45 degree spotting scope question?

[Jeff L]

I noticed in the Camp Perry pics that a lot of shooters use spotting scopes with 45 degree angled eye pieces. What makes these better over the straight view?
Here is my scope.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff34/jeffphotogg/Unertl%20spotting%20scope/IMG_8871.jpg

thanks

-Jeff L

[Beankeeper]

It is alot easier to see through the scope in position while prone and easier to see through between shots with minimal movement in the other positions. This is also the reason that long eye relief eyepieces are used.

[Jeff L]

Thanks for the reply. This page has been a bit of a ghost town since they came back. I can see how the angle would be an advantage. I haven't used my recent aquisition at the range yet. I have cheap Buschnell that I bought a few years ago that is also a straight view. I can see how the high eye relief wuould be a big plus, especially with shooting glasses on.

thanks

-Jeff L

[joem]

I have both types. The straight view seems to capture more light IMHO. If you buy the 45 angle get at least 60 mm. My first one was a 40mm lens and low priced. Worked OK on bright sunny days but overcast at 100 meters you couldn't see the holes on a DCM target. But the best you can afford so you only buy once, not twice like I did.

[Bob S]

A gent was considering purchasing a straight Unertl 24x63, and he asked me by PM on anpther board how I set up and used my Unertl straight scope (it was my Navy Team issue scope), since I had said that I missed it. My response:

"As for the straight Unertl scope, I scope with my left eye (I shoot right-handed). A Navy opthomologist recommended this; he was also one of our best shooters. In prone, the scope was set up on my left, very close to and parallel to the rifle so that all I had to do was tip my head slightly to the left to see through it. In sitting it was to my left and at a height so that I could easily see through it when I came off the stock for my reload. I would always scope quickly during the reload to make cerrtain the conditions had not changed significantly since the first two shots. Depending on the backlight conditions, I could often see my first two shots in the target. Standing it was a little awkward, I placed the scope stand just forward of my stool; I had my score book set on the stool, and I would bend over to plot my shots, and the height of the scope was such that I could look through the scope while in that position.

Now I have a Kowa 661, and I'm getting used to it. I have the LER 25X eye piece, and the issue that I had with it was that I had to "hunt" for the correct eye relief avery time I looked through it. The Unertl is NOT a LER scope; in fact, to get the full image, my glasses would touch the eyepiece. I didn't (and still don't) see that as a disadvantage because I didn't have to hunt around for the correct eye relief.

The Unertls have excellent optics and are very rugged, but a lot of the ones you see for sale are very high mileage, so if you can actually handle it and try it on the range before you buy, do so. It should also come with thread-on protectors for both the eyepiece and the objective lens. If the target was well back lit (like at Camp Perry), I could see .30 cal bullet holes in the black reliably at 200 and 300 yards. I never used it with a .223."

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Bob S]

P.S. My first honest-to-gosh spotting scope for HP, after the usual sporting goods store fall apart Japanese variable-X scope with the cheap camera tripod; and before I got picked up for the Navy Team; was a Bushnell Sentry. It was not anything at all like what they call the Sentry these days; it was a 50mm scope with a fixed 20X eyepiece. It was compact, light, handy and on a Freeland bipod with a weight and a full 60" of extensions, it wouldn't budge in a whole gale. It was really a pistol scope, but I used it for several years ... most of my comments about the Unertl 24x63 above would also apply to the little Bushnell, including being able to see .30 cal bullet holes (in the black, of course!) at 300 yards when the backlighting was favorable. I wish I still had that scope. I used it for everything from 50 foot gallery shooting to 1000 yards at Perry. In comparing the optics of current Bushnell offerings, I would say that the quality of Bushnell optics has gone to the dogs since 1967 when I got that little scope. :(

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Jeff L]

Thanks for the comments. I got an obscenely great deal on it, but it can without a mount and stand. I was planning on finishing the one I started building, but someone pointed out you can get some at Champion Shooters Supply for a reasonable price.

regards

-Jeff L