Do I really need $2000 Nightforce scope?

BLACKBRIAR

BLACKBRIAR

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Currently shopping around for a new scope for the new rifle. Rem 700 in .308. The budget exists for a Nightforce (NXS 5.5-22x56) however I can be cheap at times. But do I really need to spend that kind of scratch on a scope? I will be punching paper mostly and dropping the ocassional deer/moose. I intend to push my recreational target shooting out to 500ish yards.

I've been reading positive reviews of less expensive scopes Vortex, Sightron, Bushnell and am wondering will I notice the $1000 difference?

I currently have a Bushnell elite 4200 tactical on my .223 that seems to work well at the short distances I shoot now.

So do I really need spend the big money?
 
500 yards isn't all that far in the grand scheme of things, and the glass quality on Sightron scopes is fantastic for the price point. If you really want the Nightforce, and have the budget for it, the go for it. Otherwise, it's hard to go wrong with Sightron.
 
BLACKBRIAR said:
Currently shopping around for a new scope for the new rifle. Rem 700 in .308. The budget exists for a Nightforce (NXS 5.5-22x56) however I can be cheap at times. But do I really need to spend that kind of scratch on a scope? I will be punching paper mostly and dropping the ocassional deer/moose. I intend to push my recreational target shooting out to 500ish yards.

I've been reading positive reviews of less expensive scopes Vortex, Sightron, Bushnell and am wondering will I notice the $1000 difference?

I currently have a Bushnell elite 4200 tactical on my .223 that seems to work well at the short distances I shoot now.

So do I really need spend the big money?
Click to expand...

Negative.
 
no you dont NEED to drop the $ on a NF, but high end scopes are nice, iv heard lots of good things abought sightron but havnt looked threw one, but i hear they are close to NF in optical clarity though..

if you want want us to talk you into buying it. go price out a S&B 5-25.. in the 4G range all in, the NF will seem like a good buy :p
 
nobody ever regretted spending money on high quality glass but if you want a gun to fill both hunting and target duties you have to compromise on one end or the other. the best hunting scopes are low power so you can acquire and shoot off hand without a pair of crosshairs bouncing all over the place and they have easy to see reticles like a duplex and they are often designed to always be in focus. target scopes are high power, large, heavier, and to do their job right the should have extremely simply fine reticles and they have focus knobs.

you can hunt with almost anything and you can get a hunting rifle for almost as low as you want. spend your bucks on the target gun and scope and keep it just for that purpose. keep your hunting rifle and SCOPE simple and expendible.
 
SB,NF are known to have very good glasses on their scopes. if you want clear image that's what you want to go for otherwise blurry scopes works too.
 
It is unfortunate that I do not have access to any of the scopes I'm interested in to make an informed purchase. The nearest place to me is Epps and that is 600 km away.

I bought the bushnell as a gamble 4 years ago. Which thankfully I don't regret. I hate buying without seeing the items in person. The search continues......
 
Yes, yes you do. My NightForce can see hits on steel at a mile. There are "better" scopes than NightForce, but the pocket drain is bigger.
People will tell you its "almost" as good as a NightForce, almost being the key word.
The way I look at my NightForce purchase, it only hurts once. If I don't like the lesser/cheaper scope it will hurt twice.
 
I had a Sightron SIII as a starter scope while I saved for my first NF. The Sightron was a great scope. It had good glass and had a sense of quality. One of the reasons I went with the Sightron was because they have a very good resale value. At the time I could not find a single negative review of a Sightron scope. The same could not be said for other scopes in that price range. I lost very little when I sold.

I've had a few NF scopes now and I've become a big fan. It's very hard to look at other scopes with the options, quality, and prices of NF. I agree with Tigrr, Nightforce offers a very good 'bang for your buck' in the scope industry.

My advice is if your not sure, buy the Sightron and do like I did. Once you are certain, sell and upgrade at a very small loss. Although, if the funds are available get the Nightforce. You won't be disappointed. It might be the last scope you buy :)
 
BLACKBRIAR said:
Currently shopping around for a new scope for the new rifle. Rem 700 in .308. The budget exists for a Nightforce (NXS 5.5-22x56) however I can be cheap at times. But do I really need to spend that kind of scratch on a scope? I will be punching paper mostly and dropping the ocassional deer/moose. I intend to push my recreational target shooting out to 500ish yards.

