Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Steiner GS3 3-15X56

What's you guys' opinion on this scope? Anyone have one? I have $750 Bass Pro Shop Gift card and need a scope so i figured id get the best scope i can for $1000 or less and pay the difference cash. I compared it to the Zeiss Conquest HD 3-15x50 and the Swarovski Z3 4-12x50. I liked it the best of the 3. It seemed to have the best field of view and i liked the color and clarity better than the other 2. My only concern was when i looked thru all 3 of them in the store i could see a reflection of the store's overhead lighting in the Steiner but not in the other 2. If i held the scope with one hand and held the other hand above the scope and blocked the light i no longer saw the reflection. Do you think this would be an issue in the field? Other than that i really like the Steiner above the others and i really like the fact that its the only 30mm tube and 56mm objective lens out of the 3. The Steiner also has superb reviews. Thanks for any opinions/advice/info.


Randall

For a three ounces less you can get a Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50. I have three now and they are better during the day than the Swarovski z5 5-25X52 and match them in low light. My last one cost $785.

I liked the view that I saw on the 2-10. For me though a 56mm objective is a reason not to like a scope.

RH why is that??

Just personal preference. I prefer lighter weight scopes that I can mount lower for better cheek weld and faster handling. I wouldn't mind one if it were on a heavy long range rifle with adjustable cheek piece. I just don't want or need one on a walk around rifle.

56MM objective bell requires a scope to sit in high rings and that causes me issues when shooting unless I have an adjustable comb.

I guess that depends on your setup. Both 54 and 56mm scopes fit neatly into medium Warne rings for me and require no adjustment with the stock.

Shortmag11-

Yes, the Steiner scopes do feature nice glass and offer excellent resolution, but what you noticed in the store is something many have discovered: that the stray light/flare control can be an issue in certain lighting scenarios. Of the 3 you mention, I'd opt for the HD5 3-15x50. I tested one against the Z3 4-12x50 and preferred the Zeiss over the Swaro when it came down to really low lighting.

Bobby, i agree the Zeiss would have been my next choice but the field of view of the Steiner was head and shoulders above the other 2. The glass to me was superior also. I have had the same type of reflection issues in the field with both Nikon and Leupold scopes in the past and its usually as the sun is rising or setting aka "prime time" hunting hours. I would really be disappointed if i purchased a $1000 scope and had these issues. Where i hunt, most of the deer i see are usually early am or late evening so i feel the 30mm tube and 56mm objective lens would be of benefit to me. Do you feel like the Zeiss' low light capability would outweigh the benefits of the 30mm tube and 56mm objective??

RH the weight really isn't an issue for me as most of my walking is 5-600 yds or less. Low light conditions are more of a concern for me.

Low light capability is a combination of exit pupil size and glass quality and coatings. A larger objective will give you a larger exit pupil,but it doesn't really become useful unless you are using higher magnification. A human eye can only benefit from somewhere between 5mm-7mm exit pupil.

Anything larger you really can't take advantage of. If you need high power for longer range in low light then a larger objective that will give you a larger exit pupil may benefit you.

In 90% of the hunting I do any low light shooting will be in woods at under 100 yards so I can have just as bright a scope with high quality glass and have an exit pupil plenty large on low power with smaller objectives.

If you are sitting a field and might have 300-400 yard shots at last light then the larger objective may be better for you. The tube size however has no impact on light transmission.

I'd still take the Zeiss over the Steiner, particularly with the situations you describe. It will take you to and through legal shooting light. Zeiss -- from an overall perspective -- is one of the best in the industry when it comes to anti-reflection technology. And while the Steiner looked superior in the store for you, it is impossible to gauge scopes unless you have them fully secured and stable and can get repeatable and consistent views through them. The Steiner's contrast may indeed be a bit snappier, but I doubt seriously its low-light resolution and image usability under the worst of conditions will blow the Zeiss out of the water. In fact, I can assure you it will not.

For just a bit more, you could go with the Conquest DL in 3-12x50 with a #60 illuminated reticle. It treads closely on the heels of the original Victory series and features one of the industry's best illumination systems. It was oddly-named and poorly marketed by Zeiss and remains one of the best-kept secrets in the optics world.

Two others to keep an eye out for are the Leica ERi 3-12x50/4-a (illuminated dot) and the Kahles CSX 3-12x56/4-Dot. Both offer alpha glass and were closed out for reasons too detailed to discuss here. I picked up the Kahles for 1199; the last price on the Leica I saw was $50 more. Both originally were $2k products.

Another alpha scope that was discontinued and still may be found is the Kahles C 2.5-10x50/4-a. Originally a much more expensive scope, the last price I saw was $749, and I could kick myself for not getting one then.

