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Rifle Scopes Should I sell my scope?

mohicanfly

Private
Minuteman
Jul 27, 2014
11
2
I recently ordered a Vortex 6-24x50 Diamondback Tactical FFP from optics planet. They called to say it was out of stock but offered to replace it with a Vortex 6-24x50 Viper HS-T SFP. I said yes since the glass quality would be better and have more bells and whistles. Now I'm questioning whether I should try to sell it and buy a ffp since I want to try shooting tactical matches and prs. Any advice?
 
I recently ordered a Vortex 6-24x50 Diamondback Tactical FFP from optics planet. They called to say it was out of stock but offered to replace it with a Vortex 6-24x50 Viper HS-T SFP. I said yes since the glass quality would be better and have more bells and whistles. Now I'm questioning whether I should try to sell it and buy a ffp since I want to try shooting tactical matches and prs. Any advice?
Id sell you will want FFP shooting matches
 
Another vote for the Argos BTR. They're on sale for crazy cheap on amazon . Great scope for the money. I've dialed out to 1200 many times with no problems.
 
At least I paid 450 instead of full retail, still the wrong move on my part.

Return it and get your money back. 450 for an hs-t is pretty good price from what I have seen, too high for the DB tac tho. I was able to get an athlon ares from cameraland for 599.99 and that is a pretty good deal and will say it is better than the hs-t. Has a similar reticle as the diamondback if you liked that reticle.
 
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Return it and get your money back. 450 for an hs-t is pretty good price from what I have seen, too high for the DB tac tho. I was able to get an athlon ares from cameraland for 599.99 and that is a pretty good deal and will say it is better than the hs-t. Has a similar reticle as the diamondback if you liked that reticle.
Eurooptic says to not mount it and expect a refund, he has mounted it and shot it a couple times. Their minimum restock is 20%, from 450 thats 360 bucks. If he could sell it for 400 that would be the better alternative.
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OP, you could run it with what you got, its just second focal plane and a limited reticle, sort of the opposite way that prs comp is moving. If there is a monthly club match you could try it there and see if t works for you before selling it. But if you arent wanting to compete heavily then its fine for plinking. I just hate my cousins hst, its trouble every time he comes to shoot out but thats not necessarily all on the scope.
 
Eurooptic says to not mount it and expect a refund, he has mounted it and shot it a couple times. Their minimum restock is 20%, from 450 thats 360 bucks. If he could sell it for 400 that would be the better alternative.
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OP, you could run it with what you got, its just second focal plane and a limited reticle, sort of the opposite way that prs comp is moving. If there is a monthly club match you could try it there and see if t works for you before selling it. But if you arent wanting to compete heavily then its fine for plinking. I just hate my cousins hst, its trouble every time he comes to shoot out but thats not necessarily all on the scope.
Eurooptic says to not mount it and expect a refund, he has mounted it and shot it a couple times. Their minimum restock is 20%, from 450 thats 360 bucks. If he could sell it for 400 that would be the better alternative.
View attachment 7041615



OP, you could run it with what you got, its just second focal plane and a limited reticle, sort of the opposite way that prs comp is moving. If there is a monthly club match you could try it there and see if t works for you before selling it. But if you arent wanting to compete heavily then its fine for plinking. I just hate my cousins hst, its trouble every time he comes to shoot out but thats not necessarily all on the scope.


I guess I read it as he had not gotten the hs-t yet, but yeah if he has gotten it and mounted then things change.
 
getting into solid shooting positions will prob be more of a limiting factory than your reticle/focal plane. that said, i have recently sold two nf nxs's on two of my LR rifles and replaced them with vortex razor hd2 ffp scopes. one less thing to worry about (reticle hash mark values at less than full magnification). but i've had those sfp nxs's for years and don't feel they held me back too much.
 
OP, why do you think YOU need ffp? If it's because of ranging, you could always leave it on 18 and treat it like a fixed power. I have one too, and probably over paid for mine too (even with the sale price). But I feel like it's a fine scope. Not the latest or the greatest, but still solid. Don't let the haters talk you out of liking your scope. Unless you just want to upgrade. Good luck!
 
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OP, why do you think YOU need ffp? If it's because of ranging, you could always leave it on 18 and treat it like a fixed power. I have one too, and probably over paid for mine too (even with the sale price). But I feel like it's a fine scope. Not the latest or the greatest, but still solid. Don't let the haters talk you out of liking your scope. Unless you just want to upgrade. Good luck!
Treating it like a fixed 18 is the default plan right now. My only concern is close shots around the 100yd mark where 18x might be excessive.
 
