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Super Sniper questions

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Category: Scopes
Forum Name: Tactical Scopes
Forum Description: Police and military tools of the trade
URL: http://www.opticstalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=17005
Printed Date: March/18/2024 at 23:22
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Topic: Super Sniper questions
Posted By: ColtRocker
Subject: Super Sniper questions
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 19:04

I will introduce myself first. Current LEO for 11 years and 8 of them on SWAT entry team. Also prior US Army(infantry and armor). I used to hunt alot before I got married and the extent of my optics was exclusive to iron sights only. I have always been facinated by the Marksman in my current group and concidered trying for Marksman. I recently purchased a FN PBR .308. It came with a scope which I know very little about. The owner said it was a Super Sniper. I can't find it on the SWFA site. It is a variable power 3.5X10 by I think 42 or 40 and no other markings. My question is did SS make a variable power scope? BTW, I had to send it to Bushnell because it would not focus and the reticle stayed blurry. Hopefully they can repair it. I can't afford a new one, to many kids.

Also I did check the opticstalk.com for a question like this. Unable to locate. So sorry in advance if this is a duplicate.



Replies:
Posted By: Monster
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 19:53
I don't think SS has a variable power out yet. But we are waiting on them Bucky

Welcome to the OT by the way!


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"Get Busy Livin' or get busy dyin'" -Red (Shawshank Redemption)


Posted By: ColtRocker
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 20:18
Thanks for the welcome. I hope to learn a little from here.
 
I saw they weren't selling variable power scopes at this time. I didn't know if they had in the past when they were being sold by Tasco. Do ya know when they are going to make them in variable power?


Posted By: rifle looney
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 20:26
Unfortunately, no one has an answer for this we are all waiting impatiently! Wink  SORRY! 

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Posted By: Urimaginaryfrnd
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 21:08
The genuine article does not exist except as a prototype. What you have is not the same thing.  The Super Sniper was originally made  by Tasco to Mil Specs and they worked so good that SWFA purchased the exclusive rights to have these scopes custom manufactured and they are for sale only through SWFA.  The chinese often copy other manufacturer's scopes and that may be what you have, or you may have a scope made by the same plant which makes the SS but is not the same thing eaven though knobs etc may appear similar.

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"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do".
Bobby Paul Doherty
Texas Ranger


Posted By: mike650
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 21:25
Christmas List

SS10x42m for m1a.

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“A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.” – Fred Bear


Posted By: silver
Date Posted: May/04/2009 at 21:33
Pictures?

-------------
"If we weren't all crazy we, We would go insane."   Jimmie Buffet

WWW.formitch.com



Posted By: ColtRocker
Date Posted: May/05/2009 at 16:04

I sent it to Bushnell for repairs based on what the owner said to me about it being a SS. Sorry but I didn't take pictures, now I wish I would have. I guess they will let me know Thursday what it is. The weird thing is, it has no markings anywhere on it other than the 3.5X10.



Posted By: ColtRocker
Date Posted: June/22/2009 at 20:58

I finally got the scope back from Bushnell. It indeed was not a SS scope. Although after many hours of surfing the web for a scope  that looked like the one I had, it appeared it was a Vector. I took it back to the place where I purchased it, local gun/pawn shop. I was telling the owner what I had sent it to bushnell and asked if the person who sold it to him was a friend of his or if he remembered who it was. It just happened the original owner was standing next to him. He had a shocked look on his face and said he paid $200 after a law enforcement discount at a gun show. I quickly informed him it was junk and I had seen one on ebay for the buy now price of $75, which I have. The owner of the shop was nice enough to give me $200 back which made the price of the FN PBR an OK deal.

The bad side is I was saving all I could to by a nice Leupold scope, which is no longer an option because my transmittion went out on my truck. Anyone know of a decent tactical scope for under $200. The wife doesn't know about this money and I'm not telling.


Posted By: Rancid Coolaid
Date Posted: June/22/2009 at 21:21
Your best options are top save up for awhile, or try to find a used scope.


That's a tough deal, sorry to hear.


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Freedom is something you take.
Respect is something you earn.
Equality is something you whine about not being given.


Posted By: billyburl2
Date Posted: June/22/2009 at 21:35
Man that sucks about your trans, and junk scope! The good news you are only about $ 120 from a real S.S. 10 x 42. Probably not what you wanted to hear but...

