OK mike and you other experts…

Knife (and interested parties),

I’ve spent an assload of time reading scope reviews and comparing features etc.!!! I found one post where the author claims the Conquest glass is made in Japan by Meopta! (I toss that in to see if you’re paying attention, but I really did read that).

What is clear is that the Zeiss glass is the best or or so close that you can’t really distinguish the top 3 or 4 (which may all come from the same place, it’s hard to tell). One guy confirmed that he had spoken to a Zeiss engineer who confirmed that the glass in the top line Zeiss was the same as the Hensoldt but the tactical scope had better turrets and features for military use. Lot’s of folks claimed that the top Zeiss was better than S&B or vice versa or the same…nothing to push a consensus. The Heritage from Premier is said to have glass just below the Zeiss/S&B but it might be the same stuff! It is definitely German glass and good stuff. The IOR (Valdada) scopes have great glass too, it’s made by Schott and might also be the same as the Zeiss/S&B stuff but who knows exactly how the grade and sell the stuff? Lot’s of great reviews on the IOR optical performance but also a bunch of horrible reviews on one particular model and a ton of comments on the customer service being a crap shoot if you do have a problem.

There are a few scope lines that are clearly the top of the optical pyramid. Unfortunately, the prices reflect that. The second tier of the optical scale gets a bit more muddled as far as I can tell. This is where the highest Japanese glass comes in. There are a couple Japanese companies that make excellent glass (you might have noticed all those monster lenses on the sidelines at the big game are Japanese!). The scopes in the second tier are the Conquest, Nightforce, U.S. Optics and the most expensive Leupolds. These scopes don’t cost as much on average but the custom stuff that USO does can and does drive them up fast!

The Leupolds are just also rans in this category. The problem is that they hold every feature so dear! I was looking at a very expensive 1-4x26ish scope (from the Euro line) and it was high dollar but still used coin operated turrets! Jeez! I was trying to keep an open mind towards Leupys but they charge you double just to give you a tube with no bends! The Leupys are almost inevitably over-priced for what they deliver and grossly so. On the plus side, they are known for excellent customer service and they have an awesome array of custom shop options you can buy. I swear, if they delivered modern turrets without charging for them like they were invented yesterday, I’d buy a VX-7 and customize it…

The USO scopes are outstanding. I don’t think I saw a single negative review from someone who was not an idiot or had clearly bought the wrong scope for his application. The custom work they do is pretty cool too as is where they put their emphasis, you’ll just have to read their stuff to gather an idea of the corporate mindset.

The Conquest line is regarded very highly overall and the optics are clearly a value. Unlike the Leupys where decent glass costs you a fortune and clicks are still an “extra” the Conquest scopes clearly deliver better optics than their price point indicates. The only problem with these scopes relates to the 1″ tube and the limited adjustment that entails and also the reticle choices/turret options. If I ever get some more coin, I’m going to get a Conquest for the Woodsman. I need a 1″ tube to fit the custom mount on that gun and I think a 6×20 Conquest with a Z-1000 reticle would be great for that gun (as it might be the most accurate I’ve ever shot).

That brings me to the Nightforce line: It is clearly in the second tier in optics but it has some other advantages. The biggest one is that it is built extremely rugged and the adjustments work flawlessly. Nearly everybody that comments on a better scope (optically) or worse scope (any reason) mentions that the NF scopes always track spot on over and over. The NF line has a huge following in high power long range shooting based on being very strong and having repeatable adjustments all the time. Given that I’m putting the scope on a high power airgun (no it’s not a Barrett .50 but you’d be surprised by the longer duration kick) AND that I’ll be doing a lot of knob dicking as the range changes from short (50 yards) to long (200 yards), repeatable adjustment and the zero stop feature become very important. Also, it doesn’t matter if the adjustments work well if they don’t have the required range. The NF scope has nearly double the elevation range as the Conquest and on top of that, it has a reticle much better suited to how I shoot most of the time. I should be able to dial to center far more often with the NF scope and when I do have to hold over, the reticle will be more to my liking (allthough I do like the Z-1000).

So, I’ve decided to get a NF 5-22×56 NXS with the NP-R1 reticle and standard 1/4 MOA turrets. I thought about a mil based reticle and mil turrets to match but the finer adjustment of the 1/4 MOA turret better matches the lower range and tighter shooting I ‘m going to be doing (but having the turret adjustment and reticle match was a must).

If you’ve been reading along all this way and have not puked yet, here’s the kicker! I sent the scope side view and dimensions to my favorite custom airgunsmith (currently working on my new cannon) and the gun’s design is being modified (slightly but not insignificantly) to make this scope a perfect fit. Gary has a model of my best length of pull and eye position (from the last project) and is making sure that this scope (with a significantly different eye relief) will mount in the optimum location. This will make getting behind the scope more comfortable and is great news for me and anyone my size shopping at my estate sale! In addition to the best eye/scope position, the gun will have the appropriate “droop” compensation built into the mounting rails to match my shooting and the scope (a lot easier with the NF’s big range). I’m a little excited about this project! 😆