If you have any hopes of shooting PRS, I'd sell that real quick. You're going to be in positions where you need to go less than 18x, and you'll still want the reticle for wind holds. That scope really isn't suited for PRS.

I personally go fixed-power SWFA under $500. I don't trust cheap Chinese scopes to dial properly. But maybe others have had better luck.
 
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I suppose if I could get around 4 or so I could just get an athalon
I hear great things about swfa but I think being able to zoom down would be an asset. Just have to figure out if optics planet will work with me on a refund or if I have to try to sell it. If i can pretty much make a relatively even trade I'd be pretty happy.
 
Well one thing is for sure. If you're going to get rid of it, do it now. The value isn't going to increase from here. OTOH, maybe value is near enough to rock bottom that you should keep it around as a back up.
 
why sell you know you are going to get another gun probably pretty soon you could just use it on that till you find another . or like what others said you sell it maybe a little less than you paid for it in the first place or if you can return it try that - the restocking fee . me i would keep for kids birthday or buy and mount on a 22 lr the options are yours to choose .
 
Good news, it looks like they'll accept a full return for store credit or money back with a $7.00 deduction so that looks like the good call. Now if I can just pick a decent replacement I'm off to the races! Other than the lack of zero-stop I still like the diamondback quite a bit.
 
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Though it doesn’t have a true zero stop, it’s zero reset system has always returned right back to my zero after some dialing. I zeroed mine at 100 yards unscrewed the cap reset the turret & it seems to be returning pretty accurately
 
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I suppose if I could get around 4 or so I could just get an athalon
I hear great things about swfa but I think being able to zoom down would be an asset. Just have to figure out if optics planet will work with me on a refund or if I have to try to sell it. If i can pretty much make a relatively even trade I'd be pretty happy.
Zooming down is an asset, but reliable tracking is an absolute must. I just don't trust anything in the sub-$500 made in China to do it reliably. I'm sure some of them do, but I've seen too many that don't.

I just bought an Athlon Midas myself. It's got good glass, nice turrets, and a really nice reticle. Doesn't track well at all. I fully expected that because it retails for about $400 and is made in China. If you expect anything different, then you're setting yourself up for failure.

At a bare minimum, you could get an SWFA 3-15 SFP. They go for about $450 used and have a really nice reticle. Shooting at distance, you're going to be at 15x anyway so the subtensions will be correct. You'll just have to know for shorter shots when you lower the mag, your subtensions are going to be wrong.

Once you get up into the $600 range, you can look at the SWFA 3-15 FFP, Nikon FX1000, and you're not far from a used Burris XTYII 3-15 or PST Gen 2 3-15 or a used Athlon Ares (I think, not 100% sure on pricing here). But if you're really set on $400 and you want zoom, I'd strongly consider the SWFA 3-15 SFP. Or, get an FFP Athlon and just plan to use the reticle for holdovers for everything.
 
Zooming down is an asset, but reliable tracking is an absolute must. I just don't trust anything in the sub-$500 made in China to do it reliably. I'm sure some of them do, but I've seen too many that don't.

I just bought an Athlon Midas myself. It's got good glass, nice turrets, and a really nice reticle. Doesn't track well at all. I fully expected that because it retails for about $400 and is made in China. If you expect anything different, then you're setting yourself up for failure.

At a bare minimum, you could get an SWFA 3-15 SFP. They go for about $450 used and have a really nice reticle. Shooting at distance, you're going to be at 15x anyway so the subtensions will be correct. You'll just have to know for shorter shots when you lower the mag, your subtensions are going to be wrong.

Once you get up into the $600 range, you can look at the SWFA 3-15 FFP, Nikon FX1000, and you're not far from a used Burris XTYII 3-15 or PST Gen 2 3-15 or a used Athlon Ares (I think, not 100% sure on pricing here). But if you're really set on $400 and you want zoom, I'd strongly consider the SWFA 3-15 SFP. Or, get an FFP Athlon and just plan to use the reticle for holdovers for everything.
Not absolutely set on that price point but would like to end up somewhere around there and I think if I went SFP I would just stick with what I have. That's why I settled on a diamondback tactical the first go around. For FFP adjustable power in that price bracket my options seem to be Athlon, Swfa and Vortex.
 
