spotting scope for dim, old eyes.

[coachjpg]

Sunday evening I had a few minutes to sight in a Garand. My 70mm spotting scope did fine at first, while I was hitting in the white. Once I got dialed in and started putting them all in the black, I just couldn't see the holes. It was also getting along toward sunset, so there wasn't as much light available.

So I ended up running back and forth between the bench and the targets, through 6" of sloppy wet snow, in my sneakers, grumbling the whole time about the inability of my spotting scope to compensate for my failing eyesight. I wanted to be shooting, not running back and forth. Fortunately, I was alone at the range, so I could go "cold" whenever I liked.

So now I'm looking for a better spotting scope, that will allow an old man to see like a young one, especially in dim light.

I'm looking at the 5" Celestron. The 127mm aperture is the largest I've found in a spotting scope, maximizing the light-gathering ability. It's not waterproof and armored like some spotting scopes, but it's brighter. A zoom eyepiece gets you 50-150X magnification, and you can use a barlow to double that.

I know you don't need that much magnification at high-power matches, but when practicing I want to be able to see my bullet holes at 300 yards. I especially want to see the bullet holes in the black.

I asked Celestron about using this scope for shooting. They said it's the brightest spotting scope they make, and they said they'd give us dealer rates if we organize a group buy. I'm happy to do that, but only if this will make a good spotting scope for the rifle range.

Has anyone tried this scope at the range? Is there a better option to bring more light to dimming eyes?

Thanks,
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[bpm990d]

You are going to have a hard time seeing holes in the black with just about any spotting scope at 300 yards. I have a Kowa TSN 1 and it's not really possible. With the right light sometimes with a .30 cal. I have been told that the zoom eyepiece is better at finding holes than the 24x LER.

I shot some reduced course 300 yard walk and paste matches and the slow prone was just stupid. It was like firing into a black hole and I had no idea where the bullets were impacting. I actually prefer 100 yard reduced course walk and paste matches, because you can actually see where the bullets are hitting.

The best thing to do at practices is to make up a target with the back cut out of it. That allows light to pass through the target and illuminate the holes a little better.

B