I ran across a guy at a gunshow that has 3 of these, New Old Stock -- Old MidwayUSA page for Nikon

From as near as I can tell from my google searches, the scopes were discontinued about 8-10 years ago. He wants $500/per scope. Does anyone have experience with these Nikons? From what I'm reading, they have very good glass. I'm more interested in the function/durability. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've never met a Nikon I liked. Several I know of have failed, most of them in fact.

Not for me.

The Monarch Gold series featured perhaps the best scopes Nikon ever built. They are extremely well-made and both rugged and reliable, not to mention superb for low-light applications, which is what they were designed expressly for. In fact, they offered these with a nice #4 reticle as an option. An acquaintance of mine has the 2.5-10x50/#4 and has used it for moonlight leopard in Africa -- and said it worked perfectly for his applications.

I don't doubt that as I have taken hogs in moonlight with one as well.

I've used and abused Nikon scopes for many years and never had an issue, though I do not care for the cheaper package scopes that came on certain new rifles and wasn't enamored with the original ProStaff series, either.

I worked with a friend's rifle a couple of years ago and it wore the same scope the OP is asking about. I thought it was rather good, and figured it was probably somewhere in the $600 range when new. Seemed solid and offered a great picture. It was obviously no Prostaff or Buckmaster.

Back to reliability: I have never had an issue and trust Nikon scopes completely.











Buck taken using Nikon's crossbow scope:

I have tons more "Nikon" photos but they are being held hostage on photobucket right now LOL.

I have 4 Nikons, one of which is a Prostaff, and BTW, in that price range that Prostaff surprized me at its clarity. I never owned a Monarch but if they're that much better than the old Buck Masters and Prostaff's then in my opinion they're a first rate scope. I have three of those Buck Masters, the ones before the current Wally World Cheapies that are excellent for a $300 Scope. They competed against the Leupold VX-2s and were very similar in light transmission quality. At present time, along with that old 3-9x40 Prostaff, I have a 4.5-14x40 Buck Master and two 6-18x40 Buck Masters and one Leupold VX-2 and all three have parallax adjustment and I can't tell much difference in those 5 scopes. If I run into a deal on a good used Monarch in a power range of 3-9 or 4-12 I will probably jump on it.

I have had one on a 700KS 7mm STW for many years. Very tough, solid, excellent glass. That $500 tag might be a bit high but they were upper levels scopes and did sell for around $600 new I think. If the price suits, I don't think you will disappointed.

Exactly. One thing id mention is Nikon will no longer warrant their scopes, since they are no longer in business. This has a direct impact on the value of their optics. Id venture to say the scope is only worth 1/2 what it would have if they were still in business.

Are you sure Nikon will no longer warrant their scopes? Because they ARE still in business. They still make excellent camaras.

The old Buckmasters and Pro Staffs were turds next to the Monarch Gold. The Monarch Gold scopes also had very generous eye relief.

It's a fact. I wouldn't touch one with a 10 ft pole.

WRONG.

Nikon will indeed honor the warranty on its riflescopes. In fact, here is one link with info -- but there are plenty more articles out there. You can also contact Nikon on your own to verify, just as I did when the rumors began to swirl.

Nikon STILL honors warranties

BS......my long time hunting buddy had two of them that his son and daughter were using. They developed problems with holding zerio and reticle adjustment (big surprise), and Nikon sent them a coupon/voucher for $200 off another Nikon product. Big freaking deal. Nikon is a joke and always has been.

I have a Monarch X Tactical 2.5-10X44 that I bought in 2005 for about $1000. The Monarch Gold was the follow-on model I believe, and it was about the same price. Those are excellent scopes and mine has seen a lot of shooting (competition) and hunting (when I used to do that.) It's never had a problem and I still have it. It is built solid and the glass is nice.

I have another Monarch that's a little older, a 6.5-20X44, which is extremely nice also. The Monarch line was top notch, just not top tier.

Nikon quit making scooes for a reason. Most guys that have had them have figured out why.

I could wrong, but I seem to recall the monarch gold line production never left Japan......and the product line was considered nikon's best and prices reflected that....$1500-$1900ish.

I've purchased 2 monarch 3 level nikon's in the past year for around $225 each, both originally priced at $400 before closeout. Both are solid clear optics and I wasnt worried about warranty as I had been using the monarch scopes on 2 other rifles with no issues since buying over 12 years ago.

No way I'd give that much for one. Optics are advancing so fast these days, it makes what was special about that line, common place now. Wait til Doug does another run of Meoptas on special. You'll be better off in the end and if Meoptas (or what ever line he gets a deal on) doesn't stand behind its product, Doug will.