Long Range Scopes

Wingers243

Well-Known Member
Together with my other post in the rifles section, I am thinking about scopes for long range work.

It will have to be used for everything, foxing, pest control, stalking and target shooting up to 1000 yards.

There's plenty of high variable magnification scopes available but as far as I can see they don't tend to have such high quality optics as some of the other producers use. There are a couple I've found, being the zeiss 6-24 x 56 T* and the Swarovski 6-24 x 50. Would like an illuminated reticule.

I have heard stories of a new 5-30 x 50 Swarovski Z6i?

Anyone have ascope they use for these purposes or any thoughts?
 
i also hear that nightforce do make some good scopes for what you want and i was thinking of getting one for my self but was put off buy the paralax adjustment as i dont feel that you have enough time to mess about with things like that especialy when you are fox shooting
 
I've got a Zeiss 6-24x56 and a Swaro 6-24x50, with a Nightforce 8-32x56 due for delivery this week. The rifles they live on are used for stalking, foxing and long-range vermin control. The Zeiss and NF have side parallax, making them handier, with the adjustable objective on the Swaro being a little more fiddly.

I would be extremely surprised if the NF bests the Zeiss in low light. I've bought the NF principally because of its very precise illuminated reticle. The Swaro is excellent under the lamp, but the Zeiss is simply unbelievable.
 
nightforce are good i several, if you are looking for one in this price range then you will need to know exactly what you want, mind you if you do buy one and find you do not like it for some reason then you will be able to sell it with very little loss as opposed to cheap scope, you should do a bit checking the specs for windage and elevation as these are critical on long range scopes, also you may need an inclined rail, eg 6-24 swarovski has probably the worst elevation on the market as nightforce 5.5x22 has 100moa 32x has 65moa elev and 42x has 45moa, so as you see more mag less adjustment, best look at benchrest type forums for more detail on the current scopes of choice. all the scopes in this range are quality it is really a very personal choice, don't for get S&B and i think ATN

sir lamp alot, i use 8-32 for foxes and have no problem with the paralax with 2DD reticle, just make sure you get an NXS which is side adjustment

steve
 
Thanks for those bits of info. I'm not surprised Balder's has found that NF is not up to the optical quality of the zeiss and Swaro. Must have a look at the big zeiss at the Game Fair this year....

I have to say the objective paralax is not my favourite, fortunately the Z6 hasa side turret adjustment.

Good point about the internal range of adjustment.
 
I would recommend Nightforce NXS 8-32 x 56 for what you want to do.

I have had one for the last couple of years it easily matches the German scopes I have with regard to light gathering and with the illuminated ret it surpasses them in the abilty to place a precission shot in poor light.
 
Interesting thread.

I have a S&B 4-16x50 with the (ret in the 1st plane) on my .22-250. The rifle's main purpose is fox-lamping.

However useful the chunky reticle is at night (easy to spot in dim conditions), it is not so useful for long-range corvid work in daylight.

I am considering S&B precision hunter 4-16x50, Swaro 6-24x50 PVI-2 illum., Zeiss 6-24x56 illum, or perhaps one of the Swaro Z6i things 3-18x50 or something.

I've always used thickish non-illum rets for lamping, and would be interested to know which rets you folk have in your long-range scopes, and whether they're illuminated or not. I certainly wouldn't like a reticle which is not useable without the internal illumination!
 
Nothing except maybe S&B beat Ziess in the dark. I run Ziess, Swaro 6x24x50 and NSX 5.5x22x50. Swaro and NSX are by no means bad but in low light Ziess delivers more image than the others, and its only a small Ziess at that.

A
 
The snipers hide forum can be quite good for information about long range optics if you can get past the macho posturing etc. of a fair number of people who post there.

The S&B PM II appears to be a favourite over there but there are lots of other options that get discussed and there is a lot of good info once you weed out the junk and ego trips.

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=19&page=1

Having had the chance to play with a PM II there is no question that it is an amazing optic but I'm not sure it would fit in my car never mind on my rifle. However, long range for me is 200 yards.
 
ATN - I've heard them referred to as 'Another Tactical Nightmare', not sure why, but I'd investigate further before going down that road. Just try googling it and you'll see what I mean... (Not personal experience I might add)
 
Mat said:
ATN - I've heard them referred to as 'Another Tactical Nightmare', not sure why, but I'd investigate further before going down that road. Just try googling it and you'll see what I mean... (Not personal experience I might add)

I had one a few years ago, don’t believe the bull about the glass, it is not in the same class as any of the German glass, in fact I think the glass in my Bushnell is better. They are built in the Ukraine if I remember right, despite being marketed as a USA scope. :confused: They weigh a ton, but are so heavily constructed you could club a deer to death with one if need be. :lol:

The reticule is like the old Pecar scopes, it actually moves inside the tube when you make adjustments, so you need to get it centred as near as possible with the mounts or you will have your crosshairs right to one side when you look though the scope.

I could not really recommend one; there are better scopes out there for the money IMO.

Best rgds

Tahr
 
Thar said:
They weigh a ton, but are so heavily constructed you could club a deer to death with one if need be. :lol:

I bet you could club a deer to death with a Nightforce too, it'd probably still be zeroed after you'd finished :evil:
 
I currently run a 5.5-22x50 NXS with an MLR reticle on my longer range stalking rifle (7mm RM). I'm really pleased with it thought I conceed that the optical clarity is not quite as good as my Zeiss 2.5-10x50 set on the same magnification or my friends S&B 5-5-25x56 PMII. Mind you my nightforce didnt cost half as much as the S&B!! The adjustments on the NXS seem very reliable and the return to zero seems bombproof. I have shot mine out to 1300 yards on the range and didnt feel the need for more magnification. Seems OK in low light though I do tend to reduce the magnification.
In the field the parallax adjustment doesnt really cause problems. I tend to set the magnification for 6 or 8x and the parallax for about 100 yds which is near enough to being focussed for the average shot, a longer more deliberate shot generally permits enough time to set up properly and fine tune the parallax knob and dial in any elevation changes.
 
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