Rifle Scopes Hensholdt who uses them??????

ViperACR

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Apr 21, 2005
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I am wanting to hear about the Hensholdt tactical scopes from their users. Optics,durability,turrets,repeatability and anything else you can share with me. I am wanting to try one or two but I cant find anyone around here that has one to look at. I hate to spend that kind of $$$$ to find out I should have bought another S&B or USO. I am always looking for something different or better. Also is anyone in CO that might have one I can look at? Thanks All
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

You can get them from Finnaccuracy.com, Mark is very helpful and really knows his stuff. I was debating between S&B and Hensoldt, he suggested that the optics on the Hensoldt are slightly better but the S&B wins out in durability. Really though it's like comparing Ferraris to Lambourghinis.

If you're willing to pay the shipping it would be nice to have such an exotic scope, if that's your thing. They make a 6-24 with a huge lens that is tempting, 76mm I think. They have pics of the improvement in low light, pretty astounding, of course you pay for it in added weight to your rig and money.
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

ViperACR,
I use a ZF 3-12X56 SSG-P. It is as good as they come. I have no problems with it whatsoever. The qualities you mentioned above are excellent in this scope. There are two facts, however, that you may not like. The first is that the integral scope mount does not allow it to be mounted low to the barrel. The second is that the elevation adjustment is limited to 11 mrad. It is perfect in every other aspect. PM me if you have any questions.
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

here an overview :

http://www.zeiss.de/c12570880049f135/Contents-Frame/538cb5bdf557a32dc1257632003ec536

i own their 4x24 scopes w. mounting to STANAG spec,
calibrated for .308 and .223 rounds.
i´m very satisfied, they are very sturdy, clear and precise.
you can add an illumination module on the 2nd and 3rd models.
i use them on my civil variants of the G3 and the FAL and
on the HK SL-6.
the horizontal bar of the reticle is graduated in 5 mil increments.
i hope this was helpful.
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

I've been running the Hensoldt 4-16x56 FFP for a couple months now. I've also been running S&B's for a while, I've run the Premier and an NXS and this is where I stand. If they would offer a different reticle like the Gen II or similar I would sell all my other scopes and run the Hensoldts exclusively. Some don't like that it doesn't have a zero stop but I don't care I never needed one and it will only go past zero 6 mills and you can take a 308 to 1000 in the first turn so it's really as LL said a non issue. The reticle is a standard mildot with rangeing stadia at the bottom. It works but I would rather have a Gen 2. Everything else it's either equal to or better than anything else. IMO. I bought one thinking it would be a wash with my S&Bs but ended up liking it a bit better. The S&B is not inferior just different I would rank them evenly as the top of the foodchain.
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

SWFA sells them, great scopes.

I've run my 3-12 for a few months now, glass is great, turrets are good, the biggest thing about the scope (in my opinion) is ease of good site picture. Even at 12X, it is super easy to get behind.

Compared to my USO, Premier, and others, the glass is best on the market and the site picture is THE selling point.

Mine has had no problems with durability or repeatability (but, in truth, I ain't beating the hell out of it on a daily basis.)

If you don't want to spend the money, DO NOT go look at a Hensoldt!
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

The Hensoldt is the best out there no doubt. But if you dont actually beat the living crap out of your scope daily then look long and hard at a Zeiss Diavari. It has the exact same glass and there for image as the Hensoldt. I have one and wanted to up grade to "the best", so I called Zeiss and talked to the at length about it. They said the glass and coatings are the same (on current production scopes) and the image would be the same. The Hensoldt has a diffrent errector assembly and slightly diffrent construction, aimed at being tougher for a military sniper roll. I have compaired my Zeiss aginst my Nightforce nxs and my mark 4 (all very good) and the Zeiss is the easiest to look through and the brightest but the Nightforce does have a slight edge inresolution. I talked to Kile Brown (Nightforce) at length about this and he said they designed the Nightforces to have the best image resolution avaliable, b/c you cant hit what you dont see clearly. I primarly shoot the Nightforce, but still love the Zeiss.
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jbell</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Hensoldt is the best out there no doubt. But if you dont actually beat the living crap out of your scope daily then look long and hard at a Zeiss Diavari. It has the exact same glass and there for image as the Hensoldt. I have one and wanted to up grade to "the best", so I called Zeiss and talked to the at length about it. They said the glass and coatings are the same (on current production scopes) and the image would be the same. The Hensoldt has a diffrent errector assembly and slightly diffrent construction, aimed at being tougher for a military sniper roll. I have compaired my Zeiss aginst my Nightforce nxs and my mark 4 (all very good) and the Zeiss is the easiest to look through and the brightest but the Nightforce does have a slight edge inresolution. I talked to Kile Brown (Nightforce) at length about this and he said they designed the Nightforces to have the best image resolution avaliable, b/c you cant hit what you dont see clearly. I primarly shoot the Nightforce, but still love the Zeiss. </div></div>

I own both Hensoldt (3-15) and Zeiss Diavari (3-12) and the site picture ain't the same. The glass is the same, if Zeiss says so, but the construction differences obviously change the image.

