What is a real tactical scope?

[straightshooter]

timeless61, have you ever hunted with horses in the Rocky mountains. We had one horse buck it's saddle right off, including the scabbard and rifle. Another horse rolled in the dirt while it was all geared up. One fell on a steep slope, no rifle that time. We had a rifle drop in a creek, the funny part is it was connected to a person. Another guy from our group slid down a glacier onto a steep gravel slope with rifle in tow. He filled his underwear with pebbles, and the rifle had a bad case of road rash. All I am saying is you never know.

I just find it funny how most scopes get judged by glass quality and not the mechanics. Personally I think most scopes, say over $400, have pretty decent glass in them. At least I can find the target and place my shot. I am more interested in a scope that tracks perfectly, returns to zero every time, holds zero, and will still do that if I drop my rifle. I do like good glass, but to me that is just the icing on the cake. I will not go out and pay an extra $1000 just for a glass upgrade. Now if that scope is guaranteed to track for life, you may just be able to get me to open my wallet.

 

[timeless61]

no, but i have dropped rifles, had a sling break, and the scope broke the rifles fall on rocks, along with many other situations like that, especially when i was younger, and friends having the same situations. and the scopes have been fine. some of the scopes associated were cheaper scopes a lot were leupold, and they have been fine, so i figure, if they were able to stand up to that, i do not need to spend the money for NF, a couple of them were only vari x 2s.

i know things can happen, but with where and how i hunt, i do not need it to be able to take extra abuse. most of what i have been saying is for me and my eyes.

part of my frustration with NF is that I was pretty set to buy one, and had heard how hands down better in every category than most other scopes, and i finally got to look through some and was very unimpressed with the glass, to the point where i can honestly say the NXS models were the worst scopes i looked through that day for my eyes anyway, the BR model was clearer but not much brighter i was impressed with the robustness of it, but my mark 4 and vari-x iii have tracked well for me, actually, the vari-x seems almost more positive, not sure why that is.

also, I am not saying that you can get away with a cheap cheap scope, I more or less wanted to share what i had found out through my own research lately. depends who you talk to, whether the mark 4 is a real tactical scope, so, depending who you talk to one of my scopes is or isnt a real tactical scope. for the money i can buy leupolds for particularly vx-3's i could buy 2 and have money left over for the price of one NXS

 

[BobbyL]

for the money i can buy leupolds for particularly vx-3's i could buy 2 and have money left over for the price of one NXS

yup and when my NF is still running after those two have stopped working then i have got my money out of them.

 

[timeless61]

yup and when my NF is still running after those two have stopped working then i have got my money out of them.

stopped working in what regard?
they have a lifetime warranty, and we have some 30-40 year old bausch and lomb, leupolds and redfields on some rifles, that still work fine today...

 

[zupatun]

From folks I've talked to at Crane, SOCOM buys a lot of Nightforce and others depending on the mission and role. The Army buys a lot of Trijicons (ACOG's - fixed power) and also Leupy's and I have seen USO's in up at ARDEC Picatinny Arsenal, and our Marines have a bunch of Schmidt and Benders...

The Leupy's are on the lower end of price range, and the Army pays somewhere in the neighborhood of $1200 each if you look at the contracts..don't know if that includes some extras (LIF filters etc...). I think they get somewhat of a volume discount...

None of the above are low end or mid range scopes...but some are more rugged than others and more expensive...I imagine your particular needs/tastes and budget will determine what you buy.

Matt

 

[happylilcuss]

Timeless I am a little confused.... One look at opticsplanet.net (just the first place I looked that carried both scopes) and you find the leupy mark4 is only 100 bucks cheaper than the NF scope... (these 2 scopes would be comparing apples to apples) So I dont see the benefit of the leupy over the NF.. I know its all preference but it has been my expierence that the NF is a much better scope than the leupold. It is more robust has better features, better glass, and is more preferred. Now remember this is IMHO.. I do have a few leupold scopes on old hunting rifles and they have been great scopes but they are in a different league than the NF.

 

[timeless61]

I have said before, for what I can get a Leupold for... No shops or people I regularly deal with carry nightforce. So I would be paying retail or close to it, where Leupolds would be discounted. also, I looked through 3 nightforces, 8-32 nxs 5-22 nxs and a 12-42 br, the nxs, i was unimpressed with the optics for all of the hype, and the clicks were mushy, you could feel and hear them, but still mushy and not very definitive between clicks. also, could not keep either scope focused as i changed power completely, the 5-22 was better, but the 8-32 would not stay focused at all maybe these scopes were made on a monday or something? the BR had better glass, stayed focused through all powers, clicks were very defined and loud i would buy one, but for hunting i would rather side parallax. for my eyes though, even that scope was not as nice as a vx-3 trijicon 5-20 and even a vortex viper was very clear, the zeiss diavari was clearest of all, and almost boring it was so clear with lack of coatings that change colors at all...

just my opinion again, but if I was in the market for the best real tactical scopes, i would be looking to S&B or Hensoldt

I have asked before, and am looking for advice, what has the adjustment range of leupold or nightforce thats better than leupold easily for the same price? I am deciding on scopes now, that is why I have been following all of this and sharing what I have been finding out lately. the nightforces were disappointing, I was planning on purchasing one...

 

[straightshooter]

timeless61, here are a few to check out. Weaver tactical, Burris xtr, Nikon Monarch x, Wotac variable. I haven't had any experience with any of these scopes, but I need to buy another scope soon, and in my research I have been hearing pretty good things about these.

 

[liltank]

What about a Horus? I have heard good things about those, and another that doesn't get mentioned here very often is IOR Valada. I know that guys on another sight really like the IOR's. Just a couple more to add some confusion. If you could afford it S&B, Premier, Hendsolt, March, and USO would definitely be the route to go.

Tank

 

[highridge1]

For a long range hunting scope I would definitely choose Zeiss,for me the glass is clearly better than the Nightforce enough to make a difference in low light and adverse hunting conditions. Very few people need a Night force/TACTICOOL SCOPE unless you are in the military

 

[D.A.T.]

how many have ever used a tactical rifle and scope in the field with the military,not hunting or shooting off a bench?maybe you should ask someone that has,this ****in contest can go on for ever.talk to someone that used it every day.