Scope Decisions

[walter351]

Hey Guys,

I am looking to buy a scope for a build that I am waiting to be finished. This is for a hunting rifle, and I doubt I would ever shoot over 800 yards with it on an animal. I have narrowed it to 3 scopes Huskemaw 5-20x50mm, VX6HD 3-18x50mm, and the vx3i 6.5-20x50mm. I like the weight of these scopes as I am typically a backpack hunter. I have had a NF and know them well, but due to the fact that this is my hunting rifle I am looking at weight with a careful eye.

I have never have had the opportunity to look through the Huskemaw. I have read such mixed reviews on other sites that I am curious what people's opinions are on here. I am even considering ordering the Huskemaw just so I can spend some time looking through it in order to make my decision. I appreciate any feedback.

 

[Rick300]

Hey Guys,

I am looking to buy a scope for a build that I am waiting to be finished. This is for a hunting rifle, and I doubt I would ever shoot over 800 yards with it on an animal. I have narrowed it to 3 scopes Huskemaw 5-20x50mm, VX6HD 3-18x50mm, and the vx3i 6.5-20x50mm. I like the weight of these scopes as I am typically a backpack hunter. I have had a NF and know them well, but due to the fact that this is my hunting rifle I am looking at weight with a careful eye.

I have never have had the opportunity to look through the Huskemaw. I have read such mixed reviews on other sites that I am curious what people's opinions are on here. I am even considering ordering the Huskemaw just so I can spend some time looking through it in order to make my decision. I appreciate any feedback.

1st post!

I am in the same situation and would like to know about this as well

 

[Rich Coyle]

Well, gentlemen, I think i can help a little. I took a Swarovski z5 5-25X52 to the store and asked if I could take a Huskemaw outside and compare it with the z5. An employee who was also curious grabbed one and came out to my car. (Before I went into the store I stapled an eye chart on a power pole about 300 yards down the street.) Knowing the quality of my z5 I laid it on the sandbag on top of the car, adjusted it, and dialed it as clearly as I could on its lowest magnification to clearly see the smallest detail on the chart. Then I did the same with the Huskemaw. To my delight they were on the same setting.

I turned them back to 5X and let the employee do the same thing. He agreed there was no difference in the quality of the resolution.

The employee was about twenty-five years old. I was about seventy. He settled on 8X and I settled on 10X for both scopes respectively.

 

[Rick300]

Great! Thank you. What about the turrets. I am wanting to do some dial up for long range hunting and repeatability is of paramount importance to me.

 

[Unoboats]

Nothing beats the NF in my mind, but I own the Z3 4-12 X 50 with custom turrets and the VX6 3-18 X50 both great scopes tracking so far. the Swaro is limited to 600yds elevation on the turret and the VX6 is good to 1000 yds with the zero stop feature on it. both work great but the swaro won out on my Back country build due to weigh savings

 

[walter351]

Thanks for the replies. That is exactly the feedback I was looking for.

 

[Rich Coyle]

The z5 has very good glass, but is barely behind my three Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50 as far as resolving detail. But as far as reliability, mine sucked. I used it for a couple years on hunts to a few states. The ballistic turret kept failing to return to "zero". But it would stay "sighted in" if I didn't mess with it. During the two years I used it it went in for customer service twice. Both times the note accompanying it upon its return said they had to replace the erector system! The second time it came back I posted it on line with the info here. So the new owner knew it was refurbished but it should be ready to go. He was happy and I was delighted.

 

[Lpart]

Just a little different tact. I have never understood the fascination with the high power scopes in a hunting rifle. Tried a NF that went to 20 or something with the large objective and didn't like it. I have settled on the NF NXS in 2.5-10. More than enough power to shoot milk jugs at 1000 and yards and compact and light enough to cut down on the bulk with a hunting rifle and we still get the great quality and toughness of NF.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Maybe your vision is in the10% group. That leaves most of us in the 90% group.

 

[Lpart]

I wish that were the case. 68 year old eyes and trifocals.

 

[dfanonymous]

Custom turret thing on the huskemaw is stupid

 

[Rick300]

I have an older Swarovsky 4-12 on it now so I'm used to good glass. It would be tough taking a step backwards on glass, but if it was a small step, I would be ok with it in exchange for some good turrets and maybe some of that new fangled tech stuff.
In all fairness to the Swaro, I haven't really tried to dial it up and down to see what happens. I pretty much leave it sighted in and use hold over. I haven't completely thought it through yet, but thinking maybe sell the Swaro I have now and get some of the newer features on a new mid to high end scope.

 

[Greyfox]

I have hunted two Huskemaw 5x20's for about six years. The glass, turret accuracy, and reliability is on par with my NF NXS scopes. An attractive feature is the fast ratio, labeled parallax knob which other manufacturers are just catching on to. I use Turret Tapes in mine which very economically enables me to use MOA turret settings combined with yardage settings. I would highly recommend this scope, particularly if you are looking to save weight.