sightron scopes

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I was just at a gun show in Harrisburg Pa and talked to a gent that thought the world of sighton scopes. He said they track better than leupold's! The thing that got me was he also sold Zeiss, Shmit&bender! He said that the sightron was just as good as the other two companys! Any one have any experince with sightron?
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Bubb,

I'd recommend running a search on the forums here on Sightron. I have an SII6-24x42mmD, and unfortunately right now I am feeling like hammered dog crap, so I don't really wan't to get all into that again.

Short version is, they work, so far as the clicks repeating, and the optics being reasonably clear. The clicks aren't a true 1/8MOA, and they have an unusual number of clicks per revolution on the turret (7.5 vs a whole number) that makes 'clicking' your scope not the most user friendly. For the amount difference in $$$ btwn a Vari-X III 8.5-25x50mm LR/T, I'd say sure, get the Sightron if money is a consideration. But I honestly think they are more down in the Vari-X II class IMHO.

Aacck. There I go. Vocal diarhea again.

Bedtime for bozo. Later.

Monte
 
Bubb,

I'd recommend running a search on the forums here on Sightron. I have an SII6-24x42mmD, and unfortunately right now I am feeling like hammered dog crap, so I don't really wan't to get all into that again.

Short version is, they work, so far as the clicks repeating, and the optics being reasonably clear. The clicks aren't a true 1/8MOA, and they have an unusual number of clicks per revolution on the turret (7.5 vs a whole number) that makes 'clicking' your scope not the most user friendly. For the amount difference in $$$ btwn a Vari-X III 8.5-25x50mm LR/T, I'd say sure, get the Sightron if money is a consideration. But I honestly think they are more down in the Vari-X II class IMHO.

Aacck. There I go. Vocal diarhea again.

Bedtime for bozo. Later.

Monte


I had hoped there would be a few more replies to this tread as I am looking at a Leupold mk4 or Sightron and just can't make my mind up.

How do people get on with the Leupold mil dot ret is it fine enough for longrange hunting or Varmint?

Sightron does seem to have a good choice of reticles.
 
I have never used a Sightron or looked through one but I would find it very hard to believe that they can compare to a Schmit & Bender. Leupold for me has lost its luster, I'll never buy another one. Night Force, Swarovski, & Zeiss will get my money.
 
I have an s3 6-24 and I can say that is the best scope I have ever used for the money. The glass is great, tracking is great and reticle is great. I don't see zeiss making an moa reticle or leupold either. I would say the glass is right between a night force nxs and a leupold mk4 so it's right up there with the top manufactures. Clicks on the turret are solid and you have 15 moa per turn unlike the vortex pst that is 12 I will be buying another for sure
 
If you search the Forums for Sightron SIII scopes, you'll find ~20 or more positive posts for every negative post. I have 3 of the 6-24x50mm SIIIs, mostly because the weight much less than the $1500 to $3500 scopes, and my rifles are all backpacking rifles. I'm completely content with each of the three. They quite a bargain for their purchase price.
 
I'd love to give a review of Sightron scopes but as you know they don't have any stocking retail dealers. And I will not buy expensive optics without looking through them. I can't imagine why you'd have such a wacky marketing plan. Seems idiotic to me . I called them and they couldn't tell me where i could look at their optics.. Any company that runs a business like that will never get my business. So I say good luck to you
 
I have Sightron, Leupold, and Nightforce scopes. The S111 Sightron and the VX111 Leupold are virtually equal quality with my eyes. Glass is reasonably clear tracking is true and price is fair. In my opinion the Sightron nor the Leupold are equal to the NXS. I have never looked through a S&B, but I cannot believe the less expensive scopes are equal.
 
I have a Sightron SIII 6-24X50. I was a little skeptical about how clear people said the glass is but I was amazed by it. It is better than my Zeiss Conquest for sure. The scope tracks perfectly and has held up so far. I am impressed for the money and would definitely recommend this over a Leupold. The marketing strategy may not be a great plan, as said before, but if you break it they will give you a new one with no questions asked.
 
Sightron scopes are very good. I have 10x50x60 with the illumination light.

Very crisp and clear for that price. I'll never spend over $1500-$2000 scope if it is only 5 to 10 percent difference. (advantage).
 
