A review: IOR 6-24x50
The purpose of this review is to showcase a scope that is not seen much in the review section on this website. Most of the fanfare goes to the likes of Nightforce, S&B, Premier and the like. While all highly regarded these are sometimes out of grasp of consumers.
I recently purchased an IOR 6-24x50 to replace the 6-24x50 Bushnell I have had on my 243 for some time. I had the following requirements;
1. Optical quality
2. User friendly reticle suited for precise shooting at small animals and targets
3. Increased amount of travel per turn of the elevation drum
4. A budget of 1500.00 USD
To be completely honest, I had my heart all but set on a Nightforce 5.5-22x50 with the NP2-DD reticle. I literally had my phone in my hand when I came across an IOR thread here on the hide. The stories of great glass and a long list of nice features plus a price tag several hundred less than a comparable nightforce put my order on hold.
I spent a bunch of time looking at reviews and sent several emails to scott at liberty optics about IOR, the bad stories almost scared me away but eventually I decided IOR was the right way to go. I purchased the scope and after spending some time with it these are my initial impressions.
Initial:
Packaging was very good, the scope came well protected with rings and sunshade included. After taking it out and reviewing it for defects I found none thusfar. Fit and finish is what I would consider good. I will discuss this more later.
Glass:
One of the biggest gripes I have with the 4200 bushnell is that on high power the image looses a lot of its resolution. Nothing seems to be 100% in focus. Plenty usable, but it makes my head hurt after some time looking through it. This is certainly not the case with this particular IOR. The glass has very good resolution and clarity throughout the power range. Flare is well controlled and edge to edge sharpness is very good as well. This holds true with most reports about IOR and its glass. The color rendition seems slightly warm, but not so much that it stands out. You have to look for it to find it. The actual image is also much larger than the Bushnell produces. Im not sure why that is but I like it very much. The situational awareness you gain is great.
Turrets:
This particular scope has 52MOA of elevation travel, this falls into the 50-60 advertised. This scope has a 24MOA per turn elevation drum. This is very nice, its easy to grip, and wider than it is tall, which I personally like. The windage has 15 minutes per turn. The numbers are divided left and right 7 minutes each. I have never needed to go past 7 minutes with fast 243 loads to do what I do, so I think I will like this, others may prefer one way numbering (ie 1-15)
The clicks are distinct, a solid tick, tick, tick as you go. The few nightforces I have handled had a more solid “Tick”, but these are still plenty usable. The Bushnell its replacing has more muted clicks, but the adjustments have always proven accurate.
Side Focus is very nice, it has a shorter throw or revolution than the Bushnell has. It also seems much more forgiving than the bushnell in its ability to focus.
Eyebox
Huge! This scope has a very large and forgiving eyebox. Even at 24X the scope is not terribly picky about where your eye is. This particular IOR has a euro style focus ring.
This is one of the huge advantages this scope has over the Bushnell.
Reticle
I was afraid at first this reticle would be thick and hard to use, but I have been pleasantly surprised, thicker than a nightforce reticle, but thinner than a Bushnell Mil dot reticle. The floating dot is said to be .25 MOA on 12 power. It has enough space around it to not be clunky, and the hash marks are set in .5 and 1 mil spacing. This reticle is close to my ideal reticle, a fine aiming point with the ability to range or hold off if wanted/needed.
Magnification range
The ring was smooth and acts normally, the one gripe I have is at about 7.5 power the scope no longer adjusts down in power, it only increases “tunneling” until you get to 6 power. Its annoying and I don’t like it, and I think it should be addressed in this scope line.
Overall Fit and finish.
I must agree, this could use some improvement, the finish that they have used on this scope seems weak at best, just sitting it in the scope rings and moving it a bit has caused some scratches. Also I believe that things like the set screw in the magnification ring could be done better to make the scope more appealing at first sight.
With all of that said, this is by no means an end all to this scope. I haven’t shot with it yet, and it hasn’t proven itself to me. It has some great attributes and some that are not so great, however if it holds up I will have no trouble holding onto it for a long time to come. The bonus fact that they include a set of rings only makes this deal look even better.
