Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Sightron SII 3x9x42 vs Leupold 3x9x40 VXII

547...

"Eyebox" is not a problem with the SII 3-9x42, trust me. I think you'll find the SII to fulfill your wishes above. Critical eye relief is not an issue at all. IT is just a great piece of glass. If you like I can pull it off my AR and send it up your way to test drive for a bit.

THAT is what this place has always been about.....

Class move.

Another sleeper out there is the Browning Scopes. The only difference is no raingaurd on the Brownings. Same glass as the 4200 and 3.7" eye relief. I just bought 2 2-7's for 140.00/scope.

VA, have you checked the eye relief on the SII 3-9X42 in the last 4-5 months?

I was looking through some scopes last night and pulled out a older SII and a SII that I bought 3 months ago. The older one is pretty critical on eye relief, the newer one is close to the SIIB user friendly eye relief. The older one is probably only 2 years old but very different.

With the flashlight trick, the old one is about 3.4" and the new one is about 4.1"

I know myself and many others that have been in Sightrons ears for the past 2 years about eye relief and reticle choices.

I will call Sightron again today and ask more questions. I may send the older SII back and have them send me a newer model and see if there the same. Also would like to talk to them about Lot# differences. So far they have been great about listening to the customer.

Have Fun

Rob

Ditto your findings on the SIIBs versus the older SIIs. The older stuff has stupid short eye relief. The new stuff is very nice.

Still can't like or want a Bushnell, for any reason. Zero comfort level or confidence in their stuff, and doubt that will ever be restored. Which, is fine. Plenty of other choices out there.

That's right, I forgot your "Anti B" LOL

Rob

ADD: Many years ago like 10-12, I put a Bushnell Banner Dusk to Dawn 3-9X50 with the gonzo eye relief on my Savage 210 Slug gun to try it out and literally to see if I could break it. 10-12 years later and 400-450 slugs later it's still on there. It will get switched out this year. I have to many good scopes to keep playing with that thing on there. HMMMM Big 50mm objective on a wicked kicking slug gun and no breakage. Isn't there a philosophy about that????

Anyway have fun

Rob

Sacrilege almost......grin

Roy

Rob,

Since the objective was over 33mm shouldn't it have had a catastrophic failure within 30 rounds?

Rob,

"Since the objective was over 33mm shouldn't it have had a catastrophic failure within 30 rounds?"

That was my thought process after getting educated here. LOL

Rob

I did this before I got my education here, that's why it still works. LOL


Rob

Another scope to try is the Fullfield II or my preference as you can get it cheaper and from Doug is the Pentax Pioneer. Fairly good eye relief and better than VXII optics at $140.

Plus 1 on the FFII. Eye relief is a small amount more critical but barely. Optics clarity , to my eyes and my hunting buddies , exceeds the equivalent VXII.

Probably a couple reasons why I am wrong on this but hey, brain isn't smart enough to dispute what my eyes see so I don't know the difference

cheers
Lorne

Daveh, after reading one of your posts in the past I purchased a Pentex Pioneer an was very inpressed by the glass and overall build of the scope. I have a few Fullfield II's and there much scope for the $$ too.

