Choosing & using sights by Gwyn Roberts
As with most things, you usually get what you pay for and scopes are no exception and anything that uses either Japanese or German lenses in it will be more expensive but the quality is certainly a lot higher
Another option of course if you are on a tighter budget would be a second-hand scope and you could well end up with a lot more scope for your money, so make sure you check out the various shooting forums and sites on the internet to see what’s available.
As I mentioned earlier, you will find that a telescopic sight won’t always be the best option for some of the GR disciplines, whatever its magnification range and these include matches like the Bianchi, the Bisley Speed Steels, 3 gun matches and Steel Challenge falling plate type matches.
To shoot well in the c/f Bianchi, a 1.5 – 6x42mm would be an ideal choice as the 1.5x setting would certainly make life easier during the Mover and Plates matches and not many shooters would need over 6x to shoot the 50m stages on a full size target.
Adjustable objective
which can easily be seen when comparing them side by side on the range. I have always advocated using the Edgar Brothers Optimate range as they were manufactured in Japan and were excellent value for money considering they retailed for around £160-170 each but unfortunately these are no longer available.
I have used their 5-20 x 50 models for the last 15 years or so and have never had a single problem with any of them but, looking around recently for a new scope to use for Bianchi, there doesn’t seem to be anything else of that quality around anymore for this sort of money. Yes, there are plenty of scopes available for around £150-200 and plenty more for a lot less money but they are all fitted with cheap Chinese lenses and the build quality is somewhat dubious to say the least.
On the other hand, having to pay between £300-500 plus for a better quality item such as a Nikon or Burris will bring tears to some shooters’ eyes especially when they have more than one rifle to equip but, they do offer excellent quality and most will come with a lifetime guarantee. It’s going to be your wallet that makes the decision at the end of the day but generally, you get what you pay for.
Likewise, using a red-dot on an LBR for this match would produce much better results for most shooters as opposed to using a 2 – 7x pistol scope, given the precise way you have to line your head up with the eye-piece and the loss of sight-picture during recoil. Some of the faster matches, where there are multiple targets at close to medium range, are best shot using red-dot scopes or even iron-sights as the targets can be picked up much quicker and the transition between them will be a lot faster and more fluid as your vision will be far less restricted compared to using a telescopic sight.
If you eventually decide to start branching-out and giving these more varied disciplines a try, then you will need to ensure that you use the right optic for the job at hand and this can be done in two ways. The first is to simply have a spare scope (or scopes) and fit it using some decent quick-release mounts, or by using a set of the quick-release ring system.
Warne (above) make some excellent QD rings and they are fairly reasonably priced as well but whichever make you decide on it’s very important that you always make sure that the profile of both your rings and base match properly - some rails are cut using a 45° cutter whilst others use a 60° version. Hoping that a set of 45° rings will locate in exactly the same position on a 60° base when you swap scopes over just
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