Time for a 600 yard scope upgrade. Leopold or Nightforce?

[Steve Wilson]

I have been using Weaver T-36's for most everything but it seems that it might be leaving a bit to be desired in clarity at 600 yards. During our past two 600 yard matches it seems that most of what I see are 50x variable Nightforce's. Could you guys comment about which scopes and reticles you might recommend and why?

This won't be a cheap upgrade and i know you understand that I wish to only spend the money once.

Many thanks,

 

[johara1]

How much weight can handle? 29 oz 10-50 Sightron? 36 oz. 12-42 BR NF.? or a 30oz. 5-50 34mm March but you may have to sell your car to buy it..jim

 

[CaptainMal]

Both Leupold variables and Nightforce dominate local shoots. I use a 12-42 Nightforce but rarely use it above 32 power. Just seems mirage makes greater power a non-issue. After looking through many different scopes on the line my conclusions are U.S. Optics, March, Leupold and Nightforce make nice stuff. None seems to me to have a "clear" advantage. Mirage is mirage and that's the downside of power that ruins clarity.

Keep hearing about Sightron and have looked through only one. It looked good. The complaint I hear is repeatability of adjustments and quality of feedback making those adjustments.

As for a reticle, I use the NP 2DD. It's different. First it seemed so strange and now it's all I would want to use. Compared to my other scopes with various Mil-dots, range reticles and crosshairs, the NP2DD flat shines for exact looks and ease of making adaptations without messing with scope settings during a shoot.

 

[40X Guy]

Go Nightforce BR 12-42 with your choice of reticle. Leupold does not make a high power variable and i don't prefer their comp series fixed power scopes although the glass is great. March and Schmidt&Bender are probably at the pinnacle of high end glass, I have had both and no longer own them as I am quite happy shooting 600 yards and in. Yesterday at a match in pretty bad mirage I shot my 6X47L with Sightron 10-50 SIII @ 35 power at 400 yards and could not see holes in target. I was shooting 2 guns and had same bench and grabbed my Dasher with NF BR 12-42 set on 35 power and placed on my rest and could make out the holes at 400 yards. For my money I think the Nightforce BR scopes are very tough to beat. I have 2 each of the SIII and NF BR's, I have never had any problems with tracking in my Sightrons and glass is great up to around 40X in good conditions but above 45 X the resolution/clarity goes south. But if I were to do it again I would buy strictly NF scopes. IMHO they are a great middle ground scope and probably there are more of them on the LR BR line percentage wise than other makes.

Frank

 

[mikecr]

An 8.5x25 Mk4 will work fine at 600yds, without the weight cost of a NF.

 

[Joe C]

I've only just started shooting F Class myself but have owned NF and Leupold scopes of various kinds. When trying to decide on what scope to get for my new rig I picked the Sightron SIII 6-24x50 LRMOA and like it A LOT. That choice was made after talking to a lot of people both on the phone and on different forums that shoot F Class...but like I said, while I've shot rifles at long range for years, this is my first go at competition.

 

[Gman]

An 8.5x25 Mk4 will work fine at 600yds, without the weight cost of a NF.

Are you saying that you can see your hits on 25x @ 600 yards with a Mark 4 ?

 

[gmorganal]

I swapped my NF for a Sightron. There have been two sub one-inch groups in our club this year at 520 yards. One was a .693 group.

 

[gmorganal]

I should have said the sub one-inch groups were shot using Sightron scopes, and they were by two separate people.

 

[nra-for-life]

well my choice would be the sightron siii but nightforce is bad ass too, i dont think you can go wrong either way, i just like the sightron more for the price.

at the bench nationals i walked down the line to take see what every shooter was using...there was like a little over 20 guys on the line and i think it was like 17 or something had nightforce scopes iirc. that right there goes to show what is working. i think of the remaining scopes 2 were sightron, there was 1 march, and i think 1 or 2 leoupolds iirc.

anyways you really should try to get a chance to look through them yourself if at any way possible and make a judgement for yourself. people always disagree when it comes to optics.

 

[Leaddog]

Long time user of NF NXS, current user of March 10-60 tactical. The March just has much better glass. Even when the mirage gets ugly, I don't dial down from the normal 40x I use it at. Above that is too much for F T/R.

Most folks that say they don't see much of a difference with a March have never really used one in competition. A cursory look through doesn't count. The March has the ability to discern mirage definition like no other scope I have used. It is not as rugged as the NF and the eye relief is more critical than the NF, but the glass is clearly superior and that's what counts.

If you are on a budget, the Sightron III is a good choice. For a little more, the NF is the way to go. March is quite expensive, but you can find a good one used if you look around. I bought mine used on this site about 6 or so months ago.

 

[fdshuster]

mikecr: A Leupold at 25x won't cut it on the targets we use locally, the ones 40X Guy is referring to. The 10 ring at 500 yards ( and meters/ 547 yards) at another club, measures 2" in diameter. X ring is 1".

On a mirage free day, the 35x to 42x capability of the Nightforce scopes are well worth their weight (36 oz) and size.

Also, with that much magnification available, there is frequently no need for a seperate spotting scope to be setup on the bench.

Naturally, throw in some mirage & it all goes to hell.

 

[Steve Wilson]

I'm shooting in 600 yard bench rest. Right now, the rifle is sitting at 16.5 pounds, with 2 pounds of weight added in the butt. That gives me 8 ounces to spare at the 17 pound max for light gun. At 36 ounces for the NF, compared to the T-36 at 17, that's a net increase of 19 ounces. Minus the 8 that I have to spare would mean 11 ounces over the weight limit and a needed reduction in the butt weight.

Maybe I should try taking out some of the weight and see how it tracks the way it is now. I put the weight in because I had plenty to spare and was thinking that the extra in the butt would help with balance in the rear bag and improve tracking. Of course, the extra weight of the NF would be between the bags and maybe be a non issue.

Hmm, hmm, hmm. Food for thought, like always here. How would you proceed?

Thanks for the replies,

 

[gmorganal]

Check my numbers, but I think you can save around eight ounces with the SIII Sightron.

 

[wapiti25]

I don't own a Night Force but have shot rifles with them. I want one. They are heavy. I own Leupold 36x br and 6.5-20 and they are better than my Weaver 36x and 16x.

 

[Forum Boss]

I have a Leupold 8-25 LRT and a Sightron 8-32. The Sightron is a much better scope for 600 yards. If you check the specs on the Leupold website, you'll find that the max magnification of the 8-25 LRT is actually 24.3 power. And, I have found that the scope starts to darken around the edges with the power ring set at 25 (which is really 24.3), so I back it off a tad. This means my usable max magnification is only 23X or so.

I like the construction and the clicks on the Nightforce over a Sightron, but the Sightron is a LOT cheaper nowadays.

 

[fdshuster]

And as a plus comment for Sightron: I'm starting to see more of them being used locally at our benchrest for score match's. Good for them.

 

[mikecr]

Or,, You could go with a Mk4-Tron (if such a stretch is really needed).

 

[johara1]

Sightron is a better deal all the way around i would go with the 10-50 at 29 oz. You dont have to worry about the UPS. factor.....jim

 

[Forum Boss]

Or,, You could go with a Mk4-Tron (if such a stretch is really needed).

Mike -- thanks for that. It looks like the MK4 is different from VX-3 LRT in ways more than the turrets. Does your MK4 go dark at the edges at full power (25.1 X)?