The purpose of this review is to showcase a scope that is not seen much in the review section on this website. Most of the fanfare goes to the likes of Nightforce, S&B, Premier and the like. While all highly regarded these are sometimes out of grasp of consumers.
I recently purchased an IOR 6-24x50 to replace the 6-24x50 Bushnell I have had on my 243 for some time. I had the following requirements;
1. Optical quality
2. User friendly reticle suited for precise shooting at small animals and targets
3. Increased amount of travel per turn of the elevation drum
4. A budget of 1500.00 USD
To be completely honest, I had my heart all but set on a Nightforce 5.5-22x50 with the NP2-DD reticle. I literally had my phone in my hand when I came across an IOR thread here on the hide. The stories of great glass and a long list of nice features plus a price tag several hundred less than a comparable nightforce put my order on hold.
I spent a bunch of time looking at reviews and sent several emails to scott at liberty optics about IOR, the bad stories almost scared me away but eventually I decided IOR was the right way to go. I purchased the scope and after spending some time with it these are my initial impressions.
Initial:
Packaging was very good, the scope came well protected with rings and sunshade included. After taking it out and reviewing it for defects I found none thusfar. Fit and finish is what I would consider good. I will discuss this more later.
Glass:
One of the biggest gripes I have with the 4200 bushnell is that on high power the image looses a lot of its resolution. Nothing seems to be 100% in focus. Plenty usable, but it makes my head hurt after some time looking through it. This is certainly not the case with this particular IOR. The glass has very good resolution and clarity throughout the power range. Flare is well controlled and edge to edge sharpness is very good as well. This holds true with most reports about IOR and its glass. The color rendition seems slightly warm, but not so much that it stands out. You have to look for it to find it. The actual image is also much larger than the Bushnell produces. Im not sure why that is but I like it very much. The situational awareness you gain is great.
Turrets:
This particular scope has 52MOA of elevation travel, this falls into the 50-60 advertised. This scope has a 24MOA per turn elevation drum. This is very nice, its easy to grip, and wider than it is tall, which I personally like. The windage has 15 minutes per turn. The numbers are divided left and right 7 minutes each. I have never needed to go past 7 minutes with fast 243 loads to do what I do, so I think I will like this, others may prefer one way numbering (ie 1-15)
The clicks are distinct, a solid tick, tick, tick as you go. The few nightforces I have handled had a more solid “Tick”, but these are still plenty usable. The Bushnell its replacing has more muted clicks, but the adjustments have always proven accurate.
Side Focus is very nice, it has a shorter throw or revolution than the Bushnell has. It also seems much more forgiving than the bushnell in its ability to focus.
Eyebox
Huge! This scope has a very large and forgiving eyebox. Even at 24X the scope is not terribly picky about where your eye is. This particular IOR has a euro style focus ring.
This is one of the huge advantages this scope has over the Bushnell.
Reticle
I was afraid at first this reticle would be thick and hard to use, but I have been pleasantly surprised, thicker than a nightforce reticle, but thinner than a Bushnell Mil dot reticle. The floating dot is said to be .25 MOA on 12 power. It has enough space around it to not be clunky, and the hash marks are set in .5 and 1 mil spacing. This reticle is close to my ideal reticle, a fine aiming point with the ability to range or hold off if wanted/needed.
Magnification range
The ring was smooth and acts normally, the one gripe I have is at about 7.5 power the scope no longer adjusts down in power, it only increases “tunneling” until you get to 6 power. Its annoying and I don’t like it, and I think it should be addressed in this scope line.
Overall Fit and finish.
I must agree, this could use some improvement, the finish that they have used on this scope seems weak at best, just sitting it in the scope rings and moving it a bit has caused some scratches. Also I believe that things like the set screw in the magnification ring could be done better to make the scope more appealing at first sight.
With all of that said, this is by no means an end all to this scope. I haven’t shot with it yet, and it hasn’t proven itself to me. It has some great attributes and some that are not so great, however if it holds up I will have no trouble holding onto it for a long time to come. The bonus fact that they include a set of rings only makes this deal look even better.
