I need a scope for an airgun with an AO of less than 20 feet so I can use it in my basement. I mainly want to use it to practice for rimfire silhouette. It would be nice to be able to use it for airgun silhouette. Does anyone have any recommendations?
I have an Aztec Emerald 3-18x50 that will focus that close. It’s an incredible scope for the money and is well suited for Field Target, Silhouette, or hunting. Check it out on YouTube or look at it on Airguns of Arizona.
The biggest issue with finding a good scope for both is you can find scopes that will focus to short ranges or you can find scopes that have good reticals for silhouette (crosshair with dot) but you can't find both in the same scope.
All the airgun-specific scopes I've seen have these complex tree reticals for field target or a maybe offer a simple, bulky, coarse duplex... neither of which are good for silhouette. I've met with representatives of some of these airgun scopes makers (Hawke, etc.) and begged them to make a crosshair/dot but none have to my knowledge.
I have three different scopes on my three silhouette air rifles. The TX200 has a Leupold M8 24X (crosshair, 1/8 MOA dot) that I modified the AO to focus 20-45 yards. The HFT-500 has a Weaver T-24 (crosshair 1/2 MOA dot). The Anschutz SuperAir 2002 has a Sightron Big Sky 6-24X (crosshair 1/2 MOA dot). If you can find a Sightron Big Sky (discontinued for a while now) that's the best one since it focuses to 10 meters right out of the box.
The only scope I found useful for shooting airgun silhouette in the basement is an ancient Lyman six power with adjustable optics that will focus down to 30 feet. Not much power but at least for me the all important single black dot trumps power at that short range.
See if you can find a Nikon Prostaff 3-9 EFR. The minimum marking on the AO is 10 yards, but it will focus down past that to 20 feet or so, no problem. I use this scope on four different air rifles and shoot them indoors at 10 meters. Has a fine crosshair and excellent optics. Unfortunately, Nikon has recently gotten out of the riflescope business, but you may still find one around.
See if you can find a Nikon Prostaff 3-9 EFR. The minimum marking on the AO is 10 yards, but it will focus down past that to 20 feet or so, no problem. I use this scope on four different air rifles and shoot them indoors at 10 meters. Has a fine crosshair and excellent optics. Unfortunately, Nikon has recently gotten out of the riflescope business, but you may still find one around.
The Sig Whiskey3 4-12x44 that I use will focus real close. My garage is 30 ft so I shoot some where between 25 - to 30 ft and it is focused at that range. You can catch it on sale once in a while too. Sig makes it available for their air rifle.
I like mine, both the sig ASP20 and the scope. It's in the back of the safe or I would dig it out and look on the scope to see what it says. Let me know if you need me to do that--PM is good and I will look .
I have a Leupold 6.5-20x40 EFR that focuses pretty close. It is suppose to focus as close as 10 meters. Maybe if one of Leupold’s focus adapters are used with the 6.5-20 it will focus down to 20 feet?
Dunno how close they, or my air rifle 2-7 AO, will focus, but maybe an inquiry to Hawke will get a favorable answer. https://www.airgundepot.com/hawke-scopes.html Mine has served me alright on a springer.
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