Konus 2-16X50 Glory Scope

Full disclosure: Konus scopes are new to me, and this test piece is the first one I’ve spent any shooting time with. My first impressions were that its rather understated box fell well short of this scope’s £550 retail price. Then I lifted the lid and extracted the Glory from its custom-fitted foam liner… and wow! That box had well and truly thrown me a curveball.

As soon as you get it in your hand, look closely at its finish and build quality, start fiddling with its rings and things, then take the obligatory “look-through,” you’re left in no doubt whatsoever as to this scope’s status. It really is telly of the highest quality.

Originally founded in Italy in 1979, Konus is a well-established optics brand in the shooting world, with much of their catalogue now manufactured in the People’s Republic of China. The Glory’s saddle is etched with “P.R.C.,” but don’t let that put you off (like it does some people). Yes, China makes bucket-loads of budget telescopic sights that prioritize price over performance, but this 2-16×50 model is not one of them. It’s in another league entirely. Indeed, I’d wager it would make a good account of itself against respected brands like Schmidt & Bender and Zeiss.

Konus’ 2-16×50 Glory isn’t an “airgun” scope per se; it’s primarily been developed for rimfire and big-bore hardware. However, given how far air rifle technology has come in the past few decades, scopes of this ilk are no longer out of place on most PCP airguns. Sure, the recoilless action of a PCP is hardly likely to tax the Glory’s newly designed erector tube assembly, which can withstand the kick of a big-bore rifle. Nonetheless, its attributes very much lend themselves to dedicated airgunners.

For starters, it offers an extended magnification range – from 2x to 16x – in what is actually quite a compact scope. It was certainly short enough for my ultra-carbine BRK Ghost, albeit sans the screw-on sunshade that comes in the box. You may think 2x is probably too low a magnification to actually shoot with, but I can vouch for its effectiveness on close-quarter, dimly lit rat shoots. And at full 16x power, the potential to use the sidewheel parallax ring to rangefind is certainly there in spades.

Airgunners will be pleased to see it’s etched with 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, and 50 markers, and there’s enough space between them to gauge distance to within a couple of yards. One added USP for this zoom is the removable throw lever, which screws into the magnification ring. Though the ring itself has a serrated surface, I found it stiff to turn on colder days if I didn’t have the throw lever fitted. The lever provided much more purchase, though. I also found the Glory’s quick-focus eyepiece stiff, though that’s not a big deal. Primary focus (of the crosshair) is a set-and-forget exercise, so you’ll only need to do it once. More positively, the ocular end has a rubber brow protector, and eye relief is “safe” at a quite long 95mm.

Optical Quality

While on the subject of focusing, I must mention the Glory’s optical quality. Based on asking price alone, potential purchasers have every right to expect the very best from this scope, at least within the 4x to 12x range. My expectations were therefore set extremely high to reflect this. So the fact the test scope equaled – and even bettered – them deserves special plaudits.

Besides sharpness and clarity, there were two other aspects that jumped out at me regarding the Glory’s sight picture quality. First, its 50mm diameter objective keeps the image looking bright, at all powers and in all lighting. Konus calls the lens’ green-tint “ultra wide band,” and there’s no doubt it results in incredible light transmission. What’s more, you can improve things like glare and haze in trickier lighting scenarios by screwing on the 100mm sunshade that’s included.

Secondly, I was amazed at the “fullness” of the sight image; this really is an ultra-wide-angle scope. On 2x power, it provides a very broad field of view of 7.9 meters, while at 16x, you get a FoV in excess of three meters. Perhaps the perceived visual benefits came as a result of Konus’ Illuminated German-4 crosshair, the design of which does not “clutter” the sight picture?

Illuminated German-4 Reticle

The Glory’s reticle is well thought out and will suit shooters who prefer a less busy crosshair. Three thick outer posts at 3, 9, and 6 o’clock complement a finer, inner wire, which fully extends to the perimeter of the sight picture at 12 o’clock. The setup lets you see the overall sight picture with the minimum of clutter and makes the most of the scope’s superb optics. The thinner section doesn’t bisect, instead offering a practical “hanging” dot at dead center.

The dot can be illuminated in red or blue, each color being adjustable to one of five brightness levels. When “off,” the dot is black. You need to acclimatize to using a dot as your center point, but I really grew to like the Konus’ crosshair. I was surprised by how useful I found the blue dot to be, too – especially when shooting in the “redder” hues of dawn lighting.

The Glory’s crosshair very much follows the “less is more” principle. Not once did I find myself wanting extra aiming reference markers while hunting. However, if you were range-shooting at targets set over varying distances, you may be better off using the external turrets in conjunction with the sidewheel focus.

Holding Zero

On some zoom scopes with a second focal plane (SFP) reticle, adjusting the magnification setting can also compromise the zero’s integrity. In other words, your zero can shift as you cycle through the magnification settings. This means you always have to shoot on the magnification you zeroed at, thus defeating the point of a vari-magnification scope.

The Konus Glory features a newly designed erector tube system. Besides holding a firm zero on rifles with heavy recoil, the system also ensures the scope’s zero never shifts as you zoom through its powers. Given the Glory’s extended range of 2x to 16x, it’s a welcome feature for sure.

I zeroed the scope on 8x power (in a slight left-to-right breeze). Then, I fired further groups at separate targets with the scope set to 2x, 5x, 12x, and 16x. The Konus’ erector tube does its job perfectly, and I was confident that no matter what magnification I set the Glory to, I knew it would still be in zero.

Final Thoughts

This may have been my first experience with a Konus riflescope, but it certainly won’t be my last because it impressed me in every respect. While it’s £100 or £200 more than I’d normally splash out on a scope, I’m happy the 2-16×50 Glory is worth its asking price and a great investment for any shooter.