is NIKON a bad word

[ShootnMathews]

I own several nikons and have no problems with any of them. In fact I have a 6-18x40 buckmasters on one of my long range guns that I love. The gun and the rifle together are so dependable. If I only have one shot at an animal I usually grab that gun because I know I can grab it, dial my turret, and it's a dead animal. I shoot with it all the time out to 750 yards but it doesn't have enough turret to dial farther as it is a 1/8" click scope. But I can dial very precisely with it. Clarity is great up to about 16x. Past there it is slightly hazy but not bad. On 18x I can still see my bullet impacts on steel at 600 yards. The turret dials flawlessly. It comes with tall capped turrets out of the box but also comes with fat target turrets that the caps won't cover up. The side focus works well also. And it cost $359 new in box as basspro when I bought it. Would I recommend it? Definitely. If you're max hunting range is around 750 in my opinion it's hard to beat for the $.

I really don't know why they aren't more talked about. Vortex seems to rule the posts here. I do have some vortex viper scopes and they are slightly brighter than the Nikon mentioned above but the Nikon is a 1" tube 40 mm objective, and the vortex are 30 mm tube and 44 mm objective. So a little brighter is to be expected. Glass wise I can't say that one is better than the other. And I use them both very regularly.

Hope that helps some

 

[Bman940]

I have foud that longrange means different things to different people. I was at the range this morning talking to a competitive F Class shooter who competes in numerous types of competition's, one where he said they are just getting warmed up at 1000 yards. Ok, not for me especially when he said he uses a $5500 Surgeon rifle for that style of shooting. For me long range is 400-700 yards and it is highly doubtful I'm going to pull the trigger on an animal beyond 600 yards even if I feel comfortable in my abilities. A new offering that just came out from Nikon is a 5X zoom, FFP and ED glass with etched reticle. I have not had my hands on one yet but a buddy used one to harvest a OK deer,coyote and hog in Nov. and said it is one of the best Nikon's he has ever used. I will definitely have pics when I get my hands on this new offering from Nikon.

 

[billm67]

I have had several of the older 6-18 Buckmaster with mil-dot reticles. They were made for Midway...but now they have been discontinued. The pro-staff 5 4.5 -18 is similar but it is quite a bit more money. When I compared the pro staff to the vortex...the optics in the vortex won out.

 

[wilkup]

... A new offering that just came out from Nikon is a 5X zoom, FFP and ED glass with etched reticle. I have not had my hands on one yet but a buddy used one to harvest a OK deer,coyote and hog in Nov. and said it is one of the best Nikon's he has ever used. I will definitely have pics when I get my hands on this new offering from Nikon.

When did this model come out and what are the specs on it?

I'm currently debating the purchase of the Monarch 7 2.5-10 along with some other options and have been wondering the same thing as the OP about Nikon. "Bad word" is a good way to sum up what I've gathered about this company too and I also don't understand why that is.

 

[ShootnMathews]

There is nothing wrong with Nikon for most hunting situations but as far as "long range" hunting goes there are better options. Nikons will work but once you get up into the high priced models you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere. IMO.

 

[buxton]

Looked through a swaro z5 3-18 today. WOW. PST viper seemed like you were looking thru a coke bottle (they used to be glass). 1600 smackers.z5 perfect focus bot to top the viper blurred and darkening. my monarch has way better glass. How does anybody get by with the vortex.

 

[wilkup]

... PST viper seemed like you were looking thru a coke bottle... the viper blurred and darkening. my monarch has way better glass. How does anybody get by with the vortex.

I have not owned a Monarch but my experience with Vortex has been similar. I owned a HSLR 4-16x44 BDC model and it also appeared blurry and dark on the edges when viewed over 12x.
I'm pretty sure I will be purchasing the Monarch 7 2.5-10 and will give my opinion on how I like it compared to my Leupold VX3 2.5-8 in a different thread.

 

[Idahoallen]

I need to throw a bone to the Nikon warranty division. A few years ago I bought my first rifle to shoot 600 yards with. I picked it up on Gunbroker for pretty cheap!

It is a 338 Winchester Magnum, 116 savage action. It came with a monarch 3 Nikon scope. 5 - 20 power.

After firing three test shots to see if gun grouped, or had any other accuracy issues, the only thing I found out was that it had more recoil than I could manage.

I took the rifle to Shawn Carlock. He put one of his brakes on it!

After getting it back, I could finally manage the recoil!

So I attempted to zero my rifle. This was the point I found that the previous owner had attempted to install one of the factory turrets on the scope. In doing so he had entirely stripped out the adjustment mechanism for elevation.

The Gun Broker contract had long expired at this point.

I sent this scope back to Nikon figuring I had nothing to lose. In less than two weeks, a brand new scope was sitting on my doorstep from Nikon.

Big kudos to the Nikon warranty department!

 

[Bman940]

This is the reply to Wilkup in case others are interested.


