Best low light glass?

[RuninL8]

Listen everyone has an opinion, no worries, I shoot everyday, I build custom rifles, and I do a lot of long range hunting. It's not just my experiences I'm drawing on either. There are alot of good options out there. Not knocking anyone for liking something better but don't knock me unless you've actually been in the field shooting shooting over a 1000 yards in low light, just to compare scopes. If you have done this and like something better great!!! I just know my go too scopes.

 

[Northkill]

Listen everyone has an opinion, no worries, I shoot everyday, I build custom rifles, and I do a lot of long range hunting. It's not just my experiences I'm drawing on either. There are alot of good options out there. Not knocking anyone for liking something better but don't knock me unless you've actually been in the field shooting shooting over a 1000 yards in low light, just to compare scopes. If you have done this and like something better great!!! I just know my go too scopes.

No big deal to me. Was just a strong statement without context. We are coloring way outside of the OP's price range anyway. Unless you're talking cheap Zeiss.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Speaking of TT, has anyone here got one of their new 3-15 long range hunter scopes? If so, how does it compare to the 5-25 in the stuff that matters to us? I know its 30mm with a 50mm obj. and much lighter, nearly a pound, cheaper by 1400, has less FOV, and less adjustment. Biggest questions are what are we really giving up? Has to be more than noted above for $1400. Not hijacking the thread, These things are superb in any light and may just be the answer us old folks have been looking for, or maybe not, but for $3700 I want to know. I am hunting a scope for the LW stalking rifle I am building.

I have 4 of the TT315M. 3-15×50, 30mm tube, 6 MIL dual turn turrets. Same glass as the TT315P or TT525P series. Just a smaller, lighter, less elevation package. Just about the perfect high end hunting scope made in my opinion.

Even with "only" 12 MIL of elevation, I shoot them out to 1400-1500+ often.
Have them on a 6CM, 20" 6.5SS, 26" 6.5SS, and .280AI.

 

[Orange Dust]

I have 4 of the TT315M. 3-15×50, 30mm tube, 6 MIL dual turn turrets. Same glass as the TT315P or TT525P series. Just a smaller, lighter, less elevation package. Just about the perfect high end hunting scope made in my opinion.

Even with "only" 12 MIL of elevation, I shoot them out to 1400-1500+ often.
Have them on a 6CM, 20" 6.5SS, 26" 6.5SS, and .280AI.

My next purchase!!!

 

[wasskeet]

My next purchase!!!

It is a top level scope, no doubt.

 

[Agmldavis]

Great suggestions here

 

[smokey3]

C

Well said Bobcape. Depends on the intended use of the scope, but the right reticle is a must. Some guys dial yardage/windage and others use the reticle. I prefer to dial and don't want anything (like a Christmas tree with all sorts of dots and lines) between me and my target. So busy reticles are out.
There are several optics companies that make great scopes but I would never consider them because they don't offer the very simple reticle that I prefer.
In low light the additional cost of top shelf glass will begin to justify itself. I just bought a scope for a rifle that's almost finished. I really wanted to try March and took delivery of a 2.5-25x52. I was really impressed with the quality of the build and all the features. It was a little more compact than my others and a few oz lighter....basically everything I was looking for. But I sent it back the next day. The eye box was a deal breaker. It was so finicky and small. Compared to my other glass it was not in the same conversation.
Ive resigned myself to being limited to Swarovski, Leica and S&B. They all have my reticle and are all amazing optically. The Leica (Magnus 2.4-16x56i) has a slightly larger FOV and friendlier eye box. The S&Bs (Polar and Exos) are built sturdier and the turrets are hard to beat. And the Swaro Z8i is the best optically...by a very very thin margin. But it is absolute perfection and gathers light the best.
I ended up buying another Leica from a member of this forum, only because I found it lightly used and the price was hard to beat. I'll say this for the 1000th time, great glass does not wear out.
If I had to stick to a budget and stay at or just under $1000, the Trijicon Accupoint would be high on my list. Very very good optics and built solid as a rock.
I will give a shout out to Nightforce....if I could stand the weight and they offered a simple illum duplex reticle, I'd buy one. I had an Atacr a few yrs ago and didn't realize it was so heavy until it arrived. Very nice glass and built as good as it gets. I sold it and bought the Exos.....found the glass a hair more clear, had the same tactical build, and was 10oz lighter.
Start with a reticle that will be ideal for your use, and that will narrow down the field.

