Zeiss or Sightron for Lamping and Varminting

[legion]

I have decided to invest in a once in a lifetime scope for lamping and long range varminting, the choice is the sightron s111 8-32 with the fine duplex with target dot, or a zeiss 6-24x56 with no 4 reticule and target turrets.

Every thing is a compromise- is the reticule of the sightron suitable and is the magnification of the zeiss large enough.

What else is in the running for under a grand, your advice is as always much appreciated.

[Scotch_egg]

For me if this were to be a once in a life time purchase there would have to be no compromise. The glass on the zeiss has got one of the best reputations when the light fails. x24 magnification is ample under the lamp or on a rabbit over 600 yards in the day.

[legion]

For me if this were to be a once in a life time purchase there would have to be no compromise. The glass on the zeiss has got one of the best reputations when the light fails. x24 magnification is ample under the lamp or on a rabbit over 600 yards in the day.

Thats what i hoped, 600 yards is plenty and what about the ret no 4 used with turrets, dialing in as opposed to a varminting reticule.

[sir-slots-alot]

I have two Zeiss 6-24x56 victory with 43 Illum Ret

 

Al I can say is, having owned many of the top makes of scopes ( although not seen a Sightron )

 

These are the best optics for I have looked through.. Colours seem brighter and more distinct than the competition. I have also noticed that it has a bigger field of veiw than Leupys and NF optics of similar magnifacation.

 

As a varminting or lamping scope . they take some beating , only downside is the price.

 

But as they say " buy once , cry once " or Twice in my case...

 

 

Alan

 

 

P.S -- I am very biased

[skany]

Isnt the number 4 ret a bit chunky for long range work guys!

 

I spoted a cheap Ziess with that ret & would of bought but dint think it would be much cop!

 

Andy

[Alycidon]

ZIESS, no question at all.

 

I have looked through the Sightron, eye relief on the high mag settings is awfull. Slightest head movement and you have a black lens. Ok for a bench maybe but not for Charlie.

 

I spent £400 on a small Ziess in 1987, never regretted it. Nothing compares except maybe S&B.

 

A

[menial 1]

Zeiss good choice, no.4 ret not. I use a no.4 for close up deer work in the woods and that's about all it's good for, at 200yds crows disappear behind the crosshairs so you can't see how much wind you are giving. A reticule change would probably cost £120-150 to get sorted, if you can buy the scope at good money then it's worthwhile, if not then look for one with a ret more suited to long range work.

Sightron look good but like most scopes from across the pond they have eye relief issues even at modest mag, when you neede to get a wriggle on and take charlie's picture, it all gets very frustrating.

The Europeans build scopes more suited to the kind of shooting we do and if you're shooting is more field than pure target then that's the direction I'd take without question.

Pete.

[skany]

Who can do ret changes on the Ziess?

 

id be well up for the cheap one is saw if thats the case!

 

Andy

[blackjack]

zeiss do them for about £150 + vat and +postage back to germany

[Vermincinerator]

I use a Sightron SIII 8-32x56 on my 257 AI and i have no problems with eye relief but there again i have always used high mag scopes and and accept their peculiarities.

As i long range varmint scope it is very good slightly better contrast then the equivalent Leupold and easily focuses to a sharp image on 800yd + small targets.

Its low light qualities are as good as anything i have looked through except a small fixed power Zeiss but i cant advise on its use for lamping because i have not used it at night.

 

Ian.

[22/250 foxer]

im having that problem with the recticial on my conquest. its the number 4 and well i really like it for foxing its superb.

ibut need to change it as im finding it hard to develop loads for my rifle properly because the recticial covers the target

when testing loads.

 

i would go for the 20 recticial

[skany]

zeiss do them for about £150 + vat and +postage back to germany

 

 

cheers mate not really worth it then!

 

cheers Andy

[22/250 foxer]

cheers mate not really worth it then!

 

cheers Andy

 

i dont think they would do it in germany andy. it would have to go back to the states as that is where the conquest is done for the usa market.

