Scope Question

[piutemike]

Ok, Istarted out with a budget of $1500 for some gun work to a M7 300SAUM, Scope, Misc. other items. Wife blessed me with the ok to spend more money. Buffalobob suggested a Leupold VX111 6.5x 20, $700.00. Iwas also looking @ the Nightforce scopes 3.5x15 50mm and 5.5x22 50mm. I never heard of them until I got on this site and they look pretty nice. More money for sure, are they worth the$? What reticle, NP2R , NP1RR, Mildot? Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[James Jones]

Nightforce scopes are very nice and very tough , they have great repeatability with good knobs. They are heavy and I personaly think that better glass can be had for that amout of money but it won't be as durable , they are plenty clear and bright for shooting long range and hunting. Nightforce has alot of reticle options , some guys like differant reticals , of the ones they offer I like the NP-R2 its simple and effective , not overly busy.
The Leupold LR scope are also very nice and repeatable I don't like them as much due to the turrets they just don't seem to "strong" to me emaning that I would definatly leave them covered till you made your adjustments. The glass is good and the adjustments are true.

I have been using my first Nikon Tactical here lately and I realy like it compaired to other scope in the $1000 range and I only paid just over half of that from a member here !! Its very repeatable , the clicks are solid felt and easy to hear. The glass is as good maybe better than the Leupolds , haven't been able to compair to the Nightforce head to head. In my oppinion its an awsome buy for a grand.

Last but ceartainly not leas is IOPR , their scopes are very rugged , the clicks are accurate and repeatable , the glass is better than Leupolds in both brightness and clairity. All in all they are a littl bit cheaper than the Nightforce , at least as bright and clear probably as tough , they are way under atted and un apperciated.

 

[piutemike]

Thanks James, I'll look @ the other scopes you mentioned. I've never heard of IOPR. So many choices. I just don't want to buy something and 6 months later wished I'd paid a feww hudred more and got something I would be happy with for a long time.

 

[piutemike]

Ok my head is swimming, reticles in mildot, moa, mp8, fine cross hair, Np1RR, I' thinking way to much. Think I'll give it a rest for a couple hours. I guess all these things are personal preference for you guys. Most of the time I guess you probably dial the shot if time permits.

 

[redbone]

.
piutemike



I would take an look at Zeiss scopes


Redbone

 

[piutemike]

Thanks for the suggestion but i had a 3x9 Zeiss scope and felt it was over priced. I do like my zeiss binos though.

 

[Buffalobob]

Here is something to think about.

Incoming light is a direct relationship with the size of the objective lens.

The larger the lens diameter the more surface area there is to receive light. Optical coatings will help and the type and quality of the glass will help. But in the end, surface area is a big part of the ability of the scope to deliver a clear sharp bright image.

So, we remember that the area of a circle is equal to PI* r squared

Using the radius of the scope objective lens we can make some calculations.

A 40 mm scope has a radius of 20, a 50 mm scope has a radius of 25 and a 56 has a raduis of 28. Squaring each radius we get 400, 625 and 784.

A 40mm scope has a surface area of 1,257
A 50 mm scope has a surface area of 1,964
A 56mm scope has a surface area of 2,463

So by going from a 40 mm scope to a 50 mm you get a 56 % improvement.

Going from a 40 mm scope to a 56 mm you get a 96 % improvement,

You will notice that the last 6 mm of size in the Nightforce delivers a big improvement over the 50mm scope.



Lastly, and I will leave you to your headache after this, The NPR1 and R2, which I have both, are very fine lines and very difficult to see the last few minutes of the shooting day. I have had the opportunity to shoot a buck with them with still about 5 minutes of shooting time left and it is just very hard to see the reticle. I have not ever tried the illuminated reticle. The very fine reticle is really great for getting a good aiming point but it has its problem right at quitting time against a dark background on a overcast day down in a valley.

My advice is if you can afford the nightforce it will give you a big edge on those bad days when the deer don't come out until the last minute. Secondly, I would go down under the optics part of the forum and make a thread "Night Force Illuminated reticles" and ask for real world experience using them either in the dark or as darkness closes. You want to know if the illumination causes a loss of target clarity (i.e. can you still see the deer or just a bright light in the scope). Or perhaps you can run the Search function and find the answer.

I have tried to provide you advice based upon my personal knowledge and we have just run out of my knowledge.