new to long range.

[mecanik]

i am new to long range shooting, and i’m having difficulty deciding on an optic. i have it narrowed to two options. vortex razor gen 2 or nightforce atacr. some insight would be greatly beneficial.

 

[Erud]

Have you considered iron sights?

 

[phlegm]

You're going to have to decide what kind of long range shooting you'll be doing, then make a list of priorities for what you want from a scope.

Until then, you're only going to get overly biased opinions and off the wall comments.

 

[Erud]

You're going to have to decide what kind of long range shooting you'll be doing, then make a list of priorities for what you want from a scope.

Until then, you're only going to get overly biased opinions and off the wall comments.

I hope you aren’t referring to my comment as “off the wall”. Plenty of us shoot Long Range with iron sights.

 

[Milo 2.0]

I'm assuming the atacr you want is ffp like the vortex. I don't see how either will not work.
The key is your chosen reticle, unless you have access to shoot a few, rare anyone gets it right the first time. Looking at reticles on your computer screen and envisioning what it will be like does not cut it.
If you find something you may like, and want to lower costs, I recommend joining snipers hide and shop the optics section. More scopes get sold based off reticle choices than anything else.
I could give some of my failed choices, and the loss taken because of them.

 

[R.Morehouse]

Having a way overly bias opinion and being very proudly off the wall.....I will say in your stated price range there are a whole lot of options.... I personally like more magnification than either one of the optics you listed. Happy Hunting

Regards
Rick

 

[mecanik]

Please define your mission

recreational target shooting. progressing to some competitions.

 

[ballisticxlr]

The ATACR is a great scope. So is the Razor 2. I have a decent amount of experience behind both in recreational and competition settings. You're pretty much comparing a dark blue Porsche to a slightly darker blue Porsche.

I personally did not dig on some idiosyncratic elements of the turrets on the Razor 2. Milo gave some very true and useful info too. You'd be shocked at how many scopes get sold nearly new because the reticle someone thought looked great on the intarwebz ended up not being so great in the field. I've tossed a few great scopes aside because of reticles I didn't like.

Go to a match before you spend the $ and ask the competitors if you can look through their scope. They'll usually let you as long as you keep your grubby mitts off their turrets. They all know exactly what you're going through. On the topic of reticles, I really did like the reticle in the Razor. The open center of the EBR-2C was very handy from time to time. A feature I've really come to like.

 

[swd]

recreational target shooting. progressing to some competitions.

What kind of competition you might be interested in greatly influences what the you need. Any ideas?

 

[CharlieNC]

Competition on paper targets can mean aiming at 1/2moa x-rings, or on "large" steel plates???? Also the regiment for an Fclass competition is totally unlike PRS, beyond the sizes of the targets.

 

[mgunderson]

Go with the irons..... it is the path less traveled!

 

[Delfuego]

6 of one.... 1/2 dozen of the other....
Nightforce cost more, has nicer glass and is lighter
Vortex is cheaper, super durable and heavy, Vortex has the best warranty ever
Either will work just fine. Pick the one in your budget

 

[natdscott]

6 of one.... 1/2 dozen of the other....
Nightforce cost more, has nicer glass and is lighter
Vortex is cheaper, super durable and heavy, Vortex has the best warranty ever
Either will work just fine. Pick the one in your budget

...and leave more money for ammo. Practice is more important than any of the above.

 

[Zero333]

F-class prefer second focal plane, thin reticle or floating tiny dot, illuminated with 1/8th moa clicks.

PRS / NRL type shooting prefer first focal plane mil/mil hash or x-mass reticle.

 

[F Class John]

This ^

But if you are like a lot of people, whatever you buy won’t be the one you ultimately use no matter how good of a scope it is until you really narrow down your need which probably won’t occur until after actually buy the first scope. Just buy something that you think fits the bill, shoot a bunch and then decide your needs. Then you can really buy the scope you want/need. Just my opinion.

 

[Milo 2.0]

This ^

But if you are like a lot of people, whatever you buy won’t be the one you ultimately use no matter how good of a scope it is until you really narrow down your need which probably won’t occur until after actually buy the first scope. Just buy something that you think fits the bill, shoot a bunch and then decide your needs. Then you can really buy the scope you want/need. Just my opinion.

No kidding, I'm with you, buy one you think may work, upgrade later. Most likely you'll upgrade rifles at the same time, now you have backups in both rifle and optic.
My scopes get rotated from rifle to rifle, case to case, until I no longer desire them and sell.

 

[243Mendoza]

recreational target shooting. progressing to some competitions.

FClass, Palma,Benchrest,PRS,ELR,....? Need to be more precise.

 

[mecanik]

f class and elr. is one scope better at doing both?

 

[F Class John]

f class and elr. is one scope better at doing both?

From what I’ve seen and if I’m not mistaken, not really. Most F-class will be upwards of 50-60 power where ELR rigs I see tend to be around half of that. While both are long range disciplines and it would seem logical to use a similar scope it doesn’t work that way in reality.

 

[CharlieNC]

f class and elr. is one scope better at doing both?

They both would be inferior to a lower cost model which is task specific. Higher mag, sfp, finer 1/8 adjustments, and different reticle come to mind. For example most love the Vortex Golden Eagle, unfortunately it was not sharp to my eyes as I am in the minority. Sightron SIII is another. NF Benchrest or Comp.

Looks like your original choices were from Snipers Hide, as they are well suited for PRS steel shooting, but you will see the differences I noted are for small targets and a stationary shooting environment.