Rifle Scopes Looking into a Nightforce NXS

[TheBigCountry]

Evening All,

New member, and I am starting to save for a LR rig. I am planning to run a NF NXS 3.5-15 on it, and have been advised to look into a FFP model with either MOA or MIL adjustments and reticle. I know this topic has been addressed many times before, but what does one give other the other, and for someone new into LR shooting, which is the practical choice to go with?

Thanks,

A.J.

 

[CSTactical]

Hi A.J.,
What Rifle will the scope be going on, how long is the barrel, and how far do you plan on shooting?

The Nightforce scope are very good, there are a lot of other great scopes out there also.

Mike @ CSTACTICAL

 

[euro]

Hi A.J.,
What Rifle will the scope be going on, how long is the barrel, and how far do you plan on shooting?

The Nightforce scope are very good, there are a lot of other great scopes out there also.

Mike @ CSTACTICAL

hijacking this thread...

Looking at this:

NightForce NXS 3.5-15x50 F1 w/ H-59 Reticle, Mil-Rad, Zero Stop and LT104-30 QD Mount | LaRue Tactical

vs this:

Scope Combo / Schmidt & Bender / 5-25x56 PMII LT H59 CM CCW MTC and LT104-34 QD Scope Mount | LaRue Tactical

on an OBR heavy 18" 7.62. why would I spend the extra grand for the S&B?

 

[euro]

both with the Horus reticle BTW

 

[Crosshair]

As Mike said, there are several great scopes in the $2k and under ballpark price point of the NXS.
Most guys around this site will steer you towards FFP and Mil/Mil. MOA/MOA is also fine, the most important thing to ease the math in the field is that they match. That is also the reasoning behind FFP, to ease the math that comes when your subtentions vary with magnification. There have been thousands of successful precision shooters using SFP and Mildot/Moa adjustments for years, and they know their stuff because they have trained it inside and out, and the math comes quickly and naturally. It wouldn't hurt a new shooter to 'come up the hard way', as they have, you will have a deep understanding of converting mils to moa, and vice versa, and then into inches, which is what us dumb americans still think in.

To get FFP in a Nightforce, you either have the F1, which is a hall-of-famer, or the new (awesome, so I've heard) and costly BEAST. There are other FFP's that compete well for closer to the price of the SFP NXS's:
Vortex Razor 5-20x50
SWFA SS 5-20x50
IOR 3.5-18x50
Leupold Mk6 3-18x42

All that said, You wouldn't be handicapped at all with a SFP 3-15x NXS, they are arguably the most robust scope out there, and have ultra-low failure rates. Over 15x, FFP really is nice to have, IMO. But.... Its all a training issue!

 

[euro]

both with the Horus reticle BTW

ugh, they have my post in "moderation" because it included links

anyway, I'm a new to long distance shooting and I acknowledge that Im kind of an idiot because Im basically showing up to a high performance driving school as a rookie in a Ferrari but I subscribe to the "buy once cry once" theory.

I'll spend up to 4K but I only want to buy one of these suckers

I own an 18" OBR 7.62 and Im watching videos and learning about the newest technology and products in todays market and Im looking at an F1 and a S&B optic. interested in seeing what others say about this.

My goals are to have an optic that I can move from rifle to rifle but would love to be on an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper at 1K yards this year at some point - maybe further later.

 

[AZ2000]

Just picked up the Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56mm Riflescope w/ Zerostop, because my NF 8x32 NSX did not have enough elevation for a mile shoot, it would do the 1,000 but not the miler. The new one has 120 MOA of vertical adjustment. If you are planning to go up in caliber and out in distance and can afford it, "buy once, cry once", it will last a long time.

 

[ZiaHunter]

NF makes great scope and have several of them. In the $4K price range you stated I would certainly look at the S&B PMII models. Have the 3-20x50 with the H59 and it is awesome glass. Have both MOA/MOA and MIL/MIL in both FFP and SFP. For hunting I prefer MOA in SFP and for long range like the MIL in FFP. No great challenge going from MOA to MIL or vice a versa once you get the constants down and can run the numbers in your head.

 

[rideHPD]

I will only comment on MOA vs milrad. Regardless, stay with the same scale for your turrets and reticle. I would say that if you're interested in shooting F T/R in the future MOA is the choice, but most that do shoot that discipline use the 8-32x or 12-42x models with 1/8 MOA turrets, and you will probably want to upgrade to that glass if you do shoot F T/R, so I wouldn't let that possibility influence your choice. For most all other LR applications milrad is the choice purely because that is what most others use, so you will find a greater aftermarket and better deals on used optics. The typical intervals are .25 MOA or .1 mil rad, which roughly translate to x*.25" at x*100yards for MOA and x*.36" for MIL. I will probably be trolled on this, as .25 MOA does not exactly equal .25" at 100 yard, but I chose MOA because I could think in terms of quarter inch graduations much easier and can range and make adjustments in my head much easier. I also shoot F T/R. But looking back, I would probably just go with milrad just to think in the same terms as near everyone else on here and not have to be translating all the time.