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If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?


Posted By: ColtRocker
Date Posted: June/22/2009 at 21:46

Rancid...I think thats what I will do so I do not rush out and buy another piece of $hit. I'd love to have one of the SS variable scopes. After reading miles of these threads it seems that the SS or Leupold is the way to go.

Billy...your right...that sucks!!! But you can bet I'm going out tomorrow with a mission of "random act of kindness" and try to get back on karma's good side.
 
And thanks for ya'lls advice.


Posted By: Urimaginaryfrnd
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 01:34
Waiting until you can get the right thing is the best plan. The Super Sniper variable is an excellent choice.  By the way SWFA does take things in trade and there is a trade in form on the Samplelist link.

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"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do".
Bobby Paul Doherty
Texas Ranger


Posted By: Harmless
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 17:50
I am new to this forum - though a lurker using it to review scope purchases for several years at least.  I bought a Super Sniper 10 x 42 in Jan 2008, after reading many favorable reviews of the scope here.  Mounted it on a heavy barrel (Broughton) Rem 700 with some custom work on action, bolt, trigger, and bedded in a Bell and Carlson medalist varmint tactical scope.  Had great expectatioins!  Very hard to get any group, and zero changed - usually low and way right - with every new shooting session.  My smith ( same guy who built the gun)  says gun and mounts are fine.  Yesterday, my group was 13" right! at 100 yards after being good last fall - rig did nothing but sit in a cradle all winter and spring!  FED UP! I called SWFA and they referred me to Bushnell warranty service to evaluate the scope. 
 
Cost me $12 to mail it in, and $10 to cover return postage and about 100 rounds at over $2.00 each to get to where I am finally taking action - new gun, average shooter, I just kept trying...   We will see what the story is when I hear from them.  One thing that is now clear, Bushnell calls the Super Sniper a  TASCO scope - and they own TASCO, so they do the warranty work.   I know 100 % quality is not in the cards with mass-produced stuff, but when I buy, I do expect it to work as advertized.  Over 25 years, I have had only 2 of about 27 scopes fail and both were made by TASCO - if I knew the brand name was a cover, I would not have bought the scope, but I own it now.
 
So I am not a happy SS owner at this time.  Sorry to open up with rain on the parade, but I did want to share this experience.  I will add more when Bushnell gets back to me.
Thank you.
 
Harmless


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Learning precedes performance


Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 17:56
You have been lucky with scopes.  I have had at least 50% of the scope I have ever bought break on me.  I almost expect it at this point.  Sad, but for me it is the truth.  

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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."


Posted By: Mike McDonald
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 18:11
reconcidered...................................


Posted By: RONK
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 18:39
Originally posted by supertool73 supertool73 wrote:

You have been lucky with scopes.  I have had at least 50% of the scope I have ever bought break on me.  I almost expect it at this point.  Sad, but for me it is the truth.  
 
SAY WHAT?
 Shocked
 


Posted By: RONK
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 18:51
Originally posted by Harmless Harmless wrote:

I am new to this forum - though a lurker using it to review scope purchases for several years at least.  I bought a Super Sniper 10 x 42 in Jan 2008, after reading many favorable reviews of the scope here.  Mounted it on a heavy barrel (Broughton) Rem 700 with some custom work on action, bolt, trigger, and bedded in a Bell and Carlson medalist varmint tactical scope.  Had great expectatioins!  Very hard to get any group, and zero changed - usually low and way right - with every new shooting session.  My smith ( same guy who built the gun)  says gun and mounts are fine.  Yesterday, my group was 13" right! at 100 yards after being good last fall - rig did nothing but sit in a cradle all winter and spring!  FED UP! I called SWFA and they referred me to Bushnell warranty service to evaluate the scope. 
 
Cost me $12 to mail it in, and $10 to cover return postage and about 100 rounds at over $2.00 each to get to where I am finally taking action - new gun, average shooter, I just kept trying...   We will see what the story is when I hear from them.  One thing that is now clear, Bushnell calls the Super Sniper a  TASCO scope - and they own TASCO, so they do the warranty work.   I know 100 % quality is not in the cards with mass-produced stuff, but when I buy, I do expect it to work as advertized.  Over 25 years, I have had only 2 of about 27 scopes fail and both were made by TASCO - if I knew the brand name was a cover, I would not have bought the scope, but I own it now.
 
