And that is good to know my two long range rifles are braked . Oh and the glass is far Superior then my 4200 and 6500
Just received Sightron S3
- Thread starter Iron Worker
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Additionally, I haven't read of any braked rifle recoil related failures with the Sightron's on any Forums to date. Here's to hoping we don't going forward also!
Your comment on the quality of the glass is consistent with my own comparisons to other brands of scopes. The resolution in one of my 6-24x50s is a touch better than my 3-18x42mm IOR. The light transmission is also better. The current retail price of a new 3-18x42mm IOR is ~$1800. And I've lost the guts on two of the IORs after mounting them on braked rifles so far. IOR is good about replacing them under warranty, but it's still time consuming to figure out the guts are coming loose. These failures can be a progressive process, or it can all happen with just several shots. The slower progressive failure can and has cost me poor hits on game due to shifting POI before I had confirmation that the scope innards were loosening up. To add insult to injury, you're out of a scoped rifle for the length of time involved in the warranty processing. All in all a real pain in the keyster!
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I had to have a scope with Schott glass. So Liberty optics 1/1/10 had a sale on IOR scopes I bought a 2.5x10x42mm and mounted it on my AR-15. Its glass and mechanics were great,felt like I was looking down a tunnel though. I went varmint hunting in Idaho grass lands. That German glass didn't make it one bit easier picking out the squirrels running around . So I sold it and then bought this S3. I have my 6500 on the AR and this S3 on my 7wsm. Happy camper now. Very interesting your experience with IOR.
davewilson
Well-Known Member
i read a post of Ernie's where he said a 375 chey-tac broke more than one vx-3 and a S111 is doing just fine on it.
Sightron's are just a very good value for the money
Sightron's are just a very good value for the money
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SBruce
Well-Known Member
Just received mine too. yeha!
Tried it rested on sandbags, haven't yet mounted the scope.
It's going on a Lawton/Broughton 243 AI to begin with. The .25 moa center dot isn't so small to completely cover prairie dogs at 500 yds. Not an issue so far, even with the really small prarie dog pups this time of the year.
A 1/2 minute dot or wire will completely cover a young PD at 500. This is a valid concern, because even a 1/2 moa rifle is severely challenged to hit most PD's at 400yds (this time of year) especially when the wire covers the dog.
I haven't tried the lens covers. Don't even have them on, but it's good to hear Sightron will replace if they don't fit.
So far, I've been impressed with the color and contrast on 16X, but haven't yet been able to hold steady enough to evaluate it on 24X. We'll see once it's mounted on a gun.
Tried it rested on sandbags, haven't yet mounted the scope.
It's going on a Lawton/Broughton 243 AI to begin with. The .25 moa center dot isn't so small to completely cover prairie dogs at 500 yds. Not an issue so far, even with the really small prarie dog pups this time of the year.
A 1/2 minute dot or wire will completely cover a young PD at 500. This is a valid concern, because even a 1/2 moa rifle is severely challenged to hit most PD's at 400yds (this time of year) especially when the wire covers the dog.
I haven't tried the lens covers. Don't even have them on, but it's good to hear Sightron will replace if they don't fit.
So far, I've been impressed with the color and contrast on 16X, but haven't yet been able to hold steady enough to evaluate it on 24X. We'll see once it's mounted on a gun.
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SBruce
Well-Known Member
Playing around with the scope a little more today. Just thought I'd share what I found.
Neither of the lens caps fit on my scope, both are too small.
I discovered that when the scope is above 20X, it doesn't gather the light as well as I'd hoped it would. Sharpness and Contrast seem less than anticipated when on max power (it is a dark cloudy day though).
Couple other things that bother me a little:
one is that the focus range (side focus/parallax) is pretty narrow and very sensitive. Only about 1/4 revolution of movement from being focused at 50 yds to being focused at 3000+ yds. The slightest bit of movement will change focus by a couple hundred yards, I found it hard to focus on very small tree branches at 350yds while holding scope on a sandbag. The index marks on this SF knob cover about 1/2 revolution, but so far only about 1/2 of that is usable. This isn't necessarily a deal breaker yet, but if I later discover that the image is in focus and parallax still exists; it will be a deal breaker and I will send the scope back.
2nd, is that when I focus or move the eyepiece ring; the reticle appears to change size. Perhaps this is just an illusion, perhaps not. It will need to be tested while held solid in the rings at pointed at a yardstick. Parallax adjustment also needs to be verified then.
