Counterfeit scopes

[Cloverleaf]

Just a quick heads up that there's a bunch of cheap Chinese knock off fake scopes appearing on the market. I know that this has been going on for some time but it is getting materially worse. Some are obviously fake, others are far closer to the original and require close inspection to be revealed as counterfeit. Unsurprisingly many will fail to hold zero or will fog up if they are mounted on anything with more recoil than an air rifle.

As just one example, the German company Minox (famous in the Cold War for their tiny spy cameras) make a range of optically high quality rifle scopes with genuine Minox products priced between about £700 - £2,000 see : Riflescopes however a quick search on Aliexpress (a kind of Chinese amazon) shows that there are openly advertised Chinese-made fake Minox scopes for about £60 :

96.64￡ |MINOX HD ZA5I 1.2 6x24 IR Tactical Riflescope Optic Sight Rifle Scope For Caza Oxota Sniper Gear Air Soft Rifle|sight rifle scope|rifle scopescope for ak47 - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

The upshot of this is that UK shooters and dealers are importing these counterfeits and then re-advertising them for sale online or on ebay as genuine.

It is not just restricted to Minox, there are fake Leupold, Schmidt & Bender and Zeiss scopes too..

37.62￡ |LEUPOLD 1.5 5x20 short scope cross optical sniper scope outdoor hunting hd aseismatic single barrel scope|Riflescopes| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

577.45￡ |Schmidt Bender 3-12x50pmii Tactical Ffp Rifle Scope Optics Siegfried 11 Levels Brightness Mpd Reticle 1klick=1cm=1/10mil - Hunting Riflescopes - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

You have been warned. As ever, caveat emptor - buyer beware !

 

[deerstalker.308]

First bit of advice, don’t shop on Aliexpress!!

 

[Morkai]

I have a cheap chinese knockoff scope (Amazon) on my 17hmr and 22lr, for £40 theyre pretty good for what I do.

 

[bullet chucker]

I have a cheap chinese knockoff scope (Amazon) on my 17hmr and 22lr, for £40 theyre pretty good for what I do.

Do you just leave it locked in the cabinet?

BC.

 

[Colonel Rimfire]

I saw these a few months ago and was tempted, purely to show off at the range.

(If anyone remembers the fake TAG watch craze in the early 90's where it was deemed, far cooler to parade your fake Tag and tell everyone it was fake, with a sense of pride "25 quid portabella market" )

Apparently its pretty obvious there're fake but I cant help thinking that a few unfortunate people and, I know of at least one gun shop who got burned by a fake Loopy.

 

[Morkai]

Do you just leave it locked in the cabinet?

BC.

They hold zero on the rimfires, group at 100yrds absolutely fine.

 

[Morkai]

Do you just leave it locked in the cabinet?

BC.

Ill be putting more quality on the centrefire though, haha.

 

[bullet chucker]

Your correct doing that my friend, I use, Swarovski on both my Swede, and 30.06. Still have the old pellet' gun scopes lying about though?

BC.

 

[Klenchblaize]

I have a cheap Chinese knock-off scope (Amazon) on my 17hmr and 22lr, for £40 they're pretty good for what I do.

But is it badged as something it is not?

K

 

[Dazb1967]

First bit of advice, don’t shop on Aliexpress!!

Nothing wrong with Alixpress bought loads from them, Just obviously don't buy a £1000 scope for £50, same old tune, If it looks too good to be true it probably is.

 

[Sampo]

Wish.com - The home of counterfeit anything. Grab yourself a scope you can shoot at or destroy.

 

[Fair Hill]

A lad on here sold me a fake Leupold and then asked that it be returned to "a rifle scope specialist" who had sold it to him as genuine. I returned it and got my money back.

 

[Morkai]

But is it badged as something it is not?

K

No, not really, more like a copied design that gets rebranded by multiple companies youve never heard of.

 

[Klenchblaize]

No, not really, more like a copied design that gets rebranded by multiple companies youve never heard of.

That’s fine and worth a punt. It’s when it says “ZEISS” on the twiddling bits that I cast my toys far & wide.

K

 

[Morkai]

That’s fine and worth a punt. It’s when it says “ZEISS” on the twiddling bits that I cast my toys far & wide.

K

Yeah no branding on these, they are '6-24' x 50 (the zoom isnt really 24 but still good), parallax adjustment works great, they hold zero, illuminated reticle etc.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Yeah no branding on these, they are '6-24' x 50 (the zoom isnt really 24 but still good), parallax adjustment works great, they hold zero, illuminated reticle etc.View attachment 216987

You do realise I’m now gonna give you serious grief in the matter of your choice of scope mounts and the height of them!

I’m sure there’s a good reason for the latter so just ignore me.

K

 

[Sako75Hunter]

There's no way I'd want a scope that might be dodgy on any of my rifles, whatever the calibre. I want to know my optics are very unlikely to let me down.

It's really not worth all the hassle of:
1. Getting permission from the authorities for a rifle
2. Finding and buying a rifle
3. Buying a scope, mounts, and all the other necessary bits
4. Setting the scope up right and zeroing it
5. Getting permission to hunt ground
6. Making all the necessary preparations for a hunt
7. Going out to your hunting ground and getting set up
8. Doing whatever you have to do to get a deer or whatever other quarry you're after in your sights
And then discovering the scope is a piece of crap.

I'd much rather pay the extra and know that if something goes wrong, it's almost certainly my fault and not my equipment. I can't understand any other philosophy on this, though of course if someone buys a knock-off scope without realising it that's another story.

 

[Morkai]

You do realise I’m now gonna give you serious grief in the matter of your choice of scope mounts and the height of them!

I’m sure there’s a good reason for the latter so just ignore me.

K

Theyre ugly as sin but the height is good for me.

 

[Morkai]

There's no way I'd want a scope that might be dodgy on any of my rifles, whatever the calibre. I want to know my optics are very unlikely to let me down.

It's really not worth all the hassle of:
1. Getting permission from the authorities for a rifle
2. Finding and buying a rifle
3. Buying a scope, mounts, and all the other necessary bits
4. Setting the scope up right and zeroing it
5. Getting permission to hunt ground
6. Making all the necessary preparations for a hunt
7. Going out to your hunting ground and getting set up
8. Doing whatever you have to do to get a deer or whatever other quarry you're after in your sights
And then discovering the scope is a piece of crap.

I'd much rather pay the extra and know that if something goes wrong, it's almost certainly my fault and not my equipment. I can't understand any other philosophy on this, though of course if someone buys a knock-off scope without realising it that's another story.

Regarding the unbranded or the fakes?

If you had no issues at step 4 with an unbranded (and repeated success of grouping) then why would you get to step 8 and realise the scope is no good?

You would know it was crap well before you used it on quarry.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Theyre ugly as sin but the height is good for me.

Absolutely. I need to better conetrol myself.

K