Rifle Scopes S&B 3-20x Review Video

[Lowlight]

S&B 3-20x 50mm PM II Video Review

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We have been working on this for quite some time, I wanted to make sure the scope was 100% prior to posting anything. I am happy to say, it's rock solid.

Those who have been on the board know I had a pre-order 3-20x that had an issue, one which Jerry R & S&B fixed very quickly. It's no secret I have mentioned it, and do so in the video. But this model is definitely very good. We tested tracking on several occasions, (3x) as well as by shooting it out to distance. I took this scope from 100 yards to 1100 yards with no issue. It's accurate, repeatable and has a great look.

As noted in the video, I cannot make the argument for you between the 5-25x and the 3-20x, there are some subtle differences besides the magnification. I think this is a very forgiving scope designed for some rapid, dynamic shooting. I can really see this optic shine on your AR10 Type Rifles, especially when you consider the accuracy people are getting out of ones like the GAP10 or OBR, et al. But ultimately you have to decide, what is the best scope to suit your needs. If you are shooting a lot of the Tactical Matches around the country, this might work better than a 5-25x, over say F Class. A lot of people are into ultra high magnification, however for dynamic shooting, I think less is better, and with the 3-20x focusing down to 25m, that helps with a lot of those close in shots.

Great reticle choices, locking turrets, (which most don't need, but you don't need to use them) illuminated, with a forgiving eye box. It's hits all the marks for a tactical shooter.

 

[abogue77]

Damn, I wish I hadn't seen this! What to sell of now...?

What mount was that it was on?

 

[Lowlight]

The mount is a GDI PROM

 

[BigJimFish]

Glad to see the turrets are worked out. I see from the change in zeroing procedure how so many folks mistakenly disassembled these right out of the gate. Perhaps they should have wrapped them in a big red warning label when they were first released. It might have saved them a headache. I like the 3-20x magnification range that this scope offers and the close focus. Most scopes don't focus closely enough in my opinion. But then, I use everything I have on rimfire a great deal and in the winter often shoot indoors.

 

[Coloradocop]

The mount is a GDI PROM

How do you like that mount so far?

I've got the same 3-20x scope (with the H2CMR reticle) and I've been pretty darn happy with it so far. I've currently got it sitting on a Tikka in a Spuhr mount. While I'm very happy with the current mount, I am quite intrigued by the thought of having a quality quick-detach mount so that I could timeshare this scope between a couple of different rifles!

My only gripe (if it really even counts as one) is that the reticle gets a bit too fine for my tastes at the bottom of the magnification range. But, such is the nature of FFP scopes, particularly when the scopes have such a large zoom ratio... if the reticle was thicker at the bottom of the range, I'd probably find it disagreeably thick at the top of the magnification range. As such, I'd probably leave things right where they are at now if I were designing the scope myself. Although the reticle is a bit hard to pick up at 3x, I've found that I can compensate for that a bit with the reticle illumination when it's getting a bit on the dusk/dawn side of the day. While my eyes aren't sharp enough to pick up the reticle subtensions at that extreme end of the power spectrum (and I still have relatively good eyes), I can still make center-of-the-reticle point of aim shots really easily with the illumination turned on. I think that would come in handy for anyone who is intending to hunt at variable distances with such a scope (just keep the magnification turned down for those pop-up shots when game surprises you, and crank it on up when you are planning to surprise the game).

 

[Lowlight]

GDI is my preferred QD and I have been using them for years with no issues.

If you pay close attention you see them on a lot of my rifles.

 

[Fongman]

Nice review Frank.

I bought this scope for my wife's rifle and it is exceptionally nice!

When slipping the rings, it's important to remember that even after you loosen the two turret screws, the turret will still have audible clicks when slipping. But the reticle will not change it's position. It kinda freaked me out at first.

 

[Dynamic Response]

Great Review. I wanted one of these but ended up with the NF F1.


How long is their warranty. I heard it was only a few years.

 

[Coloradocop]

Great Review. I wanted one of these but ended up with the NF F1.


How long is their warranty. I heard it was only a few years.

I've heard rumors of a lifetime warranty, and also of a 20 year warranty. But, much to my dismay, my scope manual states in a section titled "Warranty Certificate": "Official legal guarantee period of 2 years (according to the directive of EU)"

Now, I'm not sure if that's different here in the states, because the manual (while in English) definitely seems like it was written for the European market. All of the contact information for S&B is German phone numbers and addresses, even though I know they do repairs here in the U.S.A.

Maybe someone else can clarify this issue for me as well? I sure hope that this $3,400 scope will be repaired for any manufacturer errors (though I don't suspect I'll have any) after 2 years! The scope seems solid and great, but I'm also a little bit uneasy about the talk of a 2-year warranty on a scope of this grade.

 

[Sako man]

Thank you for the valuable tool, very informative. I feel better that I went with a PMII 25x. I have been second guessing my decision for a while and now feel better about my purchase/decision. Not doing a lot of dynamic shooting.

