Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Nikon 5-20x44 SF Monarch?

Just picked one up today. Have been diehard Leupold fan and do most of my hunting with a fx3 6x42 or vx2 3-9. My eyes are on downhill slide and after having a hard time resolving groundhogs at 400 yards the other day decided to step up a bit in power. Found this today. For less than $500 I got scope/flip up lens covers/not one but two sets of turrets with caps and sunshade in a nice box. Scope is optically clear albeit heavy and a lot larger than the Leups. Just awfully frustrating that I get all this for my coin and couldn't even come close on a similar Leupold. Left me head scratching....doubt I'll sell my leupolds any time soon and to me they will continue to be my first choice but lately the return on my investment is a bit lacking.

So after a trip to the range.....while its a lotta scope for the money....I won't be changing brands any time soon.

BDC by chance?

Yes it's a BDC. I wasn't really wanting this much power but the price was right. I haven't had a chance to play with the BDC much as still in load development stage. Whole family of g-hogs on a hillside that been giving me the bird all spring cause closest you can get to them is about 400 to 450 yards away. I lasered the one kill I had this summer at 550. I just wanted to try something with a bit more power as have been using vx-2 3-9 for all shots.

Is the BDC usable at 4 or 500yds? Size of the "donuts" seems like it would cut down on precision....if it works ok I'd look hard at a 4-16x42.

I hope I can tell you after this weekend. The doughnouts are rather large compared to Leupie's dots. But still encompass a 1 inch circle so I don't think it will greatly take away from accuracy at that range. I thought that the 4-16 was wrongly priced at $150 dollars more while I was standing there looking at the 5-20.....the same rings true for most online vendors and I have exactly zero clue why.
I will say for such a large scope it is not clunky and fits Talley Lows on a Remmy varmint contour barrel.

I was looking at these too and decided to stay with my VX-II 6x18 but Im with you on bang for the buck. I will look forward to more info as to how well you like it.

How is the eye box on high power?

Every bit as good as my vx-3L 4.5-14. The Nikon's huge eye objective provides a pretty nice window. I honestly didn't measure how close I was to it at 20x but it didn't feel uncomfortably close and it was easy to obtain a nice site picture.

Is this it?
http://www.swfa.com/pc-12683-2201-nikon-4-16x50-monarch-riflescope.aspx


2 sets of knobs?

SWFA doesn't mention that.

I have the 5-20 x 44 Monarch and it did come with 2 sets of knobs. SWFA makes it look like they are giving you a sunshade but Nikon supplies it in the box. I paid SIGNIFICANTLY less than what they have it listed for. Not sure on the 4-16 but I have a feeling they do. It's obvious that somebody at Nikon is doing a little market research.....but they sure aren't doing any marketing.
My mcmillan came in for this gun so its now sitting in an m40 with pillars...no bedding. So I'll try to post a review this weekend.