FT Scope For 30 Cal Cricket – The Search Begins
While my 30 cal Cricket is being constructed I decided to start shopping for scopes. I have arbitrarily set the budget at $1k but ok if it goes over a little but I know this is low for the better scopes. The requirement is 32x minimum on the max mag. I am pretty picky on reticles and prefer glass etched. All good suggestions appreciated with specific models and links. It seems a lot of higher end scopes can double as an FT scope. I have been reading about FT and the value of FT scopes – at least enough to be dangerous. I see Optisan is getting into the FT arena and I found out I can order specific MTCs through SWFA who carries just the Mamba in stock or from papertargets.com in Wisconsin.
Thanks in advance….
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I’ve been researching some hard to find information on these hi-mag scopes.
My Leapers 8-32 has 76.5MOA of vertical travel, my NIkko has 36.5MOA and the Sightron has 50MOA of vertical travel. I couldn’t find the Leapers or the NIkko anywhere, since I have the two scopes I tested them. The Sightron is listed on their website and most places that have it for sale.
That fancy Schmidt and Bender doesn’t have it listed ANYWHERE… 😯 😯 😯
You’d think for that kind of $$ they would have more information on their website.
The March website has it listed (60MOA) right on the left (by far the easiest to find)… http://marchscopes.com/tactical-8-80-x-56.html
This is important shit, if you buy a scope for long distance shooting and if it doesn’t have enough vertical travel you can’t fucking use it… 👿
On my USFT with the Nikko I only have 100 clicks until I top out (12.5MOA), it has 60 clicks (1/8″)for one full rotation of the wheel. When I switch to the Sightron I will have 19MOA (at 1/4″ a click) until I top out. On my Cricket the Nikko at full up adjustment is shooting about 3″ low at 35 yards (I think the scope rail is flat). With the Sightron I will have enough vertical adjustment to use it on the Cricket without making a new rail (which I don’t even think is possible).
😯
If you are willing to pay that much go for the March, at least you get 80x… 😀
I think I have found it…. A competitor for the March…
http://swfa.com/Schmidt-Bender-125-50×56-Field-Target-30mm-Riflescope-P12849.aspx
7-70 adjustment range
LOL I was wondering when someone would ask that. No more formal matches for me. I did my stint and just shoot against friends informally and wage war against vermin. Besides the eyes are too old. Three of us are planning to compete informally. We have been doing 22 LR pistols for a few years.
Hope you find the perfect scope. Just wondering though, can you shoot in a FT match with a 30 cal? Scott
I agree with all of that except it wasn’t practical in our case. We did get a pretty good relative idea of how they compare. Who knows I might be called on to shoot sparrows right in the Cabela’s rafters at some point. 😆 Luckily, I own a Leupold Mark 4 Tactical 6.5 – 20 and a NightForce NSF 8-32x on Varmint PBs and look through them under many conditions. I consider the Nightforce to be a complete waste of money. I was a bit disappointed with the construction of the Zeiss for the price (seemingly to save on weight). I am sure they are great instruments. The Leupold while heavier and a little more expensive was comparable on optics and a better built scope from outward appearances. I am knocking the Zeiss off of my list even though I know a few hunters that swear by them. I would buy the Leupold over the Zeiss. I still need to look through a Falcon and the high end Nikko. If I had to make a decision today excluding budget considerations it would be the Sightron or the Leupold. The Sightron had the largest range of eye relief I have ever seen on a scope and was very comfortable to use. When you throw best bang for the buck into the mix for recreational shooting it becomes a lot tougher decision.
The Sightron is looking nice…
http://swfa.com/Sightron-10-50×60-SIII-30mm-Riflescope-P48424.aspx
The best place though would be in the woods at dusk of a bit grey and rainy evening. Or at really bright sunlight at the range while sun is shining either low at your direction or at afternoon when the sun is glaring straight at the target.
You are correct he was referring to the cheap Nikko and he has also never looked through the expensive ones (and I have never seen one in person).
The Falcon T50 is about half the price of the Nikko @ $680.