Rob

elsdude, I've done this many times. I'll do it again, right now. Now, if you can't understand what I'm talking about, that's your problem. I suspect it is because you have no experience with such things. I do. That includes fixed eye relief scope of a couple of makes.
Basically, the only real difference between a scope with a short eye relief, lets say 3.2-3.4 inches and a fixed eye relief scope of say 3.8-4.0 inches is the eye relief is longer. But the forgiving nature, or lack of it, tend to be the same. Very little back and forth leeway as to where you put your head. BTW, if the scope has a large exit pupil, that means more side to side leeway, but not any more back and forth leeway as far as I can tell.
If you try a scope with a large eye box, it may well not be readily apparent. That, it turns out, is because you haven't got the thing located in just the right spot on your rifle. I like Barsness's advice. Set the scope's position while using a sitting position. Then it should be pretty good for both prone and standing as well.
I usually end up adjusting the scope's position a couple of times before I'm done. I need to have that image right there when I throw it up in a hurry. It needs to be there w/o any hunting of the image - moving my head back and forth a tad- under any conditions. That means in light summer clothing, and heavier winter clothing. That means with and w/o a pack. That means from all three of the shooting positions I shoot, particularly standing and sitting. When I get that scope just right, I know I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
Some scopes, on some rifles, may require extended bases at some magnifications to make this happen. Or you can lenthen the stock. The thing to remember is that with a variable, a scope with a very large eye box is no use to you if it isn't placed just right. And, if you use different positions, you may well find that certain magnifications work a little better than others if the scope doesn't have a fixed eye relief. With a 3.5-10X40 VariXIII, for instance, I find that 3.5 works best for quick, off hand shots, 6X works best for shots from a sitting position and 10X works perfectly for shots from prone w/ a shooting sling.
Fixed eye relief scopes, like the Nikons I've played with or the short eye relief scopes like the B&L or Bushnells I've played with don't offer nearly as much leeway. But you can learn to use what you have to some extent. Again, you need to really test the position of the scope extensively Still, I'll take a 6X42 Leupold, with it's huge eye box, over a 4X Balfor B&L with it's much larger FOV, much shorter eye relief and smaller eye box any day. Just gets the job done with less stress and effort. I've hunted both for a number of years. Give me a large eye box over FOV anyday. E

Eremicus, do you prefer Leupold's fixed power scopes over their variables????

Roy

I have a couple of the FFII's and they are an absolute steal of a scope @ $140.

Eremicus recommends them as well because Barsness does. He has never used them of course.

E, your explanation makes no sense.

You claim a huge eyebox for a big L 6x. Depending on which you mean it has an eye relief of 4.2 to 4.5 inches. How does that differ greatly from a Conquest 3-9x with 4 inches while set on 6x? Or one I currently own, a Nikon Omega with 5 inch eye relief set on 6x? And before you bring up another canard, these are the measured distances from the eyepiece rear edge, not just from the lens. The Conquest will have a usable cone of light very little different from the big L. The Omega will have a cone of light very slightly larger than the big L. How is one a big huge eyebox and the other critical? The Conquest as I recall, not having one currently, has about the same FOV at 6x though possibly a bit larger than the larger 6x Leupie's. The Omega has just about the same FOV at 6x as the larger 6x L scope.

So you like a big L 6x which inherently has fixed eye relief, while a constant eye relief variable is not as good. The only thing it looks like is your apparent faith, that whatever the big L offers is best. Whatever differs from that isn't.

Again, like others here, and rather unlike you, I have owned rifles with fixed relief variables, and more with variable relief scopes. The constant eye relief is better. The rest of what you are describing is nothing more than proper positioning on the rifle.

Your description of use merely gives an account of how you have adapted to the bother of highly variable eye relief. It isn't a benefit even if you have gotten used to it and learned to work around it. Constant eye relief is just simpler to live with.

esldude,I've been trying for too long to find the OAL of the 1" tube on the Nikon Omega. Would you mind measuring yours and letting me know what it is? REALLY appreciate it!!

til later

The Omega has 4 5/8ths inch that is one inch in diameter. The turrets are centered with 1 3/4 inch on each side of the turrets.

Mine is on a Ruger #1 in 45/70. Any scope on the #1 needs long eye relief at all powers. Here is a thread with pictures of the Omega mounted on the Ruger.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread...a&topic=0&Search=true#Post850598

Greg, thank you for your most generous offer, but I wouldn't expect a man to take a scope off of an already sighted in rifle just for me to try out, but your confidence in the Sightron SII has convinced me to take a chance on one, My only fear is that I will get one of the older scopes with the much more critical eye relief, Is it just the very newest models that have the forgiving eyebox?...............547.