Steiner Military scopes

[joeycoates]

I have been looking for a new scope to put on a 7-300WM AI that I am having built and have found the Steiner Military scopes, more specifically the 5-25×56 with the msr reticle. I have considered the NF ATACR, Beast, USO scopes and a few others. I know that some favor ffp where others favor sfp and that is not really too much of a concern for me with a hunting scope. I had a Vortex PST 6-24×50 in a ffp before and I have several Leupold and Nikon scopes that are sfp.

What I was kind of wondering about however is why the Steiner scopes are not really prevalent on this particular forum? I do not know if it because not a whole lot of people on here have tried them, or maybe they are seen as too "tacticool", or if there is a quality aspect that they lack? I did a search and really did not come up with much feedback on here.

The main reason for selling the PST is that I just did not find the optics to my liking. The scope itself was very well built, everything operated in a positive manner, and it tracked well. I however had a shot at a nice buck this last hunting season towards last light and I just did not have a good sight picture as the PST simply lost too much resolution in the low light. I went out the next evening with a different rifle wearing a Leupold 5-20 VX-3 and it was just more clear for lack of a better description even compared at 20 power on both at the same time in the evening when I had some does come out. That and the eye box on the Viper was a bit fussy at higher magnifications. Not as bad as my Nikon, but not as good as the Leupolds.

So are any of you out there using a Steiner, and if so what has been your experience with them? A lot of the guys on the hide use them, but I kind of value the opinions of people on here as this forum has a lot of users who seem to really tell it how it is without falling into the "cool" factor. From what I have read the optics on the Steiners is pretty good, maybe not S&B or Hensoldt good, but they have been compared favorably to ATACR, Beast, Razor and maybe a touch better than USO. I also get a pretty nice deal through Promotive on them as well due to military and I would be lying if I did not say that it was not a factor. Anyway, I am just looking for some feedback from the users on here good or bad, even with the discount it is still a lot of money for me to spend. If my wife had any idea what this rifle and scope are actually going to cost I would be left buying her a truck load of shoes!!

 

[gebhardt02]

Here is an article I wrote about the Steiner 3-15X50 Military: Steiner Military 3-15X50 Rifle Scope Review

I've been using this scope in precision rifle competitions and it has been doing great. I also used it for hunting mule deer last season and I had zero issues. I think these are great scopes for all forms of shooting and hunting.

Geb

 

[joeycoates]

Thanks. I have pretty well gathered that they have no love here, but otherwise I have read nothing but good about them. While I would like to see what the Beast and the Razor I I are about, I do not see either being made available any time soon. Appreciate the response though.

 

[westcliffe01]

For close to double the price of a NF scope and about 4x the price of the Vortex scopes I own, I doubt many will be sold except to government agencies spending taxpayers money. Vortex made a mistake in choosing the 6-24 magnification range of that scope, they would have been much better off with 5-20 like most competitors.

 

[joeycoates]

I do agree that the asking price is steep, but you should see what Schmidt & Bender wants for their new scope (I think a 3-27 or something like that), $7000..... And no it is not NV or thermal! One of the reasons that I can look at it is due to my military status, otherwise it would be out of my reach. As it is it would still be the most expensive scope that I own or have owned by a very large margin. The good thing though is that if I do not like it I could easily sell it on the hide, but I kind of doubt that I would not be impressed. If I do end up buying it I will give some feedback on what I think of it on here.

It is not really designed for hunting which is what I really would use it for, but it does have some really good features with the msr reticle that I think would lend itself to hunting. You would have to look at the reticle, but it has some features that will be really good for ranging using the milirad system. In East Texas during deer season it is very common to have ground fog in the mornings. I have had many, many instances where I could see a deer, but the rangefinder would not work due to the fog. This last year was really bad for one reason or another. The msr reticle has ranging bars which are designed to measure 1 meter at 400-1300 meters distance. They did this to be able to measure from the crotch to the head on an average male (chose crotch to head since it would be difficult to measure from the feet if a person is standing/walking in brush) and 1 meter is right in there with the average height of an adult white tail deer. Just a coincidence, but a handy one at that.

Anyway, I am seriously considering giving one a try, the optics are also said to be very good as could be expected from a scope with that kind of cost...

 

[westcliffe01]

For that amount of money ($7k) I would be getting a thermal scope. That is considerably more useful for a variety of purposes (including security). I do have a Gen 3 NV scope but it can still be defeated by camoflage. I was not able to swing the extra $4-5k for a thermal scope at the time.

Me personally, I do not need better rifle scopes than Vortex for daytime activities. Perhaps my needs will change with the move to Colorado, but I doubt it.

 

[pinhead78]

The good thing though is that if I do not like it I could easily sell it on the hide, but I kind of doubt that I would not be impressed. If I do end up buying it I will give some feedback on what I think of it on here.

It is not really designed for hunting which is what I really would use it for, but it does have some really good features with the msr reticle that I think would lend itself to hunting. You would have to look at the reticle, but it has some features that will be really good for ranging using the milirad system. In East Texas during deer season it is very common to have ground fog in the mornings. I have had many, many instances where I could see a deer, but the rangefinder would not work due to the fog. This last year was really bad for one reason or another. The msr reticle has ranging bars which are designed to measure 1 meter at 400-1300 meters distance. They did this to be able to measure from the crotch to the head on an average male (chose crotch to head since it would be difficult to measure from the feet if a person is standing/walking in brush) and 1 meter is right in there with the average height of an adult white tail deer. Just a coincidence, but a handy one at that.

I just picked up a Steiner Military scope for these very reasons. This is my first high end scope. The MSR reticle's center crosshair is the only illuminated portion, which I really like. I consider this rifle/scope package a precision hunting rig that I won't have to carry very far. I am no longer yearning for something higher end with more power.

 

[Damascus]

I just posted a thread here reviewing my new Steiner Military 4-16x50 FFP scope..
I purchased this scope for $1400 from EuroOptics (this scope is $2300 everywhere else, but Steiner has stopped manufacturing the 4-16x and replaced it with the 3-15x, however buying a 4-16x, you still get the same great lifetime warranty and service from Steiner).

A couple friends of mine have high end scopes that I can compare with - and I have a Mark 4 6.5-20x50 LR/T (SFP) 30mm and NF NXS 5.5-22x50 SFP scope - but they cannot really be used as a comparison, as the Steiner is in a whole other league above these scopes.
One of my friends own a Vortex Razor HD 5-20x50 with MRAD, which I got to compare first hand myself the other day, and another friend owns a S&B PMII 4-16x50, 5-25x, a Swarovski Z6i 3-18x50, and a USO SN3 3.2-17x44, and I haven't got to shoot with him yet to compare.
The Razor couldn't compare with the Steiner at all when glass is concerned, however I feel the Razor's turrets were more tactile and felt better. The Steiner's turrets feel the same between clicks, but they are more audible when turning elevation up than down.. Not sure if this is supposed to be that way, or if its not broken in yet. I have tested the tracking seven ways to sunday, and it tracks flawlessly. I also love the illumination knob being located on the parallax turret rather than sticking up off the eyebell like other scopes... the parallax knob is also very large, making it very easy to feather in exact adjustments, and has lots of markings, rather than just 25, 50, 100, 600, infinity like some others.. The illumination is also great, with 7 low setting for night vision use, and 7 day settings, which are visible even on sunny days (or at least so far, I've only had it 2 weeks - come mid-summer we'll see just how bright it can stand).
If you have any questions or anything, feel free to PM or email me.