Disclaimers: Pinty provided the scope, pictured below, free of charge in exchange for this review. I do not own a gun of any type, so I could not test the zeroing or any other gun-related features of this scope.
The Pinty Red Green Reflex Scope is an inexpensive rifle scope that is worth a first and a second look. If you’re in the market for such a gun scope, don’t automatically pass it by just because it costs so little (about $25-30 new, as of this writing).
That said, keep your expectations in line. As with anything, you get what you pay for, so if this scope doesn’t do what you had hoped it would, you probably had those expectations set too high.
And that said, the Pinty Red Green Reflex Scope is one of the best at this price point. Let’s take a look at what makes this so.
If you’re in a hurry and just want to check the actual, current price at Amazon, you can click the link just below.
Specifications of the Pinty Red Green Reflex Scope
Let’s get the nitty, gritty out of the way first.
This Pinty reflex scope measures 3.2 inches (8.2cm) in length – that’s front to back. Where the rail mount attaches to your rifle, it measures 0.9 inches (22cm) in width. What’s probably most important here is that you can mount this to any rifle with a 20mm Weaver or Picatinny rail. No one is left out in the cold here.
The matte black, aircraft grade aluminum housing weighs about 11 ounces. That’s not a lot, but is still something to consider over time, if you do a lot of shooting.
The lens, which does not magnify, measures 1.3 by 0.9 inches (33 x 22cm). That’s about average for this type of reflex lens scope. Looking through it, you get a field of view (FOV) of 52 feet at 100 yards. That’s not bad, depending on the type of targeting you intend to use this for.
Pinty Red Green Reticles
What Pinty would probably most likely want you to remember about this scope is that it comes with 4 reticle types – starburst, crosshair, bullseye, and dot – and that you can adjust the brightness of each steplessly.
In the pictures below, note that any off-centeredness or other anomalies you see are more the result of my camera angle than anything else. You shouldn’t assume there’s something wrong with the scope or reticle just because you see something you don’t like or expect.
To switch from one reticle type to another, you move the dial at the back of the scope. It clicks into place as you make the change.
Pinty tries to cover all ambient lighting cases by giving you these four styles in both red and green and allowing you to change the brightness smoothly. No matter what your target is and no matter how bright or dim the sky, you should be able to make adjustments to the reticle that match your circumstances.
To adjust the brightness, you turn the dial just inside the battery compartment. As mentioned, turning is smooth, but it clicks into place at two points when turning the light off.
Pinty says the dot size is 3 MOA and that eye relief is unlimited. You should be able to position the scope on your rifle wherever it works best for your eyes.
Accessories for the Pinty Red Green Scope
The red green scope comes in a small, black box. The scope itself is kept in a plastic bag that fits snugly into foam padding.
You get a small packet of accessories – at least two of which are essential for using the scope.
One is the CR2032 battery. The battery compartment is on the right side of the scope, adjacent to the reticle dial. The cover of the compartment is slotted, so you could use a coin or a screwdriver to help open it, but I didn’t find that necessary. It unscrews easily by simply grabbing the rough edge and twisting counterclockwise.
Though the battery itself (rated at 2000 hours of continuous use) shows a plus (positive) sign, there is no indicator that I could find on the scope to tell you which side of the disk should be on “top”. (I got it wrong the first time.)
Another necessary item is the larger allen wrench which you need to adjust the windage and elevation settings and to clamp the scope to your rifle.
Some have complained about this zeroing feature, and I can understand their point. It would be great not to have to carry this extra, fairly small, tool in your pocket or bag just to make these adjustments. A dial that you could turn with your fingers would be much better. I’m guessing that this would have added to the cost and is a tradeoff that Pinty chose to make.
Other accessories are a smaller allen wrench (only needed if you want to disassemble the scope), a lens cloth (mostly not needed), and an instruction manual (really not needed). The manual is really only 2 pages long and comes in English, German, and Japanese.
The font is so small (it could easily have been larger) that you might need a magnifying glass to read it. Don’t bother though, because it doesn’t really tell you anything you need to know. Even a non-hunter like me intuitively figured everything out without referring to these two pages even once.
Pinty Reflex Scope Quality
Pinty says this red green scope is waterproof, fogproof, and shockproof. The lens should remain clear no matter the weather conditions. You also shouldn’t be able to scratch it unless you really try – but why would you?
The shockproof feature is something that some (relatively few) users would question though. Some owners have said that the lens fell out of their scope after just a few shots.
Others have complained that the sight won’t hold zero very long. Again, these problems seem to be few and far between. I don’t know (and again, I can’t test) whether this is a problem with the scope itself or whether it is some sort of user error.
Most owners – about 90%, as of this writing – are satisfied with their purchase. These are likely people who didn’t set those expectations too high before making their purchase.
If this isn’t the reflex scope you were looking for, check out more reflex scope options here.
