Looking for some help hammering down a scope for a new bolt gun and wanted some opinions on the difference between these two Swaro units. I'll try and explain how I'm going to be using this and what my experience is with higher end optics (hint, it isn't much).
Previously on our hunting property the longest shots we've had were give or take 100 yds or so. Lots of woods hunting and a couple small food plots. I've always used my AR-15 chambered in 6.8SPC w/ a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10x56. That rifle has never done me wrong taking whitetails in this application and I've always been very impressed with that scope considering what I paid for it. We recently had some logging done and had some new food plots put in and we've stretched out a lot of our shot distances so I'm looking into putting a bolt gun together (pretty settled on the Bergara Wilderness Terrain in .308 but that might be a different thread). Longest shot we have now is about 300 yds according to my range finder. In all honesty my 6.8 would likely do the job just fine but there's something about hurling that little 100gr bullet 300 yds down range at a deer that isn't inspiring a lot of confidence in me so I decided to step up to something bigger. Plus, who doesn't need an excuse for a new gun right?
Now on to what I'm looking for in a scope. My main priority is brightness & contrast right at the first and last minutes of legal shooting light. An illuminated reticle is definitely something I want as I've gotten really used to having one on my Trijicon and really like it for low light situations. Twisting turrets isn't something that I likely need to be doing (or necessarily want to be doing) with only 300 yard shots so turret feel and return to zero and all that I don't think is going to be a huge deal as long as it holds a rock solid zero once I put the caps back on. A ranging reticle would be nice but I don't think it would be a 100% deal breaker considering the distances I'll be shooting.
I did my first round of research, and my initial plan was to go with the Z5i in 2.5-12x50 with BRH reticle. Idea being that I could get into a higher end scope at a decent price and that with better glass I would be miles above my Trijicon even with sacrificing the 1" tube and 50mm objective on the Swaro but I've started to rethink that. So that got me looking at the Z6i 2.5-15x56 also with the BRH reticle and stepping back up to a 30mm tube and 56mm objective with way better glass.
So my questions are am I right in my thinking that the better glass on the Swaro will make up for the smaller tube size and objective diameter on the Z5i vs my Trijicon? If the answer to that one is yes, in your opinion, is the Z6i that much better than the Z5i to justify the extra $1200 in cost or am I splitting hairs here? Is the 30mm tube and 56mm objective on the Z6i going to make enough of difference to justify the extra cost?
Let me know what you guys think. Hopefully there are some folks around here that have tried both.
I've got a few other scopes that I'm looking at but I want to rule one of these out before I go any further.
Thanks for the help!
Previously on our hunting property the longest shots we've had were give or take 100 yds or so. Lots of woods hunting and a couple small food plots. I've always used my AR-15 chambered in 6.8SPC w/ a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10x56. That rifle has never done me wrong taking whitetails in this application and I've always been very impressed with that scope considering what I paid for it. We recently had some logging done and had some new food plots put in and we've stretched out a lot of our shot distances so I'm looking into putting a bolt gun together (pretty settled on the Bergara Wilderness Terrain in .308 but that might be a different thread). Longest shot we have now is about 300 yds according to my range finder. In all honesty my 6.8 would likely do the job just fine but there's something about hurling that little 100gr bullet 300 yds down range at a deer that isn't inspiring a lot of confidence in me so I decided to step up to something bigger. Plus, who doesn't need an excuse for a new gun right?
Now on to what I'm looking for in a scope. My main priority is brightness & contrast right at the first and last minutes of legal shooting light. An illuminated reticle is definitely something I want as I've gotten really used to having one on my Trijicon and really like it for low light situations. Twisting turrets isn't something that I likely need to be doing (or necessarily want to be doing) with only 300 yard shots so turret feel and return to zero and all that I don't think is going to be a huge deal as long as it holds a rock solid zero once I put the caps back on. A ranging reticle would be nice but I don't think it would be a 100% deal breaker considering the distances I'll be shooting.
I did my first round of research, and my initial plan was to go with the Z5i in 2.5-12x50 with BRH reticle. Idea being that I could get into a higher end scope at a decent price and that with better glass I would be miles above my Trijicon even with sacrificing the 1" tube and 50mm objective on the Swaro but I've started to rethink that. So that got me looking at the Z6i 2.5-15x56 also with the BRH reticle and stepping back up to a 30mm tube and 56mm objective with way better glass.
So my questions are am I right in my thinking that the better glass on the Swaro will make up for the smaller tube size and objective diameter on the Z5i vs my Trijicon? If the answer to that one is yes, in your opinion, is the Z6i that much better than the Z5i to justify the extra $1200 in cost or am I splitting hairs here? Is the 30mm tube and 56mm objective on the Z6i going to make enough of difference to justify the extra cost?
Let me know what you guys think. Hopefully there are some folks around here that have tried both.
I've got a few other scopes that I'm looking at but I want to rule one of these out before I go any further.
Thanks for the help!
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