So I am not a happy SS owner at this time.  Sorry to open up with rain on the parade, but I did want to share this experience.  I will add more when Bushnell gets back to me.
Thank you.
 
Harmless
 Your experience is so thoroughly at odds with the vast majority of Super Sniper owners, that I must consider it a wierd fluke. You got a VERY rare lemon, and hopefully Bushnell takes care of you and corrects it. Sorry about your luck, but to be a bit blunt, it really shouldn't have taken you anywhere near 100 rounds of ammo to figure out that there was something seriously out of whack here.


Posted By: billyburl2
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 19:33
My personal expierence is just the opposite! My S.S. 10x42 is mounted on 7 pound rifle chambered in 300 wsm running pretty hot hand loads and it holds zero and dials in elevation and windage corrections as well as my ability allows. While I have only had it since March, I have yet to have it not perform to my expectations. What kind of rings and base was your scope mounted in?

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If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?


Posted By: Urimaginaryfrnd
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 19:57
Originally posted by Harmless Harmless wrote:

I am new to this forum      You do seem to be starting off on the wrong foot ...
  
So I am not a happy SS owner at this time.   ..... I will add more when Bushnell gets back to me.
Thank you.
 
Harmless
You have several options start by being realistic enough to evaluate them.
 1.  Call the SWFS Customer Service Professionals at 972-617-7056 from 8 a.m -5 p.m CDT or via e-mail at mailto:swfa@swfa.com - swfa@swfa.com .  
 2. Allow them to repair or replace the defective item and evaluate the success or failure of that customer service.
 3. Call SWFA and either exchange or trade in the scope you do not like for one that you do like.  Just like cars there is more than one make out there and not everyone likes the same thing.
 4. You can check to see if possibly it might be the rings or base or the rifle by using a different scope to see if it does the same thing. 
 
 Not every gunsmith has their act together but they will all tell you they are the best in the world.  The first thing I would suspect is the mounting system, the next thing I would suspect is your level of ability so you might have someone who is a consistently accurate shooter help you out. Step by step eliminate each of the different variables. Better sand bags or a bipod may be helpful.  I have owned 4 Super Snipers and they have all been quite reliable so I tend to think it is not the fault of the scope but see what Bushnell says I do think it only fair to allow them to fix it before slamming them. 


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"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do".
Bobby Paul Doherty
Texas Ranger


Posted By: Mike McDonald
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 21:23
http://www.opticstalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=17005&PN=2#top">Back to Top
Urimaginaryfrnd
Thanks...................I really wanted to say that.


Posted By: Harmless
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 21:26
Thank you folks for quick replies and suggestions -  I will respond to initial comments and then wait till I have some facts from Bushnell.
I am kicking myself about waiting till 100 rounds are down the tube.  But I could adjust  scope into a good group by the end of each session - 10 -15 rounds or so (1/2" - 3/4" at 100).  The gun has a muzzle break and is the loudest thing I have ever shot, and I kept thinking I will get onto this thing.  Then, it was back to square 1, the next time - using the same rest that lets me get good groups from my other center fires.  I finally said to myself - "I can get to good groups, it is not the just the gun or me."   
 
The base is a leatherwood picatinney rail, with 4 screws, increased to larger diameter for recoil. The rings are millet tactical six screw - all loctited in and all rigid as far as I can tell and the gunsmith's evaluation.
 
I did take it to my gunsmith for evaluaiton. Then, I did call SWFA and discuss it - I did call Bushnell and discuss it, and I have sent it in for repair as they suggested.  As a consumer is supposed to do, I also shared in this forum that my experience with a Super Sniper has not been positive. I own what staff from both places think is a bad scope.  I will compliment them in this forum if they fix it - but that is not the same thing as getting a good, working scope at the start.  I was also candid about the scope being made by TASCO, and that my products by that maker - only two, but two of two, have failed.  I have seen many, many posts in this where writers deride and devalue certain low-end scope makers. I do the same, based on my experience.  
 
Whether I am "starting off on a wrong foot" is irrelevant to me - I wanted to add some balance to the chorus of "hooray super sniper."  I know many writers like it - in fact, that is why I bought it and why my expectations were that it would work. 
 
