Change scope this late in the game?

[ApexerER]

So I have been practicing with my crossbow some getting ready for Saturday morning and I decided that i just can not deal with the POS scope that came on my crossbow. I started reading about them and looking to make a purchase for next season for sure. Well while looking over at crossbow talk classifieds I found a Nikon Bolt XR and this was one of the scopes i was contemplating. So anyway, the mail lady just dropped it off to me (at work) and i am looking at it and it is about a million times better than the scope i have. So, should i swap scopes this late in the game, get this sucker sited in at 20 yds and use it Saturday. Or should i hunt with the POS that is on the crossbow this weekend since i have all the yardage figured out and mess with the new scope next week when i am not in a rush. Or should i stick with the POS scope for the season??? I would really like to get this mounted up and use it but i would feel better if i had a little time to get to know it first, if you know what i mean....

[airedale]

Your scope be it on a crossbow or a firearm is priority number one, it is never too late to change out a piece of crap for quality.

 

Al

[stoneam2006]

Easy I wouldn't think twice about it myself...I'd change the sights on my compound if I thought it was better. Sighting in doesn't take much time

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[grampy]

Quality over crap every time! Always use the best you have. Do the swap and get that bad boy sighted in and ready to go! 

[Core]

Only you know how much time you have. I'd use the crap one for saturday unless I could find a few hours for the new one, and in any case take saturday afternoon and swap it out.

Cheap scopes are crap. Everyone always says don't skimp on optics, and now I'm a believer in that, too. 

[Cabin Fever]

As long as you have time to get it sighted in (~an hour?) , I say swap it. Sounds like you'll be much happier and more confident in your equipment!

Edited November 3, 2016 by Cabin Fever

[ApexerER]

Its not the actual time it takes to site in....Its the time it will take to go to the range, get there with enough light and then site it in. Maybe i could set something up so i am shooting toward my cement foundation in my yard but i am not sure i would be comfortable with that and i know my wife wouldn't be. I was shooting at my buddies house who has plenty of room but he is actually farther away than the range. If this scope came yesterday like the USPS said it would (why are they the only ones that are ever late) i would have been in good shape. I was out at my buddies house at 4pm yesterday. Would have had plenty of time and light. Today i have to grab my daughter off the bus and take her to an orthodontist appt. I can't imagine i will have enough light left after that. So its Friday or bust which will mean dragging my daughter to the range which i am sure she will be thrilled with since my wife is going out with some friends from work. I agree with everyones opinion thought that i need to find the time to mount this glass...

[stoneam2006]

Its not the actual time it takes to site in....Its the time it will take to go to the range, get there with enough light and then site it in. Maybe i could set something up so i am shooting toward my cement foundation in my yard but i am not sure i would be comfortable with that and i know my wife wouldn't be. I was shooting at my buddies house who has plenty of room but he is actually farther away than the range. If this scope came yesterday like the USPS said it would (why are they the only ones that are ever late) i would have been in good shape. I was out at my buddies house at 4pm yesterday. Would have had plenty of time and light. Today i have to grab my daughter off the bus and take her to an orthodontist appt. I can't imagine i will have enough light left after that. So its Friday or bust which will mean dragging my daughter to the range which i am sure she will be thrilled with since my wife is going out with some friends from work. I agree with everyones opinion thought that i need to find the time to mount this glass...

Yea gotta have the time to do. Otherwise I'd wait for another day

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[Buckmaster7600]

It shouldn't take more than 10minuted to sight in a Xbow I see no reason not to have that sucker on there. Imagine how much you will be kickin yourself if the junk scope costs you a deer this weekend?


