Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics toughest scope

Forget about anything else, what is the toughest scope on the market today?

nightforce

Guy I fished with couple weeks ago in Oregon dropped his nxs guiding a client, didn’t retain zero. But there’s videos of Nightforce gettin shot with a 12 gauge perty close, so he’s lying. 😂 rut roh…

Steiner, if you can stand the weight.

He even has a Nightforce sticker on his cooler!!! Oh lord, pm’s and texts are flying, boo boo lips are dragging and excuses are in the making!! Haha 😂

Yep, My vote would slso be for Nightforce, they are built like a tank!.....Hb

Nightforce.....case closed!!

Ignore the prior answers.

Yours is a good question and, as you would expect, there are several variables or components to consider.

The first one is obviously the main tube. Here we can quickly cut through the chaff. The vast majority of scope tubes are made of aluminum. There are a few that are made of steel and I have no first-hand knowledge of those so this discussion is all about aluminum tubes. You can immediately eliminate the 1inch and 30mm tubes from the ranks of the toughest scopes; their tube wall will be a maximum of 2mm thick. Then you are faced with the 34, 35, 36, and 40 mm tubes. In the 34 mm tubes, if the range of adjustment is much greater than 60MOA (or about 20MIL), the tube wall will 2mm thick also. For example, I know that the 34mm tubes from March are all 4mm thick; extremely strong. I also believe that some Nightforce scopes are 34mm and have thick wall; the NXS series is not one of them. There are many other brands with 34mm tubes and thick wall. But again, I come back and say 1inch and 30mm tubes do not make the cut.

Next is the design of the tube. If it's a two (or more) parts main tube, they don't make the cut. If the objective bell is extruded, they don't make the cut.

If the tube is bent by accident, your zero will shift, to say the least.

After that, you have the knobs and the magnification ring. Now, any scope that lands on the elevation knob may get damage to that assembly. Some are tougher than others.

Let's talk internals. The first thing that comes to mind is the erector tube. If you have a heavy erector tube, any hit on the scope will cause more internal stress on the knobs and springs than if the erector tube is lighter. But if a light erector tube is not engineered properly, it will be easily damaged. You also have the choice and use of proper material for springs and knobs and so on. Some last longer than others.

Then there is the issue of how everything is assembled internally and sealed overall. Again, one piece tubes are superior to multi-piece tubes for sealing. I've also seen scopes with an access plate to the knob assembly. That's not conducive to sealing life.

Internet lore is one thing; real life engineering is another.

I checked out the Nightforce site and discovered the only line that has a 34mm tube is the ATACR; the NX8, SHV, NXS and competition all have 30mm tubes.

Checking various ATACR offerings reveals Nightforce uses the 34mm tube to provide a larger range of internal adjustments; the main tube walls cannot be thicker than 2mm.

Scopes weren't designed to take physical abuse.

Back in the 1960/1970s Leupold had a scope and rifle pictured in an advertisement I believe in the NRA magazine along with the story of how the rifle and scope were lost in a pretty fast flowing western stream....I believe in a horse crossing.

The rifle and scope were found a couple years later the rifle and scope were trashed...the Leupolds internals were still nitrogen filled.

Unless someone has a better verified example of extreme use then I give Leupold the toughest scope award.

Zeiss is the only manufacturer that used to have a rubber cover over the front objectuve bell that I'm aware of.

Tough....can the scope take heavy recoil and remain zeroed.

Thanks. I own one Zeiss and numerous Leopold’s (mostly older ones).
I’ve never tried Nightforce. But I’ll be considering them.
Let me put the question another way: a friend has a specially ordered 460 Weatherby without a muzzle break. He hates muzzle breaks. He also owns a bolt action single shot 50 BMG. The 460 kicks much more than the 50 BMG, because it’s much lighter.

What scope would be able to last the longest on that Weatherby?

In my younger years I had mostly steel tube Elpaso Weavers 2 1/2x, 3x, 4x, 6x, 10x and 12x. Granted the only hard kicker I mounted any on was my 350 RM 600 Remington and that was a 2 1/2x. I had 4x scopes on the ‘06’s and the higher power on lighter kicking cartridges.

I never had scope failures that I was aware of. But I wonder if I let some scoped rifles go due to a bad scope??

I always preferred fix power scopes.

I’d probably try the NF ATACR 1-8x.

Never seen a broken SWFA 6x MQ, or a SWFA 1-6 HD.

Might happen, but I haven't seen it.

With all the experience MD has in testing scopes, you might ask him.

It can definitely happen, but the beauty in SWFA is they have awesome customer service. If you drop one of their scopes and damage the eyepiece (just for an example), they will replace it for free.

I have a 25+ year old Vari X iii 1.5-5 that's been through hell and back and has never lost it's zero on a 338 WM. I haven't used it for dialing obviously but for it's purpose, it's been flawless.

Yep, he's the man for this. Yet, let's not put him on stage to say anything bad about any product.
I guess that's up to him.

I have one too, I use it on my 338-RUM. It has never missed a beat.

IIRC he's stated he's had something like 12 or 15 different brands of scopes go tits up at one time or another, including alpha brands.