 

zeiss victory would prob go back to germany if you wanted those changed

[skany]

i dont think they would do it in germany andy. it would have to go back to the states as that is where the conquest is done for the usa market.

 

zeiss victory would prob go back to germany if you wanted those changed

Hi Jamie

 

it was a victory that i had half a eye on mate:-P

 

Andy

[Cornishman]

I don't own a Sightron but had a look at one when I was in the States last year because they have wide usage in Benchrest. The Sightron looks exactly like the Edgar Brothers scopes marketed under the Optimate name and I caught a whisper that they are identical except for the badge. Anyway I have two Optimates and they are very good as target scopes (fine reticles, 1/8 minute clicks on the scopes, good mechanical accuracy) but the coatings are not in the same class as Zeiss. For field use no question, go for the Zeiss.

 

Cornishman

 

PS 22/250 Foxer - if the reticle is obscuring your load-development targets don't change the scope, just get some bigger targets. It's perfectly possible to shoot small groups with a thick reticle, but you need the right target. Just a money-saving suggestion!

[22/250 foxer]

Hi Jamie

 

it was a victory that i had half a eye on mate:-P

 

Andy

 

i see sorry mate you have to much money

[Wsm]

Hi Legion

 

A bit late to resurrect this topic but something to bear in mind is the back up service if things go wrong

 

I'll agree with most of the posts on here that Zeiss are a good product but their back up service leaves a lot to be desired at present.I've had two instances recently (LRF Binos & Victory scope) where their customer service has been a real let down.Not what you'd expect when you're talking Zeiss prices to be honest

 

If you're still in the market look at the Swarovski range

[shootingbags]

Hi Legion

 

A bit late to resurrect this topic but something to bear in mind is the back up service if things go wrong

 

I'll agree with most of the posts on here that Zeiss are a good product but their back up service leaves a lot to be desired at present.I've had two instances recently (LRF Binos & Victory scope) where their customer service has been a real let down.Not what you'd expect when you're talking Zeiss prices to be honest

 

If you're still in the market look at the Swarovski range

Buying a Zeiss scope cost me a LOT more money than the scope actually cost.

[garyw]

Legion.

i have a s111x32 that used to sit on my 6br it was the dogs for long range paper and bunny bashing in daylight.put it under a lamp at night and the scope was the dogs for clarity and long range eye recognition,but put the target dot on charlie when he was further than 150yds and you lost the dot you can use the duplex but this isnt ideal.long story short im swapping the scope for the illuminated version or selling it whichever comes first.on the 6br now i have a s+b long range varminter now this is a scope.

i would go for the zeiss or a second hand nf depending on your budget.

just as a side note the best scope i have for lamping is a helia kahles 12-56 with a steel tube now this does take some beating for night work this is on my .17rem at the minute.

[col48]

Buying a Zeiss scope cost me a LOT more money than the scope actually cost.

 

 

Y Gary whats gone off -?

 

if you are telling a story best to start from the beginning

 

ATB

Colin

[shootingbags]

Y Gary whats gone off -?

 

if you are telling a story best to start from the beginning

 

ATB

Colin

Col,

 

Its a long story so here we go..................

 

I was having my Sako 308 rebarrelled and a new stock put on it by Dasherman so thought I would get a new Zeiss scope to go on top. I decided to purchase a Zeiss Diavari 6-24x56 . Once Neil had rebarrelled the rifle I put the scope on , made up a multitude of loads to condition the bore and test for a decent load and went to the range to try.

I was testing using 150g SST , Sierra 150g game kings and 155g Scenars. The groups ranged from so-so to absolute crap so had a word with Neil and suggested I went back down to see him and get the barrel recrowned - just in case !

 

He very kindly recrowned the barrel and I took my reloading kit down to his workshop where I reloaded another number of loads to try at his range. Both myself and Neil shot over the course of the morning and although we got some reasonable groups any decent group showed 2 touching and then one out of the group ( this was not in any order i.e 2 in the group and then 3rd shot out - sometimes it was 1 shot in the group , next one out and then the 3rd in . the bad groups were well over 2 inches at 100 yards! )

 

Many of the bad groups were loads that shot very well in previous 308's and also in 308's that friends of mine have.

