Geezedtee Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Hello All. Newby here looking for your opinions please. I'm sure this has been done to death before but here goes. I have a .308 with a Leupold LRT and a .243 Varminter with a NF NXS so am used to quality 'scopes. But having retired I now want to play with a .223 at long range pests. I can't afford to go down the NF/Leupy route, so am looking at "reasonable" scopes that can take a bit of 'shake n stir' on the back of a Mule. Current choices are all illuminated and in the second FP (I like to see my target not blotted out by the cross hair): Delta Titanium 2.5-15.5x56 HD £575. Vixen 5-20x50 LRT £545. Vortex Viper 6-24x50 SFP £595. Any wise men out there willing to help make an informed choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsc1960 Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 zeiss conquest 4.5/14x50 plex ret, im running 3 6mmbr 20 tactical 17 hmr great scopes with side parallax and the ret is not to thick, I don't like NF or Leopold's and S&B are to high in prices for me so the zeiss does the gob very very well. bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 The Viper will do everything you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunner Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 2nd rsc , i bought a 5-25X50 conquest HD5 zeiss ok its 800 but worth it , locable turrets and Z-plex reticule , mag and reticule would be good for LR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbal Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Gee,usually a used quality scope is more reliable and long term satisfactory than a cheap new one... You don't say what ranges you have in mind for these pests in Wiltshire,but the drop/10mph drift on a 77g BC .39 Sierra MK bullet 223 @2750 is around 9/9 inches at 300y, 25/16 inches at 400y(and 51/26 at 500....getting too far?) It's clear a fair amount of dialling will be needed,so a scope with reliable clicks is mandatory...not all scopes are precise and replicable,and it's not easy to check,but more important than a look through...they should all be at least adequate visually...if your clicks are out,you will need to recalibrate for your set up.....best to avoid if possible-it's just a perpetual pain- (though you will anyhow need specific come ups for your load,but you best know that a click is a click-every time...Look for test reviews that do a 'box test'.You will already know what your prefered mag is,but you really can't have too much at distance... There are a few decent reviews-try this for a pretty balanced/consider most issues example:what really matters and what is subjective/personal choice: "Affordable Tactical Scopes"-Viper PSC 6-24 and Sightron S111 6-24;Shooting Reviews Jan 2013 gbal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kernel gadaffi Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Vortex, all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hancock Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I'm struggling with my Vortex to be honest as the (lack of eye relief) is doing my head in. The wiser men on here are going to say Sightron SIII I'm sure for £800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exmarksman9870 Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Bushnell tactical 4.5x30-50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srvet Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 How about this http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php/111597-Schmidt-bender-4-16x50-varmint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbitter Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 You said you like Leupold. How about this for £725? http://ukvarminting.com/forums/topic/31615-leupold-vx-3-85-25x50-lrt/ regards Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezedtee Posted November 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thank you everyone. Having read all your comments and done a bit of reading I've finally bit the bullet and ordered a Sightron S-TAC 2.5-17.5x56 MOIR. With a Veterans discount it came to a little bit over my budget. I'll let you all know what it's like after I've given it a workout. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicky.223 Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 I had a vortex pst it was a great scope i couldn't fault it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezedtee Posted November 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Hi All. OK, the Sightron S-TAC 2.5-17.5x56IRMH has arrived from AIM Field Sports. They do a discount for Forces and Veterans so it cost £729 incl carriage and took less than 24 hours to get here. Here are my brief first impressions which are overall positive. Bear in mind that my other scopes are a Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50Illum £1822, and a Leupold VX3 4.5-14x40LRT with a tgt turret for elevation £1000, so that's what I'm comparing to: Mildot reticle, not too cluttered plain and simple and very fine. Without the red dot (which I love) I imagine the reticle would be too fine to use in dense woods or last light. It's as fine as the NF. The Leup reticle is thicker and better in low light. Good positive click adjustments which sound and feel positive. Altogether it feels solid and well put together with nicely damped controls. Nothing sloppy or too stiff. Very similar in feel to the NF. Feels more robust than the Leup. The matt finish is MATT, more matt than my other scopes and therefore will attract dirt for a pastime. In fact it allready looks dusty. The NF is the same and shows every chalky mud fingerprint. The Leup is more lustre than matt. The zoom ring goes clockwise to magnify, the other 2 go anti clockwise. DOH! Not a deal breaker as I always have my scopes zoomed out for a quick shot, on the basis that a distant shot will not be aware and will give me time to set up. The paralax correction dial on the left turns towards me for infinity, as does the Leup. The NF turns away! Why can't they standardise? The illumination control is on the focus bell and has 11 settings with an 'off' between each setting. So for daylight I have it on 9 and to turn off it's just 1 click either way. The NF is on the paralax knob and is pre-adjusted to a night setting at home, then in use I just pull out for on and push in for off. Leup has nil illum. Looking through it the image definition is very clear and sharp edge to edge and comparable to both other scopes. The reticle is brilliantly sharp and the focus works as well as the other 2 scopes. The colour of the image is very slightly different in all 3 scopes and is due to the different coatings used on the glass. If anything I would say it is not as saturated. Having just looked through all 3 again it is almost too close to call. But it's raining so more testing later. All three scopes have a life time warranty. I have used the Leup one when the paralax knob unscrewed. Sent it off via GMK and also asked for a Tgt elevation knob to be fitted. Returned as new and only cost £48 odd including postage to Germany. My NF did vibrate off the chest freezer onto a ceramic tile floor (it was attached to my Howa varmint at the time) and apart from a slight chip to a turret edge no damage was incurred. It didn't even shift zero. I suspect it would take a barrell bomb to incur the use of the warranty. I haven't mounted the S-TAC yet so haven't done a box test, fallen out of a high seat, or leaned it against a slid open french window where the glass should have been (yup, done that too and gave myself 40 pressups!) At the moment it compares very favourably against the £1k more expensive NF. As soon as I have given it an outing I will report on here. Wait out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkyboy Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Thank you for the review mate....i await your next report with interest as i have been considering the s-tac to top my 223 for foxing etc...cheers Hugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezedtee Posted February 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 End of Sightron review. Finally sent it back for a refund as there is an inherent fault which the manufacturer knows about. The metal in the tube is not rigid and flexes when rings are fitted. Have tried Warne, Kozap and Optilock. Nothing works. It won't focus properly. A modified version is apparently due in April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWShooter Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Looks like you need to go for a NF , some of the latest SHV models are close to your budget http://www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk/nightforce-shv-4-14-x-56-non-illuminated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbal Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Geezedtee,just a repeat- if you really want 'shake and stir' capable,and might drop your scope on freezers,get a used NF (but check your accidental damage insurance for freezer :-) gbal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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