Rifle Scopes Incame: New Schmidt & Bender 5-20x50 PMII UltraShort GEN2

Night Vision Viking

Distance & Darkness is an illusion
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 20, 2020
443
407
Europe
www.youtube.com
I got the NEW Schmidt & Bender 5-20x50 PMII UltraShort GEN2 last week.
Optically it's the same, but they've done quite a few interesting upgrades, both electronics and mechanics like the throw lever.

S&B always had pretty poor packaging, that has now changed! Not that the packaging is that important, but if you're spending these amounts it's nice to get a suitable packaging.

I got the MSR2 reticle, but due to a very busy week and winter with shitty daylight I haven't brought it out for testing.

Here's how they describe it:

The 5-20x50 PM II Ultra Short represents Schmidt & Bender´s shortest full featured riflescope and is perfect for medium and long-range targets. Our newly designed illumination control is integrated into the parallax adjustment and allows a better mounting solution – also for left handed use. The redesigned magnification ring offers now more grip and can accommodate the Throw Lever. The low-profile elevation turret with 27 MRAD or large 35 MRAD adjustment range can easily be combined with a red dot sight for close distances. Compact rifles with limited rail space are especially predestined for this compact powerhouse. Although being short, lightweight and compact: this riflescope doesn’t compromise a millimeter on mechanical reliability or optical performance.

 

Attachments

  • 2022-12-17 19.27.13.jpg
    2022-12-17 19.27.13.jpg
    95.6 KB · Views: 728
  • 2022-12-17 14.37.51_2.jpg
    2022-12-17 14.37.51_2.jpg
    146.9 KB · Views: 743
  • 2022-12-17 14.08.12.jpg
    2022-12-17 14.08.12.jpg
    287.2 KB · Views: 736
  • Like
Reactions: TheHorta and simonp
Reticle pictures. Target at about 1250 meters. Not sure I got the parallax correct, it was cold as hell.

x20
and
x12ish
and 5x

Poor weather, low, winter light, so not really a performance indicator.
 

Attachments

  • sob520pm2134reticle2-5x.PNG
    sob520pm2134reticle2-5x.PNG
    1.2 MB · Views: 447
  • sob520pm2134reticle2.PNG
    sob520pm2134reticle2.PNG
    2.1 MB · Views: 453
  • sob520pm2134reticle.PNG
    sob520pm2134reticle.PNG
    2 MB · Views: 455
I got the NEW Schmidt & Bender 5-20x50 PMII UltraShort GEN2 last week.
Optically it's the same, but they've done quite a few interesting upgrades, both electronics and mechanics like the throw lever.
What about illumination? I realize it is now inline with parallax (lefties rejoice), but is it any brighter than previous iterations, my issue with Schmidt illumination is not so much the dial/tumor/barnacle but with the low intensity of brightness at max setting that is completely unusable during daytime situations even in shadows where it could really help.
S&B always had pretty poor packaging, that has now changed! Not that the packaging is that important, but if you're spending these amounts it's nice to get a suitable packaging.
I could care less about the packaging, send it to me in a plain brown cardboard box, the box is stored away almost immediately on arrival and never looked at again, this whole trend started by Apple to justify their astronomical prices for phones should be tossed out the window. For the price of S&B in the USA these days there better be a gold bar in the box.
 
Reticle pictures. Target at about 1250 meters. Not sure I got the parallax correct, it was cold as hell.

x20
and
x12ish
and 5x

Poor weather, low, winter light, so not really a performance indicator.
Those pics with illumination look like daytime shots against bright sky, which gives me hope that illumination intensity is indeed improved upon with this new scope, that is great news.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Night Vision Viking
What about illumination? I realize it is now inline with parallax (lefties rejoice), but is it any brighter than previous iterations, my issue with Schmidt illumination is not so much the dial/tumor/barnacle but with the low intensity of brightness at max setting that is completely unusable during daytime situations even in shadows where it could really help.

I could care less about the packaging, send it to me in a plain brown cardboard box, the box is stored away almost immediately on arrival and never looked at again, this whole trend started by Apple to justify their astronomical prices for phones should be tossed out the window. For the price of S&B in the USA these days there better be a gold bar in the box.

I still have my "old" 5-20 PMII US, so I will eventually try them side by side. Don't know now is the answer, and a friend has the new one now for a bit.

I'm with you on the packaging, I'm the same. But the new one probably didn't cost a whole lot, but it's a lot better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Glassaholic
Recently bought a PMII 5-25 which I returned for a refund due to an imperfection in the glass. The box it came in looked like it was run over by a truck and was about falling apart in my hands providing almost no protection for the scope. The only protection really was from the outer UPS box. To me that's unacceptable to send a "somewhat" fragile $4k scope like that so kudos to S&B for upping their game on the packaging. I'm sure it didn't leave their facility like that but the packaging should be able to hold up to being shipped a couple times in order to get to the end user in a presentable state.
 
Yeah, I still have my old 3–20, and 5–20…. Can’t really think of a good reason to replace them…. Unless Glassaholic accepts trades! Bahahahah
Love the 3-20 and love the 5-20 even more! Trade? Did someone mention trade... :LOL: You and I have already traded a number of things, I didn't realize scopes were on the table ;) Frank should setup a "Scope Swap" forum where it's not buy and sell, but swap scopes for a few months to check out another design and then send them back to each other, I've sent some of my scopes to various guys from time to time just so they could check it out and see if they even like it. Right now I'm a little low on supply though as I've sold off a bunch of gear just to survive in this economy.