Backstory
The Burris XTR II has been the top of the line offering from the Greeley, CO sport optics company for many years now. Initial manufacture of these scopes had some issues optically, but Burris was able to rectify those over time and the latest XTR II is a pretty well refined scope for the $1,000 class. Everyone expected that when Burris comes out with an XTR III it would be a replacement of the aging XTR II line, but instead Burris came out with a completely new scope design and a brand-new optical formula, but to the surprise of many, it also came with a price tag almost double of what the XTR II came in at. They also changed their magnification range and instead of offering a 2-10x42, 3-15x50, a 4-20x50 and a 5-25x50 the XTR III line currently only offers two models: a 3.3-18x50 and a 5.5-30x56. I’m sure Burris felt the 3.3-18x50 killed two birds with one stone as the range almost covers the 3-15 and 4-20 put together, and the 5.5-30x56 also gets a boost in objective size with 56mm vs 50mm which will be a welcome addition for 5-25x50 XTR II owners who complained the image darkened quite a bit in the upper magnification range. The new magnification is up from 5x to 5.46x but with a full 7x erector, there has been some rumors as to why Burris chose to downsize the magnification but nothing concrete, but one nice addition to the new design is the extremely wide FOV these new scopes offer, in fact, they exhibit some of the widest FOV I’ve seen out of scopes available today. Even with the upgrade in optics and a new optical formula the question most will ask is whether or not the XTR III justifies the increased price that it commands at release. One other thing Burris must battle is competition, specifically from the recently released Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 and 4-32x50 scopes. I recently purchased and reviewed the NX8 2.5-20x50 and will attempt to compare the XTR III 3.3-18x50 as price points and design are pretty close. Even though price difference is extreme I will also make comparisons to the Kahles K318i which I used for over a year and reigned as my favorite ultra short scope until the ZCO ZC420 was released. If money is of no consequence for you, the ZCO ZC420, Schmidt & Bender Ultra Short’s and Kahles K318i still reign supreme as the best Ultra Short scopes available today.
Here is the link to the Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 review: https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/nightforce-nx8-2-5-20x50-initial-thoughts.6958517/
One final comment, the first XTR III 3.3-18x50 I purchased suffered from low IQ above 12x, so much so that I decided to send the XTR III back to Burris to be inspected. To the credit of Burris’ warranty department, they sent me a pre-paid shipping label and sent me back a brand new scope in less than a week; however, I live in the same state and their website did say 4-5 weeks is average turn around time so I would say I was far short of the average. The new scope performs much better but there are a few other differences between the two scopes that I will point out below.
Build Quality and Ergo
The build quality of the main tube is superb, it appears to be a nice and solid design with rounded angles anywhere there is a transition in size. The length of the design of the 3.3-18 is not “ultra” short like the Kahles or the Nightforce NX8 but is still a short design making it ideal for covert style rifles as well as AR platforms. Of course, there is nothing wrong with putting an ultra short scope on a long bolt action rifle, in fact, I tend to prefer shorter scopes just from an aesthetics point of view. Another important aspect to point out is the fact that while the parts are made elsewhere, everything is assembled in the USA. Whereas the Vortex AMG is the only 100% sourced and made in the USA (except for the reticle) scope, it is nice to know that Burris is using American workers to assemble this new scope line. Not only that but warranty service is also performed in the USA. If I were to have one criticism with the build of the scope it would be the turrets which are very tight to turn (not much chance of getting bumped out of settings accidentally) but also have some play, but the clicks are distinct so for those who prefer feel they will welcome this new design. The turret anodization also needs a little better quality control (QC) as the first scope I had was pretty black but the second scope has a purplish hue to it, this is not that big of a deal, but it may bother some.
Compared to the Nightforce NX8 and Kahles K318 I would say the K318i easily has the best overall build and ergo and between the NX8 and XTR III I’d have to give a slight edge to the NX8 in lieu of the aforementioned turret situation. I should mention that the NX8 is based off a 30mm tube and the XTR III has a 34mm tube but even with a longer body and thicker tube the XTR III is only 1.5 oz heavier than the NX8 and just slips in under 30 oz total at 29.8oz. A couple areas where the XTR III does have the upper hand over the NX8 is with regard to the turret housing location, the NX8 is moved far forward and limits mount position, likewise the NX8 does not use a fast focus diopter whereas the XTR III does which means less turning to get the diopter set properly. Both have locking diopters which is a nice touch and both offer caps in the box but Nightforce includes Tenebraex caps that lay slightly flatter than the Burris made caps.
Magnification
The very first thing that drew me toward the XTR II 4-20x50 was its magnification range, for me personally, this is ideal as it offers adequate FOV at the bottom end but also sufficient magnification at the top end. I’m not sure why Burris ultimately chose to go with 5.46x magnification out of a 7x erector or why they chose 3.3-18, but I would have preferred they chose something along the lines of 3.6-20 instead as a lot of my shooting tends to be in the 12-20x range; however, a well-executed 18x with superb image quality (IQ) can more than make up for the final 2x at the top end, such was the case with the Kahles K318i as IQ at 18x was superb and even slightly out-resolved the Schmidt Ultra Short 3-20.
Nightforce chose to go with an 8x erector and therefore offers less magnification at the bottom (2.5x vs 3.3x) and more magnification at the top end (20x vs. 18x) but if you read my review of the NX8 2.5-20 you’ll find that using 8x in their optical design came with drawbacks, specifically with distortion, edge sharpness, DOF/Parallax. FOV is pretty comparable at like for like magnification settings between the NX8 and XTR III which means both offer some of the best FOV for their respective magnification ranges; however, due to the distortion exhibited in the NX8 the actual usable FOV is lowered which puts the XTR III on top in this category. The XTR III absolutely crushes the Kahles in FOV which is the weak point of the K318i.
Turrets
Others have mentioned the stiffness of the turrets on the XTR III and mine is no exception, the first copy I had was very stiff while the second copy is less so but still hard. In my review of the XTR II years ago I referred to the knurling on the turrets as cheese graters, if you were to scrape your hand across them I’m sure they would take off skin, with the XTR III the knurling is not quite as bad but I’d still consider it a dull cheese grater. Probably perfect for grip with gloves on but the tightness of the turret along with the knurling does cause it to dig in somewhat when turning. It’s nothing that is going to cause injury but I would prefer the turrets to be a tad lighter with the force required to turn it. One other thing to mention is that there is some play back and forth, so turret purists will find fault there; however, the clicks are distinct and there is no question when you’ve clicked .1 mil. If you spin the turrets faster the tension seems to lighten up and the sound of the click is more distinct in the CCW direction than it is in the CW direction. The turrets on the XTR III are translatable which means they turret house rises or falls when you spin, my preference is for non-translatable which hold the same location because the more the turret rises the harder it is to identify which click you’re on compared to the index marker. The windage is capped but in the box is an exposed windage knob you can replace the cap with if you so desire – this is a great feature to offer as the user gets to choose which they prefer. I should also mention that Burris is offering a competition elevation turret they call a “race dial”; however, at this time this item is not yet available for purchase.
The turrets between the NX8 and the XTR III couldn’t be more different, where the XTR III are tight with distinct clicks the NX8 are mushy with little report of each click, but where the XTR III has a bit of play the NX8 turrets had less. I envision that some will hate a particular turret while others will love it which is why turrets are very much personal preference, the question I ask for any new scope is more about repeatability and accuracy than it is for feel, that being said, when you feel a good turret it is noticeable. Compared to the Kahles, both the XTR III and NX8 are inferior, Kahles has excellent feel and tension.
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