helotaxi
02-13-2011, 02:53 PM
I was told a long long time ago," When you buy the best you only cry once " I don't wanna step on any toes here, but I could never understand how somebody could put a rifle together with the latest and greatest stock, big dollar bbl, aftermarket trigger and top it off with a ten dollar scope ? When I buy Glass it usually costs more than the rifle, That way you don't get any suprizes down the road.
I bought a Nikon Buckmaster 6-18x40 two years ago and although it hurt my bank account balance, I have no regrets. The Buckmaster itself was not particularly expensive, in fact you can get one with a mil-dot reticule for $299 fairly regularly, but when I took the rifle it was mounted on to the range and shot it for awhile and then moved over to my Savage .243 that I got in college with its college budget Bushnell scope on it, I fired 4 shots, packed up my stuff and drove to the local Sportsman's Warehouse (sadly closed) and started scope shopping. Since then I've purchased ten other scopes, eight of them Bushnell Elite 4200s and the other two Vortexes. I have the money for Leupold, but IMO it would be wasted. Their glass to my eye is inferior to the Bushnell in pretty much every way. I've looked at every one of the commonly available, quality scopes, Burris, Leupold, Zeiss, Swarovski, Nightforce, Bushnell Elite, Nikon, etc... and I have shot friends' rifles with other less common brands such as Meopta and the SWFA SS 10x. I keep buying Bushnell Elites.
Overall here are my observations:
Burris: Dark glass compared to most of the others. Clear image edge to edge but dim.
Nightforce: Good glass but not "OMG!" good. Built like a tank and full of features. The features and the mechanical build quality are what make them worth the money IMO, not the glass itself. That said, I haven't had the need for the extra features and don't own a Nightforce, yet.
Nikon: Clear image but a little on the dim side. I couldn't discern a clear difference between the Buckmaster and a like powered Monarch to justify the nearly 100% increase in price. The Buckmaster is a good value IMO.
Leupold: By most accounts very well built. Unimpressive optics to my eye. They might have been the gold standard 20 years ago but while they've been banking on their reputation, the competition has been getting better by huge increments and keeping prices low at the same time. Very seriously doubt that I'll ever spend my money on one.
Zeiss & Swarovski: OMG!!! These are the optical benchmark. Clear, sharp, bright. For the most part, light on features; all the money goes to quality glass and it's a LOT of money.
Bushnell Elite 4200: Brighter than every other scope except the Germans. Just as sharp and clear as the Nikons, Leupolds, Burrises and really close to the Nightforce. Getting noticeably better glass is going to cost 2x as much at least. This is the same glass that is in the 6500 series scopes. The difference in price 6.5x vs. 4x zoom range on the different series. At normal prices these are great deals, but I didn't pay full price for any of mine. Midway and Natchez have them on clearance right now for a total steal.
SWFA SS 10x: Meh. Supposed to be built like a tank but the glass was sub-par IMO. It's a $500 premium for the 0.1 mil turrets, hopefully they upgraded the glass for that money. I've heard that the newer models have much better glass than the $299 models but you're getting into the price range of known good glass at that point.
Meopta: A friend has a Meostar 1-4 and it's a nice piece of glass. Not sure I'd pay retail for one, and neither is he. He loves it but he also found it for less than half of retail on clearance. The only real drawback I see with it is the size. It's 12" long and weighs more than a pound.
Vortex: I own one of the Crossfire 6-24x50s that SWFA has had available for $99 for the last 18 mos or so and a 2-7x32 Viper that I got a few months ago from SWFA on clearance. The Crossfire spent its first year on an AR in .204 Ruger and has proven clear enough to see .20cal holes in targets at 200yds. I've seen some reports on issues with build quality but I haven't had a problem and for the money, I've probably been more impressed with this scope than any other I own but I don't think that I would put it on a hard kicking rifle. For varmint shooting it's a real bargain. I bought the Viper based on my experience with the Crossfire. The clarity and brightness is on par with Bushnell 4200, though I don't have one in the same power range to allow a direct comparison. I don't have a lot of trigger time on this one yet buy initial impressions are entirely positive.
Overall: Very good glass can be had in the $300-500 range depending on the magnification range you're looking for. You can spend plenty more than that if you want but, why? For a hunting scope, unless you want bragging rights or simply feel that you must have the "best" available but realize that for every minor incremental increase in optical quality, tack on another 1x multiplier on the price tag. For a tactical or target scope where features are more important, the Nightforce actually starts looking affordable when compared to others. The features Nightforce brings to the table are almost unequaled and the optics, while not Swarovski or Zeiss/Hensoldt quality, are still above average and without the $2500+ price for the likes of US Optics or Hensoldt. Sightron also has quite the following in the target shooting crowd, but I have no personal experience with one having never see one in person.
Again, this is all my opinion. Everyone has different priorities and preferences and should base their purchases on their own set of priorities. A lot people say "buy once, cry once," but why cry at all? My experience thus far has been buy once, crying has been totally unnecessary. The most expensive scope I own I paid $640ish for, and I was prepared to pay $1k for the same scope. I don't cry when I save 35% or so on a scope and end up with a scope totally beyond everything else in the price range that I actually paid.
