Nightforce owners close to Trenton?

shelby78

shelby78

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Kingston, Ontario
So with my Bushnell Elite 6500 sent back to the dealer from which it came it is time for something new. Not looking thru a 6500 bushnell before buying was a mistake! Assuming a product should be decent is a mistake. I am considering a Nightforce in the 5-20 something range and would love to look thru one. Super bonus would be someone that's a member from lower trent fish and game club. I'm willing to drive to meet someone to view thru there scope.

So who has a Nighforce and has also looked thru a Sightron S3? Same rules as before.. I don't want to hear bashing without having first hand experience looking thru them. I don't give a crap what the scope says on it, I want clear glass, fairly high mag, repeatable accuracy. Is there a huge distinguishable difference? There was in my opinion a huge difference from the 6500 I had compared to the Sightron. The sightron glass was much much better! I'm not rushing into a scope purchase again. My main worry is the low 20's mag max but my hope is supurb clarity will make up the difference.

I know your going to say why the jump from bushnell to nightforce? I had a sightron s3 8-32-56 and I thought it should of been better for the money. Now what I am realizing is there is a lot of junk for the money also. I like to get the best bang for the buck and the bushnell was $300 cheaper than a sightron.

I rolled the dice and the $300 difference wasen't worth the savings. The million dollar question is..... Is the price difference from a 8-32-56 Sightron to a Nightforce NSX 5.5-22-56 worth it? I will repeat, I don't care about the name, I don't care about weight, I don't care about looks.

Will the nsx be as clear at 22 as it is at 16 mag or will I only be able to run it at 18-20 before it falls apart optically? Do you fall in love with your Nightforce everytime you look thru it or say wow that was a lot of money for what it was?
 
Get a MARCH or Schmidt and Bender.

if you want crystal clear, OMG type glass, you may as well jump into the deep end of the pool.

For my eyes in the 20 something mag range, the tactical S&B's I have shot (sorry, no clue on all the letters) was as clear a glass you will look through short of super dollar spotting scopes.

If a S3 didn't work for you, the NF NXS isn't going to be any better (for some eyes, worst) - WHY I do not shoot a NF. And YES, I have looked through a bunch.

Just remember that the S&B sees through a lot of mirage so if you need to dope wind with mirage, this is NOT the scope for you.

Jerry
 
I have looked through 3 night force scopes lined up side by side and have seen first hand that they are not all as clear as the one beside them, I have experienced this also with sightron, and I have seen this with weaver. I used to get my weaver T36 scopes hand picked for clarity by the fellow I used to deal with stateside.

Clarity seams to be a scope to scope issue and not so much a brand name or model of scope, and when you look through an amazingly clear scope and run out and by the same model, compare them again side by side and guess what, they just don't compare.........
 
I'm way too far away otherwise I'd be happy to let you try my NXS. This next bit is regurgitated so take it with a grain of salt. I've been told that the 5.5-22 NXS is clearer than the 8-32 I own. I have seen this when comparing other brands. A lot of the time the lower mag options in a particular lineup are clearer. Now as far as whether or not NXS glass is worth the price over SIII I'll say you probably won't see a $900 difference. Some claim they prefer Sightron over Nightforce and some vice versa. You hear of the odd "landslide" difference but most don't see much difference if any. You're buying a beefy scope you can drop, bang around and apparently shoot without destroying it. Its entirely up to you whether the price increase is worth it. I'm happy with my NXS but maybe S&B or March is more what your eyes are dreaming of. If you do find an NF owner, please report back an unbiased opinion of any differences you notice in clarity between NF and SIII.
 
Better test is low light, but just looking through one won't show clarity until you really get behind one and compare side by side and in long distance situations.

You can shoot 22x no problem with an NSX. Hell, I shot 24x all the time on my PST no problem seeing hit marks on metal at 1000yards as long as the light was good ( bullet holes on paper at 300 as well).

I've never shot a 6500 before.
 
I've owned the elites, SIII 8-32, and currently have 5-22x50 NSX HS ZS (G7 version w/capped windage). Glass alone, I don't think you will be wowed by a step up to NF. Other factors considered, the scope feels 2x the quality and sturdiness of the Siii. The illumination is great for low light hunting. I did try a 3-15 prior to this one, but preferred the 50mm objective for size. The 3-15 did seem slightly clearer than the 5-22. If you get near the windsor area, you could try it first hand. My first choice, but more expensive would be to try a march.
 
supernova said:
I'm way too far away otherwise I'd be happy to let you try my NXS. This next bit is regurgitated so take it with a grain of salt. I've been told that the 5.5-22 NXS is clearer than the 8-32 I own. I have seen this when comparing other brands. A lot of the time the lower mag options in a particular lineup are clearer. Now as far as whether or not NXS glass is worth the price over SIII I'll say you probably won't see a $900 difference. Some claim they prefer Sightron over Nightforce and some vice versa. You hear of the odd "landslide" difference but most don't see much difference if any. You're buying a beefy scope you can drop, bang around and apparently shoot without destroying it. Its entirely up to you whether the price increase is worth it. I'm happy with my NXS but maybe S&B or March is more what your eyes are dreaming of. If you do find an NF owner, please report back an unbiased opinion of any differences you notice in clarity between NF and SIII.
Click to expand...


so what your saying here is that what you read on the internet and what you experience in real life are two totally different things????? say it ain't so.......
 
As others have stated, the NF doesn't have "wow this is clear" glass. My shooting buddy has a 5.5-22x56 NXS and I have the 6.5-20x50 Mark 4. I initially wanted a new scope because that NF was quite a step up glass wise from the Bushnell Elite I was using at the time, and the additional zoom, 22x vs 10x, was a nice bonus. After some looking around I decided I didn't care for the NF additional weight and I got a good deal on a Mark 4. Honestly, the Mark 4 is clearer. I would not have thought this initially but after having both rifles side by side it is pretty obvious. If I was going to war with it, the NF would make a better club is everything else failed. The only way for you to know is look through them yourselves. I would not rule out Vortex if something in their line up interests you. The Viper HS I have used was a nice scope, very clear. I have no experience with the Sightron but I trust Jerry's opinion. Best of luck.
 
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