Super Snipers

257speed

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Joined
Mar 29, 2004
Messages
244
Location
New Mexico
I tried doing a search and found nothing on these scopes. I currently use several Leupold LRT's and a Zeiss, which I really like. I have heard a lot on these Super Sniper scopes and was wondering if anyone has actually tested them (tracking/repeatability)? Are they a good deal or just another low budget scope?
 
These scopes are used by a great many shooters.
They are not a Nightforce or S&B, but they are way ahead of the competition in their price range.
Your current Leupold will have about 15 minutes more usable shooting time in the early morning/late evening than current production units.
With the comming glass upgrade (I'm testing now) there won't be any optical advantage to the more expensive scope.
I've been shooting these things since they were under Navy contract in the '80's and you had to buy them at Mil contract price (I paid $799.00 for my 1st unit) from Hoffman Enterprises.
I still use them and am currently testing the beta of a new unit with upgraded glass.
Both old and new SS scopes track perfectly. I beat the crap out of my stuff..intentionally because the factory wants a busted unit, and have yet to break one.
The SS scope is on a very short list of best buy for dollar spent items in the shooting industry.
Here's a link to some pics of what's in the works.



XOTIC and Variable Super Snipers
 
257, I had mine for 3 days, so take this review with that in mind.

I bought the 16x version about 2 weeks ago to primarily do an evaluation on it for my new tactical rifle. After reading the reviews on Sniper Country and several other places on the net, I was very excited to try it out. If it was on par with the Nikons and Leupolds, as several of the reviewers stated, I was gonna put it on my new rifle. If it was just ok and didn't quite measure up, I was going to keep it and put it on my Win Stealth 22-250 for varmints.

Well, I got it on a Friday and returned it on Monday. There was a black dot on the inside of the lens about 3/4 the size of one of the mildots. There were also very faint dots running in a line from the crosshair outward. Although disappointed, this by itself didn't make me give up on it. I figured one slipped through QA and I was the unlucky sap to get it. Not a big deal. So do I ask for my money back or have them replace it?

Well, on Sat, I took the scope outside and lined it up against a 6.5-20 Nikon Monarch and a Leupold 6.5-20 VariX-III. I set both of these scopes to 16x and focused all 3 on a tree and fenceline about 550 yds away. Sorry to say, the SS didn't compare. The Leupold and Nikon were much brighter and crisper than the SS. After about 20 minutes of playing with them, my mind was made up. Get a refund and consider my mind at ease.

Maybe it was just that particular scope that didn't perform, but I really wasn't interested in going back and forth trying to find one I deemed acceptable. SWFA was very helpful in processing the return and apologized for the inconvenience. Good folks to deal with.

On the positive side, the scope seems very well made and extremely solid. I really liked the large turrets and the reticle. I really wanted to love this scope, but it just wasn't there. Clarity is a very important requirement for me. Maybe the 10x is much more clear, I don't know. Sorry for not being able to answer your question about tracking/repeatability, but it never made it that far.

Since the return, I decided to pay a little more and bought a 5.5-15.5x44 Nikon Monarch for the Stealth and a 4-16x50 Nikon Tactical for the new rifle. For the money, Nikon is putting out some excellent glass.
 
257speed,

I have a 16x SS on my 338 Kahn. Got it mainly to test it so I could give my customers a qualified opinion of the SS scopes.

To be honest, I have been very impressed by this scope. As said, it does not have the clarity of the Nightforce scopes but it is also 1/4 the price as well.

THey are plenty clear for precision shooting out past a mile and the best thing is that they offer vertical adjustment ranges that are equal **** near anything out there at 110 moa of adjustment.

My Kahn with a 20 moa built in ring/base system will allow zeroing from 0 to at least 2200 yards with the 300 gr Wildcat ULD launched even as low as 2900 fps. The load I use is 3050 fps.

They are simply, strong and very good priced.

The only thing I would complaine about mine is that the parallax adjustment is not calibrated to the range, not even close. Not a big deal as I generally set this by sight anyway not by number reference.

For the money they are an extremely good scope, as good as many $1000 pieces of glass and even better then some!

Good Shooting!!

Kirby Allen(50)
 
Me have owned several and me likes lots.

The 10X and 16X have very useable optics. Some will say better then the Mk 4 10X. Yikes, I can see the flames now.

Mechanically, wonderful. Better optically then the Elite 320010X and a wider (apparent or otherwise field of view). Problem is that they can sometimes comes with dirt in the scope. Warranty will remove but a bit of a pain.

The 20X I had was lousy optically.

A very nice scope and for the money, a best buy. I hope SWFA will price their upcoming variables in the same range.

Jerry
 
Thanks for all the posts guys. I just recently ordered another 8.5-25 LRT, but I think I will get one of these next and try it. For the price, if I dont like it, it should be easy to resell.
 
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