Scope information.

Cass

I need a little first hand experience here. If anyone owns the exact model or a very similar one (in terms of make, model, etc) with a subtle difference in only mag (example) then that'll do too.

• Burris Black Diamond
• Kahles Helia C
• IOR
• Leupold LR/T

As said it's these four specific models i'm looking at and would like some reviews. Performance, clarity, etc. Basically pros & cons.

Thanks.

ormondprop

I had a leupold mk4 lrt 6.5-20x50 with illum mildot reticle, glass in it was brilliant and clear and the turrets were lovely giving very positive clicks and it was light aswell compared to similar spec scopes but i could not get used to the eye relief on it, it was very fussy, if it was for targets where you'd be shooting in the one position all the time it would probably be be fine but i had it on a .223 for lamping and when i mounted the scope i zeroed it in the prone position so the eye relief was perfect when prone but the when standing or kneeling i was always having to move my head to get a good picture and could never get it right, went from a s&b to the leupold and regretted selling the schmidt after, i sold it on and changed it to a hawke sidewinder which i found better even though the glass wasn't a patch on the leupold, i used a vx3 and a vx3l on friends rifles and they had the same glass quality but hadn't the same trouble with eye relief

Cass

ormondprop wrote: »

........ but i could not get used to the eye relief on it, it was very fussy, if it was for targets where you'd be shooting in the one position all the time it would probably be be fine ........f

Exactly what i'm looking for. Shot with one before and found the same. The lad had it set up for his eye relief and as mine was not the same i couldn't get clear sight picture. Yet when he used my Sightron my eye relief was perfect for him. So it could be a fussy scope. not ideal as the scope will be used mostly (if not entirely) for hunting.



Keep em coming.

jingojonson

Hi there

I had an IOR which I bought for dual paper punching and deer stalking. It had mp8 reticle. I bought it after I had a S&B 8x56 because I found the reticle on the S&B too thick for target stuff. I looked through a few scopes including the Zeiss Duralyt which I found very fussy for eye relief - it kept winking at me when I moved my head

This was where the IOR was really excellent - it was easy to get and keep sight picture

Other Pros

Glass brilliant, lovely to look through
Turrets were excellent - really positive
Zero stop was handy
Reasonably priced for the quality - Irish prices are very competitive compared with other countries I'd say its one of the best places to buy these scopes new (as compared with eg bushnell etc which are far cheaper in USA than Europe)

Cons
They are heavy (I used a magnet and parts of them are steel)
MP8 reticle is too fine for late evening stalking onless you get the illuminated version
May have to wait for the scope you want as they are a small outfit

Hope this helps

Cass

That's some good info, appreciate it.

Cass

Am sorely tempted by the new Sightron S Tac.

I like Sightron, and this ticks all the boxes for me.

zeissman

I had a leupold 8.5-25x50 mark 4 LRT scope.
I had the same problem with the eye relief.
Great clear glass at all magnifications and excellent when shooting targets but I found the eye relief a pain when lamping so I sold it and bought a zeiss.
A mate bought a high mag IOR SCOPE a few years ago and I set it up for him.
Optics were of a similar quality to nightforce but I didnt like the target turrets.
You had to loosen a few grub screws to reset the turret after zeroing and I found the point of impact changing when doing so.
This may have been a fault in his particular scope though.
I had a loan of an older model burris black diamond scope for a while.
The glass was quite good and the tracking was fine also and it never lost zero but low light performance was not as good as the european glass.

garv123

Cass wrote: »

Am sorely tempted by the new Sightron S Tac.

I like Sightron, and this ticks all the boxes for me.

If you want the sightron for stalking be sure to get a Illuminated one, One of the lads on here had one and my €200 scope could be used 10-15 minutes, and the hawke endurance nearly 20-25 minutes after, purely because you cant see the cross hairs.

Cass

The one above is illuminated. Sightron do a limited selection of illuminated reticles so when looking i had only a small few to choose from.

The reason i like it is the centre dot only lights up. I found with the Hawke and other scopes that lit up the entire reticle that it "blinded" you in the last few moments of dusk. The Sightron i had on my RPA was perfect. Enough to let you aim but not so much as to blind you from your target.

The Zeiss Duralyt (illuminated) does the same. However the Sightron has better mag (low and high) the same illuminated dot, and is over 100 cheaper.

photosmart

sightron looks the part, i don't really rate the duralyt for the money

Tikkat3

I had a Black Diamond 6-24x50 some years ago. It had reasonable optics, almost as clear as a Leupold v 3, my eye could not give the nod to either as I didn't have enough time with both in enough conditions to be critical.

They are very popular in the USA and the warranty is excellent but the fact that I needed it was a pain as the parallax gave problems and the scope had to be sent to the USA and I was without it for over 5 weeks. I know this was an isolated issue I am sure. They are good value from the USA and the XTR was a great value 1/4 moa scope.

I found the optics gave me artificial feeling hues and I found eye relief awkward and unnatural to me at times.

Just my two cents.

customrifle

Just continuing on from what tikkat3 said about the burris line of scopes. They are great value for money and had both a black diamond 8-32x50 and a vx3 leupold 8.5-25x50 at same time and optically there was little between them. I still have the black diamond and have had for 8 or 9 years now and its never given trouble. I always have it sitting on one of my rifles and its never let me down. Its sat on cals from 223-308 never lost zero and tracked perfectly.
Dont get me wrong its not in same league as my nightforce (not a million miles away though), but its not in same price bracket either. I think it worked out at about €500-550 new from the states. For target id go burris or leupold, stalking id go IOR. Either way good luck with new toy. Shopping for shooting gear is like being a kid at Christmas

Cass

I went to Jim Griffin's to get a cleaning rod for my .17. He has a really good brand in stock. Before i left something caught my eye, then when i got the price he had my attention. From there it's snowballed from a cleaning rod to new rifle, and scope. Basically a whole new set up.

The paperwork is a headache, but i'm loving the picking of scopes, rings, mods, etc. Always fun times.

To make matters worse he had a second "steal" so i called a mate and within an hour he took it too. So he is on the same path. Only difference being he has a good scope to sit onto of his new toy. Jammy git.

I'm being offered a really good deal on three of the above scopes, and a decent deal on the fourth. The Sightron is my own choice, and would be full price, but the rifle is coming at such a good price i can make it work if i have to.