Need comparison: SWFA Super Sniper 5-20X50HD & PST 6-24x50.
- Thread starter joseph
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Jon A
Well-Known Member
Well, since I think I'm the only one on the planet with both, I guess I had better chime in. First of all, this isn't really a fair comparison as the SS 5-20 is a much more expensive scope. The initial promotional group buy with SH kicking some in has the SS priced at an insanely low price for the next 20 days or so. It'll be a more fair comparison when its price goes back up to the $1500 range.
I like the 6-24 PST a great deal and feel it is about as good as you can get in the sub $1000 range for a high power FFP. Very good glass, reticle, illumination, knobs, etc. A very nice scope.
But there are some things you get with the SS. The glass is better. Much bigger FOV on the low end if you do any work up close, which along with pretty equal resolution on the high end makes it a bit more versatile. A bunch more elevation travel. 10 Mil per turn knob. I like the knob feel quite a bit better. Longer/easier eye relief, especially at high power.
The PST is lighter if you're trying to save weight, but the SS has a more confidence inspiring "heavy duty feel" to it, if that makes any sense—more "Nightforce-like."
The PST has a ZS but the SS doesn't need one as much with the 10 Mil knob.
Some will probably like one reticle better, others will like the other better, items like that are mostly personal preference.
All in all both are very nice scopes and will get the job done well for most applications. Personally I feel the 5-20 SS is enough better in enough ways to easily justify the price difference (at regular price, at the group buy price it's a no-brainer).
I like the 6-24 PST a great deal and feel it is about as good as you can get in the sub $1000 range for a high power FFP. Very good glass, reticle, illumination, knobs, etc. A very nice scope.
But there are some things you get with the SS. The glass is better. Much bigger FOV on the low end if you do any work up close, which along with pretty equal resolution on the high end makes it a bit more versatile. A bunch more elevation travel. 10 Mil per turn knob. I like the knob feel quite a bit better. Longer/easier eye relief, especially at high power.
The PST is lighter if you're trying to save weight, but the SS has a more confidence inspiring "heavy duty feel" to it, if that makes any sense—more "Nightforce-like."
The PST has a ZS but the SS doesn't need one as much with the 10 Mil knob.
Some will probably like one reticle better, others will like the other better, items like that are mostly personal preference.
All in all both are very nice scopes and will get the job done well for most applications. Personally I feel the 5-20 SS is enough better in enough ways to easily justify the price difference (at regular price, at the group buy price it's a no-brainer).
The PST has a ZS but the SS doesn't need one as much with the 10 Mil knob. "QUOTE"
Doesn't the PST have a 10 Mil knob (do you mean turret?) on the Mil/Mil PST? What is a "ZS"? I am a little confused.
Thanks for the comparison Jon A,
joseph
Doesn't the PST have a 10 Mil knob (do you mean turret?) on the Mil/Mil PST? What is a "ZS"? I am a little confused.
Thanks for the comparison Jon A,
joseph
Jon A
Well-Known Member
The PST has 5 mils per turn. I was just abbreviating Zero Stop as ZS. Here's what I mean:
With 5 Mils per turn, most people here will be doing much of their shooting on the second turn at least. If you forget to reset the knob to zero and throw your rifle back in the case, the next time you pull it out you may not know which turn you're on.
For this a ZS is extremely helpful--anytime you have any doubts, you simply crank the knob down until it stops and you know you're on your correct zero.
With a 10 Mil knob, most LRH rifles will make it out to 1400 yds or so on the first turn of the knob. So the vast majority of the time for the vast majority of people the knob will never go beyond its first turn. If they never spin it beyond its first turn, the chances are very low they will ever find themselves on the wrong one.
And depending upon how much total elevation a scope has, with 10 mils per turn it may only have two or three total turns so it's not hard to remember which one you're on.
Don't get me wrong, I do like zero stops, it's just that I don't personally feel it's as big a deal on a scope with 10 or more Mils per turn. My last IOR had a ZS but I didn't use it because I didn't like it very much. With the 10 Mil knob it wasn't needed enough for me to bother.
It was just a few years ago when Nightforce scopes only had 10 MOA per turn and no zero stops...which put people on their 4th turn before they hit 10 Mils and people seemed to manage with them OK. With a 10 Mil knob it's easy.
With 5 Mils per turn, most people here will be doing much of their shooting on the second turn at least. If you forget to reset the knob to zero and throw your rifle back in the case, the next time you pull it out you may not know which turn you're on.
For this a ZS is extremely helpful--anytime you have any doubts, you simply crank the knob down until it stops and you know you're on your correct zero.
With a 10 Mil knob, most LRH rifles will make it out to 1400 yds or so on the first turn of the knob. So the vast majority of the time for the vast majority of people the knob will never go beyond its first turn. If they never spin it beyond its first turn, the chances are very low they will ever find themselves on the wrong one.
And depending upon how much total elevation a scope has, with 10 mils per turn it may only have two or three total turns so it's not hard to remember which one you're on.
Don't get me wrong, I do like zero stops, it's just that I don't personally feel it's as big a deal on a scope with 10 or more Mils per turn. My last IOR had a ZS but I didn't use it because I didn't like it very much. With the 10 Mil knob it wasn't needed enough for me to bother.
It was just a few years ago when Nightforce scopes only had 10 MOA per turn and no zero stops...which put people on their 4th turn before they hit 10 Mils and people seemed to manage with them OK. With a 10 Mil knob it's easy.
