Yukon Jaeger 3-12 x 56

There is always a market for mid-priced/ non-Chinese scopes when it comes to air rifle shooters. With air rifles costing more and more these days, it makes sense to spend a good wodge of your budget on a better scope. First choice is Japanese optics but don’t forget the East European or Eastern Bloc countries, where optical quality and manufacture is very good. Thomas Jacks import Yukon night vision equipment, which we are all familiar with but they also offer a range of really good day light optics too, under the Yukon Jaeger badge. These are strong, very well-built and spec’d scopes that are at home on an air rifle, fox or deer gun to be honest.

Here is the pretty standard sized 3-12x56mm scope that has great optics for low light levels, illuminated reticle and return to zero adjustment turrets. All in at £429, this is a serious scope, aimed at the hunter and not the FT circuit. Firstly, better optical quality is noticeable with better low light performance, clarity and most important, reliability in all weather conditions.

Not your usual suspect!

Made in Belarus, these scopes are built to last and represent very good value for money. Due to low labour costs, the Jaeger scopes have more features than some of the other scopes and still keep the costs down, without compromising performance. You have a choice of four models, including 1-4x24mm, 3-9x40mm, 3-12x56mm and 1.5-6x42mm.

It’s a big scope at 680-grams and 357mm long but that’s because it has 30mm diameter tube, with added illumination controls. Despite this heft, it’s not overly long and does not unbalance an air rifle and on a springer, the extra heft help dampen recoil, so improves accuracy. The overall finish is a smooth satin black that proved quite scratch resistant, even to scope rings. It is waterproof too and tested to IPX7 degree of protection and IEC 60529, which means heavy rain or snow falls.

The totally nitrogen purged scope, from lens to lens, ensures a clear, fog-free image too, despite any rapid temperature change, which I tested going from a hot car to cold Scottish climate. It’s extra thick body and objective lens is designed with a stylish scalloped objective lens profile, so that additional night vision or thermal imagers can be mounted and impart no extra stress to the scopenice! All internal mechanisms are designed to take the stress of even the largest calibres, with superior tracking and gimble manufacture inside, for repeatability and reliability.

 

Full control

It has a large, easy to control magnification ring and illuminated reticle system; with a magnification range of 3-12x power as standard, coupled to the large, 56mm objective lens, you have bright images at all power settings. The zoom ring is large and has a double stepped rubber ridge body, for a very sure grip and an elevated section to see the power setting. The eyepiece is extra-large, for a very good wide field of view and quick target acquisition at all power settings, so no re-adjusting the eye to get a clear image. Field of view is good at 12-3-metres at 100-metres at the 3x and 12x power settings respectively but it really does look wider, due to the large eyepiece and fast-focus ocular and rubbertipped ring to avoid ‘sniper eye’.

The lenses are very good I have to say, very good clarity and contrast, with a good colour definition to them. You can tell that they are good lenses as there is no flare, aberrations and the image is crisp, right to the edge of the image. At low light, this Yukon performs like a European scope, so is very good value for money. The ¼ inch adjustment turrets are tactile and have a very handy, resettable turret feature that means that after zeroing, the turrets can be lifted and rotated to the zero mark and so you have a reference point from which to adjust.

There are four reticles available and all are illuminated, which is a nice bonus considering you also get good optics at this price. There are seven intensity settings, with off positions between, so fast to turn off and on and also has a dedicated Night Vision setting. I had the MO1 reticle that was a 30/30 plex but with the inner stadia possessing Mil-dot for ranging.

 

Conclusion

The Yukon was very impressive with super clear images and very good low light capability coupled to an illuminated reticule so really a dual air rifle, come vermin gun scope. The ability to attach NV or Thermal devices with no stress is impressive, so the £429 price tag starts to look like a bit of a bargain!