The Nikko Diamond is $1400 and only available in the USA via AoA, are you sure they weren’t referring to the Targetmaster 10-50x that runs $400?
I’d bet you the price of the Falcon he was thinking about the Sportsman 10-50x which is crap at the high mags. The Targetmaster is available at Midway, SWFA and many other places and is often confused with the Diamond. The Diamond has the green scope caps, it is essentially the same as the Sightron but the thing that kills it for me is the fact that they stopped importing them and then started again, I want some rock solid customer service and feel I won’t get it from Nikko on that particular scope.
It turns out the owner of my hunting forum owns a Falcon Menace 10-50 FT and he says it is eons beyond a Nikko. He has a lot of top end guns and scopes. Of course it is a bit more expensive. He says the Falcon doesn’t cloud and dim out so quickly like the Nikko does as the mag goes up.
Then get a wheel from Eric@Compufoil.
http://www.compufoil.com/order_focus.html
If you really want to go bananas…
March 8-80x
Yesssss! i use one SIII on my EV2MKIV, better FOV range than the Big Nikko, (great scope too). But, if you need a sharp image, go for the 10-50×60 SIIILRMD (with MilDot Reticle… (or Nato, but with lower visibility in low light enviroments), both for windage correction,with accurate clicks on this scope.
If yo go for a parallax weel, i suggest the Rowan one, made in UK. and let you 84mm, (3.3″) diameter upper elevation turret.
seeyou
Mac 
I have a first generation Nikko Diamond, it does not exhibit clouding at the longer distances….
The Falcon T50 is about half the price of the Nikko @ $680.
The Nikko Diamond is $1400 and only available in the USA via AoA, are you sure they weren’t referring to the Targetmaster 10-50x that runs $400?
I’d bet you the price of the Falcon he was thinking about the Sportsman 10-50x which is crap at the high mags. The Targetmaster is available at Midway, SWFA and many other places and is often confused with the Diamond. The Diamond has the green scope caps, it is essentially the same as the Sightron but the thing that kills it for me is the fact that they stopped importing them and then started again, I want some rock solid customer service and feel I won’t get it from Nikko on that particular scope.
It turns out the owner of my hunting forum owns a Falcon Menace 10-50 FT and he says it is eons beyond a Nikko. He has a lot of top end guns and scopes. Of course it is a bit more expensive. He says the Falcon doesn’t cloud and dim out so quickly like the Nikko does as the mag goes up.
That level is actually marvellous! I quess there´s a reason they dump them … Konus also offers a good warranty – at least here : They´ll never repair a scope so if you break something you´ll always get a new from the importer. They don´t send any scopes for repair.
That´s a thin comfort though since those scopes (at least the one that poor sap had with him today) are crap in its purest form.
I´ve taken a peek thru their newest offering, the M30 40x and its optics werent bad (for the price) but it weighed a ton and the store owner with his speech about it being “the new Zeiss and S&B killer” got to my nerves and so i rolled out of the store. He wasn´t on his high horses today, i tell you that ! 😈
To really test the optics you need to get to the range and check things in an environment where mirages,sunlight,shades and dusk/dawn conditions occur. You´ll never be able to determine the optics quality in a store under artificial light. I don´t want to be an asshole (although i´m born one) and nag on the matter but i,myself, have looked,shot and looked again thru numerous scopes and a Sidewinder isn´t even near the top of the list there. Also – do that same test at max mag on each scope since that is the real stress factor for all scopes with variable zoom. It would be a neat trick to get a Zeiss with max zoom at 25x to operate at the 32x but pick a Zeiss that has the 32x and spend another 90 min at the Cabelas (although as said that´s not the right place to compare the optics but better than nothing) and see how it turns out then.
The best place though would be in the woods at dusk of a bit grey and rainy evening. Or at really bright sunlight at the range while sun is shining either low at your direction or at afternoon when the sun is glaring straight at the target.
