New Sightron SVSS 10-50X60 - A Quick Review and Comparison to S&B/March

[Mystic Precision]

NFiA - I am sure you understand my continued love for the SIII. I am a solid fan and will still use a custom shop reticle swap 10-50 LRMOA on my backup rifle. It still offers the ability to "see" mirage that many scopes just can't match ( I consider mirage my friend). And that has let me podium in difficult air.

And when comparing to other top tier brands, I have compared to S&B, March and have sat behind alot of NF products, the SIII's can certainly hold their own.

But the SVSS is simple better in all the major areas I consider important for F class and LR shooting. However, it is heavy scope (41.5oz) and it will use 34mm rings which can be heavy too (waiting on EGW rings which are supposed to be under 6oz) - current Leupold steel rings in the pictures are 12.8oz.

For some set ups, that is alot of weight to work around. Similar to the NF NXS and S&B. Many have gone to NF comp, March and SIII's because they are so much lighter and use 30mm tubes so they have lighter ring options as well.

BUT if you can find a way to make the weight work, the SVSS will change your opinion on what a top tier optic is.

I am sorry but the Vortex Razor spotting scope is not in the top tier glass environment so mucking with focus really doesn't change much of anything in the image.

With the SVSS, it does and you can pick up an amazing amount of detail way out there in clean air. The amount of clarity and resolution will challenge alot of spotting scopes. It certainly did the S&B and March in my review. Brightness is not what you are after. The SVSS is not what I would call a bright scope at high mag... it doesn't need to be for daylight target shooting.

Of course, it is plenty bright at 10X.

I believe the 34mm tube was necessary to ensure the quality of optic stayed even when the scope was used at the extremes of travel. This is one of very few scopes that does not loose optical clarity, brightness and resolution even when the knobs are cranked into the corners. A huge bonus when the winds are blowing and you are shooting into the next time zone.

Think of the common scope side focus as a 1/2 min click adjustment. The SVSS as a 1/8 min click. Yes, you can get the zero of the 1/2 min on center most of the time but many times, it is a PITA and you only ever just get close. With the 1/8 min click, you can dial that V bull right in easily and center that group.

With excellent glass you will see how effective the focus can be as you draw in detail that you simply wouldn't expect to or better, never experienced.

Don't think of the SVSS as being $1k more then the SIII, better the SVSS is $1k less then S&B and March. If you want to play at the top of the competition scope food chain, the SVSS is a real contender

If you can afford the weight, it really is impressive.

Jerry

 

[Mystic Precision]

Well, it is pretty darn hot in the OK valley this weekend. So, great time to heat stress the rifle, scope and load. Left it in a case in the truck with a cabin temp of 42C for a few hours.

At the range, the temp in the shade was 32C... in the sun, a whole lot hotter (40C or thereabouts). Hot enough that the comb was pretty darn uncomfortable to touch. Let it sit in the sun for a bit while I got set up and left the ammo in the closed plastic box beside it. All got pretty darn hot.

Well, this is the preferred load for this rifle and I guess it works just fine in the hot too. The distance was 250yds in light twitchy winds. Mostly coming left to right with a bit of a tail wind. Velocity definitely was not very high so I kept my aim as indicated for the 4 shots.

Saw the first two cut and the third disappeared into the hole. Nice.

Read the lines on the target to get my correction so I am right on the aiming point. Came down 1 min, to the left 3/4min and sent a shot. With the wind coming left to right, I was plenty happy to see the shot hit just off point of aim.

And yes, the Krieger was freaking hot to the touch when done. It is very common for a barrel to start opening up when it gets really hot. Krieger has a knack of making barrels to excel in the heat. The ambient temp and sunshine had the barrel uncomfortably hot.... then the shooting began

I am very happy with the rifle and work done by Terry at Black Art Rifle. He continues to make my rifles to similar tight tolerances and obviously, well cut chambers.

The SVSS continues to impress. Despite the searing heat, the image was plenty clear enough to aim with bughole precision at 250yds. Then being able to see the target lines made it easy to count off the squares for the correction.

Me thinks, the scope tracks just fine.

So the testing is done, now the practising can really get serious.

And why pray tell am I leaving my rifle and ammo in the sun to cook? Because many of the matches I attend are in very high temps - last years Phoenix AZ had temps in the high 30's/40C in the shade. You learn real fast that gear not vetted under those conditions are going to poop the bed.

And no matter how temp stable a powder and load may be, when you go through that level of extreme temp, better know how the tuning is going to work out. So yes, learnt from hard experience testing in the mid 20's then showing up in the high 30's may not lead to the results you were expecting.

Testing never ends.

Fun, fun, fun

Jerry