Rifle Scopes Is there a clear winner for best glass?

[roamin]

Best glass?

It's a noob question almost always by someone that doesn't know what else to ask about. Even though what they really want to know but don't have the balls to ask is, what scope will give them bragging rights.

There's alot more to a scope than glass also modern high end glass has gotten so good most/all of it should satisfy the most discerning of users. Before I stopped wasting the time I used to spend hours going back and forth comparing glass in my scopes because todays scopes are just so close. Now when I want to look to though good glass just for the sake of it I grab my Swaro bino's because optically they kick the shit out of every scope on the market and not because the glass is better. In comparison with bino's scopes have a narrow field of view, a long eye relief, and a narrow eyebox all of which make a scope's optical experience suck ass. Glass in a particular price bracket is going to be mostly the same so don't buy solely based on the glass and if what you really want to know is what scope to buy to make all your little girlfriends jealous then grow some balls and ask what you really want to know.

Glass, glass, glass. That's all some of you who are gear queer geeks ever talk about. What do you think you're going birdwatching with it?

 

[SLG]

Boy, I thought TimK said it well, but some of you just either won't get it, or just want to make yourselves feel better by making the OP feel bad.

He said up front he has a NF. Why can't he simply be curious about better glass?

I have been using NF, around 20 of them in total, since 2011 or so. Professionally and personally. I still have more than a few. Before that I used Leupold and S&B. In the last few months, I have been experimenting with other scopes.

I'm very curious to look through a Minox or TT, as I hear great things about their glass.

I guess I'm a noob.

 

[cperazza]

It is all about preferences. Below a few links to serve as research to figure out what are the qualities in a scope that are more important to you:

This gives you an idea of what shooters were using 2017: http://precisionrifleblog.com/2017/03/03/long-range-scopes-pros-use/

This is one of the best field test (2014) I have seen...it would be nice for this type of test to be repeated with some of the new scopes we have today (2018) which were not available then:
http://precisionrifleblog.com/2014/09/19/tactical-scopes-field-test-results-summary/

SH forum post Dec 2017 (by @hk dave) http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...-schmidt-bender-5-25-v-vortex-4-5-27.6828806/

Enjoy, as a community we are always willing to give you our opinions (All are valid within the individual's experience)...they will all differ (glass quality tends to depend on the individuals eyesight...in some case what I feel is the clearest glass for me, might not be the same for you), but hopefully you can take with you what is going to help you lean towards one scope or the other to meet your needs.

Good hunting on scopes...try as many as you can IOT find the scope that best fits you!

 

[Rekkr870]

It's a perfectly legitimate question if you're asking about "best glass" as the OP originally asked. If you take into account that he stated the he already owns a Nightforce, one can assume he understand the importance of mechanical soundness and tracking, etc.

Generally, when we talk about "best glass," those scopes are already proven reliable and mechanically accurate scopes. I think it's a fair question to ask about who's glass is most pleasing, especially when you break that $2.5k price range. If you look around The Hide enough, you'll start to see the same scope manufacturers names in terms of the high end glass. I think it's safe to say these same manufacturers are classified as reliable.

 

[Scottyman]

Yes, perfectly legit question. After all the other boxes are checked off, I certainly want the best glass when narrowing down my choices. If a Tasco World Class had excellent tracking, great reticle, durability ect, I wouldn't want to use it. A super crisp, detailed, flat edge to edge, bright, wide fov with no CA image is what I personally prefer. Given similarly attractive personalities, some people settle for fat chicks, others prefer beautiful athletic women. The paraphrased argument, a hole is a hole is weak. If you can have it all and have the money, go for it. Get the "best" for you with the qualities you find most important. Minox and TT seem to be the super models at this point.

 

[Tomokochan]

Own/owned or reviewed loaners of nearly all the Alpha Glass except Henny. In my opinion SB (PM II) TT and Minox (talking ZP5) stand out. NF ATACR ( 7-35 and 5-25 ) and 624i run them close and just a bit behind those are the Razor II and USO. Other owners and reviewers see things differently and so there is lots of room for disagreement here. Having said that, if you picked one of the scopes I listed you would be very unlikely to feel disappointed.

 

[Ledzep]

From what I've owned to my eyes, best to worst

March 3-24x52
Vortex razor gen 2
Leupold mk6
Nf nxs sfp line
USO 5-25
Vortex Gen 2 PST 3-15
Unertl 1-1/4 12x
Swfa 10x
Swfa 16x

Every one of them was capable of delivering what I needed. From USO up is splitting hairs. Ymmv. I know lots of people that would put the uso higher but they're kind of grey or washed out to me.

 

[canezach]

@TimK if you're ever in Southern Colorado, hit me up! I'll gladly bring my Minox ZP5 to the range and let you compare it next to the S&B PMII. That offer stands for anyone. Bring your rifle and we can go back and forth between the two.

 

[Glassaholic]

@TimK if you're ever in Southern Colorado, hit me up! I'll gladly bring my Minox ZP5 to the range and let you compare it next to the S&B PMII. That offer stands for anyone. Bring your rifle and we can go back and forth between the two.

Where in Southern Colorado are you @canezach ? I'm in the Springs area and also have the Minox (and a sundry of other scopes as I'm about to do a few more reviews). I have a membership with Frontier Sportsman and they just put in a 1000 yard steel/paper range down in Hanover (south of Fountain) and have been itching to get down there as I really need to hone my long distance fundamentals. My only issue is my weekends are usually unavailable so I try to go during the week.

