recoil.

    PISTON type airguns, on the other hand, offer a DOUBLE recoil snap. When the gun is fired, the piston moves forward, and the pellet leaves the gun. This provides the normal "rearward" recoil impulse.

    Then, when the piston hits the end of its forward travel, it stops suddenly, making a rather harsh FORWARD recoil impulse. Its this BACK AND FORTH recoil impulse that shakes loose the guts of ordinary rifle scopes, destroying them.

    Bottom line is, if you want to scope an airgun, get a dedicated purpose built airgun scope. Not only will these be designed to handle the double recoil impulse mentioned above, but they'll also be designed with other features useful for airgunning, like close in parallax and airgun friendly magnification levels.


    Edit: For what its worth, despite the above, I do have a low-end Simmons 4x rimfire scope on my cheap (allegedly 700fps) Chinese piston gun. I put it on there with the expectation that it would be ruined pretty fast, but so far its held up to a few tins of pellets.

    The thing is, its not a good enough scope that I would ever put it on an "actual" .22 anyway. Since I basically have no other use for it, and it has negligible resale value (I think brand new it was $10), I don't really care if it gets ruined.

    For a quality airgun, I'd never use a scope this poor, and conversely, I'd never put a "real" rifle scope on an airgun like this.
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  • elubsme
    I have had a weaver 4X Marksman on my Crossman 760 for 11 years. It has accounted for hundreds of scrub jays and many target sessions with two grand sons. I have never had a problem with it. The 760 is an older model with a rifled barrel. Others may disagree with me, but this is my experience with a so called rifle scope on an air gun. Ed
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  • bpost
    I have a junk Glenfield 3/4" tube rifle scope on my BSA air rifle. It breaks in the middle using the barrel to cock it, 177 cal 690 FPS. I think it is a Meteor model. I have shot it about 1,000 times with no scope damage.

    YMMV
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  • mark christian
    It is not a myth, although cheap scopes tend to survive better than the big $$$ glass. Once you get into the high power levels (say above 900fps) just about an conventional scope will be damaged, to what degree depends a lot on your luck. The double-recoil effect of powerful spring piston guns is real and air gun specific scopes are built to withstand those forces.
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  • Tflogger
    quote:Originally posted by elubsme
    I have had a weaver 4X Marksman on my Crossman 760 for 11 years. It has accounted for hundreds of scrub jays and many target sessions with two grand sons. I have never had a problem with it. The 760 is an older model with a rifled barrel. Others may disagree with me, but this is my experience with a so called rifle scope on an air gun. Ed

    The 760 isn't a spring piston rifle. I've used Weaver K scopes on pump up guns for years.
    On a high power spring piston rifle like a RWS or Gamo, it is best to use an airgun scope.
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  • Riomouse911
    I've ruined cheepy tascos on my Webley Vulcan. No myth, get an airgun-specific scope and you'll be happy.
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  • jeffb1911
    Not all "air" guns are equal. An "air" gun that just uses compressed air may be ok. A HIGH POWERED SPRING PISTON airgun are the ones that will destroy scopes.
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  • gruntled
    I was under the impression that air rifle scopes used threads that were reversed from normal scopes since the primary recoil impulse was in the opposite direction. If that is so then you should not use an air rifle scope on a regular rifle. The idea being that the recoil will tighten the scope in each circumstance.
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