My pet peave is putting a cheap scope on any gun. I see that Simmons has been getting a lot of hate and I don't own one anymore just because I won't buy a cheaper scope. Ill just save until I can afford a top notch one. That beind said I have recommended the Simmons whitetail classic to many people who love them.
Barska gets my vote for worst.

Zeiss

i was at cabellas a few months back and told the guy i wanted to look through some of their high end illuminated scopes. The first one he handed me was bsa or barska. I laughed out lout and left the store.

He should have started off with a trijicon.

Like others said Bariska, NcStar, Simmons... lower end bushnell but the elite line are good.

Have also bought the last Leupold, have had more of them die than the other brands combined.

NC Star gets my vote, but I'll share a quick story with the forum about Barska.

Three springs ago, I was lucky enough to shoot a B&C grizzly on the Seward Peninsula east of Nome. My guide, an Inupiat Eskimo, was extremely competent, but his binocular was a 10x50 Barska. We were on snowmobiles and topped a ridge and spied the bear in a basin below. From the ridge, I was able to drop the bear with a couple shots from my .338 WM.

We left the ridge and went down to the bear, where we took the requisite photos and then skinned the beast. Then we bundled up the hide and headed for home, which was maybe 50 miles away. After 5 miles or so, the guide stopped and realized he'd left his Barska binos up on the ridge where the shooting began. By snow machine, the trip back would have taken no more than 10 minutes. But the guide said the binos weren't worth a trip back, so we continued on to White Mountain, arriving just before midnight.

I saw the guide the following year at the DSC convention. Had he ever gone back for the binos? Nah, he said. Not worth the gas!

Bsa

BSA

Swaro, Zeiss, Schmidt Bender, US Optics in no particular order

Simmons, Tasco, and BSA are the real junk Jack!

I've pulled a handful of Simmons/Tasco/BSA scopes off of guns that I have bought or traded for.

What do y'all do with your cheapo scopes?

I see SWFA has a trade-in program, but I don't know if they'd want these low end scopes. Suggestions?

Have a couple of those type of scopes I use for aligning rings when setting up a new set of mounts on a rifle.

Worst? What in the world do you consider good?

+1

I've had pretty good luck with several of the cheapo scopes and others, not so much. I have a BSA 3x9x50 with the illuminated center dot on my AR for nighttime pig hunting under lighted feeders and it works fine for that. I've also got an old Jap. Tasco 2.5x20 pistol scope mounted on an M-44 Mosin Nagant with a B-Square scout mount that has held zero for close to 10 yrs. now, and I've taken deer out to 275 yds. with it. Another one that really surprised me was a $20 Leapers 6x32 that I put on an SKS. The combo was scary accurate out to 150 yds. and the scope was nice and clear. When I traded the gun off, I noticed something weird-the objective o-ring had pushed out about 1/3 of the way around.
I lost a 150 class buck due to a BSA scope several years ago, though. I had a scope ordered that hadn't come in yet, so I mounted this new BSA that I got stuck with. The sun was coming up and I could see two large bucks out in the field. I decided on the larger of the two, but they started moving off to the south east. I was watching him through the scope when the sun broke through the cloud cover and the whole picture just went white from the glare.
My youngest son also shot the reticle loose in a Bushnell Sportsman in less than 20 rds.
I switched to Sightron for my low-end scopes and couldn't be happier.

LOL! You forgot Nightforce in your list.



In answer to the cheap scope question, keep them around for when you want to sell/trade guns. It makes the rifle look more desirable, and costs you almost nothing.

Barely See Anything

LOL. Bravo Sierra Alpha.

Couldn't agree more

NC Star, I had one that wouldn't come on to the paper when trying to sight it in.

Barska, center point ,buck ridge, tasco,simmons ,nc star all junk if u got any sun rise or set u might as well throw your rifle out of the blind , got vortex never looked back

When it comes to anything, you get what you pay for. I've read sooooo many forums where someone buys a really nice rifle and puts some really inexpensive glass. In regards to BSA, it's hit or miss. I've had 3 of their Sweet 22 scopes and every single one of them had problems yet my girlfriends dad has one his Model 60 and it has no issues at all. I've got a Bushnell Banner on my Savage 93R17 and haven't had a single issue. Would that change if it were on a .308, maybe? But you get what you pay for.

bsa is the worst

Simmons

tasco fo sho