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KonusPro 2-7x32mm Riflescope By Chuck Hawks with Bob Fleck  Konus was founded in 1979 in Verona, in Northern Italy. The KonusPro 2-7x32 riflescope is available in either a stainless (silver) or a matte black finish. Stainless finish scopes with magnifications less that 3-9x are very rare, and since we needed a scope for a stainless steel Marlin 336SS .30-30 rifle, we chose to review the silver KonusPro. This scope is nitrogen charged and waterproof / fog proof. It features the Konus engraved, heavy caliber, recoil proof "30/30" reticle (more on that in a moment), as well as fully multicoated optics, a rubber eyepiece ring, and 1/2 MOA fingertip windage and elevation adjustments. Packaged with the scope is an instruction booklet written in 12 languages, warrantee, lens cleaning cloth, scope caps, and a pair of aluminum mounting rings designed for attachment to a 3/8" dovetail rail. Konus Optical should be given credit for a very complete package. The US and Canada warrantee is of the "limited lifetime" type and comes with lots of exclusions. The UK warrantee period is one year, which is probably more realistic. The included mounting rings are a nice bonus and a great value, but are useful only if the scope is to be used on a rimfire rifle; few (if any) centerfire rifles feature a 3/8" scope mounting rail. We used a Weaver base and rings to mount the scope on our Marlin 336SS test rifle. Eyepiece focusing is achieved "American style" by the multiple turns of the ocular bell, and once focused a knurled locking ring secures the ocular bell. Turning a large knurled zoom ring located just in front of the ocular bell changes the magnification. The friction on the zoom ring is just about perfect, light enough to allow convenient adjustment and heavy enough to prevent inadvertent change. This scope is made in Red China. Here are the basic specifications of the KonusPro 2-7x32mm riflescope.
The Konus 30/30 reticle deserves special mention. It is a Duplex style reticle with a very fine central crosshair that can be used to roughly estimate range when the scope is set at 4x magnification. At 4x the central gap between the heavy posts of the horizontal crosshair (the area occupied by the fine crosshair) is equal to 30" at 100 yards. (That would also mean 60" at 200 yards and 90" at 300 yards.) It is sized to encompass the torso of an average size, North American buck deer at 100 yards. At 200 yards the torso of a buck should fit into half of the reticle's central gate (or between the point of one post and the intersection of the crosshairs). At 300 yards the buck should subtend about one third of the reticle's central area. As a practical illustration, take the case of our .30-30 test rifle shooting standard 150 grain factory loads. Zero that rifle to hit 3" high at 100 yards (in other words, to take advantage of its maximum point blank range). Then, if you spot a buck standing broadside whose torso fits between the tip of one horizontal post and the intersection of the crosshairs he is about 200 yards away, and you should be able to take the shot without holding over. Just aim a little more than halfway up the body, directly behind the fore leg, and if you squeeze the trigger properly the next step will be field dressing your trophy. At least that is how it is supposed to work. We didn't have any buck deer handy on which to try this system, and in any case the deer season in Oregon will not open for months, so we had to settle for our usual shooting venue, the Izaak Walton gun range south of Eugene, Oregon. Bob Fleck assisted me with the shooting and evaluation, and it is his personal Marlin 336SS rifle on which we mounted the KonusPro scope for review. Mounting brought no unforeseen difficulties and was quickly accomplished, as was boresighting using a Bushnell magnetic boresighter. The next step was to shoot at a 25 yard target and adjust the KonusPro scope to put the shots into the 10 ring at that distance. Bob accomplished that with only a few rounds expended, and then we moved back to 100 yards to finish zeroing-in the rifle. This process allowed us to evaluate the KonusPro both optically and in regards to its internal adjustments. The optics of this 2-7x32mm scope are surprisingly good, especially considering its modest price. Even at 7x it provided a sharp, clear image with good resolution edge to edge. Optical aberrations are well controlled. Flare was not a problem, but then it was a mostly overcast day with rain showers and a high of about 48 degrees F, typical late winter weather in Western Oregon. The deep green and violet blue multi-coatings look as if they would be effective at minimizing lens flare, however, and probably are. The fingertip 1/2 MOA adjustments do click, but they are not particularly positive. They work about as well as can be expected for a scope in the two-star price class, which is to say that they are not extremely accurate, but are sufficient to zero in a rifle without wasting too many cartridges. That is more than can be said for many scopes in this price class. The recoil of our Marlin .30-30 test rifle posed no problem for this KonusPro scope. 3" of eye relief is marginal for magnum and medium bore rifles, but it is adequate for most standard centerfire calibers, including .30-30 Winchester. Somewhat unusual is the scope's 75 yard factory parallax setting. Most .22 rimfire scopes are parallax free at 50 yards, and most centerfire scopes are corrected for parallax at 100 yards. 75 yards seems a reasonable compromise if the scope is intended for use on both centerfire and rimfire rifles, as well as being appropriate for muzzleloader and slug shotgun use. A 2-7x scope can handle all of those roles with aplomb. All in all, we agreed that the KonusPro 2-7x32 seems to represent good value for the money. It is a serviceable scope at a modest price. And, if you want a scope with a silver finish that is less bulky and has a wider field of view than the ubiquitous 3-9x40mm models, this 2-7x32mm KonusPro is practically the only game in town. |
