Cheap gunshow brand scopes

[JulesMaximus]

I went to the gun show at the Del Mar fairgrounds today and you cannot find anyone selling a name brand scope at these things. All I saw were brands like Sniper and other brands I've never heard of. Anyone have any experience with these cheap scopes?

No Leopold, no Zeiss, no Nikon to be found. Just lots of cheap Chinese scopes. I swear the most expensive one was like $129.

 

[JDMnAR1]

If you are going to go inexpensive, do yourself a favor and look at what Primary Arms has to offer rather than going the "white van" route and getting an NcStar or something from a gunshow vendor who may not be there if/when the product fails. At least with PA you have a company that has proven it will stand behind their product.

https://www.primaryarms.com/Primary_Arms_s/353.htm

 

[JulesMaximus]

If you are going to go inexpensive, do yourself a favor and look at what Primary Arms has to offer rather than going the "white van" route and getting an NcStar or something from a gunshow vendor who may not be there if/when the product fails. At least with PA you have a company that has proven it will stand behind their product.

https://www.primaryarms.com/Primary_Arms_s/353.htm

I didn't buy any of the scopes the vendors there were selling primarily because I had never heard of any of them.

 

[lokiju]

Funny enough I was at a local gun show yesterday and noticed mostly the same though one guy did have legit scopes. Aimpoints, etc.

But as others have said, go with Primary Arms. I just got their 3x magnifier and compact red dot for my AR15. So far, I'm impressed with the quality/feel of the product for the price.

They are very good also about communication. I emailed with them a few times to make sure what I was buying and the mounts I was getting would work right. Very helpful.

They also have a section over at AR15.com that has a lot of good info, they themselves actively respond to post there and there's a lot of community uploaded pics.

 

[Specop 007]

Primary Arms and Vortex optics. Check out SWFA as well, they sell new and used. I bought a great used EOTech from them and have been very happy.

Frankly, I buy optics online. The B&M stores generally have little of interest to me.

 

[JulesMaximus]

What about Leapers brand scopes? I saw a few of these as well but have never heard of the brand.

 

[KB]

Those cheap scopes are only mildly useful for a .22 or BB gun. Some are even built only for airsoft, not real guns. I have an NcStar on my Ruger 10/22 and it works just fine. If you put it on anything that shoots with more recoil than a .22, it may lose zero. I had a cheap barska sight and it broke when I first started sighting it in. The cheap red dot sights also have terrible battery life, and are usually hard to see. This is why I won't buy any cheap sights anymore.