Scope advice required for a new long range shooter

pengo · October 19, 2015

Hi Will, I think Baldie has two Nightforces for sale, both the target ones. I'm sure I read somewhere that the target ones were actually better glass than the NSX's, I could have dreamt it though.

Best Regards,

Mark

He did have two for sale, but I bought the NPR2 ret one, so he may still have the NP2DD left.

They are both in excellent condition and very good value. If the NP2DD is suited to you, then I would recommend you had a word with him.

Cheers. Paul

Will_ · October 20, 2015

Thank you again for the replies. It's really helping me to understand a few things.

I had a private message from a concerned member of the forum who was worried that I was jumping into long range shooting without a basic understanding of my craft.

I'm the first to admit that I do have a lot to learn, (which is why I joined this forum!) but I have good long range shooting mentors at my club who are keen to teach me.

I want to reassure people that my club knows my skill level, knowledge, and experience, and that they have been supervising and guiding me as I move forwards with long range shooting.

I'm a safe and sensible shooter with 18 years of shooting experience.

I do have a basic knowledge of my craft, I just have a lot of new technical things to learn now.

I apologise if this thread, and the way that I have asked basic questions whilst speaking about purchasing advanced equipment has raised concerns.

All the best,

Will

markyw2 · October 20, 2015

Having skimmed this thread and looking to potentially long range shooting myself, the one piece of advice I have been given on buying second hand scopes is to look for those that have a no quibble, lifetime warranty. Actually, quite a few of the more expensive ones I have looked at do. This takes some of the pain away from spending not inconsiderable amounts of money on second hand equipment and also means less chance of an awkward conversation about misused funds with the wife.

Regards

Mark

gbal · October 20, 2015

Will,your questions etc are eminently sensible-we've all been there.

Moa and mil are just alternate measurement systems,not unlike imperial and metric basically. Eg one mil equals 3.6 moa (as I recall- it is messy to mix them but either is as good as the other.)

The scope issue is that scopes have a varied,but always limited range of adjustment. You can't be sure when you mount a scope on your rifle just how much of the scopes internal adjustment will actually be taken up by zeroing that scope to that rifle-it can be a fair bit...so if a scope has 65 units of vertical adjustment,you may use up to half ( less,typically) just zeroing. Since you need quite a bit more to dial up for 1000y,(32moa approx for 308)you may run out....but a 20 moa (they are all moa) tapered rail will give you enough extra ,so that virtually any recognised LR scope will get you on...you don't really know til you put the scope on,but other experiences with the same model rifle/scope should be close.I'd definitely get a 20 moa rail on a Rem 700 or any 308.

gbal

ps some scopes come with great warranties (leupold eg is lifetime and transferable,NF is very good too-none have the ultimate-if there is marital discord,return either scope or spouse..... :-)

Ladies are usually great shooters-think 6BR heavy rifle,does almost everything,without macho kick.

And no,you can't be criminalised for buying her a 6BR. "I get a kick outa you" isn't to be taken quite literally in this contxt.Good times,on and off range!

gbal

Will_ · March 4, 2016

Thanks for all the good advice. I feel like I've learned a lot since starting this thread. Loads more to learn now though!

I bought the Sightron SIII 8-32 LRMOA which was advertised on this forum. It looks like a brilliant bit of kit. I'm looking forward to getting it down the range