 

[Redmanss]

A great overall review, thanks! I have a couple questions here about when you said "requires and aggressive cant" in the base. I have one of these scopes inbound for my personal rifle that has a 20moa base on it, and I have a P-ROM 0 moa and a 25 moa mount at the house I've been considering using for this setup. Is it similar to the 5-25x where the recommended cant is 45 moa? I know you can go less and I've read Jerry's comments in the other threads about not bottoming them out, just wanting to spend less time flipping equipment if necessary.

 

[Lowlight]

It has 26 mils of adjustment, so S&B says to use half of that for the base...

26 /2 = 13
13 x 3.43 = 44.5MOA

Depending on the rifle, you can certainly use 20MOA and I just used a 25 MOA PROM for this video, and I had about 20 or so mils of total travel that way. So the 25 MOA from the PROM was pretty darn good. You can get away with less than 45 for sure, as there is a 100MOA of total travel inside as noted by Jerry. So 1/2 of 100MOA is 50MOA, which means you can get still use the travel with probably 35 to 40 MOA depending on the rifle and the set up.

As noted in the other thread, they make a 45MOA base for a reason, that is because it's half of 26Mils like found in these scopes. That number didnt just fall out of the sky. But I see no reason not to use less if you're not shooting ELR with it. or even XLR ... if you are shooting to just 1500m, use 25MOA of the PROM.

 

[Redmanss]

Thanks Frank. I'm spinning up a few of these scopes for work rifles as well, so I'll see how they do on .50's over here. Hopefully they get approved and procurement can get them for me before this time next year!

 

[Coloradocop]

A great overall review, thanks! I have a couple questions here about when you said "requires and aggressive cant" in the base. I have one of these scopes inbound for my personal rifle that has a 20moa base on it, and I have a P-ROM 0 moa and a 25 moa mount at the house I've been considering using for this setup. Is it similar to the 5-25x where the recommended cant is 45 moa? I know you can go less and I've read Jerry's comments in the other threads about not bottoming them out, just wanting to spend less time flipping equipment if necessary.

Probably depends on your intended use, like so many other things... I have a 6mil (20.6 MOA) canted mount on my rifle, and I'm still able to come up 20.5 Mils from my 100 yard zero. My scope is mounted on a .308, and with my load that should get me to around 1500 yards before I run out of elevation adjustment. Clearly the .308 is not the ideal 1500 yard rig! So, for me anyway, I didn't see any real strong argument for going with a more aggressively canted base.

 

[jonthomps]

I've heard rumors of a lifetime warranty, and also of a 20 year warranty. But, much to my dismay, my scope manual states in a section titled "Warranty Certificate": "Official legal guarantee period of 2 years (according to the directive of EU)"

Yeah, someone please clarify this! A 2-year warranty on a high-dollar, hard use tactical scope seems ridiculous.

 

[blurry6]

My only gripe (if it really even counts as one) is that the reticle gets a bit too fine for my tastes at the bottom of the magnification range.

I also have this scope with the H2CMR and really like it - it's nearly bullet-proof. I also share your gripe on the reticle being too small on the lowest settings,... If there was a suggestion box on the next iteration of this reticle, I'd ask that they add large (read: thick) horizontal and vertical stadia on the perimeter of the existing reticle. That way the scope would appear to have a large open-center reticle at low-power,... just a thought.

Ry

 

[Ring]

Lowlight, i thought u gave up on S&B's due to multi issues you were having?

 

[Lowlight]

The issues were mentioned in the review, if you watch until the end I did not avoid the fact I used their customer service on my Pre-Order 3-20x

I use a variety of optics for a lot of different reasons, as well I own about 15 S&B scopes so me using them it pretty much sure to continue.

This weekend, I'll use something else, the week after that, maybe a NF Beast.

 

[VJJPunisher]

15 S&B's? WOW, thats about 2 years worth of income for me. Man I need to get out of this game and take up tactical knitting or something

 

[117D-RTO]

Here is the S&B Warranty info for those who asked. Warranty

I read this as saying they will stock the parts to fix all scopes for 30 years after date of sale, the 2 year warranty piece is vague as it has to cover worldwide sales. Can someone confirm for the U.S. market that this is indeed a 2 year warranty only covering defects and after that any repairs (defects included) are made for a fee?

 

[jonthomps]

Regarding S&B warranty info: This sounds stupid to me. I'm looking to buy some new glass and was considering giving a 5-25 a try because of the H2CMR reticle - I like the idea of the .2 mil wind holds. Now I'm thinking that may not be the wisest decision if Schmidt won't stand behind their product (or rather they will stand behind it after two years - for a price.) It sure seems like a 2-yr warranty on a $3.5k tactical scope that will be used in the field under some adverse conditions should raise more than a few eyebrows. Not cool.

 

[CSTactical]

The S&B 3-20x50mm Rifle Scope is one my favorite S&B. I ran one on a GAP LR-308 DPMS 24" for a few months and really liked it.





Mike @ CSTACTICAL