TargetTalk

Hi, I have been shooting more outdoor smallbore prone matches lately, but I have been having some trouble spotting my shots at 100 yd. with my middle-aged eyes. I would like to get a better spotting scope than my old Unertl 20x.

I remember back when I was shooting a lot, the Kowa TSN-1 was the hot ticket, and I have a line on a used one of those with a 25x eyepiece. Are they still a good option or is there something better without spending my life savings? It would be great if I could find something for $600 or less. Again, the farthest distance I shoot is 100 yd., so I don't need top of the line.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

At that price point, you should be looking at used scopes. I've had a TSN-1 with the LER eyepiece. I checked it side by side against my Celestron 80mm Regal M2 and the Celestron beat it in terms of FOV and resolution. It's still a good scope, probably better in the mechanical department than the Celestron, but optically not as good. Also not fog proof like the Celestron. I also have a 65mm Celestron Regal, but I replaced the EP with a Edmund Scientific 28mm LER EP. It's kind of clunky and unbalanced IMO, the 80mm is proportioned better. My least favorite scope is the 85mm Vortex Razor with their LER EP. Fantastic scope, but heavy and expensive!

I'd make an LER eyepiece a requirement, since it just makes things easier. Unfortunately Celestron does not sell their LER eyepiece for their Regal M2s. That being said, you can get a TSN-1 with the LER EP on e-bay for less than $500. For your price point, that's the best bang for the buck IMO.

Bird watchers are probably the most meticulous scope critics. Find some of their more popular forums and see what opinions they have. They may also have some buy, sell trade options where a good deal could be found.
On another note: Light gathering ability is usually the benchmark for spotting scopes. Can you see bullet holes in low light levels. This weekend a bunch of us ran into the opposite problem. To much light and heavy mirage made seeing shot holes impossible at 100 yards. Through the rifle scope or the spotting scope we were basically guessing unless one happened to cut a scoring ring. Shooting into the white made the holes visible for sighting purposes.
This is on a west facing range at around 9:30 am. The previous day I had anticipated this and had drilled a hole in my front scope cover with a pocket knife. On the second stage I put the front scope cover back on and lo and behold the shots were all very visible through the spotting scope, although I could still not see them through the rifle scope.
March scope of a certain level come factory equipped with two scope covers. One has a hole in it for this very reason. Reduces the amount of light and effectively reduces mirage.

We have a couple of tsn-1 kowa scopes. I wouldn’t trade one for any celestron. The kowas are very clear. The long eye relief eye pieces that kowa makes are very nice and I think somewhat unique. Also, the kowa scopes are very high quality mechanically.

Just a tip:

I've found that zoom eyepieces and scopes are generally crap. Spent the same or more for a good single power eyepiece.

I have a TSN-1/25xLER I used for *years* shooting HP. Replaced ... no, added, an 883 (?), which is massively better for the longer distances. Also massively larger and heavier. If I get out to shoot smallbore at 'only' 100 yards, the 77 is going in the bag.

I looked at a few scopes with zoom eyepieces. Usable ... if you take your shooting glasses off ...