Went to the local hunting/fishing store this afternoon and looked around. They carry a lot more mid to high end stuff than the big box stores around here do. Guy there doesn't seem to be much on the Zeiss. He has a few there. I looked thru a Victory HT i believe was a 3-12x56 30mm tube and a HD5 3-15X50 1" tube. The HD5 to me appeared to be the clearer of the 2 even though it was about half the price. He said the HT had been there for a long time and he'd make me a good deal on it but at $2200 a good deal would still be a far stretch from my budget I'm pretty sure. He was pushing the Swarovski's pretty hard. Says he's "blowing out" the Z6's due to the arrival of the Z8. Really liked the 2.5-15x56 i believe it was but again i think he was around $17-1800 on it which is still outside of where id like to be by a stretch. He also had Trijicon's which he recommend over the Zeiss. I asked about the Conquest DL and he said they hadn't had any in quite a while and he couldn't remember how he liked or disliked that model. He said in the last 5 years his Zeiss sales have fallen significantly. With that being said i have found a place to have a DL in 3-12x50 with the 60 Illuminated reticle for $1275. I am interested in that but id like to put my hands on one before i buy one. That same guys also says the Meopta Meostar R1 Illumimnated would be pretty comparable to the DL. Would like to see the Leica ER5i as well but not sure where to find one to put my hands on before buying. Ohh and while looking through ALL of the higher end scopes at the store the salesman and myself both could see reflections the color of the lenses in the scopes when we looked thru them. Must be something to do with fluorescent lighting. So now i feel like my original worries on the Steiner may be premature. But on the other hand now that i have looked at a few illuminated reticles I'm kind of liking them and the Steiner doesn't off that without stepping up into their real high end stuff. Now i feel as if i may be more confused than i originally was.

I feel your pain. Once you get into the upper-middle class of optics, there are more similarities than differences, and our own perceptions and biases come into play. Every scope has it own strengths and weaknesses as well, further muddying the waters.

I am thinking about the Steiner as well, but also looking at the Nightforce SHV illuminated MOA ret. as well.
Old eyes have a hard time seeing fine cross hairs in low light.
How does the the Steiner compare to the SHV? Nobody around close to me has both to do a side by side with.

I have a Steiner and really like it. The glass is better to my eyes than Nightforce, durability, and accurate adjustments sealed the deal for me when they brought out the new version and reduced the price. This one is what I bought.

If your not a knob twister, I'd consider the Bushnell 6500 mentioned previously, or a Leupold and choose magnification according to use. I have a Vari-x or VX-III with 50mm objective that is less cost than you mentioned but I can see the cross hair well past shooting light with no illumination most of the time.

There are plenty of serviceable scopes, you just need to decide how much you actually want to spend. Happy shopping!

Pullit i'm in the same situation you're in. There's very few places around me to look at any high end optics and the one that is around has a limited selection i.e no Nightforce, Steiner, Leica so I have to go to Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's to get my hands on anything nice and even they don't have a huge selection so its hard to compare apples to apples. Plus they are both over an hour away from me. I compared the Steiner to the Zeiss HD5 and Z3 and liked it the most by far but I was seeing some reflection in it that I wasn't seeing in the others. Then when I looked at the real high end Swaro
(Z6 I believe) and Zeiss (Victory) products at my local shop I saw similar reflection in those as well so I guess it just depends on the indoor lighting of where you are. So that was somewhat of a relief in terms of me really liking the Steiner. Since then I've really been thinking about an illuminated reticle. It seems you have to step up to the higher end models in the Steiner, Leica, Zeiss brands to get illuminated reticles which sends the price point up in the 2 grand range or better which is out of my budget. I have never put my hands on a SHV but would love to be able to check one of those out along with an ER5 before making my decision. Good Luck and let us know what you pull the trigger one!

Not really. The Zeiss Conquest DL offers the #60 reticle, and you can still find closeouts in the Leica ERi line for 899-1300. You may have to hunt for them a bit, but you can still find the Kahles CSX and KXi in that same range as well.

Bobby I haven't been able to put my hands on an ER5, ERI or DL. I'd sure like to. I'm not real familiar with the Kahles at all and to my knowledge no one in my area stocks them. I spoke with Doug at Cameraland and the guy I've dealt with in the past at Euro optics and neither of them seemed to be real impressed with the DL for the price and actually my local shop here said when he had those in stock he would use them as "test dummies" to sell other brands such as Leica, Swarovski, Meopta and Trijicon so I'm definitely skeptical on it again without being able to put my hands on it. That's my biggest problem is i have nowhere around me to check out these optics let alone side by side to do an apples to apples test and i cant or wont spend $1000-1500 on one with putting my hands and eyes on it first. I'm going to make a trip up to Cabela's and BassPro Sunday to see what i can fiddle with. Cabela's is supposed to be having a huge sale.

Some Places will accept returns of unmounted scopes without charging any restocking fee. I believe EuroOptic does. It might cost you $25 to ship it back insured but that might be cheaper and easier than long road trips trying to locate the scopes you want to see.