I spent some time looking through the Zeiss Conquest HD5 5-25, Sightron 10-50 (someone else brought as Cabela’s doesn’t sell Sightron), a Leupold Mark 4 Tactical, Nightforce 8-32, a Bushnell Elite, and my Hawke Sidewinder SR Pro 8-32 I brought – all set on 24x. I brought my resolution grid paper and we stuck it as far as we could in the store (about 75 yards). Five of us stared through the scopes and compared notes for about an hour and a half in Cabela’s. I won’t go into a lot of details on each but will conclude that as far as resolution and clarity goes at 24x there was significantly less variability than one might imagine. I really have to sit back and think about how much those subtle differences are worth. I will rate the scopes as follows just from the clarity testing. You can either see/read the lines or you can’t and the five of us always were 100% unanimous on the judgments. The differences between the ratings are very small. Even though we could read to the same grid line on the Nightforce and Bushnell and Hawke, the Nightforce was subtly a bit clearer. The number 1 scopes only allowed us to read/see one more grid line smaller than the 2s and 3s.
1. Zeiss Sightron Leupold
2. Nightforce
3. Elite Hawke
Now while I think this test didn’t really do a very good job of picking a scope because you would never pay another $650 for the Zeiss over the Hawke based on this clarity alone unless you really needed it for competition, etc or just wanted to piss away the money. There are other factors to consider (like weight) and brightness that could distinguish the scopes more. If anything I thought the Hawke was built a little more solidly than the Zeiss. Also, the Zeiss magnification change was very tight and the side focus knob felt a little cheesy. More later….. have to head out to the movies….
I looked through a Konus for about 30 seconds one time at a gun show but not enough to judge it. I did like the level in the reticle. They are always dumping them at our gun shows. 🙄
That also depends… Many Chinese made scopes also have a glass-etched reticle (Konus comes to mind spontaniously) but that doesn´t do them much good since the optics quality is under any criticism. That said many other Chinese-made scopes work well – with or without the etched reticle. It´s upto the brand owner (who orders these from the Chinese) to decide what sort of demands/quality they want their scopes to have. Iex MTC has their own specs/QC as does Hawke.
However – To my knowledge there´s no Hawke scope with GE reticles …
A sad story about those Konus scopes:
The Swedish importer of Konus was on the range today shooting all kinds of rifles – all of them obviously equipped with KonusPro scopes. He shot one of his AR-copy .22LR (a POS Chiappa Arms he coincidentally also imports) at the 50m range and couldn´t hit the target ,or so he thought. He DID hit the paper but very far down and to the left but he wouldn´t know since he was unable to see the bullet holes in the highest mag at 12x on his ” optically on par with Zeiss” KonusPro M30. A friend who had my MTC Viper 10x on his rifle (sold it to him about a week ago) had to look at the target and give him corrections to get that damned Chiappa Arms somewhat zeroed. That wasn´t an easy task though since it spread over 4″ at 50m with all six-seven different brand ammo he had with him. Not a good day for that poor bastard … 😆
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I read a few complaints on the Nikko in that regard. I think S&B must think their Schmidt doesn’t stink. 😛
Not just that it is titanium color and may clash.
My Leapers 8-32 has 76.5MOA of vertical travel, my NIkko has 36.5MOA and the Sightron has 50MOA of vertical travel. I couldn’t find the Leapers or the NIkko anywhere, since I have the two scopes I tested them. The Sightron is listed on their website and most places that have it for sale.
That fancy Schmidt and Bender doesn’t have it listed ANYWHERE… 😯 😯 😯
You’d think for that kind of $$ they would have more information on their website.
The March website has it listed (60MOA) right on the left (by far the easiest to find)… http://marchscopes.com/tactical-8-80-x-56.html
This is important shit, if you buy a scope for long distance shooting and if it doesn’t have enough vertical travel you can’t fucking use it… 👿
On my USFT with the Nikko I only have 100 clicks until I top out (12.5MOA), it has 60 clicks (1/8″)for one full rotation of the wheel. When I switch to the Sightron I will have 19MOA (at 1/4″ a click) until I top out. On my Cricket the Nikko at full up adjustment is shooting about 3″ low at 35 yards (I think the scope rail is flat). With the Sightron I will have enough vertical adjustment to use it on the Cricket without making a new rail (which I don’t even think is possible).