Super Sniper questions

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.

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to learn a little from here.

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  The Super Sniper was originally made  by Tasco to Mil Specs and they worked so good that SWFA purchased the exclusive rights to have these scopes custom manufactured and they are for sale only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.

Pictures?

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.

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...

Edited by billyburl2 - June/22/2009 at 21:37

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.

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.  

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.

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?

Urimaginaryfrnd

Thanks...................I really wanted to say that.

Mister "Harmless,"

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.