Canadian Airgun Forum

Got my Fitco scope in the mail yesterday.... excellent service, just 4 days....

Did some field of view measurements, and very pleased with the results....

at 20 yards: 2 power = 106"; 7 power = 41"

This translates to about 44' @ 100 yds on low power, and is about 12% more than the Bushnell 3-9 x 32 AO and 16% more than the REX 3-9 x 40 AO.... taking the numbers from TCooper's test....

I'm pleased with the overall quality and clarity.... and the adjustable objective seems to remove the parallax well down to about 7.5 yds as marked (more later).... The brightness will have to wait until some field tests.... The thumbscrew mounts that everyone said would strip out of the "soft aluminum" are actually steel through bolts with a large thumbscrew style head that has a huge slot that could easiily be tightend with a large screwdriver or a flat bar that fits well.... I'd sooner see allen-head screws on the ring hold downs, but this should be easily rectified....

All in all, I'm pretty impressed.... I think I'll just keep it and see how it works....

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Dominion Marksman Silver Shield - 5890 x 6000 in 1976, and downhill ever since!
Airsonal; Too many! Springers, Pumpers, CO2, but I love my PCPs and developing them!
Proud Member of the 2000+fps Club!

how much was it in total ?
Warren

Total cost including the rings, shipping and taxes $47.74....

Bob

_________________
Dominion Marksman Silver Shield - 5890 x 6000 in 1976, and downhill ever since!
Airsonal; Too many! Springers, Pumpers, CO2, but I love my PCPs and developing them!
Proud Member of the 2000+fps Club!

I tested the Parallax at high power and found the Fitco 2-7 x 32 AO to be parallax free at 7 yards when the objective was adjusted to the closest setting (the ring turns just past the 7.5 yd. mark).... It was also good when set for 20 yds.... I didn't test it at longer ranges, but typically the further out you get, the less parallax problems there are....

I'm satified that the scope exceeds its specifications regarding mninimum parallax free range....

In case you were interested, my Red-Dot has a field of view of about 10' at 20 yds.... so the Fitco at 2X comes within about 10% of my 1X finder....

Bob

_________________
Dominion Marksman Silver Shield - 5890 x 6000 in 1976, and downhill ever since!
Airsonal; Too many! Springers, Pumpers, CO2, but I love my PCPs and developing them!
Proud Member of the 2000+fps Club!

That was me. Poorly said on my part. The aluminum they use is "soft", and those thumscrews WILL strip quite easily, they have shallow threads and the steel seems soft too. Not to be confused with the similar-looking Burris rings... Bottom line is they will not grip the rail very well because of their claw shape and the screw tightening ability, and are more likely to be the main problem before the scope is. Don't forget, I have a couple sets of each of these scopes and rings and have "tested" them, and they do have their uses for sure. But for a HW95 is debateable...that's your job!

Good luck with it though! I commented on the wider field of view with this 32mm scope than some of the 40mm ones you mentioned before. I vaguely remember getting into an argument with somebody who said the 40mm scopes shouldn't have a wider FOV at the same power, but that was contrary to my previous experience. At least try the Fitco out before going off to other scopes, there seems to be little info on how it stands up to medium springers.

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Why, whenever there's a shooting, do the politicians go after the people who didn't do it?

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well. - Murphy's Other Laws

Brightness is pretty subjective.... unless you have light metering equipment, which I don't.... However, here's what I found when it started getting dark this evening.... My "quarry" was my grouse target, positioned in a dimly lit area.... which grew darker as the sun set....

First of all, the Fitco is FAR superior to my Red-Dot in low-light conditions.... something which surprised me.... I guess the dot, and the screen it reflects off.... combined to reduce the contrast of whatever you are looking at.... The only practical way to use the Red-Dot was with both eyes open and letting your brain combine the two images.... When it was dark enough that I could barely get off a body shot with the Red-Dot.... I was still able to see the crosshairs and get a head shot with the Fitco....

I compared the Fitco to an inexpensive pair of Bushnell 7 x 35 binoculars, also.... Set at 7X, there was very little difference in brightness IF you only used one eye in the binoculars.... You had to reduce the power of the Fitco to about 4-5X to have the same contrast as the binoculars with both eyes open.... In both cases, you could see better than with the naked eye in the fading light....

The human eye is only able to open to about 7mm in complete darkness.... In theory, any power less than 32mm / 7 = 4.5 X should not show any increase in brightness.... I found with the Fitco that the optimum setting for low light shooting was 4X.... if you reduced the power further, there was, in fact, no apparent increase in brightness, and the target was, of course, smaller, with less detail visible.... If you went over 4X, however, the brightness did decrease.... Interesting that the old standby scope for deer hunting close in is a 4 X 32 eh?....

In conclusion, I am pleased with the brightness of the Fitco in marginal light conditions when set to 4X or less.... a larger objective would give the ability to use higher powers in low light.... but I can't imagine needing more than 4X for hunting Grouse near dawn or dusk....

Without other scopes for direct, side by side comparison, I can't offer an opinion about how the Fitco would stack up in brightness against other scopes....

Bob

_________________
Dominion Marksman Silver Shield - 5890 x 6000 in 1976, and downhill ever since!
Airsonal; Too many! Springers, Pumpers, CO2, but I love my PCPs and developing them!
Proud Member of the 2000+fps Club!

I'm curious how this scope would stand up on my Quest 1000 springer. The recoil on it can be quite punishing and I'm wondering if a Fitco scope can take it?

Aren't we all....

Bob

_________________
Dominion Marksman Silver Shield - 5890 x 6000 in 1976, and downhill ever since!
Airsonal; Too many! Springers, Pumpers, CO2, but I love my PCPs and developing them!
Proud Member of the 2000+fps Club!

http://www.airgunforum.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16743
Just something I remembered from a while back...

rsterne, BAD BOY!

I have a Fitco 2-7 x 32 AO, but I use it on an old Mossberg .22. Considering how inexpensive these are (especially with the current 50% off sale) it's a wonder that they work at all, let alone as well as they do. I'm pretty pleased with mine the adjustments work well, and the glass is decent. I expect it would perform well enough on a gas gun, however I doubt it would last very long at all on any springer.

Last year I ordered one of the 30mm tube Fitco scopes and the power adjustment ring would not budge so I sent it back and they sent me another. It appeared to be ok until I zeroed it and found that the point of aim moved around a lot when the power was changed. Sold it locally to someone who didn't care about the zero problem - I think he just wanted a cool looking "Sniper" scope......

So buying a Fitco is like buying a lottery ticket, some are winners, some are not. I have an unused 3-12x40AT Fitco still in the box - wish me luck when I decide to use it!