I bought a Nikon Buckmaster 6-18x40 two years ago and although it hurt my bank account balance, I have no regrets. The Buckmaster itself was not particularly expensive, in fact you can get one with a mil-dot reticule for $299 fairly regularly, but when I took the rifle it was mounted on to the range and shot it for awhile and then moved over to my Savage .243 that I got in college with its college budget Bushnell scope on it, I fired 4 shots, packed up my stuff and drove to the local Sportsman's Warehouse (sadly closed) and started scope shopping. Since then I've purchased ten other scopes, eight of them Bushnell Elite 4200s and the other two Vortexes. I have the money for Leupold, but IMO it would be wasted. Their glass to my eye is inferior to the Bushnell in pretty much every way. I've looked at every one of the commonly available, quality scopes, Burris, Leupold, Zeiss, Swarovski, Nightforce, Bushnell Elite, Nikon, etc... and I have shot friends' rifles with other less common brands such as Meopta and the SWFA SS 10x. I keep buying Bushnell Elites.
Overall here are my observations:
Burris: Dark glass compared to most of the others. Clear image edge to edge but dim.
Nightforce: Good glass but not "OMG!" good. Built like a tank and full of features. The features and the mechanical build quality are what make them worth the money IMO, not the glass itself. That said, I haven't had the need for the extra features and don't own a Nightforce, yet.
Nikon: Clear image but a little on the dim side. I couldn't discern a clear difference between the Buckmaster and a like powered Monarch to justify the nearly 100% increase in price. The Buckmaster is a good value IMO.
Leupold: By most accounts very well built. Unimpressive optics to my eye. They might have been the gold standard 20 years ago but while they've been banking on their reputation, the competition has been getting better by huge increments and keeping prices low at the same time. Very seriously doubt that I'll ever spend my money on one.
Zeiss & Swarovski: OMG!!! These are the optical benchmark. Clear, sharp, bright. For the most part, light on features; all the money goes to quality glass and it's a LOT of money.
Bushnell Elite 4200: Brighter than every other scope except the Germans. Just as sharp and clear as the Nikons, Leupolds, Burrises and really close to the Nightforce. Getting noticeably better glass is going to cost 2x as much at least. This is the same glass that is in the 6500 series scopes. The difference in price 6.5x vs. 4x zoom range on the different series. At normal prices these are great deals, but I didn't pay full price for any of mine. Midway and Natchez have them on clearance right now for a total steal.
SWFA SS 10x: Meh. Supposed to be built like a tank but the glass was sub-par IMO. It's a $500 premium for the 0.1 mil turrets, hopefully they upgraded the glass for that money. I've heard that the newer models have much better glass than the $299 models but you're getting into the price range of known good glass at that point.
Meopta: A friend has a Meostar 1-4 and it's a nice piece of glass. Not sure I'd pay retail for one, and neither is he. He loves it but he also found it for less than half of retail on clearance. The only real drawback I see with it is the size. It's 12" long and weighs more than a pound.
Vortex: I own one of the Crossfire 6-24x50s that SWFA has had available for $99 for the last 18 mos or so and a 2-7x32 Viper that I got a few months ago from SWFA on clearance. The Crossfire spent its first year on an AR in .204 Ruger and has proven clear enough to see .20cal holes in targets at 200yds. I've seen some reports on issues with build quality but I haven't had a problem and for the money, I've probably been more impressed with this scope than any other I own but I don't think that I would put it on a hard kicking rifle. For varmint shooting it's a real bargain. I bought the Viper based on my experience with the Crossfire. The clarity and brightness is on par with Bushnell 4200, though I don't have one in the same power range to allow a direct comparison. I don't have a lot of trigger time on this one yet buy initial impressions are entirely positive.
Overall: Very good glass can be had in the $300-500 range depending on the magnification range you're looking for. You can spend plenty more than that if you want but, why? For a hunting scope, unless you want bragging rights or simply feel that you must have the "best" available but realize that for every minor incremental increase in optical quality, tack on another 1x multiplier on the price tag. For a tactical or target scope where features are more important, the Nightforce actually starts looking affordable when compared to others. The features Nightforce brings to the table are almost unequaled and the optics, while not Swarovski or Zeiss/Hensoldt quality, are still above average and without the $2500+ price for the likes of US Optics or Hensoldt. Sightron also has quite the following in the target shooting crowd, but I have no personal experience with one having never see one in person.
Again, this is all my opinion. Everyone has different priorities and preferences and should base their purchases on their own set of priorities. A lot people say "buy once, cry once," but why cry at all? My experience thus far has been buy once, crying has been totally unnecessary. The most expensive scope I own I paid $640ish for, and I was prepared to pay $1k for the same scope. I don't cry when I save 35% or so on a scope and end up with a scope totally beyond everything else in the price range that I actually paid.