Well, I got my scope in Tuesday's mail and I thought it behooved me to share some information about the scope. I haven't mounted it yet, so there is a lot I can't know. However, I'll share what I can and do know. The glass is really bright and clear. Better than the VX3s and grandslams I've used and not much worse than the Leica and Swarovski glass I've owned. I'll go into a bit more detail in a moment, but for now I will comment on some other aspects of the scope.
The turrets:
My elevation turret arrived perfectly lined up with the index mark on the scope body. The index mark on the scope body split the space between the hash marks on the windage turret, if it were any further "off" it would have been closer to "on". I removed the turret and replaced it in a new position and the alignment was perfect. I sometimes have to wiggle the turrets some to get these to fully seat after they have been lifted to make an adjustment, slapping them mitigates the problem. Clicks are audible and tactile. The turrets are somewhat tall for my tastes and not as refined as some of the mid and upper tier products, but overall serviceable.
The reticle:
The reticle is a definitely set-up for long range. Even at 10x, it appears a little small, but at 1000 yds I'm sure I'll be grateful for the reduced obstruction. The center of the reticle is hollow, which I really like, and the mil portion of the crosshair is illuminated. Illumination isn't great, 5 red and 5 green settings, but I really like the graduation between the settings. These are, to my eye, about perfect for having only five settings. Mine does flare, more so on the vertical axis than the horizontal. The colors also wash across the glass at higher settings, for my purposes this doesn't matter, but some might find this impossible to deal with.
Adjustment travel:
My scope has <span style="font-weight: bold">40 mils of elevation adjustment</span>, that's 137 MOA! My scope I also had 35+ mils of windage adjustment. This is why I think the intention of weaver was for intermediate to long range use, and why the reticle might be a bit small for close range use.
Weight:
This was one of my biggest concerns prior to my purchase. I tried to find the actual weight and the information I got wasn't firsthand and varied between 22 and 24 ozs. This scope is going on my 6.5-06 AI hunting rifle, so 22 ozs was already a compromise as 19 was my goal and 24 would be near to a deal breaker. When I first got the scope I thought it felt heavy. So, I threw it on my trigger pull scale which eventually stopped descending to the floor at over 25 ozs, ouch. The trigger pull scale is only a crappy RCBS spring scale, so I took it to the postal scale hoping that my trigger pull scale was heavy by 12%. Moment of truth...the postal scale says 25.5 ozs. Cuss. Now I know why Weaver kept this a mystery. Let the community here know that, "<span style="font-weight: bold">the Weaver 2-10x36 weighs 25.5 ounces</span>". Verifiable first hand truth for you gents.
Glass:
The brightness of this glass is maybe the strongest suit in this scope's hand, significantly better than anything I've seen at this price point. There is no distortion at the very edges of the view like my grandslams. There is no perceivable tunneling. There is no parallax adjustment on this model, I actually thought the scope had side focus, yet I haven't had much problem getting usable focus at even very short ranges provided the magnification was kept low. We'll see how I like it at long range. The contrast and resolution are not on par with the best out there, but still very good.
In sum, this is an extremely nice scope for the money. We'll see if I like shooting with it. I wish it was 4oz lighter with side focus, I am disappointed on both counts, but with these gripes satisfied the scope would be for all intents and purposes above reproach for my purpose. The glass is great! I think Weaver did exactly what they were trying to do with this scope and I can't complain because it lacks somewhat for my cross-over purpose. Hopefully it functions as well as the rest of the Weaver tactical line.
Hope this helps anyone considering this for purchase, it should at least serve as a primer for Ilya's comparison to the new Vortex. If anyone has a question I'll be happy to tell you what I know. I'll put some pics up if you guys want, but there is another thread authored by me that includes plenty of pics.
The turrets:
My elevation turret arrived perfectly lined up with the index mark on the scope body. The index mark on the scope body split the space between the hash marks on the windage turret, if it were any further "off" it would have been closer to "on". I removed the turret and replaced it in a new position and the alignment was perfect. I sometimes have to wiggle the turrets some to get these to fully seat after they have been lifted to make an adjustment, slapping them mitigates the problem. Clicks are audible and tactile. The turrets are somewhat tall for my tastes and not as refined as some of the mid and upper tier products, but overall serviceable.
The reticle:
The reticle is a definitely set-up for long range. Even at 10x, it appears a little small, but at 1000 yds I'm sure I'll be grateful for the reduced obstruction. The center of the reticle is hollow, which I really like, and the mil portion of the crosshair is illuminated. Illumination isn't great, 5 red and 5 green settings, but I really like the graduation between the settings. These are, to my eye, about perfect for having only five settings. Mine does flare, more so on the vertical axis than the horizontal. The colors also wash across the glass at higher settings, for my purposes this doesn't matter, but some might find this impossible to deal with.
Adjustment travel:
My scope has <span style="font-weight: bold">40 mils of elevation adjustment</span>, that's 137 MOA! My scope I also had 35+ mils of windage adjustment. This is why I think the intention of weaver was for intermediate to long range use, and why the reticle might be a bit small for close range use.
Weight:
This was one of my biggest concerns prior to my purchase. I tried to find the actual weight and the information I got wasn't firsthand and varied between 22 and 24 ozs. This scope is going on my 6.5-06 AI hunting rifle, so 22 ozs was already a compromise as 19 was my goal and 24 would be near to a deal breaker. When I first got the scope I thought it felt heavy. So, I threw it on my trigger pull scale which eventually stopped descending to the floor at over 25 ozs, ouch. The trigger pull scale is only a crappy RCBS spring scale, so I took it to the postal scale hoping that my trigger pull scale was heavy by 12%. Moment of truth...the postal scale says 25.5 ozs. Cuss. Now I know why Weaver kept this a mystery. Let the community here know that, "<span style="font-weight: bold">the Weaver 2-10x36 weighs 25.5 ounces</span>". Verifiable first hand truth for you gents.
Glass:
The brightness of this glass is maybe the strongest suit in this scope's hand, significantly better than anything I've seen at this price point. There is no distortion at the very edges of the view like my grandslams. There is no perceivable tunneling. There is no parallax adjustment on this model, I actually thought the scope had side focus, yet I haven't had much problem getting usable focus at even very short ranges provided the magnification was kept low. We'll see how I like it at long range. The contrast and resolution are not on par with the best out there, but still very good.
In sum, this is an extremely nice scope for the money. We'll see if I like shooting with it. I wish it was 4oz lighter with side focus, I am disappointed on both counts, but with these gripes satisfied the scope would be for all intents and purposes above reproach for my purpose. The glass is great! I think Weaver did exactly what they were trying to do with this scope and I can't complain because it lacks somewhat for my cross-over purpose. Hopefully it functions as well as the rest of the Weaver tactical line.
Hope this helps anyone considering this for purchase, it should at least serve as a primer for Ilya's comparison to the new Vortex. If anyone has a question I'll be happy to tell you what I know. I'll put some pics up if you guys want, but there is another thread authored by me that includes plenty of pics.
