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NF Scope or Leupold

bast0573 said:
Looking for the best scope I can get my hands on. Money is not a factor. I've been looking at NF and Leupold In MILs.

The NF scope i as looking at was mainly was the ATACR 7-35. But is it actually better than the benchrest, competition, NX8, and the BEAST? or should I go with the Leupold Mark 5HD 7-35?

ive never owned a NF but have an older leupold that is really great! This is being bought for my daughters competition rifle. mainly target with quick corrections.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Trust me on this one.....
bast0573 said:
Looking for the best scope I can get my hands on. Money is not a factor. I've been looking at NF and Leupold In MILs.

The NF scope i as looking at was mainly was the ATACR 7-35. But is it actually better than the benchrest, competition, NX8, and the BEAST? or should I go with the Leupold Mark 5HD 7-35?

ive never owned a NF but have an older leupold that is really great! This is being bought for my daughters competition rifle. mainly target with quick corrections.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
trust me on this one......I've recently gone through a pretty extensive comparison of scopes for two new hunting rifles that I had built. My needs were a simple hunting reticle with a small illuminated dot that was adjustable and didn't glare and affect the overall sight picture in low light.
Of course clarity and brightness was crucial but so was user friendliness, weight, and durability.
I really wanted to own a Nightforce so I was determined to give one a try. I bought and mounted the ATAC-R with the MOAR reticle.
It was bright and clear, distortion edge to edge was excellent and it was built like a brick $h!thouse. The only knocks were the weight and the busy reticle. I wasn't using on a featherweight mountain rifle but on a naked 8lb rifle it felt too too heavy.
I will spare you much of what happened but I ultimately couldn't decide between the Schmidt & Bender Exos 3-21x50 and the Swarovski Z8i 2.5-18x56. So I needed two scopes thus I bought one of each.
Its now a full season and a half later and having with both I have made some conclusions.
Either will blow u away......the clarity and edge to edge distortion is next level to the other top end brands.....for my 50 yr old eyes anyway.
The S&B is a tad heavier but also built more durable and feels like it could withstand more punishment.
But the most important difference for me is the user friendliness of the illumination control. It's a dial on the side of the eyepiece. Very easy to find and adjust. Also the definition of the dot and clarity of the sight picture around it is unbelievable.
I was able to find both scopes for sale as demos and thus saved 700-800$ each from retail.
It took me 6 months and I bought and returned more glass in that time than you'd believe.....but it was worth it.
Please feel free to ask about most any model as I've likely had my hands on it.
good luck.
 
My experience is much more limited than many here, but I'll share anyway. My experience with a half dozen leupold's has not been good. It's not a brand I use anymore. I have not used the model you are looking at but hear good reports from the guys I know using them. Nightforce is my go-to scope anymore. Most recent is a 5-25 atacr. Love this scope for shooting prairie dogs and marmots beyond 1K yards. Optics are excellent and turrets are spot on. Love the moar-t reticle. I have one old IOR 6-24 on a varmint rifle that has always been a reliable and repeatable scope. My experience with Schmidt Bender was a PMII 4-16 on a long range rifle. Took numerous marmots and prairie dogs out to 1402 yards with it. Optics and turrets were both absolutely outstanding. But so far the atacr has been as good.
 
Nightforce! They are insanely durable, personally witnessed them get bashed into rocks when fellow hunter slipped coming down a mountain. Gouged the bell housing to bare aluminum...next day shot a ram at 675yrds without once being concerned about it being "knocked off" zero! Turrets track perfectly every time. Sure you can have better quality glass, but if you want rugged as hell and repeatable tracking, the only scope is NF!
 
The cost of an item pales in comparison with the love with which it is presented. Cost is no substitute for attention. Spend quality time with a beginning shooter and it will pay off in both companionship and performance. The suggestion of "giving" rather than "loaning" is important...if the scope is for your daughter, it is hers. Mount it on her rifle and leave it alone. If you want a scope for your .338 LM, get a scope for yourself. Your time with her is what's most important.
 
bast0573 said:
Looking for the best scope I can get my hands on. Money is not a factor. I've been looking at NF and Leupold In MILs.

The NF scope i as looking at was mainly was the ATACR 7-35. But is it actually better than the benchrest, competition, NX8, and the BEAST? or should I go with the Leupold Mark 5HD 7-35?

ive never owned a NF but have an older leupold that is really great! This is being bought for my daughters competition rifle. mainly target with quick corrections.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...



PM sent concerning ATACR 7-35x56
 
I own 8 Nightforce scopes and have put all my Khales , Zeiss and other quality scopes on my kids and grandkids rifles , the ATACR MOA is my favorite and the 7-35 FFP will be plenty of glass . I do own the Competition NF also but prefer the ATACR over it. Price is not a concern to me either . I have been buying NF for over 25 years and never had an issue with any of them , can not say the same for the others . And a few of them have been down the sliding board of rocky ice slopes and no problems , just beat up . JMHO
 
bast0573 said:
Looking for the best scope I can get my hands on. Money is not a factor. I've been looking at NF and Leupold In MILs.