It is premature to talk of trade until I know what I have.  I will return when I have news.
Thanks again for the comments and for a chance to ventilate where it might help some other consumer in the future.
 
Harmless 


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Learning precedes performance


Posted By: silver
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 21:49
Mister "Harmless,"
 
From time to time we have the odd (Let me Stress ODD) troll.  Some people have some real problems and some just want to make trouble. We get both.  Did you get the scope new directly from SWFA because THAT you did not say?
 
Questions that you should ask are were your rings really round? Were they sized correctly?  Were they screwed down properly? Were they lined up?  How do you know? Lots of worn tooling and stuff getting tossed back to make quota.  Those issues are major causes for every scope maker getting items returned.


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"If we weren't all crazy we, We would go insane."   Jimmie Buffet

WWW.formitch.com



Posted By: Sparky
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 22:08
Tagged for interest.


Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 22:10
The scope is not made by tasco any more.  They were I think the second owners of the design of the SS.  The thing you got to understand is a lot of scope could be made in the same factory by the same people.  Tasco, Bushnell, Nikon, etc is just a name of the company, most of the scopes are made in factories all over the world based on the specs that the brand name requests.   Some can be great scopes some can be cheap POS scopes it all depends on how good the brand wants to make them.  A lot of it depends upon the specifications for quality of that particular scope.  The level of quality of the materials it is made out of.  The original tasco models were very good, then if my info is correct they started to cut corners on them and they went down hill.  Then SWFA bought the rights and uped the anty if you will so they were once again a quality scope built to a specific standard.  It sounds like to me you probably got a lemon, I feel for you as I have had a lot of those and it is frustrating as hell.  But what can a person do other than send it back.

The reason they still have a Tasco warrenty card is because if SWFA had to have all new booklets made they would have to raise the price a little.  They had a bunch of them when they bought the rights so they just kept sending the ones that were already made. 


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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."


Posted By: Sparky
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 22:33
Supertool73,

Wasn't there a contract with the Navy or at least an evaluation for use by the Navy for the SS?


Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: June/23/2009 at 22:35
I'm not sure.  The info I am trying to paraphrase I got from an article that I read a while back that Chris wrote about it.  I cannot find it or I would have just posted it.  

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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."


Posted By: ColtRocker
Date Posted: August/06/2009 at 21:19
Ok, I'm back with good news. The old Truck held out until I could trade it in. Yea, I took a beating on that too but it had to go. Finally, I saved a little here and there and about 20 grass mowings later I saved enough and got a Burris XTR 3-12. I got a great deal on it directly from Burris. I got it about 3 days ago and wouldn't ya know it, karma kicked me in the a$$ again. The day it arrived I tore a calf muscle(long story) so I can't get out to the range. Guess thats what I get for getting a good deal.
Anyway, I haven't seen many reviews on that scope and would appreciate any links or info on it. Also if I can muster up the walking distance I'll put it all together and post a picture.


Posted By: Graysteel
Date Posted: August/19/2009 at 20:37
What ever happened to the old SS? Or did I just miss that in the thread?

And for the record I can sympathize this buying something from one place and being told to send it somewhere else for repair. It always seems when you to the the 'somewhere' else is slow to respond.


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http://www.whitesounddefense.com/pages/Tech-Articles.html - http://www.whitesounddefense.com/pages/Tech-Articles.html


Posted By: ColtRocker
Date Posted: August/24/2009 at 14:55
Originally posted by Graysteel Graysteel wrote:

What ever happened to the old SS? Or did I just miss that in the thread?

And for the record I can sympathize this buying something from one place and being told to send it somewhere else for repair. It always seems when you to the the 'somewhere' else is slow to respond.
I think, by reading these threads and please correct me if I'm wrong anyone, the old SS were made by Tasco. The rights were sold to SWFA and its confidential who is actually making them now.
 
And yes, Bushnell took their time letting me know what I had wasn't a SS. But its my fault. I should have taken it to someone who knew what they were talking about instead of listening to an uninformed individual.


Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: August/24/2009 at 15:09
I don't think Tasco made anything.  I think they are just a name and they pay some foreign optics company to make the scopes for them to certain specs as many scope names do.  

-------------
Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."



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