Rifle Scopes s&b vignetting .....

timelinex

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • May 7, 2011
    1,382
    33
    Scottsdale,Az
    Anyone else notice that the S&b 5-25x56 scopes have some serious vignetting issues. Just about the only places that there isn't any shadowing is right in the middle of the erector. At my 100 yard zero the top of the scope is cut off and at 25 mils the bottom of the scope is cut off. Everything in between is cutoff as well toa smaller extent, except for a small band right around in the middle(7-12mils). Makes it look like I'm not at the proper eye relief all the time (obviously moving around shows that it is in fact not shaddowing)

    It definitely does not happen with my other scopes, or atleast to the same extent. Like on my razor, only the very last .5 mil of elevation shows some vignetting on the bottom of the reticle.

    It's not the biggest deal, but I've been shooting alot at 15+ mils and it makes it harder on the eyes. It's already a bit of a strain with the current conditions of heavy mirage (100 degrees outside) and distortion from far distances. The vignetting makes it a bit hard to focus sometimes. I've actually been dialing back to 15x or so at longer ranges, just to minimize the effect.

    Currently I have a 30moa base, but tomorrow I should be receiving a 20.6moa Spuhr mount, to make for a total of 50moa. This should hopefully dampen the issue a little bit from the top ranges (and the rifle is rarely shot at 100 yards, so its not a big deal there).

    Anyone else ever notice this?
     
    Last edited:
    Been discussed here before several times. The 5-25 exhibits some vignetting beginning when the elevation turret is dialed closer than about 8 mils from the physical travel limits; this applies to both the upper and lower ends of the travel. It's normal behavior for the 5-25.

    I found it distracting when using it as a spotter, but when actually shooting with the rifle I'm looking at the center of the image and don't notice it.

    It is something that bothers some people, much like the tunneling from 5x to about 7.5x...
     
    As has already been said this is normal for the 5-25 S&B. Its actually more common in scopes than people seem to talk about or notice. The scopes that you see it most in are scopes with exceptionally wide FOV's and it also seems more prevalent in FFP scopes.