Decided on spotting scope, now, which scope stand?!

[Trigger1212]

Guy,

Ended up making a decision on the spotting scope choice there by ending the "Which Kowa model to get?". Being the way these things go I decided to get something other than a Kowa! Fantastic scopes and probably better than what I ended up with (but maybe not). Just more than I wanted to spend. Brent ruined it for me by showing the flea bay purchase he had made for a Kowa TSN-821 27x LER for around $460. Very hard to beat that deal, and even harder to duplicate! Saw one like it and it went for over $700. Currently a TSN-823 with the florite lenses on EB with a starting bid of $650 and someone snuck in ahead of me on that one too.

SO, decided after hearing all the pros and cons, looking at a Vortex Razor 18-48X65 (eyerelief too short for glasses, for me anyway) I decided to go the Celestron Regal M2 ED80 route. Came with the 20-60x zoom eyepiece and ordered the LER 27X eyepiece also. Got it all for about $660 no shipping and no taxes so as long as the Kidwell wasn't pulling my leg and Woody and Jeb were full of beans I should be good to go. Woody can make one hell of an ammo box so should be able to figure our what works for a scope for this game. JK RUNS these games so he also should be in-the-know. Now Jeb, got nothing on him but a gut feeling so there you are! Thanks to everyone for their input.

NOW, on to the next question; What to get for a scope stand?

1. As I've stated before, I'm currently gearing up for my first match so piecing together my kit. Shot competitive HP at the National Level while in the US Marine Corps so know how to use a scope prone and spotting and we used a scope for both positions. What I don't now is how you use a scope in BPCR. Do you use a scope while on your belly shooting prone to keep an eye on conditions or to keep the spotter honest or do you fully trust the spotter and let them do all the glass work? I've got a nice medium heavy duty Orion tripod scope stand that should work pretty good for spotting duties but nothing for prone work.

What say all you x-sperts out there?

Thanks in advance for the info!

Cheers!

Wade

[Woody]

Trust your spotter.

Most of us don't have the time in silhouette for a ground scope. Target rifle is a different story. Both spotter and shooter should be "scoped up".

Woody

[Lumpy Grits]

Cabin tree for tripod, and Sinclair for bench mount scope stand.
Gary

[Don McDowell]

If you're shooting bptr you'll want to use the same laydown stand used shooting high-power, with at least enough stand height for shooting the midrange position matches.
If spotting for someone, then a very stable tripod is the answer.

[38-72]

I shoot BPTR and a lot of gong matches (out to 1000 yards and 1200 once in awhile). I use a GearBuggy stand and am very pleased with it. You can see it here: http://gearbuggy.com . I got just the basic stand - non of the extras. Its steady in both the high and low positions. Its a lot of fun to shoot that 1000 yard gong, then looking thru my scope, watch the bullet hit the mark. It just doesn't get any better than that!

[SSShooter]

The GearBuggy is pretty much the same as the Ray-Vin, and are excellent for HP and prone. However, for spotting, a good tripod is the way to go. Manfrotto is a good name in tripods. Check the listings on eBay. Not necessarily to purchase, but to get an idea of the range of what is available. I bought a Celestron tripod as it was on a great sale. However, has too much plastic on the low-end model and have had to repair mine once. Get an all-metal model. Great choice on the Celestron scope. I'm going to sell my 65mm Regal and get their 56mm model. Don't need that big a scope in BPTR/BPCR as am only looking for mirage and splashes, not bullet holes.