Scopes in the 1500-3000 bracket

RogyBear

RogyBear

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Looking to get some glass for a new build that just got completed. Im looking in the 1500-3000 range. Looking for some opinions from folks who have gotten hands on with them or owned them. The build its going on is a lightweight sub 8lb 6.5CM and Im looking to keep the weight to a minimum. The options Ive looked at and am considering are:

Vortex Viper PST
Athlon Ares ETR
Athlon Cronus
Eotech vudu
Nightforce NX8
Minox LR 5-25
Vortex Razor G2

I know the Razor is more or less the bar for performance in this area and I dont mind it at all but the almost 50oz weight makes me shy away as Im not keen on tacking another 3lb of weight on a rifle I want to keep light. I havent found much info on the Minox and from what is on their site it looks pretty promising and competitive with the upper scopes in my budget.

Just looing to hear some opinions from anyone who has experience with one or more of the scopes Im looking at.

Thanks for any and all info in advance
 
I can't help for the scope but if you want to keep the weight to a minimum, have a look at the DNZ game reaper scope mounts !
 
I put the Razor up there cause it tends to be in talks for mid tier almost every time. If I was going to do PRS or competition, Id be seriously considering it, but with offerings out that are up to par with it if not better while keeping the weight down its not high on my list.
 
Leopold VX 5, or Swarovski. Keep it light
Only consider vortex if you plan to use your rifle as a hammer
15-20 power is all you need for hunting, competition is a different story.
 
RogyBear said:
I put the Razor up there cause it tends to be in talks for mid tier almost every time. If I was going to do PRS or competition, Id be seriously considering it, but with offerings out that are up to par with it if not better while keeping the weight down its not high on my list.
Click to expand...

It gets mentioned a lot due to the mountain of paid shooters/schills and an aggressive marketing team. Not the worst optic, but far from top end. Stick with Nightforce, Kahles, Schmidt and Bender, swarovski, zeiss.
 
I would consider specific features and how they apply to your shooting style.

F Class shooters will throw some of the scopes mentioned as far as they possibly could because of the moronic turret locks used these days.

Many PRS shooters seem to embrace such a feature because they don't spin the turrets anyway. To my way of thinking, its like saying I don't want a Corvette because I don't drive over the speed limit. Just because you don't regularly spin the turrets does not mean that you need the hands of a brick layer to spin the dogon thing. Lift and spin, push a button to spin, 800 foot pounds of force to spin what are they smoking?

Fast focus eye pieces is yet another moronic feature for anything but a club training gun. Take just about any scope with a fast focus eye piece and fit it in a solid mount, now wiggle that fast focus ocular lens up and down and side to side. When you do this the reticle will move in all but the best scopes. So precision shooting is out the window.

In the old days scope makers had the class and the decency to produce scopes with a locking ring for the ocular adjustment. This lock ring was put there for this very reason.

Scopes like the NightForce NSX have such a lock ring, but the entire lens housing rotates which is a PITA for flip up lens covers. I ran an ATACR in a match a few weeks back and I yanked the cover off because it was so annoying. It would rotate and interfere with bolt movement. Then I spent much of my time drying off and cleaning the lens while protecting it from the falling snow. So it makes me yearn for my old Leupold VXiii 6.5-20.

Another pet peave is zero stops... Some zero stops insist that the scope stops at exactly zero. Never below zero. Some zero stops are more forward thinking. Think of it this way... You are out shooting at 100 yards and for whatever reason you need to dial below zero. Maybe a change in ammo, maybe your zero shifted a half minute, now you need allen wrenches to set it and you may not have the time to fiddle with it just now.

If the zero stop is set to allow you to spin below zero maybe 2 to 5 MOA, then you dong get lost... Just spin to the bottom and come up to the first zero. So find a zero stop where you can get under zero, then its your choice how you use it.

Some scopes like the Burris XTRii bottom out the turret to set the zero. This creates pressure on the back lash in the threads when you get near that zero point. The first few clicks do not index accurately as it is just releasing the pre-load on the threads.

Depending on your needs, I would suggest building a pass or fail chart based on these points and eliminate those that don't qualify.
 
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I have Athlon, NF, Swarovski and Leupold.
On the bench the NF and Athlon are great but are heavy.
Hunting I switch to the Z3 and Z5 and the VX6 for lighter weight.
As mentioned the Z5 is 17 ounces while my Athlon is 27 ounces. Then consider the rings. The Swaro uses 1" talleys versus the 30 mm Burris plus the pic rail.
For hunting I pull the pic rail, change rings and shed the better part of a pound in weight.
And I second that Jerry at Mystic is great to deal with. That is where I purchase my Athlon and other items. Top notch.
 
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