Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics long range hunters forgotten again 2016 shot

each year I keep anxiously awaiting what comes out of shot show each year. I keep hoping we get a long range hunting scope that is tailored to our needs. There have been attempts made in the past but the optics world seems to have been taken over by the tactical community. sewer pipe diameter main tubes and FFP reticles seem to be where all the new stuff is going. I guess I will just have to accept the long range hunting community is actually pretty small and isn't the one driving optics sales. what I am looking for in a long range optic

1)30mm main tube
2)ZERO STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3)low profile capped windage!!! even the tactical guys should want that
4) simple reticle with wind hold offs, we have a turret we don't need fancy doohicky marks on the vertical. must be easy to see in low light, not require illumination, and easy to pick up very quickly
5)must have a low power around 3x and no higher than about 16x, that could be a 3-15, 4-16, or 3.5-14 etc. if you go around that power range a reticle with 1 moa hold offs will show up great in low power and in low light.
6) second focal plane reticle SFP,
7)needs to track perfectly, actually this should be number 1!
8)glass should be bushnell elite 3200 or burris FF2 quality or higher.
9)price it around $1k
10) provide the elevation knob be capped if desired or ran without the cap.

Sound good except for it should go to at least 20X. And rather than a specific magnification on low power, how about calling for more than 20' field of view?

SFP is a inferior system
Sounds like you need a S&B.

dave

I have a good long range hunting scope. It's a swfa 3x15.end of story. Killed a coyote at a pretty fair poke with it today. Just like many before it.

not in the power ranges I suggested. go adjust your FFP scope to 3x and see how great it works without or even with illumination. S&B is insanely over priced. I am not spending 3 grand for a scope.

SWFA has big turrets that area easily moved. The scope is mil based as well. mil is for the my hose is bigger than yours crowd. there are other downsides to that scope. I suggested them making a MOA/MOA version but with SFP reticle. its not high enough power to really need FFP

I really like mils. I have shot moa too, they are all just clicks, and a form of measurement. Let me give you an example of the easiness of mils. My hd b binos give me the yardage,and then the number of clicks in mils. For example.43 clicks. With mils you know that would be 4.3 mils of adjustment. Just add a decimal. I can range and dial in a couple seconds. With moa. I have to divide the total # of clicks by 4 as there are 4 .25 moa clicks in 1 moa. This adds a step and takes longer. Both methods get you there, moa just has an extra step. This takes longer and adds a Sep for a possible mathematical mistake.

Nightforce SHV covers A LOT of those requirements.

Gotta be Shepherds scopes...

A used Nightforce cost more than the grand the OP requested.

False.

With your FFP aversion aside, have you played with the bushnell LRHS in either power range?
If so , what did you find fault with?

VX-6 is Über

To my knowledge, the OP has not played with the Bushy LRHS, nor has he played much with any FFP reticle. By the sounds of it, he hasn't done much with SWFA SS turrets, or any mil-based scope, either. Most of his biases are based on poor assumptions and incorrect notions.

Essentially, he's just going to have to accept that his ill-informed opinions and preferences are NOT representative of the LR hunting community at all. That community is a fairly loud voice in industry, and plenty of scopes have come to market to fulfill its requests, while cummins' is but a single, faint voice asking for something that actual experience with currently available optics shows is inferior and undesirable.

well said. you can lead a horse to water but.......

Here's your 2FP. Not MOA, but mils are super easy. Zero stop kit is only $22. I look forward to your range report.

John

http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-3-15x42-Tactical-Rifle-Scope-P87716.aspx

funny you mention that. you have that problem because whoever designed the leica geovid's evidently never let any western hunters try them out and test them first. It was an oversite that the ballistic program outputs like the way it does in MOA and makes you divide by 4. So don't fault the unit of measurement, ie MOA when its an equipment defect.

shocking to some of you guys I actually own an SWFA ss scope. so checkmate.

the FFP vs SFP lordy I am sick of the argument, a hunting scope spends most of its time on LOW power, at least mine does. when I need the features of the reticle I dial to max power to take a long range shot. if you have a scope from 12x to 16x in max power your NOT, I repeat very unlikely to use anything but max power. its not too much power to dial down for mirage, so with that said FFP is just a downside because the reticle isn't useable and is probably hard to see at low power where the scope spends most of its time.

FFP is for dynamic shooting situations where your likely to be changing scope power more often. maybe your shooting at moving targets, maybe your scope maxes at say 24x that is when FFP makes sense. that is why its preferred by competitors. This is a hunting forum and I said a hunting scope!

I think you had better stick to open sights. You might be able to run those.

Some of what you describe sounds like a Swarovski BT 4W. I have a Z5 5x-25x on a varmint rifle and I love it.

I dunno' what we'd all do without cumminscowboy's laundry list of scope requirements. I'm on the edge of my seat to see who else fugg's their scope line up for SHOT Show 2017.....

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