Meopta is breaking into the mid-tier scope market with their new MeoSport R 3-15×50. While lesser known than some of the other European scope manufacturers, Meopta has been making high-end optics for nearly a century, and with an MSRP of $450, this is one of the most economical ways to get some European glass on your rifle.
The MeoSport R was designed with the backcountry hunter in mind. It features a 30mm main body that partners with the 50mm objective lens to provide excellent light transmission and field of view. The scope is nitrogen purged, shockproof, and fully sealed to weather the worst conditions.
The scope is shipped with a sturdy set of rings that are laser engraved with a mark that helps you align the scope. I wish more companies would add these little lines because it really does speed up the mounting process and eliminates the need for those tiny levels to get a perfect mount. One issue I do have with the included rings is the height. They chose to ship this scope with 1.5” rings. When mounted on a typical bolt action rifle, the 1.5” rings will cause the scope to sit abnormally high.
This increased distance between the line of sight through the optic and the barrel of the gun leads to a more drastic shift in zero at various distances and more complicated holdovers. You may also need to add a cheek riser to your rifle to get a proper cheek weld.
These rings are better suited for use on a rifle like the AR-15. The standard sight height for the AR platform is 1.5” so this scope sits at the perfect height to get a comfortable sight picture. It looks like Meopta tried to ship their scope with rings that are tall enough to be used on any rifle but as we all know, “one size fits all” doesn’t mean one size fits all, well. I would recommend getting a shorter set of rings if you plan to mount this on a bolt gun.
Windage and elevation can be easily adjusted by pulling the turret, turning the desired amount then pushing it back in to lock. The adjustments are made in .1 mil(.34”/100yd) increments. The turrets are well machined with tactile clicks and a firm lock-up. One thing that needs to be noted is that the turrets do not have any way to indicate how many times they have been turned. While it would be super easy to change your dope on the fly you may forget how many times you turned the turret and lose your zero.
The scope comes with a 4C reticle which is about as simple as it gets. This reticle features a small, illuminated center dot, the brightness of which is controlled by a knob opposite the windage turret. There are eleven levels of brightness with off positions between each level. The dot is clean and crisp but any setting below level five is too dim to see.
Overall, this scope offers good quality at a decent price. You can check out the rest of this scope’s specs and other products from Meopta by clicking this LINK which will take you to their website.
You know that’s a 70-year-old scope? I’m not surprised they can’t repair it. I sent a 40-year-old scope with sentimental value back to L and they told me, sorry, nothing they can do. I get it, things change.
For some reason, I recall they were manufactured as a replica in early 2000(?’s), not sure how many were made, but it sounds like they were a 1-and-done deal. I have never had an issue with any Meopta products.
I won’t purchase anything made by Meopta. I have a reproduction ZF 4 scope manufactured by them. It failed after very little use and was returned to Meopta for repair thru the U.S Meopta dealer. It was returned with the comment that they did not have the tooling to work on it. There are plenty of quality scope makers that can repair the products with their name on them. I’ll deal with them.