Buying a second-hand riflescope can be a rewarding experience,you can get quality vintage or modern scopes on eBay with makers names like PECAR,KAHLES or LEUPOLD which are the ones that I'm most familiar with so I'll stick to talking about them.

PECAR-BERLIN...has now gone out of business,they say because the lease on their factory was not renewed but I think it more likely that the fierce world-wide competition in the rifle scope market place killed off what is or was a top-quality but high priced German scope,PECAR's can be found in 26mm or 25.4mm tubes,26mm being common in older scopes.

PECAR's can be still serviced & limited spare parts as well as custom made parts are available here in Australia from a very competent scope repairer in Sydney,Australia.

KAHLES...Austrian made scopes are another top-quality scope that can be found in 26mm,1' & 30mm tubes & other un-usual WW11 tube sizes.

Kahles say they were the first to introduce multi-coating to riflescope lenses in 1972.

LEUPOLD scopes have the worlds best warranty,lifetime-fully transferable and make at least one scope for any given situation.

In my humble opinion,Leupold scopes and their accessories like Alumina flip-up covers are the worlds best and build quality and design is up there with the best if not equal too, perhaps the best modern scope you can buy for your money.

Leupold began alphabet letter coding serial numbers on their scopes begining in 1974,all scopes produced in that year started their serial number with the letter E as a prefix,the next year it was F and so on but the letters I,O and Q were skipped so as not be confused with numbers until Z was reached in 1992 then Leupold re-started at A again in 1993.

Common scope faults to be aware of....

One possible fault with an older scope is lense seperation,it looks like a silver spot/spots or a patch inside the glass lense that is caused by the adhesive that holds the two lense halves together giving way and it will only get worse,I have had scopes & bino's with it and it doesn't seem to affect performance or vision but it is a defect,the only fix is a new lense,if available.

Lense coatings can easily get scratched from improper cleaning & the only fix is a new lense or polish off the coating but unless it really scratched up performance will not be badly affected in most situations,pre 1972 scopes will be plain clear glass lenses but will still suffer fine scratches if improperly cleaned. 

Hiding behind a post...

Older variable power european scopes cross-hairs appear to get thicker as you twist up the magnification setting because they have the reticle in the first focal plane,not quite what is best for pin-point accuracy at 300 meters on a one inch black dot but OK on a larger sized target,they should also be sighted in on the highest power setting at 100 meters to minimize bullet impact variations at lower magnification settings,if it's an older scope it will also more than likely have a moving reticle which means as you adjust for bullet impact the cross hairs move in the view,up,down or sideways,modern scopes will be 'image moving' having a constantly centered reticle.

You should be careful that some-one hasn't clamped a 26mm scope tube into 1"(25.4mm) rings as tube damage can result,a common problem on older european scopes sourced from the U.S.A where one inch was the standard tube/ring size until 30mm came along.

HAIRY RETICLE SYNDROME.

It's one defect common on european scopes,particularly KAHLES but PECAR as well and is found on the thick stadia or posts of the nickel steel reticle and is rust forming,it looks like tiny black hairs or lumps growing on the edges of the thick reticle posts and look's pretty bad, it can be temporarily fixed with dis-assembly & cleaning and re-gassing but it will slowly re-occur in my experience.

I think this caused by air/moisture getting in when you take the turret caps off to adjust the scope and when you replace the caps and screw them down pressurizing the captured air inside the caps into the scope tube right where the reticle sits,the only sure fix is glass reticle or a fine wire reticle. 

Reticle choice

There are many specialized reticles available on scopes,some with range estimation like the mildot, TMR, Leupold SPR or the now sadly obsolete Kahles #104 in the ZF95 range which was the simplest & fastest to read & had an un-cluttered view and thus was probably the best of that lot but lost out in sales to Leupold with the M2 & M3 BDC & M1 dial scopes with optional illuminated mildot or TMR reticles with variable magnification up to 25 times.

Another one of my personal favorites is the tried & true,great in low light,heavy duplex with fine cross hair german #4A.

The trusty, reliable as a hammer duplex reticle will suffice in 99% of hunting situations.

Most modern scopes with click type adjustments are in the range of 5mm at 100meters or 1/4" at 100yards.

A word of advice about radioactive gas filled Tritium illuminated reticles (should have a small radiation warning symbol on the optics body) in some 1970-1990's european ex-military scopes or bino's is... stay away,you won't find a scope repairer who will touch it if it ever needs repair or service & there are serious health risks with using them which is why they are no longer produced,buy a battery powered illuminated scope first up if you need an illuminated reticle option.

It's all in the setting-up..

When setting up a scope on a rifle I set the rifle up firmly on a shooting bench with sand bags & sand socks ,firstly I clamp a 12 inch long piece of aluminium tube of the appropriate diameter in the rings then fit them to the rail or bases to align them to prevent scope tube ring marks and tighten to specifications,then I remove the scope rings top halves keeping both top halves seperate so they go back on same lower half the same way,using a small spirit level to get a horizontal plane across ring bases will get the rifle vertical,then using a piece of string with a weight at the end hung from a tree about 50 yards away will give you a perfect vertical line to line up the scopes vertical cross-hair..tighten everything up carefully & re-check..if everything's OK your rifles centerline of bore will be vertical with the centerline of the scope when you shoot,improving longer range accuracy and your scopes adjustment will track true.

I have bought and sold some really good European and U.S scopes on eBay and you can't get a better market-place, don't be afraid to ask the seller questions about condition and do your own research &  you will get a scope that you can be proud to own and should last a life-time with-out trouble at a good price, if you found this guide helpful I would appreciate your vote by clicking the button below.