Airgun World – Summer 2019

http://www.airgunshooting.co.uk AIRGUN WORLD 47

DISCOVERY OPTICS HD 34 3-18 X 50

fine at low mag’. You must decide which
magnification you’ll primarily use, then choose
your FFP scope accordingly.
The Discovery scope I went for is the HD 34
3-18 x 50, which is 337mm long and weighs
748g – thanks to Matt, at SureShot Airguns for
his help, guiding me through the range. I
chose this deliberately to use at mid-to-high
magnification, knowing the Discovery FFP
reticle stays very sharp even at this
setting. The concession is that
when wound right down to 3x
mag’, the reticle looks very
fine indeed, almost tiny by
comparison and unusable
to some. Eventually, I
plan to keep this scope
on a rimfire rifle, and I
might push the range
slightly beyond that which

I’d target airgun prey. I’ll use minimum mag’

sparingly, though, for spotting my prey, for

example.

The Discovery HD34’s mil-graduated reticle

is wonderfully sharp, even at full mag’ and

gives you lots of aim points. The parallax and

zoom dials feel nicely positive, neither stiff nor

slack. The push-lock turrets could be a little

more positive/precise in use, but they do

work acceptably. The turrets

adjust/click in tenths of a mil,

so one click equals 1cm at

100m, 5mm at 50m or

2.5mm at 25m.

SEEING IS

BELIEVING

I’m preparing a video

compilation to help you

to picture this and other

reticles. You’ll find it on my YouTube channel

(#RussDouglas222). For now, I’ve included a few

still images with this article, enough to see what I

mean re the concessions when choosing your

own FFP scope.

GOOD ADVICE – TAKE UP THE SLACK

My new shooting buddy (and AGW reader),

Davie Will, gave me a great tip, to get around

any inaccuracies should your scope be older

and the turrets/screws have any slack in their

movements; always end movement positively. In

practice, this means always end by screwing

them in clockwise – easy when dialling left for

windage, or down for elevation. For the opposite

dialling, if you simply reversed your movements

some adjustment might be lost ‘taking up the

slack’. So, to back off ten clicks, reverse the

turret 20 clicks, then screw it back in clockwise

by ten. This simple rule of thumb ensures that

your turret adjustments are always positive.

ACCESSORIES GALORE!

Back to the awesome Discovery 3-18 x 50;

Matt from Sureshot persuaded me to go for

one from the HD34 range, with a chunky

34mm tube body. Fortunately, it’s no heavier

than many 30mm scopes, plus the eyepiece

bell is still only 43.8mm diameter, so will still fit

my new PARD007 imager’s bayonet adapter »

Inclinometer and two

tiny screws.

Secured at last. Inclinometer indicates angle.

Slips in sweetly.

97mm sprung dovetail-

Picatinny adaptor from Amazon.