What NF??

weeman6669

weeman6669

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I think I have narrowed it down to the Night Force 5.5-22x56 NXS or the 8-32x56NXS... What would be the better mag. Or any other scope I should consider before ordering one of these.

It is being mounted on a .300 win mag. Will be used for hunting, and I'm starting out for long range shooting 500+yds.

I'm also not sure on what reticle to get (np-r1, mill dot, mlr)
 
If you're using it for hunting, 8x32 is probably too much unless it's just for sitting still somewhere and taking only long range non-moving targets.

I just bought my first NF, did buy the nxs8x32 but it's a range gun only. 50 rds, only used at 100m but by gawd is that clear and nice to look thru. Looking forward to taking it out much longer once I do a bit more load development.

5x15 or (?)x18 would be lots for 500m, I have 2@ 6X24 Elite 4200's and they are beautiful out to 700m which is the end of the local range. But 1/2 MOA at 700m is TINY even at 20-24x. And running animals are somewhat hard to pickup and track with a high powered scope.
 
I've got the 8-32x NF and i must say it has very sweet optics. I also have an 8.5 - 25 Mk4 Leupold and really the glass between the 2 is very close. The NF is probably a tad bit better in terms of FOV..but like people are saying the 8 is too much magnification on the low end the 5.5 -22 is probably a much more versatile range. I would go with that as 14x is all you need out to 500...and 22 will get you to 1000; mirage starts to get really nasty the higher you go so at 32x sometimes it's unusable anyway. I've got the R2 reticle and it's nice because the reticle is in MOA as are the turrets, a very useful and quick combination. the R1 is similar only it has half the hash marks i believe? So it boils down to what you want it for, if you're doing hunting as well get the 5.5 -22 you won't be dissapointed!
 
Redhouse said:
If you're using it for hunting, 8x32 is probably too much unless it's just for sitting still somewhere and taking only long range non-moving targets.

I just bought my first NF, did buy the nxs8x32 but it's a range gun only. 50 rds, only used at 100m but by gawd is that clear and nice to look thru. Looking forward to taking it out much longer once I do a bit more load development.

5x15 or (?)x18 would be lots for 500m, I have 2@ 6X24 Elite 4200's and they are beautiful out to 700m which is the end of the local range. But 1/2 MOA at 700m is TINY even at 20-24x. And running animals are somewhat hard to pickup and track with a high powered scope.
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Are you referring to a 8-32 power variable or a fixed 8 power with a 32 mm obj? There is a difference.
 
I don't recommend NF scopes for hunting. They are big and heavy and the reticles are VERY fine. If you must, the NP-1 reticle would be your best bet as it is coarser that the rest and much easier to pick up against background clutter. The 3.5-15x50 is the smallest of the scopes you indicated (2.5-10x24 would be alot handier). As for rings, the choice should be obvious Nightforce.
 
redleg said:
I don't recommend NF scopes for hunting. They are big and heavy and the reticles are VERY fine. If you must, the NP-1 reticle would be your best bet as it is coarser that the rest and much easier to pick up against background clutter. The 3.5-15x50 is the smallest of the scopes you indicated (2.5-10x24 would be alot handier). As for rings, the choice should be obvious Nightforce.
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This is good council, the NXS series are bulky and heavier than most people like for a carry rig. Having said that the weight and bulk get's you very high quality optics and it is probably one of the toughest scopes made. The 2.5x 10 would be a much better choice for a hunting rig.

Nightforce or Badger Ordnance rings would be an excellent way to go, a little more money but very high quality.
 
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I'm thinking about the 5.5-22x with either the NP-1 or 2 reticle for my 300WM. I need to do some squinting through them to decide which I like best.
 
I have been using 5.5x22x56s on several of my hunting rigs, I tried the 8x32x56 but the field of view and the lower setting of 8 power I found it hard to get fast target aquisition, so opted for the 5.5x22x56 R1.
The real question I guess would be what type of hunting, for thick bush big magnification is useless. For prairie or plains game then higher magnification is very useful.
The other thing to think of is the difference in light gathering, the more the magnification the less light is transmitted to the eye.
 
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