48 AIRGUN WORLD http://www.airgunshooting.co.uk
DISCOVERY OPTICS HD 34 3-18 X 50
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RussDouglas222nicely, with just a little packing with the
supplied electrical tape. The Discovery also has
sidewheel parallax adjustment (SWF),
push-lock turrets and an illuminated reticle (IR)
with the rheostat’s stepped controller and
battery in the end cap of the left SWF turret.
Sureshot Airguns include a screw-on
sunshade with each scope, and a pair of
superb two-piece mounts. These are very light
(e.g. 60g per one-piece mount) by clever
design, despite accommodating the large
scope body. Inserts are included to
accommodate 30mm and 25mm scope tubes.
ONE-PIECE MOUNT
The one-piece mount really caught my eye
because one design, although not my universal
version, incorporates both a spirit bubble to
help prevent canting the rifle – and an
inclinometer. The latter comes loose in a
separate bag with two tiny attachment screws,
so took some fiddling to secure to the side of
the rear mount – don’t lose those tiny screws!
Once there, it rotates freely to indicate the
positive or negative angle of aim. This might
seem a bit gimmicky, but it was very
affordable, so I thought I’d try it out.
Remember to aim low when aiming steeply
either upward or downward; e.g. at reasonable
pest control ranges. This is because gravity has
less of an effect on the trajectory at such
angles, than it does when we aim horizontally,
when zeroing our rifles.
Unusually the one-piece mount might be
Picatinny/Weaver, but the two capstan-headed
nuts are recessed within the underside of the
mount body. This might not be ideal for a
recoiling rifle, but for a PCP, it aids fitting
because the mount slides as if on a dovetail
rail. The Allen bolts mean two Allen keys are
ideal to tighten; use a skinny one through the
capstan head and another to hold the bolt still.
Sureshot-Airguns also include a mobile
phone holder/adapter with each scope, that
clamps onto the scope’s eyepiece bell. They
ask you the model of your smartphone, andthen issue the holder accordingly. I haven’t
fully got to grips with using this yet – perhaps
modern smartphones are too technical for their
own good, or is it just me? I find the phone’s
focus jumps back and forth between focusing
on the reticle and the target, as the zoom
changes. Definitely more practice required
here, although smartphones are also pretty
heavy, so can feel somewhat unbalanced and
clumsy clamped in the holder attached to your
scope eyepiece.HICCUP ... CIRCUMVENTED!
One hiccup of the larger 34mm tube is that
there’s no compact 34mm Picatinny accessory
mount available (yet). So the very cool,scope-mounted laser rangefinder I reviewed in
last month’s issue, from CustomRiflescopes.
com couldn’t be mounted. I donned my
thinking cap, swapped the Discovery scope’s
two-piece mounts for one-piece, and started to
search for an accessory. Initially, I used a
double-Picatinny barrel mount, that once
tightened up with shorter bolts became an
impromptu back-to-back Picatinny rail, for
interfacing between one ‘reversed’ scope
mount and the LRF’s Picatinny bracket, but it
was cumbersome. I contacted supplier
ANT-Supplies and spoke to Tim, who quickly
came up with a 3D-printed, double-Picatinny
rail. This cost £10, weighs just 8g and is the
slimmest-possible way of attaching the LRF to
the Discovery scope, short of obtaining a
bespoke 34mm tube Picatinny bracket.
That whole assembly still only weighs 70gall-in, so is a viable enough LRF-mounting
option, although there is a standoff when
side-mounted or vertically mounted. Hey, at
least I’m giving you well-researched options!
Everyone who tied the FFP scope last night at
GARC agreed that the reticle was very sharp at
medium to high mag’, but very faint at
minimum mag’.
Thanks again to Matt, and to reader, Davie, for
the photos at the private range, and Sam for
the one at home.
I hope this is all useful – enjoy your shooting!
My back’s finally improving so I’m planning to
be back on the pests very soon, which I hope
to share with you via another new gadget – and
YouTube. KIT USED
Discovery HD 34mm 3-18 x 50 FFP
scope £399.99 http://www.sureshot-airguns.
co.uk
Once-piece mount with inclinometer
£39.99. Two-piece mounts are included
with every scope.
34mm tube level bubble £15.99
Back-to-back Picatinny bracket £10
http://www.ant-supplies.com
LE-02 laser rangefinder £139.99 /
£123.19 (with discount)
https://Customriflescopes.com“Once there, it rotates freely to indicate the
positive or negative angle of aim”
Hey presto!LRF in place for zeroing and practice.