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Not absolutely set on that price point but would like to end up somewhere around there and I think if I went SFP I would just stick with what I have. That's why I settled on a diamondback tactical the first go around. For FFP adjustable power in that price bracket my options seem to be Athlon, Swfa and Vortex.
I get it. You're just starting to create a situation where your requirements and your budget don't match. IMHO, it's very difficult to get reliable tracking, variable magnification, FFP, and <$400 all together. You need to pick which one is least important. If variable mag, FFP, and <$400 are the most important, then accept that you probably won't have reliable tracking and you'll need to use holds for everything. Nothing wrong with that approach as long as you know that going in. It would be a bit abnormal and would limit your accuracy at long range where you may have no aiming point in your reticle where you need to hold.

If that's not acceptable, you either need to give in on FFP or variable zoom.

So my only point is that you can increase your budget up to $550-$600 to get all of the other requirements met, or if you stay down at $400, then you'll have to live with a limitation that wouldn't be acceptable to me.

I shot with a 16x SWFA fixed power for a long time. That or a 12x SWFA fixed power would probably be my recommendation in your situation.
 
What would you recommend in the 550-600 bracket?
SWFA 3-15 FFP, Nikon FX1000, used Vortex PST Gen 2 3-15, used Burris XTR II 3-15

Those are porbably in order of least expensive to most expensive. The Burris and Vortex might be a hair higher, but they're in that range. I might be missing a couple, but there are a few to pick from.
 
SWFA 3-15 FFP, Nikon FX1000, used Vortex PST Gen 2 3-15, used Burris XTR II 3-15

Those are porbably in order of least expensive to most expensive. The Burris and Vortex might be a hair higher, but they're in that range. I might be missing a couple, but there are a few to pick from.
Out of curiosity, at what range would you consider zoom to be a limiting factor with a 15x?
 
Out of curiosity, at what range would you consider zoom to be a limiting factor with a 15x?
Depends on how big the target is. I've shot out to 800 with it on 2MOA and 1MOA targets. I would have liked more, but didn't have trouble making impacts. I have taken it out to 1,100 and felt that it was borderline inadequate for 1MOA targets at that range.
 
SWFA 3-15 FFP, Nikon FX1000, used Vortex PST Gen 2 3-15, used Burris XTR II 3-15

Those are porbably in order of least expensive to most expensive. The Burris and Vortex might be a hair higher, but they're in that range. I might be missing a couple, but there are a few to pick from.

Would you throw the Midas TAC into your line up?
 
I have a 6-24x diamondback & for $325 it looks nice but not for competition, I wouldn’t trust a Chinese scope. It works nicely for shooting my sps Tactical 223 at short to medium ranges. For competition you need to move up to the $1500+ range like a dmr2 pro, 56mm mk5hd, razor. I got the fx1000 6-24x, pst2 5-25, & this diamondback & they are all good for having fun shooting with friends & family but not for xlr or comp. I took the pic with the diamondback at 24x at 6:30 as the sun was going down & I was surprised how bright & clear it is
 

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Do you need FFP?
If this is a good running example and the reticle works for you, you have a good running rig.
You will be advised till kingdom come to upgrade.
This is spoken from a guy who has done pretty well with his SFP scopes while shooting PRS. Is it best? Maybe not, but be the shooter and practice with what you have, then move on when you are really ready to do so.
 
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This is spoken from a guy who has done pretty well with his SFP scopes while shooting PRS. Is it best? Maybe not, but be the shooter and practice with what you have, then move on when you are really ready to do so.
One of my cousins has done well in prs with his sfp 22x nxs. If you are shooting a lot & are shooting competition you are going to need a reliable scope that tracks & can hold up to recoil. I have confidence in my pmii & mk5hd but not my cheaper scopes but they are for fun not comp. You don’t need an expensive scope for occasional shooting but for comp you should spend some coin
 
I don't know, it's your scope you decide, If you feel that you have to sell it then sell it. In case you decide to sell it, I know a perfect app for you. You can read more about it at https://arrestyourdebt.com/mercari-review/. I really like this app, and can really it recommends for you. It's very simple to use, and it has a lot of users, so you will sell it fast. Last month I wanted to sell my old computer, and it went away in 1 day, that's fascinating. So good luck with your scope, you better chose wisely what you want to do with it.
 
I don't know, it's your scope you decide, If you feel that you have to sell it then sell it. In case you decide to sell it, I know a perfect app for you. You can read more about it at https://arrestyourdebt.com/mercari-review/. I really like this app, and can really it recommends for you. It's very simple to use, and it has a lot of users, so you will sell it fast. Last month I wanted to sell my old computer, and it went away in 1 day, that's fascinating. So good luck with your scope, you better chose wisely what you want to do with it.

Did you see the O/P posted this 21 months ago? Probably a little late for your advice.