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[DirtTime]

9 hours ago, ApexerER said:

Its not the actual time it takes to site in....Its the time it will take to go to the range, get there with enough light and then site it in. Maybe i could set something up so i am shooting toward my cement foundation in my yard but i am not sure i would be comfortable with that and i know my wife wouldn't be. I was shooting at my buddies house who has plenty of room but he is actually farther away than the range. If this scope came yesterday like the USPS said it would (why are they the only ones that are ever late) i would have been in good shape. I was out at my buddies house at 4pm yesterday. Would have had plenty of time and light. Today i have to grab my daughter off the bus and take her to an orthodontist appt. I can't imagine i will have enough light left after that. So its Friday or bust which will mean dragging my daughter to the range which i am sure she will be thrilled with since my wife is going out with some friends from work. I agree with everyones opinion thought that i need to find the time to mount this glass...

I did most of my compound bow sight tuning in my hallway. Not allowed to shoot it in my yard ( I did a few times while everyone was at work ). The g/f wasn't 100% happy about it, but she didn't give me any grief about it. Just keep things safe when attempting such drastic measures.

It's better to have good glass and be 100% confident then crappy glass and kick yourself for a bad shot or a miss, as Buckmaster7600 mentioned as well.

[Jdubs]

Man, I have been twisting over the exact same thing!  Can I ask where you picked up your Nikon Bolt NR?  

[nyslowhand]

Do yourself and the deer you're hunting a favor and take Saturday morning off from hunting and sight-in the new, better scope. AND... ignoring the obvious "guy thing" of putting the instructions aside for future reference, actually carefully read the scope's instructions on how to sight-in and how the BDC works at different ranges. Looks like a great scope! As already mentioned, you'll probably have less than 2hrs invested before you're up & running!

FYI - A little misleading info about it on Amazon's website listing it as a variable 3-32X scope, while it's actually a 3X fixed mag and 32mm lens. Correct??

[ApexerER]

8 hours ago, Jdubs said:

Man, I have been twisting over the exact same thing!  Can I ask where you picked up your Nikon Bolt NR?  

Actually, it was one of the scopes I was contemplating because I love my Nikon scope and Bino's. I was looking at the archery talk classifieds and I got it off a forum member there that wanted to go to something with lighted since his eyes were not as good as they used to be. I wouldn't normally make a used scope purchase but I purchased a scope from a forum member here and it worked out so I figured why not. Looks brand new, glad I did it...

[ApexerER]

7 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

Do yourself and the deer you're hunting a favor and take Saturday morning off from hunting and sight-in the new, better scope. AND... ignoring the obvious "guy thing" of putting the instructions aside for future reference, actually carefully read the scope's instructions on how to sight-in and how the BDC works at different ranges. Looks like a great scope! As already mentioned, you'll probably have less than 2hrs invested before you're up & running!

FYI - A little misleading info about it on Amazon's website listing it as a variable 3-32X scope, while it's actually a 3X fixed mag and 32mm lens. Correct??

You are correct....

[ApexerER]

Well all your replies made me do what I already knew had to be done. My wife was nice enough to leave work a little early yesterday to take my daughter to the orthodontist so I could go to the range. I am so glad I did it. What a difference this scope is compared to the Barnett 4x32. I had the thing sited in at 20 yds in about 20 minutes. Elevation was already perfect. If I could make shots quicker it would have taken less time. Nikon's BDC App showed the BDC should for a crossbow shooting 330 FPS should be yardages of 20, 30, 46, 58....After having arrows touching and worry about breaking bolts at 20 and 30 yds I moved to 45 yds and still had fletchings touching each other. After 15-20 shots at 45 yds I figured what the heck and moved out to 60 yds. I held two 3 shot groups to about 3 inches at 60 yds and that was with the wind picking up a lot. I was really impressed with that. This was all off a solid rest of course. I spent about 2 hours at the range and feel very confident in my equipment now for tomorrow morning. I have never hunted with a crossbow before and figured my effective range would be about the same as the bow at 30 yds or less. If I get a clear shot out to 40-45 yds with this crossbow. I would feel extremely confident about that shot. If anyone is looking for a scope upgrade for their crossbow....I really like this scope!!!!