 

As it was proved that it wasn't the crown , I decided to take the rifle away and test some loads that were a lot slower than the ones that i was testing just in case it was a finicky barrel that preferred a low velocity.

I loaded some more rounds, as well as the best load that I had previously tested and went with Tim (WSM) to Mike Dickinsons indoor range to take away and wind variables - neither of us could put a good group together !!!

 

By now I was getting really p@#~#d off and to be fair , Neil said that he would get another tube and rebarrel it for me as it looked like a duff one. On the way home from the range I said to Tim that i was going to put my Leupold scope back on the rifle to try it just in case it was the scope although i couldn't see the scope being faulty . Went back with Tim a couple of days later and although I was now shooting a scope at 14x instead of 24x I was getting ragged hole groups - consistently !!!

I was really pleased as Neil had bent over backwards to help me and it proved that it wasn't the rifle but the scope.

 

I sent the scope back to Zeiss UK to get it checked and I also suggested changing the reticle ( if they changed the reticle then I know they would have had the scope open and any fault would have been found ) who , after a week or so said they had put it on a colminator but that they couldn't see anything wrong! I explained that it appeared that it wasn't the tracking that was at fault but something was going amiss under recoil . They said they would send it to Germany to have it tested.

 

A few weeks later I received a phone call from Zeiss UK to say that Germany had tested it fully and that there was definitely nothing wrong with the scope and that it would be £200 odd pounds to get a new reticle installed. At this point I thought I might as well and then at least I knew the scope had been thoroughly taken apart and tested.

 

A while later I received the scope back so i put it on the rifle and went back to Mike's range and low and behold , the rifle was shooting ragged hole groups !!!

 

Now you can read into this what you will but it seems very strange that the rifle shot very well after I put the Leupold scope on and then put the Zeiss on that had been back to Germany and I had paid to have the reticle changed

[Wsm]

To be honest Zeiss customer service is joke

 

I sent a Victory away on the 19th Nov for a turret cap screw to be replaced and have had the following excuses since then

 

We've had it for ten days but we're too busy to book it in

 

We've booked it in but don't know where it is at the moment

 

We've sent it to Germany but can't give you any more information

 

Germany have agreed to replace it under warranty but we don't know when they'll do it

 

Tried to speak to Zeiss UK today to be informed they're all in a meeting ..............................for two days

 

I won't go into the faulty Range Finding binoculars

 

Zeiss UK Customer service 0 out of 10

 

Save yourself some grief and go S&B or Swaro

[sir-slots-alot]

From my experience , Zeiss costomer service have been exceptional.

 

A few years ago , whilst fitting my NV scope on my rifle , I was taking off my day scope , A 3 x 12 x 56 IR Diavari and dropped it .

 

Anyway it landed hard on a rock, and somethng came lose inside and the illuminated reticule feature stopped functioning aswell.

 

I sent it off to Zeiss UK with a letter explaning what had happened.

 

Zeiss contacted me , saying that it would need to go to germany for repair.

 

The scope was away for a little over 3 weeks , and whilst it was away they lent me a replacement 3x12-56... So I didn't miss a days shooting.

 

 

The only other time I needed them was when I scrapped the windage target turret on my 6-24x56 scope on a wall. This left a few nice silver scratches on my new scope.

 

Contacted Zeiss the next day .. the following day , 2 new turrets arrived in the post - NO charge.

 

Zeiss customer service have been very proffesional in my experience

 

Alan

[Wsm]

From my experience , Zeiss costomer service have been exceptional.

 

A few years ago

 

Alan

 

Alan

 

Nail on head

[sir-slots-alot]

It is a shame if their service has deteriated , which seems to be the case.

 

When you pay top money for a scope , you have a right to expect good after care service.

 

Alan