Binos...suggestions/experience requested

NavyShooter

NavyShooter

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Goodday all,

I'm in need of advice.

I need a pair of binos. I need them for service rifle.

I need to be able to observe fall of shot at distances out to 500 meters, and I'm not supposed to use a spotting scope.

10X is the minimum magnification I'd like to use.

I'd like rubber coated for durability.

Objective lens at least 50mm

What options are there for me?

Price-range up to about $200-ish.

NS
 
... Bit off the specific purpose you're looking for, but based on Marine use, it's going to be tough to keep the cost down without resorting to "used" ..... Fuijon produce a decent glass, not sure about the current price/models available. One thought on the "Rubber Armour" a cheap, although tacky looking, is to use pipe insulation to cushion impact(s)... if necessary, hold in place with green/camo duct tape. Check out some of the Goodwill/Salvation Army stores as well, as sometimes there's a treasure there, and getting the lens "aligned" is cheaper than buying new. ..... Good Luck with your quest ! ..... David K.
 
Good glass.

I think that Steiner optics are more than our friend wants to lay out. You make check out the Russian glasses that I are out there. I picked up a kickass pair of 20x60 years ago at a gun show when the Russians were just breaking into the north american market. I paid $175.00 (show special), and my bud who was into astronomy checked them out and pronounced the glass as excellent plus. Do some web research, and maybe check out some of the buy and sell forums here, or craigslist.ca in your area. Hope this helps!
 
... "Flea-Bay" would be another source, ex-military B&L maybe ?... Cost is going to make this a really "challenging quest !" ..... David K.
 
Get on Flea bay and look for a set of zeiss nva's or wexlar-hensholt they will usually be 7x30 or 8x30-40. The clarity from edge to edge is as good as 90% of the top end glass. You focus each eyepiece for your eyes and no focusing afterwards.The right ocular will have a ranging reticule in it.
These glasses are used military and armour covered. They range in price from $150-$350 most times. The best seem to come out of Germany and are usually described pretty accurately.
I have a set of the Zeiss nva's i use for guiding and they will go up against most of our guests top end glass.
 
you want to get yourself a pair of porro prism bino's. at $200, anything that's roof is going to be crappy in comparison (it's cheaper to manufacture porro, so if a porro and a roof are the same price, chances are the roof is the inferior product).

Leupold makes some nice stuff, so does Nikon, check out there Action Extreme II line (not the non II line), they're usually affordable and for what you want, they'll be good enough.

if you can boost your budget any, consider grabbing a pair of Canon 10x30 IS from the US (about $325). 30mm is less then 50mm, sure, but the IS makes the 10x30's seem like they're on a tripod and you'll see more due to the stable image then with the 10x50's being hand held.

some really nice bino's are the William Optics ED line...tho I think they're out of your price range. I did see a pair of the 7x50's being sold for about $215 used (from a fellow I trust and respect too). PM me if you want a link and referral to what I'm talking about.
 
Nikon Action Extreme EX 12X50. Make sure it is the Extreme version of the Action line up. They make a 16X but that might narrow the field of view too much.

These are superb binos equal to those that cost many times more. If you search on the web, you should be able to find them WELL UNDER $200.

I use them to spot out to 1000m and the resolution is amazing.

Porro prism binos are bulkier but give you a much better depth of field. Catching the trace with these binos is easy. So is watching the mirage.

Jerry
 
Cameraland shows them as a special order item in availability.

I'm going to do some calling around on the 12x50s, I note that they are identical in size to the 10x50s.

NS
 
I also agree to check with CameraLand. Doug is very helpful and the prices on quality binocs is excellent. I think they just came back from a show so the demos are on sale.
 
NavyShooter said:
Goodday all,


I need to be able to observe fall of shot at distances out to 500 meters, and I'm not supposed to use a spotting scope.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on your requirements? I don’t get what you mean by observing “the fall of shot”. Are you referring to bullet holes on the target or are you referring to see the target being strike down.

500 yards is a long way to spot bullet hole. I can barely see bullet holes at 300 yards using a 60x spotting scope. I am not sure if a pair of binoculars would be any good for spotting targets at 500 yards (regardless of price).
 
any bino over 7x50 is really hard to hold and focus at long distances. 10x is an example of this...that why the marine industry uses 7x50, unless you are on a battleship! a good spotting scope for looking at targets is the way to go. that why they have a tripod...to keep the scope on the target. steiners are the way to go for binos......nato military standard. the good deals from the usa are over.....they won't ship to canada....the rifle scope restriction.
 
You are correct can14, especially as a person's eyes get older. I used to rely exclusively on 10 power binos for all of my hunting but my eyes just can't handle that magnification for long periods and more so I've switched to some 8 power binos. It's amazing though, I think I actually spot more as a result! The low maginification for marine folks is due to the fact that they are using the binos primarily from a moving platform so high magnification glass is out but even for hunters, 10x is about tops without the use of a tripod.
 
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