CVLIFE 3-9x40 Rifle Scope Review - Great or Garbage?

Veteran hunters often, if not always, recommend buying the best quality (highest priced) scope you can afford. Many inexpensive rifles shoot MOA, but if the scope atop them fails to hold zero or fogs or otherwise misbehaves, the rifle is little more than a club. So imagine my snort when I saw the CVLIFE 3-9x40mm rifle scope on Amazon for $29.99. Piece of plastic joke, right?

Wrong.

Buy the CVLIFE 3-9x40 Scope Here

I ordered one, put it through its paces, and was shocked. It proved bright, sharp, accurate, repeatable, and functional atop a 22 rimfire, a 6.5 PRC, and even a 375 H&H putting out some 50 foot pounds of scope breaking recoil with every shot!

This was totally unexpected. And I’m still not convinced real. You can watch the video to see some of my test results. Crazy, isn’t it?

CVLIFE 3-9x40 Price

Here’s what I think is going on: Optics manufacturers in China have figured out (by copying, no doubt) what ingredients and what level of quality construction allow them to make an effective 3-9x40mm scope. Add low-cost labor, low-cost automation, low marketing overhead, and voila. A decent hunting scope for $30.

How do I define “decent?” Smooth working parts, fully multicoated lenses, waterproof construction, crisp image, good flare control, repeatable turret adjustments/reticle movements, and toughness/durability.

CVLIFE 3-9x40 Durability

Something to understand about scope durability is accumulated wear. Recoil vibrates all moving parts in a scope plus tests anchors, i.e. lens attachments to the main tube and erector tube. Most recoil pressures are applied to the springs that hold the erector tube against the adjusting turret screws. These will work harden over time and eventually weaken or break. You can’t quantify that until the damage is done. Have to take it on faith.

The harder a rifle recoils, the sooner work hardened metal will fatigue and fail, so the home for a scope like this would be a 22 rimfire, 223 Rem., 243 Win. and similar light recoiling cartridges. But you’ll note that I tried it aboard a 6.5 PRC which kicks about like a 270 Winchester. It survived about 11 rounds. Then I stuck it atop a 375 H&H and it absorbed about 6 hits from that. Afterward everything appeared to be in place and working properly, including the waterproof claim.

Buy the CVLIFE 3-9x40 Scope Here

CVLIFE 3-9x40 Use Case

My assessment is that this IS a viable hunting scope. I’d use it atop a 22 rimfire, knowing that with its parallax apparently set for 100 yards, it must be aimed with the shooter’s eye nicely aligned with its center. That’ll keep shots on the aim point, as the groups I shot on paper with my Kimber 22 showed. You’ll also want to shoot it at lower powers or the target will get pretty soft (out of focus.) I was able to see and hit my 25-yard aim points at 9X, but things were clearer at 3X to 6X. And that’s more than fine for targeting small game like rabbits and squirrels.

I suspect the perfect use for this scope would be on a small caliber hunting rifle as hard kicking as a 30-06. Who knows, it might take a licking atop your 338 Win. Mag. or 416 Rem. Mag. for a lifetime, but pursuing expensive big or dangerous game with a suspect scope sounds like a bad idea. No, I’d stick with a 243 Win. class rifle and enjoy the heck out of a “cheapie” scope like this.

CVLIFE 3-9x40 Considerations

Other considerations are buying Chinese-made goods. I try to support American workers when I can, but virtually no riflescopes are all-American made. Most American brands are buying parts if not entire instruments from Pacific Rim manufacturers and merely branding them. In fact, this CV Life 3-9x40mm looks exactly like some U.S. brand “starter” scopes in the $130 to $150 price range. I wonder if these are the CV Life 3-9x40mm! Wouldn’t surprise me.

Now, if you bought this 3-9x40mm as a U.S. branded product, you’d probably get some kind of quality warranty or guarantee with it, but for $30… Well, shipping the scope back for repair or replacement will likely cost close to $30 anyway.

The CVLIFE company provides online manuals for all their products, including this scope.

If you order the CVLIFE scope through Amazon, you'll have no shipping fee. And because it is Prime eligible the actual shipping time was pretty fast.

CVLIFE 3-9x40 Conclusion

This might sound crazy, but I honestly think you could buy, trust, and use one of these $30 scopes on your lighter kicking deer/varmint/coyote rifles, possibly for decades. The choice is yours.

P.S. You might even value the see-through rings that come with this scope. These fit Picatinny rail bases. I mounted them on a Ruger 10/22 and things worked just fine except the rail base covered up the rear sight, so the see-through was useless. However, it might work on many other rifles.