Maybe we can get @TimK to come down from Woodland Park for a day of fun

 

[canezach]

p

Where in Southern Colorado are you @canezach ? I'm in the Springs area and also have the Minox (and a sundry of other scopes as I'm about to do a few more reviews). I have a membership with Frontier Sportsman and they just put in a 1000 yard steel/paper range down in Hanover (south of Fountain) and have been itching to get down there as I really need to hone my long distance fundamentals. My only issue is my weekends are usually unavailable so I try to go during the week.

Maybe we can get @TimK to come down from Woodland Park for a day of fun

Are you freaking kidding me??? If you've shot any of the PRS club matches at Cheyenne Mountain or Hoser's Steel match in Pueblo West, we've shot together. I used to live in the Springs for a while, but I'm now down in Pueblo West. I'm a member of the Pueblo West Sportsman's Association, but I'm down to shoot anywhere! And if Tim is from Woodland, we can drag him along! I know a couple of guys I shoot matches with come down from Teller County.

 

[Glassaholic]

p

Are you freaking kidding me??? If you've shot any of the PRS club matches at Cheyenne Mountain or Hoser's Steel match in Pueblo West, we've shot together. I used to live in the Springs for a while, but I'm now down in Pueblo West. I'm a member of the Pueblo West Sportsman's Association, but I'm down to shoot anywhere! And if Tim is from Woodland, we can drag him along! I know a couple of guys I shoot matches with come down from Teller County.

The Cheyenne Mountain match has been on my radar for... well pretty much when Ryan started it some years ago, I have a reminder in my calendar but like I said, weekends are hard so every month I see them come and go and every month I say "one of these days". I've been to Pueblo West once and my buddy told me all about Hoser and his match, if I remember they were pretty big in 22LR matches as well. I used to be in Black Forest but now I'm in Northeast Springs, closer to Falcon. It's probably closer for Tim to get to Cheyenne Mtn or Pueblo West than it is for me

I'll send you a PM

 

[MACHTECH]

See what else great glass gets you. You'll meet new friends you never knew you had ?.

 

[TimK]

I've been shooting Hosers match since back when they were steel pdogs and we shot on the 425 berm. Shot the Carson match at least a dozen times.

I'm guessing we know each other...

Op, sorry for the hijack. We will meet up and get back to you with our answer on the best glass. We will continue our side conversation via PM.

 

[Nortex]

Yup pretty much. Was the same person looking through all the scopes at the same time of day? Nope. Even then it would still be opinion as like I said I have a lot of time behind both in many conditions and have my opinion which doesn't seem to line up with yours. So yup they are opinions.

They looked through the same scopes at same targets routinely after complaining of target visibility be it due to mirage or gray target in the shadows with their optic choice. It's something that is routinely noticed.

 

[powerspc]

Best glass?

It's a noob question almost always by someone that doesn't know what else to ask about. Even though what they really want to know but don't have the balls to ask is, what scope will give them bragging rights.

There's alot more to a scope than glass also modern high end glass has gotten so good most/all of it should satisfy the most discerning of users. Before I stopped wasting the time I used to spend hours going back and forth comparing glass in my scopes because todays scopes are just so close. Now when I want to look to though good glass just for the sake of it I grab my Swaro bino's because optically they kick the shit out of every scope on the market and not because the glass is better. In comparison with bino's scopes have a narrow field of view, a long eye relief, and a narrow eyebox all of which make a scope's optical experience suck ass. Glass in a particular price bracket is going to be mostly the same so don't buy solely based on the glass and if what you really want to know is what scope to buy to make all your little girlfriends jealous then grow some balls and ask what you really want to know.

Glass, glass, glass. That's all some of you who are gear queer geeks ever talk about. What do you think you're going birdwatching with it?

I think it’s a perfectly fair question as well; I am of some means but not enough to buy one of every high end scope to see what I “like the best”. I’m always open to what other people have to say, have experienced or have an opinion on. If you get some bragging rights as well, then that’s just an extra bonus. To me the real payoff is getting to experience a first class piece of equipment that will also hold its value over time. If you can afford the “best glass” why not get the best glass? It’s generally a significant investment and I think a lot of people are just trying to buy once, cry once and hopefully learn some things along the way.

 

[roamin]

I think it’s a perfectly fair question as well; I am of some means but not enough to buy one of every high end scope to see what I “like the best”. I’m always open to what other people have to say, have experienced or have an opinion on. If you get some bragging rights as well, then that’s just an extra bonus. To me the real payoff is getting to experience a first class piece of equipment that will also hold its value over time. If you can afford the “best glass” why not get the best glass? It’s generally a significant investment and I think a lot of people are just trying to buy once, cry once and hopefully learn some things along the way.

BS. My comment doesn't address whether "it's a fair question". It addressed whether or not ones ready to make a purchase if they're asking it, whether or not it's the question they really wanted to ask in the 1st place, and whether or not it's important enough to be the 1st question that should be asked.

 

[powerspc]

BS. My comment doesn't address whether "it's a fair question". It addressed whether or not ones ready to make a purchase if they're asking it, whether or not it's the question they really wanted to ask in the 1st place, and whether or not it's important enough to be the 1st question that should be asked.

Fair enough; I do you see your point and as others have pointed out there's not a "one size fits all" solution. So "best" for me may not work well at all for someone else. I capitulate.