My son is turning 10 this week, and for his birthday, I am getting him a his first centerfire rifle. He will need optics as well, but that is going to have to come, at least for the most part, from his savings, so something like Nightforce is out of the question.
He wanted a very flexible multi-use rifle, so that includes:
Hunting out to a future max of 450 yards (due to the ballistics of the round, he will be limited to this distance, but it will be years before he can reach this anyway)
A precision rifle course to learn to shoot to 1k+ (long term distance goal, trainer will be working to get him to 500 in the immediate)
Hunting at night with lights (gotta have good light gathering, probably a 50mm objective would be great, it will be that mounted high anyway no matter what)
Tactical rifle course (this will be achieved using a different optic)
I have the rifle sorted out and it's being finished this week (hopefully!).
But optics wise, for the first three requirements, I want the following:
Range of 4-15 ish at a minimum
Needs to have probably at least 75 MOA of adjustment to go with the 20 or 30 MOA base to make 1k+
Adjustments in MOA
Probably will need some holdover marks, but not sure on that, depends on how much adjustment it has
Second focal plane, don't want 1st
Zero stop
Prefer a 50mm if I can get it as light gathering is important
Would like illuminated, but on the fence as to whether it really is useful or whether it just blows out your targets, as I don't have any illuminated scopes personally.
These are the things I can remember at the moment, there may be a couple other needs here as well.
I have considered the Viper PST 4-16. It fits this pretty well, almost perfectly actually. My only issue with it is that it is quite soft at top magnifications. I have an HST 6-24 and it is the same. When we were at the store looking through and trying other optics, the PST definitely was noticeably softer. And when I compare my HST to some of my other optics, at top mag, it is definitely softer. I noticed the same on a friends 6-24 pst.
Leupold VX3i, looks great and great on paper, price is a bit high. But there is no zero stop, and one cannot be added. That's not going to do. Same with all the Leupolds until you get into the 'Mark' series, and that is just a bridge too far cost wise.
Nikon, we have a Prostaff 5. I actually like it under regular conditions. It is also reasonably bright etc. But it flares TERRIBLY, we have been hunting and if the sun is in the right position, top mags are unusable, you have to really dial it down to see anything, which really caused us some problems. Surprising, considering Nikon SLR lenses handle flare very well, so they know how to resolve this. Also, the Prostaff 5 adjustments are not very repeatable, at least on ours. I know they have they new Prostaff 7 with more adjustment, and a zero stop etc., but that flare problem has really turned me off.
Considering those requirements, if you have any suggestions for brands/models I should look at, please let me know. I have run out of ideas, so I am hoping someone can suggest a model I have overlooked.
Thanks!
He wanted a very flexible multi-use rifle, so that includes:
Hunting out to a future max of 450 yards (due to the ballistics of the round, he will be limited to this distance, but it will be years before he can reach this anyway)
A precision rifle course to learn to shoot to 1k+ (long term distance goal, trainer will be working to get him to 500 in the immediate)
Hunting at night with lights (gotta have good light gathering, probably a 50mm objective would be great, it will be that mounted high anyway no matter what)
Tactical rifle course (this will be achieved using a different optic)
I have the rifle sorted out and it's being finished this week (hopefully!).
But optics wise, for the first three requirements, I want the following:
Range of 4-15 ish at a minimum
Needs to have probably at least 75 MOA of adjustment to go with the 20 or 30 MOA base to make 1k+
Adjustments in MOA
Probably will need some holdover marks, but not sure on that, depends on how much adjustment it has
Second focal plane, don't want 1st
Zero stop
Prefer a 50mm if I can get it as light gathering is important
Would like illuminated, but on the fence as to whether it really is useful or whether it just blows out your targets, as I don't have any illuminated scopes personally.
These are the things I can remember at the moment, there may be a couple other needs here as well.
I have considered the Viper PST 4-16. It fits this pretty well, almost perfectly actually. My only issue with it is that it is quite soft at top magnifications. I have an HST 6-24 and it is the same. When we were at the store looking through and trying other optics, the PST definitely was noticeably softer. And when I compare my HST to some of my other optics, at top mag, it is definitely softer. I noticed the same on a friends 6-24 pst.
Leupold VX3i, looks great and great on paper, price is a bit high. But there is no zero stop, and one cannot be added. That's not going to do. Same with all the Leupolds until you get into the 'Mark' series, and that is just a bridge too far cost wise.
Nikon, we have a Prostaff 5. I actually like it under regular conditions. It is also reasonably bright etc. But it flares TERRIBLY, we have been hunting and if the sun is in the right position, top mags are unusable, you have to really dial it down to see anything, which really caused us some problems. Surprising, considering Nikon SLR lenses handle flare very well, so they know how to resolve this. Also, the Prostaff 5 adjustments are not very repeatable, at least on ours. I know they have they new Prostaff 7 with more adjustment, and a zero stop etc., but that flare problem has really turned me off.
Considering those requirements, if you have any suggestions for brands/models I should look at, please let me know. I have run out of ideas, so I am hoping someone can suggest a model I have overlooked.
Thanks!