I've been reading positive reviews of less expensive scopes Vortex, Sightron, Bushnell and am wondering will I notice the $1000 difference?

I currently have a Bushnell elite 4200 tactical on my .223 that seems to work well at the short distances I shoot now.

So do I really need spend the big money?
Click to expand...


The short answer is yes...

You will only really notice the difference under difficult conditions - you know, when it really matters.

More importantly though, the full size NXS series are not really great for a carry rig. They are hefty and bulky. While you can carry them all day it will get tedious if you walk much. I have one and downsized after a few years.

Nothing with scope performance. A click is exactly a click. The low light capability is beyond most scopes. The clarity at distance is impressive. These observations are not from,"I saw one at the range qnd looked through it.", I've use Nightforce for a number of years now - great scope.

If you are only shooting to 500 yards then stay with something that huints well. The Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x32 with the NPR2 reticle is an excellent hunting scope and I do use mine throughout the off season to punch paper and ring gongs out to 500 yards.
 
BLACKBRIAR said:
It is unfortunate that I do not have access to any of the scopes I'm interested in to make an informed purchase. The nearest place to me is Epps and that is 600 km away.
Click to expand...

No it's not. Ramakkos in Sudbury is half that distance and has high ends scopes.

Never saw a nightforce there. But they have other common high end brands.
I got my Minox 4-20x50 from them.
 
Do you need it.. no....but buy the best you can afford. Id buy the Nightforce, a few months down the road you may decide on doing some shooting out to 1000 yards and more. Sightron has a solid product but Nightforce is super nice stuff and proven on big boomers.
You'll never get the full potential out of your rifle unless you have top glass, Im learning this the hard way after doing the Bushnell thing for years with disastrous results.

Cheers!!
 
The tactical will do great. I have one in 6-24x50 on a .223 yote gun. It works great past 400yds on yotes or paper. I developed my .223 load in 75 gr @ 400 yds with the Bushnell Tactical.

US Optics and NF are excellent and have very good glass and exact adjustments.
My Bushnell comes up in .228" not the stated .250."

Buy what you will not have buyers remorse over the next day.
 
I have a NXS 5.5-22x on my .308 and I have no regrets !!!
Can't go wrong with a NF !!!

You have others less expensives options :

- Leupold Mark4 , little less expensive and awesome scope
- Sightron , less expensive than a Leupold and its really a good glass
- Vortex Viper PST little less expensive than a Sightron and overall good scope

If you have the budget for a NF, go 4 it !!!
But this is just my 2 cents...
 
I have had quite a few high end scopes and dollar for dollar Nightforce is good value for money spent. Once you go to high end optics you can't go back, nor will you want to.

A friend of mine was over about a month ago shooting a Sako in 30-06 with a Burris scope, I was shooting a PGW in 7WSM with a Premier Reticles and a custom Remington in 260AI with a US Optics. So the discussion came around to recoil and I offered him to try out my two rifles for comparison to his. He didn't give a $hit about recoil anymore after looking though the scopes and the next day ordered a USO SN3 3.8-22x58. He had gotten used to shooting with crappy glass and had no idea what he was missing.

Good glass is never a bad investment no matter how expensive.

Ivo
 
its pretty clear you cant go wrong with the NF, the SB and USO will always be a higher price point but you get what you pay for. If your only pushing out to 500m +/- its not totally necessary but definitely a luxury. Might be over kill for hunting, and you'll wanna punch yourself when you ring it off a tree or scratch it up tracking through the bush. Most will tend to have two rigs for that reason alone. I'd suggest the Sightron SIII aswell fair price and great to get you started...with the money you save you can buy a rifle for hunting and slap on a cheaper scope more appropriate for that.

Vortex is another option, at your price range the PST would probably be your best bet, certainly comes with all the gizmos (FFP, zero stop, EBR reticle ect...) but you'll hear mixed reviews. best of luck
 
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