You have probably seen some of my opinions on other US Optics rifle scopes, but today we are going to talk about another one. The Tactical Sport line of optics from US Optics is a more affordable line of optics, and in my opinion they are a great choice for someone who needs a good repeatable riflescope without going broke.
Today’s subject is the TS25X, it is a 5-25 power riflescope built on a 30mm tube. The 25X is the highest magnification scope in the TS line, but the TS20X scope has a 34mm tube. While I think I prefer the 34mm tube the TS25X is still a great option for various applications. The objective of the 25X is a 50mm to gather enough light to present a clear image, and the side-focus parallax adjustment is on the left side of the turret housing as we have come to expect.

Most of the controls and features will be very familiar to most shooters, the ocular lens adjustment can be focused by turning the rubberized ring at the back of the scope. The five MRAD turrets have a locking feature, they must be popped up to rotate. This helps avoid accidental turning of the turrets when moving. I prefer turrets that use at least ten MRAD per rotation, but considering the size and price of this scope its not a big deal to me.  Inside the erector of the 25X sits the JVCR reticle, this has become my favorite US Optics reticle and I use it in all my US Optics scopes. It gives plenty of holdover and windage points to use for corrections, and not so much as to become cluttered like many other can. The reticle is illuminated red by rotating the rheostat on the outside of the side-focus knob with six brightness settings.

Purposes for the TS25X

I’ve been running this scope for over a year now, and I’ve gotten a good feel for what its capabilities are. I love shooting, and I’ve found that this little scope can be an excellent tool in various shooting applications. Whether you are going to use it for long-range target shooting, competitive shooting, or more traditional purposes like hunting.
I have used the TS25X for all of the above and it has served me well. In fact I have used the 25X as sort of a gap-filling scope, one that I have swapped back and forth from one rifle to another. Mounting and dismounting from an assortment of rings and mounts, zeroing and re-zeroing it over and over again. It has done very well in this role, and has performed as well as I could have hoped.

Field Use

The 5-25 power of the TS25X is an excellent range for multipurpose use in the shooting field. Like most scopes the maximum power tends to be a little darker and some resolution is lost, but that is easily remedied by maxing out at something like 21 or 22X. The 25X went on many hunts with us over the past year, as well as many different rifle reviews. The five MRAD turrets work great, but they can be easier to accidentally be off by a revolution. I’ve had that happen before with this and other similar scopes, it’s just something that happens. I ended up putting a piece of tape under the elevation turret to show where actual zero is to avoid it happening again. I can simply look to see if the bottom of the turret is flush with the tape, and if I see a gap then I’m one turn off.
The JVCR reticle in the scope is very handy for measuring your misses, there are just the right amount of subtensions to be able to measure a correction.
I have been impressed by the durability of this little scope, it has been dialed up and down as much any scope has rights to, clamped in rings over and over again and at least one time too hard. And after all the swapping and dialing it just keeps on ticking, and the hits keep coming.

Hunting

The twenty-seven ounce scope is a great option for a hunting rifle, and it has spent a good deal of time mounted to hunting rifles in my time with it. We have used it to take several mule deer here in the Rocky Mountains, and I would have felt every confidence that it would continue to perform in the ice cold weather of winter too.

After having spent a whole year using this scope across multiple different semi-auto and bolt action rifles, I can tell you with confidence that it is a great little scope. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I have abused it, but I have certainly used it harder than many folks will. So if you are looking for a riflescope with features like these, I can recommend the TS25X to you with confidence.

-CBM