"Airgun rated" scope
 

So I am a day or 2 away from purchasing a rifle with scope combo. I read on the website today

What exactly is "Airgun rated". The rifle I want is .308 but I am considering .243 or .223 because of availability. Its the howa / Axiom 1500 that includes the Nikko Stirling scope, but is Airgun rated good enough for a .308 or even a .243 or .223? Seems to me that the kick of a .308 would be many times more than an airgun but maybe I'm just misunderstanding what it means. Any advice on this would be helpful. Thanks!

I think, just trying to remember what it was, that air guns have a forward and back 'kick', so to speak. Don't quote me..I'm a bit tired. Haven't been to bed in over 24 hrs, so please forgive me if I didn't remember correct.
Hopefully someone can agree or disagree with me to help you. :)

Best of luck to you.

S.S.

If it says aairgun rated then it means that the scope can be mounted on to a spring piston air rifle as well as a rimfire or centerfire rifle.

You can take a $1000 Leupold and stick it on a gamo or RWS air gun and reduce it to a shell of a scope because of the recoil energy is reversed from what a rimfire or centerfire rifle.

Hope this helps. It will work just fine on your Howa.

Ok that makes more sense. I was worried that there was a rating system and I would have thought Airgun was near the bottom and that for advertising purposes they would display the highest rating.

The forces generated by spring piston pellet rifles, particularly the stronger 1s, exert forces comparable to an very heavy caliber magnum rifle, but in exactly the opposite direction. For that reason, airgun scopes are built to handle that recoil, whereas most centerfire scopes are not.