Re: Schmidt & Bender vs. NightForce... Let me have it
Tyler, some excellent points indeed. As for Levi's we do our best not to send our money their way; however, we would all be surprised to find out how many mfr's are "on the other team" as you say
My gosh it can get overwhelming, just looking at your list I realize how much money I've dropped into this over the years, and I don't even shoot competitively (yet), and now that prices are so much higher it makes it even more difficult.
Speaking of the Bushnell DMR that is the one high on my list right now. It has really impressed me in terms of price vs. performance, and with a limited budget to mod my current rifle and get a new scope and some other accessories, the money I could save by purchasing something under $1500 can go toward other needs.
At the end of the day, most of us purchase a scope to put a bunch of little bullets into the tightest group possible, and if you can do that with a Barska 3-9x then who am I to argue with you. I guess the question we all need to ask ourselves is "what is my goal" and then consider the factors that affect that goal.
I love that the shooting sports can be so diverse and yet achieve similar results. If your goal is to shoot sub moa at 100 yards then you can be shooting a Winchester, Remington, Savage or custom build and all can achieve similar results (within reason). Hand that same build with the same ammo to another shooter and they may shoot better or worse. We have such good equipment available to us today that if we're shooting horrible groups it is probably not the equipment but the shooter and we only have ourselves to blame. The old adage "practice makes perfect" is really true in this case. Unless you have a boatload of money lying around, be content with what you have and practice the heck out of it, once you realize you've reached the limitations of your equipment (and not your shooting ability) then look at upgrading. Ha, even writing this I realize that often I don't practice what I preach as I too get caught up in the "gotta have" mode... it's a tough one to shake.
I'm sorry, I think I really got off topic here but just thinking out loud.