I can and always try to be objective and truthful when someone asks me if a particular Nikon scope will work for a certain application.
I have not had my hands on one of the new MONARCH 7 riflescopes yet, but hope to soon. I can tell you the glass on the MONARCH 7 is excellent. The 30mm tube should also help make the visual picture pop at whatever magnification setting it is on. I wish I had more to tell you about this scope then what you can read from a brochure. Unfortunately, I can not comment make any comments about the scope's you have asked about above. Just not good business to say anything negative about another companies products.

While I use the MONARCH 3 4-16 BDC on my .300 Win., I will be swapping out by choice to Nikon's New MONARCH 3. The new MONARCH 3 is a First Focal Plane scope. Nikon's first FFP riflescope. Will be great for using with Nikon's Spot On Ballistic Program.

There is also an excellent MONARCH 5 with 5X zoom which honestly may fit your needs the best when it comes to reaching out and hitting what you are aiming at. A friend just used one in 3-15 BDC on a OK deer hunt where he harvested a buck,does,hog and coyote with it. He was raving about the clarity and the new etched windage markers.
You can also get the MONARCH 5 in a Nikoplex reticle and a Custom Turret built to your rifles ballistics. I have 2 Custom Turret's and they are both tack drives. 1 a .257 wbymag and one a .243 Win that I use 55 gr. bullet's for coyote hunting. Just dial out the distance on the turret, very easy to order and use.

I hope this info help's out a bit? Definitely looking down the tubes on these scope's will help you make up your mind.
Also check out Nikon's No Fault Policy. Pretty tough to beat if you ask me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IweRfw4vMEY





16363 4-16x42 SF Matte MONARCH 3 BDC Distance Lock
First Focal Plane Optical System
Fully Multicoated Optical System
Hand-Turn Reticle Adjustments with Spring-Loaded Instant Zero-Reset Turrets
One-Piece Main Body Tube
Spot On Ballistic Match Technology Optimized
Smooth zoom control with magnification reference numbers viewable from the shooter's position
Quick Focus Eyepiece
Side Focus Parallax Adjustment
Waterproof/Fogproof/Shockproof


16356 4-20x50ED SF MONARCH 5 Matte Advanced BDC
Fully Multicoated Optical System
ED (Extra-low Dispersion) Glass to reduce chromatic aberration, providing images with superior contrast
Glass-etched reticle
Advanced BDC Reticle adds windage marks on both the left and right side of the post for cross wind compensation
5-Time Zoom Range, giving you the versatility for close range shots, out to the furthest distances
Spring-Loaded Instant Zero-Reset Turrets
Quick Focus Eyepiece
Locking side focus
Waterproof, Fogproof, Shockproof

6784 4-16x50 SF MONARCH 7 BDC XR Turret
30mm main body tubes with wide adjustment range
Locking Side Focus
Custom XR Turret w/ Return to Zero
Fully Multicoated Ultra ClearCoat Optical System
Waterproof, Fogproof, Shockproof

 

[Rich Coyle]

What's the weight on these scopes?

 

[Browning300]

What do you all think of the new prostaff 7?

 

[Bman940]

Nikon's PROSTAFF 7 is new for 2016 with some available right now. I haven't had my hands on one yet but look forward to getting one to the range very soon. You guy's have asked for more 30mm tube choices from Nikon and now here ytou go. It will be available with the BDC and Nikonplex reticle as well as the option for a Custom Turret to your shooting data. The 2.5-10 is less then $300.

16317 2.5-10×42 PROSTAFF 7 Nikoplex
16317 2.5-10x42 PROSTAFF 7 Nikoplex
Nikon's Fully Multicoated Lenses
Built With 30mm Main Body Tubes
Spring-Loaded Instant Zero-Reset Turrets
4-Time Zoom Range
Hand Turn 1/4-inch Adjustments
Quick Focus Eyepiece
Compatible With Spot On Ballistic Match Technology
Waterproof, Fogproof and Shockproof
Nikon's No Fault Policy
weight 18.3 oz.

 

[westcliffe01]

One of the biggest limitations with the Nikon scopes is a very limited internal adjustment. Usually a Vortex will have at least twice the adjustment range compared to a Viper.

The second issue is that post Monarch 2 (Monarch 3 and up) lifting up on the turret cap (intentionally or not) disengages the cap from the turret drive, which is great when you want to re-zero, but completely screwed up if it happens inadvertently in the field when moving through brush or at night.

Of course the limitations of the reticles are well known.

I have 3 of them (Monarch 2) but at the time I bought them the Viper scopes were just being introduced and had very long waiting times.

 

[wilkup]

I purchased the M7 2.5-10x50 and should be receiving it on the 4th.
It's rated at 22.8 oz.
I'll let everyone know what I think of it compared to a couple Leupolds after I've had a chance to slide behind it. It's more than the $300 price point of the Prostaff 7 but I'm sure I'll be getting more than my money's worth, at least that's been my experience with Nikon in the past.