I love the Zeiss Diavari, great scope, but getting the Diavari and assuming it is the same as the Hensoldt isn't exactly true. Side-by-side, I can tell a difference in the site picture and how quick and easy you get it with the Hnesoldt. The Zeiss is every bit as good in terms of glass, but the image doesn't come so easy on the Zeiss (not that it's hard to get good site picture, it's just almost effortless on the Hensoldt.)
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

There was a scope comparison be Hide members in the Houston area 7/09 and I saw some people noting the difficulty in avoiding shadowing in the sight picture on the Hensholdts despite it being easy to acquire. Has this been your experiance with them? It seems counter intuitive to me to have a sight picture so easy to acquire but so hard to avoid shadowing around the edges.

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1472807
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

I´m from Germany and I own a Hensoldt 3-12x56 SF since 2007.
This is a bit longer that they are available to civilians in USA directly. I also have a Premier 3-15x50. These are the facts, the statements to come is my opinion/experience. After 13 months my Hensoldt broke down. It had a bad image and it lost zero. After some discussions, my dealer was willing to sent the scope back to Hensoldt, although it couldn´t be broken, it was a Hensoldt, you know. Then I wrote Hensoldt an email that I had a lengthly discussion with my dealer because he didn´t want to accept my claim. The answer mail called me a liar. After 8 weeks the scope returned. In the meantime it became winter and when testing the scope it was -5°C. The scope developed fog on the inner surfaces of the lenses. So I took it back to the dealer. He send it back to Hensoldt and told me: They probably forgot to put Nitrogen back in, this happens sometimes. After two weeks it returned but the image was still bad. So the scope went back to the dealer, who sent it to Hensoldt for the third time. 10 weeks later it returned. Hensoldt had to put new lenses in, I saw it because of the lens coating. The original coating was "blue" the new coatng was a bit more "brown". Now the scope is okay, it holds zero and is useable. But the image is not as good as the Premier.
And the customer service of Hensoldt is something I want never ever deal again with. This is why my second scope was a Premier.
I would nobody recommend a Hensoldt.
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

There you have it: Hensoldt sucks. Bad!

Anyone who wants to get rid of their before it breaks, let me know, I'll make an offer - probably.

I like my Premier too, it is a good piece of gear, nice glass; but the Hensoldt is, mine at least, the tits.

My tune my change if it breaks, but I'm still very pleased with my purchase.

Damned Germans and their crap optics!
 
Re: Hensholdt who uses them??????

First of all is it worth the money? That depends on your budget and expectations of quality and longevity in your gear. The Hensoldt is certainly a nice piece of glass with the durability to hold up to hard use and still put rounds where you want them. Would I recommend a Hensoldt defenitely. Has the price of the Hensoldt, Premier, and S&B scopes become unreasonable, not if they are still getting folks willing to pay it. Could they all sell more scopes at a lower price, I am sure they could. The reality is that they own the companies and they will set the price points based on what they can afford and what the market will bare. Enough on that. I had the good fortune to be able to get a 4x16 FFP Hensoldt a couple months prior to the '09 Bash and having only put 55 rounds through a new gun with this new glass at 100 yards only prior to going to the Bash I was not sure how well me or the system would work. The scope and rifle performed well, I wish I would of had dope at a thousand that worked but 900 and in the dope from my iPhone FTE ballistic calculator got me on target (I was off by about .5 mils at 1000 from what the FTE said). The scope functioned flawlessly and tracked without any issues. The clarity throughout the event dawn to dusk and into the night was great better than anything I had shot previously. The addition of differnt reticles would be a plus such as something similar to a Gen II but having shot a standard mil-dot for decades now I did not have a problem getting good range estimations. I recommend you view the video Frank has done on this scope and check out the link to the previous post on the scope review for more insight. Good luck and if you choose Hensoldt give Nathan a call at Hudisco and he will get you taken care of.

Danel