On a positive note, the adjustments seem firm and positive. Good feel to them. I don't think they'll get moved accidentally. There is about 50 minutes of adjustment each side of "center" on both knobs.
Iron Worker, have you noticed any issues with focus on yours??
Neither of the lens caps fit on my scope, both are too small.
I discovered that when the scope is above 20X, it doesn't gather the light as well as I'd hoped it would. Sharpness and Contrast seem less than anticipated when on max power (it is a dark cloudy day though).
Couple other things that bother me a little:
one is that the focus range (side focus/parallax) is pretty narrow and very sensitive. Only about 1/4 revolution of movement from being focused at 50 yds to being focused at 3000+ yds. The slightest bit of movement will change focus by a couple hundred yards, I found it hard to focus on very small tree branches at 350yds while holding scope on a sandbag. The index marks on this SF knob cover about 1/2 revolution, but so far only about 1/2 of that is usable. This isn't necessarily a deal breaker yet, but if I later discover that the image is in focus and parallax still exists; it will be a deal breaker and I will send the scope back.
2nd, is that when I focus or move the eyepiece ring; the reticle appears to change size. Perhaps this is just an illusion, perhaps not. It will need to be tested while held solid in the rings at pointed at a yardstick. Parallax adjustment also needs to be verified then.
On a positive note, the adjustments seem firm and positive. Good feel to them. I don't think they'll get moved accidentally. There is about 50 minutes of adjustment each side of "center" on both knobs.
Iron Worker, have you noticed any issues with focus on yours??
Lens caps one of mine fit perfectly other to small .I called the office they're sending me another pair as I type. As far as quality of glass and over all of the scope I'm very happy.I've owned a bunch of scopes too. Hope you get your issues resolved.
Thanks for sharing your findings and opinions. Your cross hairs are probably not changing size. More likely getting fuzzy at the edges versus clear at the edges when you get it focused for your eyes, which is what I experience with many scopes.
Glad to hear the dot is an acceptable size. Dave had me stumbling on the dot size.
I have two SIII 6-24x50mm LRMDs. Resolution and light transmission is excellent on mine. The quality of the glass on mine is their greatest selling point - to me. I hope the MOA models are as good as my Mil Dot models. I think the resolution is slightly better on the one than the other. But I have read time and again that this is something that shows up in many lines of scopes - not all that uncommon. Even some of the pricier ones.
The parallax adjustment on mine two scopes is pretty quick also, but never been a problem to get focused. No slop in the parallax adjustment knobs, and on 24X its very easy to bring the cross hairs into focus.
Keep us informed either way? Thumbs up or thumbs down. Thanks again.
Its 6:51pm here in Reno NV. Won't get dark till after 8:00PM. I just finished sighting on a picnic park sign 475 yds away. Can't read the sign with any of my scopes S3 8x32x56mm Elite 6500 2.5x16x50mm,and elite 4200 Buach &Lomb 6x24x40mm( 10 years old). S3 was the best but only 1 level above the 4200. The 6500 I'd say was 1 level below the 4200. What's a level ? Just a reference to illustrate my point. The 6500 is on my AR-15 its a 400 yd rifle its good enough for my purposes. I wonder if with a S&B if I could read the park sign ?
At 482 yds I can read a car license plate with the S3 on 32 x if I hold super steady. Almost with the 4200 on 24 x. Maybe if I had a rock solid rest. But not at all with the 6500 on 16 x
SBruce
Well-Known Member
Just messed around a little more at last light.
There is definately some corelation between the eyepiece focus and the power ring.....perhaps why I thought the reticle size changed with movement of the eyepiece ring.?
Just before it got dark, I was trying it out on some sage brush leaves at about 300-350 yds. It was getting too dark to discern any real contrast or resolution on 24X, so I decreased the power to 16X. Holly cow; what I saw was the sage brighten up and become much more "visible" , but also the reticle got fuzzy. Reticle was even fuzzy when pointed up at the sky (which was much brighter). So I turned it back up to 24X and reticle was sharply focused again. Back down to 12X and the reticle was even fuzzier than on 16X. Good thing is that the reticle is indeed easy to focus if needed.
This is a new experience for me, as all other scopes I've ever had show a crisp sharp reticle (once the eyepiece is set for my eye) no matter what power the scope is set on, or what the lighting conditions are.
