Spotting Scopes?

[LukeA]

I joined a sportsmen's club with a 300yd range and I'm looking to get a spotting scope to inspect my .30-06 hits without making the 1/3 mile round trip and requiring a cease-fire while downrange. The 9x max of my rifle's scope is just enough for seeing the holes at 100yd. I was at Cabela's and saw a 20-60x60 Barska model for $70. It was decent on its lower powers, but got a little fuzzy on the high ones.

I suppose that spotting scope would be okay for range use, but might be lacking for anything further than 300-400yd.

Does anybody have any recommendations? I checked ebay and craigslist but there weren't really any deals, mostly new scopes being sold at new prices (ebay), or junk (craigslist).

 

[Vinniec5]

Take a look at B&H in NY in the used dept some really nice stuff there. Xmas time I found a set of used (trade-in) Leupold Katmai's for $75 I kid you not I don't think anyone opened the box to see if they were used these were like new not a mark not even fingerprints on it and they are 8x32 which sell for $369-$399 at Cabelas http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/category/3303/Binocular_Scopes.html

 

[LumenHound]

Have a look at the Celestron C70 Mini Mak spotting scope. It's surprisingly sharp all the way out to 50X.

 

[Patriot]

Luke, I'm a pretty big optics nut myself and I can offer some suggestions but I'd have to know the upper range of what you can spend. I'd stay away from roof prism or catadioptric type scopes simple because poro-prisms will offer a sharper image for the money.

Just fair warning though, you're probably looking at having to spend at least $250 at the bare minimum. Even then .30 caliber holes at 300 yards is a very difficult task and impossible when hitting black "bull" without backlighting. High visibility targets help to overcome this and the "shoot-n-see" targets work very well too. In fact, it's far more cost effective to spend on easy to see targets than a high dollar scope. Depending on how often you're going to use the scope you may still what the get the very best you can reasonably afford.