The NF scope i as looking at was mainly was the ATACR 7-35. But is it actually better than the benchrest, competition, NX8, and the BEAST? or should I go with the Leupold Mark 5HD 7-35?

ive never owned a NF but have an older leupold that is really great! This is being bought for my daughters competition rifle. mainly target with quick corrections.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
NF are great scopes you want go wrong with NF
 
Pro2A said:
As in every "What scope is best or should I use" post, everyone has their own twist on what is best. The glass/visuals portion of selection is highly dependent upon what the user's eyes tell them. The precision, repeatability, and durability/robustness of tracking is more important than the glass/visuals.......beyond basically can you see the target through the scope, and are you happy with what you see. I'll point you to the PrecisionRifleBlog.com. There are excellent articles and research available on most all topics of precision shooting. Check out the "What the Pros Use - Wyoming shoot" for an excellent review of which scopes top contenders use. Other articles address the technical details of scopes in whatever detail you desire. Take your daughter to the site with you. Share the learning experience together. What your daughter needs shooting .22LR at 25-50yds......probably never over 300yds; maybe down to 10yds.......roughly equivalent to a 308Win at 1000yds.....and what your 338 requires are two different worlds. Be sure the scope parallax adjusts down to ranges she will shoot or she will not be successful. If cost really is not an issue, buy a scope for each application and don't mess with switching between two worlds with one scope. Let her scope be hers alone.....builds pride and ownership values.......probably really critical in her world right now. Consider the Leupold Mark 5HD or NF ATACR in the power and first/second plane needed for each application. You won't be wrong starting out and for a long time. If and when the scope becomes the limiting factor, you will know what you and she really need to move to the next level. Sounds like you and she are a long way from that at this time. There are a boat load of more kids screwed up and struggling with life in "cost is no issue" worlds than where cost is very limiting but time spent together is "the no issue." Being involved, spending time together, and providing good parenting is way more critical than dumping a load of cash on equipment right now. Be sure to take her with you to look at scopes.....even if you must make a road trip/s to find a good assortment to evaluate. Go to ranges and shoots and talk with more knowledgeable actual shooters in person.......the experience is as valuable as the knowledge gained. Make connections. Show/lead the way. Be a role model. Make her involved in the choice. Let her eyes vote. If she is involved....rather than making the choice for her and dumping it on her......there will be no wrong choice. And, if cost really is no issue, you can spend time together moving up in scopes as you both gain knowledge through shared experiences. Best of luck in developing this young lady as a knowledgeable shooter and as a productive, effective person. Spending heartbeats rather than cash is the best investment you can make. Just a really, really old guy's perspective.
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i appreciate the reply. I agree with you on every single sentence. We've gone to look at scopes at local dealers and she doesnt notice much difference... or so she says. And to be clear, I'm by no way trying to throw money at a problem and hoping it goes away. I'm just very blessed in my career and trying to give her the best opportunities in life.
 
I would go with the Leupold 6.5-20 rimfire comp scope and here's why. It will out-perform the shooter for some time to come. For .22 matches it is a great scope with useable magnification, good glass, solid parallax correction, 1/8 Minute adjustments and a good choice of easy to use reticles. The main reason. At her age, assuming she is shooting with others near her age, you show up with a $7K rig and finish bottom half behind 15 kids with CZ455s and Vortex Vipers, that could be hard to take. And if you think her young ex-friends could be mean, wait till you hear what jealous kids on the firing line might say to kid that's got better gear than David Tubb. I am just saying you might be putting alot of pressure on a young shooter and creating some big expectations. You can always graduate to the Schmidt Bender as required if she ever got to the point where the Leupold was keeping her out of the money. If she is already hoisting trophies, please disregard.
 
I worked for some time in optics, and I own more scopes than necessary for my rifles (.22 up to 300PRC).
Here are my thoughts - 1st. Don't exchange scopes. .22LRs and .338 Lapua Magnums are in different worlds. Plus, it can be difficult moving a scope from one rifle to another and maintaining accuracy (especially with such different rifles). 2nd. Don't forget quality mounting via base, rings, and skilled installation. 3rd. You do get what you pay for - so your thoughts on an ATACR or a Mark 5HD are great for quality optics, however, they do have drawbacks in that the Mark 5 parallax adjustments do not go low enough for most local .22 competitions and the ATACR is big and heavy but does have an 11 yd parallax.
I was able to shoot a .22LR competition rifle recently at a PRS class. It was topped with a Kahles K525i scope. This is a 5-25x56mm scope with parallax adjustment down to 30m. At 25 yards, it was spot on.
I'd recommend taking your daughter to a Kahles dealer or its HQ in Austria, I place Kahles in the same league as S&B, NF, Swaro, Zeiss, Leupold and even Tangent. But I'm a hunter first. PS Make sure your daughter gets annual eye exams and has quality sunglasses for everyday living :)
 
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