high end, high magnification optics

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blackburbot

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I am looking at outfitting my rifle with a new optic. The rifle is a DTA HTI in .375cheytac. So its intended purpose is to hit things far out. Close shots will be in the 800yard range with shots to 2000yards and further if the wind behaves enough that day. And yes, I have the space to do this safely and I know what this distance looks like and the troubles/fun with it. I want sfp because I am used to this and like it. Also I have range finders that tell me the distance bettet than I can measure out and typically shooting at a calibrated magnification. The scopes that I am looking at are.
1. March X in 5-50x56. I have one of these already on my .338LM and like it because of the high magnification range and top end adjustment. SFP, 1/8clicks 60 MOA total elevation
2. Schmidt and Bender 12-50x56 with P4 fine in SFP. Multi-turn with 1/8moa clicks 75moa total elevation.
3. IOR terminator 12-52x56, SFP 1/4MOA 100MOA total elevation.

I have no experiance behind the S&B or the IOR so judging optic quality and overall proformance is where I am asking help with. There are not too many reviews on the S&B 12-50 but tons on the 5-25, so I was assuming that the clarity and functionality is about the same. Also their isnt much on the IOR anywhere on the net.

All three scope are pretty much same price and delivery times so that wont be a deciding factor.

The March seems like very nice glass, has illumination, side parralax. Turrets are good and repeatable. Never measured to see if they are true 1/8moaI tend to leave mine on 40x for just about every shooting application. Mirage does come into play, but usually my shooting is fall to spring time. One draw back is 60moa travel elevation. Running 40moa bases right now so have full travel available. But you are pushing the limits of its range.

The S&B....well its a S&B, but how does it proform and is it really the "bench mark" optic. It doesn't have illumination, but how often do you really use this feature... The 75moa is nicer and should be all that is required for any shooting. But how are the "window" slots on the elevation. Do the get dirt/dust/ debris jammed in them. How good are they really?

The IOR....the glasd is susposed to be from Schott from Germany, so super clear/super crisp. But had a "mid-tube" parralax, similar to a front parralax adjustment.
 
S&B. Hands down , clarity is amazing adjustments are dead on and repeatable . And in my opinion more robust then the march or IOR

Iv owned 6 over the years , one 12-50 and the rest 5-25. The eye relief and eye box on the 12-50 gets a bit close and small at 50x. And on a heavy recoiling rifle may leave a bit to be desired . As I'm sure you know clarity makes up for magnification , you may want to consider a 5-25 model, what sort of shooting are you doing ? 25x is plenty for banging steel and rocks at any distance .

At 2k yards I'd highly suggest swapping to the FFP game , it's much easier the constantly change your wind call with hold overs the. Always having to dial . In the 15 seconds it takes to look up dial , reset sight picture you've probably missed that window for your shot and are back to fiddling around ... Just some advice / a thought
 
It is a great article. Very impresed with it, very indepth. He thought of things that I haven't thought of like actually measuring how much your reticle moves with turret changes, or measuring actual magnification power. Guess I am just kinda nieve thinking that you actually get what is on the label, Especially with $2500+ equipment. The one thing that I am struggling with is the lack of love with high magnification. I like being able to see holes in paper at 500+yards and not spending $800+ on a spotting scope to do what a scope that actually is a little less pricy than the 5-25x models can do. That was one thing that attracted me to the March 5-50x. same bottom end power but more than most spotting scopes on the high end.
 
Considering the $$ already spent on that rig, the time taken/to be taken to work up a load for it, I say the you get exactly what you want (making a short of list of features and ranking them in importance).

I don't see it as a lack of love for high magnification, but rather the fact that it's not everyone who needs to see holes @ 2000 yards!

Btw - would love to see it once it's complete :)
 
I have some pictures of it along with a buddies DTA in .338LM in the precision rifle forum under DTA ####. It has my March X 5-50 on it, stolen from my ATRS .338LM. Slapped the scope on to do some initial testing with factory HSM ammo with 350gr sierra matchkings. Once I get some ammo made up and the final scope decision made I will post a good write up on it
 
I have two S+B Pmii 12-50x56 both with P4F reticle. One (with 1/4 MOA clicks) rests on my PGW Coyote and the other (with 1/8 MOA clicks) sits atop my Barnard P F/Open rig. I will say this: the S+B's are the best scopes I have ever used - they are (as expected) better than the NF NXS and NF BR that I own and they are superior also to the March 8-80 that I was fortunate enough to have loaned to me for review.

I have never has an issue with dirt / dust getting into the window slots on my S+B's. I will make one negative comment though - the way that the S+B turrets turn makes it easy, especially on windage, to put on too much adjustment when wearing gloves. I know this doesn't sound very technical, but it is almost like the clicks are too close together. A picayune point but at the price point I am picky. This issue would not, however, stop me buying another if I could afford it as everything else about the scopes are simply first-class.

Ultimate_Monkey makes a very good point above re the 5-25 and FFP - something to strongly consider.

Finally, congrats on the purchase of a very fine rifle.
 
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