Very limited choices indeed

 

[smokey3]

My. Hunting. Buddy has a swavarsky 3x9. That is. Much. Brighter at. 6pm in. West. Virg, . Than my. Leupold. VX3. 2.5. To. 8 ! Noticeable. Difference!! And. I. Am a. Huge. Leupold fan !

WV huh, 6:00 pm is a little past any legal shooting hours during any big game season that we have, coyotes are a different story though. I'm not assuming anything

 

[Don Titus]

I just sent my Sig Sierra 6 BDX back for inspection because I am not satisfied with clarity or brightness compared to my Zeiss V4 Conquest,

Update: Sig said the scope clarity did not meet mil spec and sent me a new scope. No hassle at all and the new one has excellent glass.,,Sig Sauer has earned my business…

 

[Rich Coyle]

Thank, Don, for the heads-up.

 

[edgecrum]

I little behind in the thread but I'd like to do an update to what I've found. I did low light non scientific tests on a few scopes and this is what my eyes have been able to tell. Here are the scopes. VX3 4.5-14x50, VX3i 4.5-14x50, VX5HD 3-15x56 firedot, NF SHV 5-20x56, Swarovski z6i 2.5-15x56, Vortex VIper PST 4-16x50. Now here is how I rank them simply, based on low light visibility and clarity alone. Vortex-VX3-VX3i-SHV-(vx5,Z6). To be a little more descriptive. The VX3 scopes are equal to my eyes and are a fair amount brighter then the vortex. The VX5 is slightly brighter than the Nightforce but not by much. The VX5 makes the VX3s look terrible in comparison. There was 7.5 mins of light difference on the day I tested the VX3s and VX5 with the VX5 trouncing on the VX3. The VX5 and Z6 were very VERY close. Perhaps there was a very slight edge to the Z6, but the firedot reticle is so good that it makes it a much better scope in these conditions.

Again I want to stress I'm ONLY talking about low light clarity and visibility, not hardiness, tracking etc. SIMPLE low light clarity.

I bought a VX5HD.

 

[BenelliHunter]

I little behind in the thread but I'd like to do an update to what I've found. I did low light non scientific tests on a few scopes and this is what my eyes have been able to tell. Here are the scopes. VX3 4.5-14x50, VX3i 4.5-14x50, VX5HD 3-15x56 firedot, NF SHV 5-20x56, Swarovski z6i 2.5-15x56, Vortex VIper PST 4-16x50. Now here is how I rank them simply, based on low light visibility and clarity alone. Vortex-VX3-VX3i-SHV-(vx5,Z6). To be a little more descriptive. The VX3 scopes are equal to my eyes and are a fair amount brighter then the vortex. The VX5 is slightly brighter than the Nightforce but not by much. The VX5 makes the VX3s look terrible in comparison. There was 7.5 mins of light difference on the day I tested the VX3s and VX5 with the VX5 trouncing on the VX3. The VX5 and Z6 were very VERY close. Perhaps there was a very slight edge to the Z6, but the firedot reticle is so good that it makes it a much better scope in these conditions.

Again I want to stress I'm ONLY talking about low light clarity and visibility, not hardiness, tracking etc. SIMPLE low light clarity.

I bought a VX5HDi

 

[BenelliHunter]

I have a ton of Leupold, Nightforce and Swarovski. I have 4-6 VX5-HD- I'm sorry but they do not compare to Swarovski Z6.

 

[edgecrum]

That's your eyes, and with respect I did say "to my eyes". All eyes are unfortunately different .