Also, I stated earlier that there was only about a 1/4 rev of total usable focus on the SF knob. I should have said 1/8 revolution. Really, it's somewhere between 1/8 rev and 1/4 rev for focused at 50yds to focused at 3000+ yds......very tight, very sensitive. I don't mean tight like hard to move, I mean tight like just 1/32 turn and you're not focused anymore.
In order to really validate these concerns the scope needs to me mounted in something solid and compared to another scope I have that's 25X with 50mm objective. Should also be done during both bright daytime and low light evening.
I am thinking I'll call Sightron about it next week before I mount it in rings on the gun. The only scopes I have that are comparable power and size for testing are a Leupold MK4 8.5-25X50 and a Nightforce 5.5-22X50. Both are way above the Sightron when $$'s are figured in. I could compare against a Zeiss Conquest 4-14 or a Leupold VX3 4-14, but both those are only ~40mm and 1" tubes..........I'd really like to compare apples to apples, but if the Sightron won't at least come close to the Leupold MK4 then I'll probably request a replacement/repair, and if they won't do that; I'll sell it at a loss and buy another MK4 or maybe another Zeiss Conquest.......?? I am personally more interested in performance than cost at this point, and I have no complaints whatsoever about the MK4 scope nor the Conquest scope I have (except no moa reticle).
There is definately some corelation between the eyepiece focus and the power ring.....perhaps why I thought the reticle size changed with movement of the eyepiece ring.?
Just before it got dark, I was trying it out on some sage brush leaves at about 300-350 yds. It was getting too dark to discern any real contrast or resolution on 24X, so I decreased the power to 16X. Holly cow; what I saw was the sage brighten up and become much more "visible" , but also the reticle got fuzzy. Reticle was even fuzzy when pointed up at the sky (which was much brighter). So I turned it back up to 24X and reticle was sharply focused again. Back down to 12X and the reticle was even fuzzier than on 16X. Good thing is that the reticle is indeed easy to focus if needed.
This is a new experience for me, as all other scopes I've ever had show a crisp sharp reticle (once the eyepiece is set for my eye) no matter what power the scope is set on, or what the lighting conditions are.
Also, I stated earlier that there was only about a 1/4 rev of total usable focus on the SF knob. I should have said 1/8 revolution. Really, it's somewhere between 1/8 rev and 1/4 rev for focused at 50yds to focused at 3000+ yds......very tight, very sensitive. I don't mean tight like hard to move, I mean tight like just 1/32 turn and you're not focused anymore.
In order to really validate these concerns the scope needs to me mounted in something solid and compared to another scope I have that's 25X with 50mm objective. Should also be done during both bright daytime and low light evening.
I am thinking I'll call Sightron about it next week before I mount it in rings on the gun. The only scopes I have that are comparable power and size for testing are a Leupold MK4 8.5-25X50 and a Nightforce 5.5-22X50. Both are way above the Sightron when $$'s are figured in. I could compare against a Zeiss Conquest 4-14 or a Leupold VX3 4-14, but both those are only ~40mm and 1" tubes..........I'd really like to compare apples to apples, but if the Sightron won't at least come close to the Leupold MK4 then I'll probably request a replacement/repair, and if they won't do that; I'll sell it at a loss and buy another MK4 or maybe another Zeiss Conquest.......?? I am personally more interested in performance than cost at this point, and I have no complaints whatsoever about the MK4 scope nor the Conquest scope I have (except no moa reticle).
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Jon A
Well-Known Member
It sounds like something is wrong with it--if the reticle is focused at 24X, it should not become blurry when you turn the power down.
Agree.
Troubling to hear you're having problems with this new scope SBruce. Might be good to call the Sightron guy (Alan if I recall correctly) and tell him what's going on. He'll either talk you through it or tell you to send it back.
SBruce
Well-Known Member
Thank you, but just seems to be my luck, I've had to send back a NF scope and a Leica rangefinder so far within the past year. Also had a rifle rebarreled and have a few problems with it too.
Today, I did find a spot on the eyepiece where I can get the reticle sharp and clear from 24X down to about 12X. Below 12 still gets a little fuzzy, but I have no intentions of using this scope on less than 12X So that's not such a concern anymore. Thinkin I'll still call Sightron tomorrow though and get their thoughts on what I am finding with this particular one.
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