Swaro Z6 3-18x50 or Premier Light Tactical 3-15x50 for use on a hunting rifle?

[EasternNChunter]

I can't make up my mind between not only these two scopes but also on whether I like the Swaro with the ballistic turret or ballistic reticle. This will be used on a .300 win mag and mostly for whitetail deer hunting out of deer stands here in the states as well as Alberta. However, I'd like to think that I will also be going on a few elk hunts as well as a few hunts in Alaska. I am not too concerned with illumination. Thanks!

 

[Bill308]

I'm going through a similar decision myself. For me, the hardest decision is whether I want to be limited to a SFP ballistic reticle or a FFP mil style reticle. With the SFP BR you always have to be at max magnification and use Swaro's calculator to figure out impact for your particular rounds. With the FFP mil reticle you can be at any magnification and if you know the DOPE for your round it will not matter what magnification you're on (except for lower magnifications where FFP reticles tend to disappear if they're too light).

I know that ballistic reticles can be a point of contention between many, but I like them for the simple fact of how quick they can be in the field. For instance, you spot the trophy elk off in the distance, grab your rangefinder and find that he is 557 yards away, with a ballistic or mil reticle you probably already have your dope on a chart hanging off your rifle and you quickly ascertain that you need to use the 6th line down, you raise your rifle and take the shot accounting for wind. Once you get good at this you can probably get the shot off in a few seconds. Now, same scenario but you don't have a ballistic or mil reticle, now you have to figure out how many clicks to get your turret to 557 yards, and then you have to account for wind and click appropriately there, then you can take the shot. My guess is this is going to take a few seconds longer at least to dial in. Dialing in is great when you have the time, but often you don't have the time in the field and those seconds can mean the difference between getting the trophy or watching him walk back into the thick.

Optically I'm not sure how much difference as both use fantastic German glass with excellent coatings. Premier is built in the USA. The Swaro gets you an extra 3x at the top which might be good for ELR, but the more I research it seems that 15x with good glass will also get the job done.

These are my thoughts, I'm sure others have some different ideas

 

[bruce_ventura]

I'm going through a similar decision myself. For me, the hardest decision is whether I want to be limited to a SFP ballistic reticle or a FFP mil style reticle. With the SFP BR you always have to be at max magnification and use Swaro's calculator to figure out impact for your particular rounds. With the FFP mil reticle you can be at any magnification and if you know the DOPE for your round it will not matter what magnification you're on (except for lower magnifications where FFP reticles tend to disappear if they're too light)....

Optically I'm not sure how much difference as both use fantastic German glass with excellent coatings. Premier is built in the USA. The Swaro gets you an extra 3x at the top which might be good for ELR, but the more I research it seems that 15x with good glass will also get the job done.

The SFP BRH reticle is mil based (1 mil between dots at 18X). You can use any ballistic software to calculate holdoffs.

You have a little more flexibility with this reticle. You can set the zoom ring to 9X, which makes the reticle have 2 mils between dots (1 mil between a dot and a line). You could instead set it to 15X, which makes the reticle have 1.2 mils between dots (0.6 mils between a dot and a line). This is probably my favorite option for that scope.

The Z6 scopes are assembled in Rhode Island using Austrian components. The Z6 HD glass is extremely good. At 18X it's nearly a spotting scope. If you want to travel light, you could leave the spotting scope at home and use the Z6 on 18X to score a deer's antlers.

 

[varmintH8R]

I am a big fan of the BT for guns that I don't intend to hunt with past 500yds. They are easy to set and ultra-quick to dial as you can pre-set your custom points and then have a dope card for +/- for intermediate ranges (i.e 450 yds is green dot + 10, etc) . If you are reaching waaay out there I think the system is less useful, but maybe a custom turret would solve that. If I'm going way out I prefer tactical style glass . . .