Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting SWFA Super Sniper 5-20X50HD

OK folks, here are some pics and first impressions of the SWFA SS 5-20X50HD. This is just a prototype but it's very close to the final version. Enjoy:











And to the reticle.

5X



10X

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0130.JPG[/img]

20X

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0145.JPG[/img]

Closup:

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0138.JPG[/img]

I've only had it a short time but have made it to the range once:







At 100 yds:

5X



10X



20X



At 300 Yds:

5X

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0230.JPG[/img]

10X

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0232.JPG[/img]

20X

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0225.JPG[/img]

After a few shots at 100 I moved to 300 and these were the groups:

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0270.JPG[/img]

A couple 2"ers, 8 of my last 10 shots went into the 2" center of the bull which is pretty good for a gas gun. The scope gets it done very easily.

Here's the illumination:







Reticle checked for straightness and click value measured right on as accurately as I can measure. About 33.5 Mils (115 MOA)of total elevation adjustment. In the 20 MOA AADMOUNT I've got 22.5 Mils (over 77 MOA) of "up" adjustment left from my 100 yd zero.

Glass is OUTSTANDING!

A couple specs people have been asking about: It's about 14.6" long, 31.5 oz, 30mm tube, very similar to the F1 in size/overall envelope. This prototype has no zero stop but they are working on one.

The clicks feel as good as I've felt on anything. Very positive, snappy with a very loud metallic clicking sound on each one.

The eyebox is as good or better than any of the ~20X scopes I have around, certainly no problems there. The eye relief is quite long, especially on 20X at around 4". It's eye relief doesn't stay perfectly constant but doesn't change as much as some brands throughout the power range. Since it actually gets a little bit longer on high powers it's not something you notice in a negative way.

I don't yet have any info on price/availability. This is a much bigger more expensive scope to make than the fixed 10XHD which goes for $800. It isn't meant to compete in the PST price range, but in the F1/Razor/Light Tacital, etc range. I hope it will come in significantly cheaper than those because I'd like to buy at least a couple but I don't expect them to give them away. This is a high dollar scope.

Glass quality in low light, etc...... I have done some comparing:



Of those the one that compares is the IOR. It's noticably better than the Weaver 4-20 and PST 6-24.



For those who have the 3.5-18, you know how good it is. I found it very close in most measures to my Premier in the past:



Between the IOR and the SS, they're so close I can't really declare a winner. Resolution wise I can't tell which one is better. Staring at a chart through one I'll think it's better, then staring at the chart through the other I'll think it's better. They're that close. The IOR seems to have more of a contrasty "pop" to the image which might give it more of a "warm fuzzy to the eyeball" view in good light. But the more neutral colors of the SS make it nicer to look through in low light.

In short, good freaking glass.

Here are a couple pics I tried to show the low light/illumination in action. This was a good 30 minutes after official sundown so it's pretty darn dark. The camera makes it look lighter than it really is. The pole is around 300 yds away:

IOR on 10X:

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0204.JPG[/img]

SS on 10X:

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0200.JPG[/img]

IOR on 18X:

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0191.JPG[/img]

SS on 20X:

[img]http://www.jonaadland.com/Hunting/SuperSniper/5-20X50HD/PICT0185.JPG[/img]

Keep in mind you can't judge the optical quality via the pics as they're both better than my picture taking makes them look. However, you can't take a good pic through a bad scope and every time I look at that last pic of the SS it's just amazing to me the detail it picks up at 300 yds in the dark! A lot of higher powered scopes that look OK in the day time really take a crap when you crank the power up in low light, there's no hint of that with this one.

Some more questions:


If PD's is all you want to do, of course a SFP scope with a thinner reticle is the natural choice. However this scope's reticle is pretty thin as FFP goes, covering less than 1" at 500 yds so it should do well. If that PD is really little and really far away, you can crank the turrets 1 mil in any direction and use the little dot inside one of the diamonds. At .03 Mil diameter it's tiny.


It's marked down to 35 yds and that seems pretty accurate.


About 33.5 Mils (115 MOA or so).

What's it gonna cost?

Don�t know yet. If it�s like the others in the HD line it should be significantly less than the competition while being better in many/most ways. I�m hopeful it�ll be quite a bit less than the Razor/F1, etc, but I�d understand if it�s not. This is an expensive scope to build, they won�t be giving them away.

Dang, I am sold. I have a 10x SS on my Barrett M82A1, and would like one of these scopes for my Rock River LAR-8.

JonA: can you please tell me who makes that scope mount? Thanks.

I do. http://www.aadmount.com/

Thanks Jon. I looked over your website, very impressive! I'll be ordering a mount from you once those SS 5-20x scopes become available.

I was suprised at the review Mele had on Snipercentral about the 3x9SS and 10x40. After all the hype I've heard on the 3x9, he thought the glass quality was about the same. Big difference in price though.

Jon,

Is that your mount?

Yes.

Thanks for bringing that up, I hadn't seen it. What he says at the beginning--about the 3-9 being the variable version of the old 10X42, etc, is completely wrong. Other than name they share nothing and are made in different factories. I don't know where he got that stuff.

Anyway, while the 3-9 doesn't have glass up to the level of the HD's, most find it significantly better than the old 10X42, perhaps he got an above average 10X42 if he didn't think the difference was that big. Regardless, the 3-9 is more of a mid-level bang for the buck scope with its focus on durability and simplicity for the money, which I think it does very well. There is a 2.5-10X42 HD in the works eventually that will get the top level glass, illumination, etc, if you want something nicer in that size.

In any case, the glass on this 5-20 is right up there to compete with and beat some $2000+ scopes so it's not likely you'd find it lacking.

What would you guess the price will be?

It looks like they�ll be somewhere between $1000 and $1500 for the first models without zero stop to be available later this month. A zero stop will be added probably as an option in the future.

How is that favorably priced compared to a pst? What am I missing?

It's favorably priced compared to the Razor, which is the more appropriate comparison. It's on a different level than the PST.

understood

Price is up: http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-5-20x50-Tactical-30mm-Riflescope-P50662.aspx

Some should become available around the end of the month.

I just got an email from Sniper's Hide about a group buy on those, if anyone is interested, check out their web site..

Look here:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ub...in=226452&Number=2556286#Post2556286

Yeah, I'd buy one for sure if we can get the $500 off. I "liked" them.
Lee