Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics SWFA SS 5-20x50 experiences

Anyone used one of these?

http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-HD-5-20x50-Tactical-30mm-Riflescope-P51653.aspx

I need a scope for a long range rifle I'm building and this has caught my eye as a possible alternative to a NF.

No experience, but they'll be doing a tax day sale most likely April 15th.

I didn't know that. Thanks!

Shoot them an email and ask. They have a mailing list for their sales. It's generally only tax day and Black Friday, but they send it out.

Black Friday is pretty worthwhile. Usually 20-25%. I can't recall tax day.

I owned one of the 3.5-15 SWFA scopes and it was pretty decent for the money. I think you'd be good to go with one of them.

I have one on a 300WM and its a great scope. Reticle is very good and usable in the entire power range, but better from 8x up. Turrets are positive and stay put. The parallax and power ring are hard to turn, but that is no big deal to me. Glass is good and the lit reticle is very good, with only the middle portion being lit. Eye relief is good. I dont have thousands of rounds through it, but so far, I would recommend it, as long as it is not going on a light weight rifle.

I've owned a couple. They are solid scopes but I'm pretty sure SWFA won't sell them to Obama voters. Might want to call them on Monday.

Thanks. The rifle will be quite heavy. Do you dial the turrets much? How is it in low light?

I dial every time I shoot it. I think it's 8.4 mils @1k with a 210 Berger around 2850 fps @ 300 ASL. I haven't sat down and compared it to my SB, but the glass is good and for sure will get you to 1/2 hour after sunset. Like I said, I don't have thousands of rounds through it, but so far so good. I got it for $1120 on a black Friday sale, and for that price it is a steal.

i got one on the promo they ran. it tracked great, great glass, built like a tank. but the reticle sucks, and the illum was mediocre. but you can normally find used ones for $1100 or so for illum and 900 for non illum. they aren't worth the msrp imo. the gen 1 razor is a better scope and can be found for 13ish used

What didn't you like about the reticle?

I've read that the illumination isn't great. I'm currently thinking I don't want the illuminated reticle anyway, in this instance.

Thanks.

What I've read about the reticle is that the illumination is executed perfectly to place a shot. Very crsp and dim enough not to interfere with anything other that highlight the aiming point. But, it is just the aiming point so if you like the whole tree lit, that it is not.

I'm wondering if the FFP nature of the scope had the reticle too thick for some X's or something. Hopefully jjrgr will flesh out his comment.

I'm not generally a fan of complex reticles...... but this whole project, from the rifle build specs to the scope, is partly to get my ass out of my comfort zone and trying new stuff.

Trying to get your ass away from the lying POS you have always been?

So, a mildot or Mil-Quad reticle "sucks", care to elaborate or would you rather have most just assume you're a stupid SOB.

Boy, didn't take long for this thread to start it's descent into the garbage heap.

I'm noticing some significant past tense here: "I had one and...." ...

Did they serve as a bridge to a Nightforce, or......?

Flavor of the day. Newer things have come and gone.

I like mine. I used it for hunting this year. Not the best way to go as the reticle is small at 5X and I had no need to go higher for 300 yard deer. At least I finally bloodied it.

Thanks madman.

Since you're skull Fhuging the schitt out of it anyway..... which seem par for the course....

I'd way rather a run a Bushnell 3-21 DMR than a 5-20 SS.... one just sold in the classifieds for $900.... and it's WAY more scope than the 5-20....

I've played with the SWFA 3-15 and 5-20 enough to know I don't like either of them.... though the fixed version is the only way to go under $500. The LRHS (30mm) and DMR & HDMR (34mm) series scopes are holding it down pretty damn well on both the long range hunting and PRS (LR Match) scenes.

I like my 3-12 LRHS more than I liked my NXS 3-15, or any of my Uber Chickens.....