I have a sightron S3 6-24X50 mil-dot 30mm tube. Its a great scope.....but am starting to lean towards a different scope....so am toying with the idea of selling it. This the second sightron I have owned. The only reason I am thinking about a different scope is its more scope then I need.
 
I have three of the Sightron SIII 6-24X50s and one of the 8-32X54s. I also have an NXS 5.5-22X50 and just sold my Schmidt & Bender 5-25X54 also have an assortment of Leupy VXIIIs and even a Zeiss. I feel that I can be more than objective when it comes to optics. In my opinion, the Sightron scopes cannot be beat for the price. The MOA2 reticle is stellar, they track great and the glass is on par if not a little better than my Leupy's. My Nightforce is slightly better at light gathering than either the Leupy or Sightron but I actually prefer the finer reticle on the Sightron to the reticle on the Nightforce. If I didn't have some reservations on the toughness of the Sightron I would have never ended up with the Nightforce. The Schmidt I had was head and shoulders above any optic I have ever looked through and the only reason I ever sold it was that I had two other rifles that needed optics. I sold it and was able to buy three Sightrons for what I got out of it. My only complaint is that the side focus is stiff, not a big deal but it does bug me. Its the same on all four of them too. Hope this helps.

Rabid
 
There are several companies that market Japanese OLW (Optical Light Works)scopes under their brand name.

Vortex, Bushnell Elite series, Sightron and Weaver V-series and Grand Slam series are some that come to mind. The best Hawke scopes in the Frontier series may be OLW as well, as they are claimed to be made in Japan.

If a company claims their scopes are made in Japan, it's a very good chance that OLW made them.

Scopes are a commodity market. Hardly any scope company grinds their own lenses these days. They set the specification and then most likely the lenses are ground in Japan or China, mostly China, using German glass or whatever is specified. The lens grinding machines are likely German, no matter what company in what country grinds the lenses.

In scopes, you get what you pay for. If you want everything made in Germany or Austria, be prepared to spend in the $2000-$3000+ range.

An exception would be Russian scopes, which are idiosyncratic and rarely found in the west. They are actually Russian made. Russians build about the best optics for the money found anywhere. They own the affordable night vision market.

I own a Russian telescope, and it blows away my "American" telescope that is partly made in China. The American scope uses American glass, but it is shipped to China and assembled into their mechanical optical tube assembly. The Chinese focuser failed almost immediately, which was replaced by an American aftermarket brand. The Russian scope has no such problems, and the finder scope mount is soi robust I use it as a carrying handle.

The Russian glass is far, far superior to my American glass. An American scope maker that buys some of his glass from LOMO, the maker of my telescope, said it was fully equal to Carl Zeiss standards. Carl Zeiss left the amateur telscope market, as LOMO did as well, as they could not charge enough to build to their quality standards against Chinese competition. LOMO is a very big maker of microscopes and medical optics, as is Carl Zeiss. LOMO made about 90% of Russia's best military optics, and much of their scientific and industrial optics, as well as the world's largest single mirror cell reflector telescope.

I suspect Russian rifles scopes are very good, but they have a definite military look to them, from what I have seen. I doubt that companies such as LOMO would be interested in competing against cheap Chinese hunting scopes when they can sell excellent scopes to military customers. In advanced night vision, they are second in sales volume to the USA, and may even surpass the USA soon. An optical dealer I know said the main difference between American optics and Russian optics was the price tag. The performance was so close as to not be an issue. Russians lack distribution and service centers in this country.

When a British television program tested the German 4X WWII Carl Zeiss sniper scope against the Russian 3.5X PU sniper scope, the Russian sniper scope was judged the best scope for military sniper duty.

There is probably nothing built (branded?) by Vortex that equals the very best Russian, German, Austrian or American scopes. By that I mean built in those countries, not just branded by a company that operates in that country.

Russia uprooted entire German optical factories (Zeiss Jena being one of them) and their workers and moved them to Russia after WWII. Do you think there is any way their optics are not world class? And they probably wouldn't bother to compare their best to a Vortex, which is a branding name and not a real manufacturer. I doubt that Schmidt & Bender or Swarovski are breaking a sweat as well. LOMO probably doesn't want to mess with mass market rifle scopes. A good scope is a lot more that optical quality out of the box, and you have to put it on a rifle and beat it to death for 10 years to see if it's the real deal.
 
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