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Rifle Scopes US Optics
- Thread starter donno
- Start date
A bunch of threads should have popped up as you were typing the title to your new thread, and those threads would answer your question I think. It’s a pretty cool feature the site has with preventing tons of duplicate threads that are harder to navigate when searching for answers that have been addressed over the years.
Heads up, there's a lot of trash in the other threads. DeathBeforeDismount or his alt, ClamHammer747 has a vendetta against them and pops into every iteration of the topic to trash talk based on his SN3s from 15 years ago. Foundation line is great. I've been running mine in PRS for two years and it's never given me any grief. Eyebox isn't super huge, but I'd call the eyebox close to a Razor3 or MK5.
US Optics used to be the cream of the crop 12ish years ago, they always came up in the conversations alongside Schmidt & Bender and Premier Reticles. Someone did a detailed history of them a while back, there were ownership changes and then moving facilities to a new state and stuff like that. US Optics used to be more of a semi-custom shop, you could even design your own reticles and have them put it in a scope.
The Foundation series are an older design, still good optically but while longer scopes can be more forgiving, the 5-25 seems to be too long for most. They also have very limited FOV at bottom mag, so much I would say they likely tunnel but if published numbers are correct they open up very quickly after tunneling to offer very wide FOV at the top of the magnification.
Their pricing seems a bit high for older designs and since they don't have the name Schmidt & Bender or Nightforce on the side it's hard for guys to justify the cost of entry. That said, if you can find a used scope for a decent price you will likely be surprised at the performance.
The Foundation series are an older design, still good optically but while longer scopes can be more forgiving, the 5-25 seems to be too long for most. They also have very limited FOV at bottom mag, so much I would say they likely tunnel but if published numbers are correct they open up very quickly after tunneling to offer very wide FOV at the top of the magnification.
Their pricing seems a bit high for older designs and since they don't have the name Schmidt & Bender or Nightforce on the side it's hard for guys to justify the cost of entry. That said, if you can find a used scope for a decent price you will likely be surprised at the performance.
I can confirm they tunnel. 1.8x-10 tunnels until about 2.5ish, 3-17 tunnels until ~4.5-5, and the 25x tunnels until ~8, give or take - similar to an ATACR.
And yes, paying their full price is like buying a Vortex at MSRP. Don't do it.
Buy with certs, used, or from EuroOptic or using a MIL/LEO discount.
^^^ That makes sense given their specs. Does FOV appear to increase quite a bit once you get past tunneling? Some NF ATACR's and the S&B 5-25 are pretty notorious for this.
Out of curiosity, have you found them to be pretty forgiving with regard to eyebox, DOF and parallax? It has been many years since I've had a USO (mine was a 3.8-22x44 IRRC)
Thanks for the input. I wanted to get anyone’s current input, that would give it, as to the quality and features of the optics. I have just recently started a partnership (shooting and selling) for them and I think some of the same thoughts as posted here. Start with price: The Foundation line is spendy. When you tell someone, you spent 3.5k MSRP for a scope, people say that’s S&B, NF or even Kahles money. But they do have some great glass. I see the tunneling issue also on certain models. The TS line actually has some great glass for the price point. The TS 5 X 25 reminds me of the Vortex PST Gen 2 line up. 85-90% of the quality but about a third of the price. Also, not sure if anyone pays full MSRP or not anymore, but there are discounts or good sales sometimes. I also have discount codes I give out to help folks out.
They are so great that no one uses them. You should buy 10 of them based on the recommendations of people who live in fantasy land.
Make sure you buy them new, so you can loose half your money when you try to sell it. Also, stock up on snickers because when you do try to sell it for half price, you may starve to death before it actually sells.
Don't forget to grab one of the 20 year old reticles, because classics never die.
Even better is the chinese OEM versions. The Profit margins must be insane on those.
Support USO, the two sponsored PRS shooters running them need that sponsorship money to keep rolling in.
Make sure you buy them new, so you can loose half your money when you try to sell it. Also, stock up on snickers because when you do try to sell it for half price, you may starve to death before it actually sells.
Don't forget to grab one of the 20 year old reticles, because classics never die.
Even better is the chinese OEM versions. The Profit margins must be insane on those.
Support USO, the two sponsored PRS shooters running them need that sponsorship money to keep rolling in.
I mean, as you increase magnification it's obviously reducing FOV, but the FOV is very, very good once you're past tunneling. Depth of field is a bit better than an ATACR 7-35. I've never checked actual parallax, so I can't speak to that other than the eyebox on the 25x is narrow enough that it's hard to induce parallax and not see black ring on the side.
The 25x has a 52mm objective, so it lags a bit in low light vs something like a Razor3 (incredibly bright in lower light by comparison), and the eyebox is tight. The 17x has a nicer objective:magnification ratio and the eyebox is nicer. I never got to take mine out in lower light to compare though.
- Nov 3, 2010
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Maybe they’ll sponsor you since you like them so much
The NF scopes eye box to me seem to be the tightest of all high-end scopes. Also, they are coming out with a couple of new reticles for this year that will cater more to the DMR/PRS sports.
I mean you could... I dont know.... go to a few PRS matches and see what everyone is running, try a bunch of stuff out , talk to a bunch of shooters and figure out what you want.
Fantastic, that is what I was looking for.
I forget the 5-25 is only 52mm, that could be another limiting factor for some.
More like 18-20 years ago. They started slipping around 2008 or so.
The USO foundation series are great scopes. No issues with any of mine. The glass quality is superb. I think the JVCR reticle is the best out there. You won’t be disappointed.
The downfalls are that price is a bit high and the scopes are pretty long.
I would take one anyday over a Schmidt or Nightforce.
The downfalls are that price is a bit high and the scopes are pretty long.
I would take one anyday over a Schmidt or Nightforce.
When you get ready to pick one up, let me know and I can save you a few bucks.
@DeathBeforeDismount , I noticed you left a laughing emoji on my comment about the USO 5-25. I’d be interested in hearing your perspective as a PRS competitor. It doesn’t matter if a scope is more popular by the numbers, as Vortex and Leupold sponsorships can skew these.
I've never tried a USO before, but I've got my sights set on the USO 5-25. Thanks for the vote of confidence.
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