I can’t decide what scope I should buy. It’s for precision rifle for competition but also hunting. Mainly bench shooting though for small groups.
Options are:
The Eotech looks pretty nice but not sure of its glass?
I like the idea of the NXS because of its MOAR-T thin reticle.
I’ve heard really good things about Steiner, but for the same price as NF I lean toward NF.
Anyone have any opinions on what is the clearest glass? best scope?
I’m happy to spend $2,000, but I am also happy to spend $700 which makes me lean toward the Vortex Viper PST genII 5-25.
I dont know what to do…
Thanks guys!
Why are you wanting such great magnification? Thin reticles are nice for testing accuracy on paper, but any magnification over 10-15x is just annoying overkill for me. When trying to stack holes, I’ve found it distracting when you can see too much of the small movements in the gun/scope. And for distance, it’s annoying with the mirage we get in our region.
I could be completely happy with a fixed 10 that had all the other features on an NSX. But the 3.5-15x is the do all scope in my opinion.
You seem to have mixed uses in mind here. None of the listed scopes will adequately do everything you want it to, given your listed requirements.
The 5-25x scopes are both FFP “tactical” style optics, which would be the ones I’d lean towards for competition and hunting. The EOTech and NF are both second focal plane, which would be ideal for benchrest type shooting, but not so much for competition or field usage. Some will argue that SFP is fine for hunting, and to a point, they’re right (mostly preference and how hunt/use the optic), but an 8-32x mag range is wildly inappropriate for any kind of hunting I can think of short of pdogs, and even then the mirage will mess with you.
What kind of hunting do you have in mind? What kind of competition? PRS and benchrest are somewhat mutually exclusive in how they’re run and the equipment needed. If you’re MAIN use is on the bench for small groups, then I’d go NF NXS out of what you listed.
As for mag range, a 5-25x is one of the most popular mag ranges in PRS/NRL shooting these days. You’ll rarely find yourself low enough to utilize the 5x, and the 25x will primarily be for zeroing the rifle and possibly spotting shots for others. Most folks tend to stay between 10-20x for actual shooting, depending on the stage or situation. I don’t do benchrest, so I’d go for either of the 5-25x FFP options (Steiner/Vortex). What YOU need to decide, is which reticle you prefer and go from there. I feel the T5Xi is the better optic between it and the Vortex, but like the EBR-2C reticle better than the SCR (though would ultimately be happy with either).
Take a serious look at the Leupold Mark 5hd. I had a Vortex Razor on my rifle before and this Leupold has IMO better glass and is 20 oz lighter. The Steiner and the nxs are also excellent options but I love my mark 5
I’m on the market for a new scope for the same intended use (bench shooting…tiny groups at 100 and steel out to 700) and was planning on a ffp 5-25. Figured I’d want highest mag for 100 yard group shooting. Why do you think this is off base for the OP’s intended use?