Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Nightforce - are they worth it

No fancy reticle. Drop the illumination and its cost too. Basically what I want to hunt with are a VX-3 3.5-10x40 and an FX-3 6x42 with Nightforce grade adjustments.

This makes sense.

Depends on the application, but when I'm hunting with a rig that I've set up for potential long shots, I want a well-marked reticle that has bold enough posts to work well in low light, but fine enough center cross hairs with proper markings for accurate wind holds and precision placement.

That is indeed a SWFA 3-9x. All things considered it's the best hunting scope going IME....










No, it's just that the weight comes from the tube thickness which supports and protects the beefed up erector system. It's not just the springs and screws. The the whole scope bends and flexes during recoil. Everything being beefed up makes sure it stays consistent during that.








The SWFA 3-9x42mm weighs 19 onces.

Size relation to a Leupold Mark 4 6x40mm M3.






The tracking is perfect, they hold zero as well as anything made, the size/weight is acceptable- i.e. 13 inches long, weighs 19 ounces, FFP, 1/10th mil adjustments, mil reticle that is designed perfectly for FFP.

Interesting. I had them pegged as much larger....

I do believe member here Carl Ross used one on a lightweight 6.5mm of some sort on a goat hunt this year, and was successful.

They're smaller than the fixed power versions.

That particular scope has more than 12k rounds on it... and it's not even close to the most used one...... grin

HMDR?

SWFA SS 3-9x42mm.

Form,

If you've got one around, could you do a little size comparison with the 3-9 and one of their fixed power scopes?

This is an HDMR...

Not your average Bushnell eh.....

Sorry dude, I don't have one with me. Prob mid summer before I will have a fixed version in my mitts again. The 3-9x is an inch shorter OAL IIRC....

I'd like to get my hands on a 6x MkIV.

Not quite...

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I'd like to get two or three more..... grin

Top down:

Leupold 4.5-14, 1 inch tube
Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x56
SS 10xHD
SS 3-9

How's the eye relief on the SS 3-9x42? The specs on SWFA show it getting down to 3" which is too short for my taste.

Regarding the eye relief, it isn't excessive, but hasn't posed a problem for me. I don't shoot much that kicks anymore as a rule, an 8 lb 7/08AI is my biggest offender, and I kind of want to rebarrel it to a 6 Creedmore.

I hunted with one this year on a 6.5x47 Lapua. I think it is the first time I can remember carrying a variable all season and having it still be sighted in at the end of the year.




My partner and I used it on four mule deer and a mountain goat:








My goat was over 500, and his muley was over 400, one shot each. After the season I picked up another 3-9, and he now has two. We don't get to use them near as much as Formidilus, but I hope they keep working as well as his have.

I like Leupold. I have shot them on personal rifles and Army rifles for years. I have only had one Mk4 go tits up and it was returned to me fixed. I had one M8 develop issues and it took a couple trips back to get it working right but they got it sorted out.

That said I have owned NF in the past, used them overseas, and have currently sold all my scopes except one Leupold and one Trijicon (which are in fixed mounts on NULA rifles) and now swap a NF 2.5-10x32mm between my personal rifles that have 1913 rails. As for the backlog I got my scope in about 5 weeks from order when they quoted 12. I haven't had this optic long enough to say exactly what I think of it but initial impressions are it lives up to the NF hype.