When you decide to buy a rifle, the general rule of thumb is what you pay for your rifle, you should pay for your scope.

This is the perfect world scenario. It's the same as saying, if you want to be safe on the road, you should buy a Volvo SUV. But alas, most of us are stuck in our ford bantam or Mazda 323. So if you fit in this profile, you might find this review useful.

I saved up and bought a new rifle. While I was waiting on the CFR to make the important decision if I am capable of owning a rifle, I saved up for a scope. But as life would have it, SHTF... So my savings was going to another department of my life, and that was unavoidable.

So I get my rifle, and borrow a scope from a friend. It was a bushnell 3-9x40. At lease I could do some shooting, and with the hunting season approaching, I could develop a load and go hunt.

But at the beginning of the year, my father visited the US, and brought me back a Barska 4-16x50 Varmint scope as present. Oulik, ne?

So great, now I had my own scope, and checking Amazon, its priced around $80, so not bad. But the reviews I read was mixed. Some saying it's a piece of poo, and the rest saying it's holding it's ground.

It is now 6 months since I fixed the scope on my rifle, and did quite some shooting with it, developing a load and going on a hunt. So according to me, I think I can give a short term review of this scope.

The scope performs well, shooting it from a 7x64. This is not a recoil heavy rifle, but still a bit of skop behind it. But the scope has held its 0 perfectly. The 1/8" click per 100y is also accurate. I tested it, and 8 clicks up, shoots 1" up, and 8 clicks down, shoots 1" down, same goes for left and right. So needless to say, that functionality works as expected.

Lens clarity is also adequate, even if you turn it up to 16. Don't get me wrong, this is not a Swarovski, so if you expect that type of lens clarity on full magnification, don't bother. The 50mm lens lets through enough light to see clearly, even in low light conditions.

The manual focus in front, works very well. When setting the correct distance on the focus, you have a clear picture infront of you. This could also help in the veld, as an adhoc range guess.

The crosshair is fine enough not to 'be in the way', yet thick enough so you don't get stranded searching for the mid point.

So up to now, I have not experienced anything negative from this rifle scope, and could recommend it if your budget is as crap as mine.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

Cheers!