What is your feelings about the IOR 3-18x42 scope ? How is it at distances ? Thinking of one, to keep the Recon company.
I have one exactly this model IOR 3-18x42 , this is what i can tell you after 2 years of use :
- is more a 3.5x to 4x-18 then 3-18 because at 3x tunneling is very present ,tunneling disappear when you get at 3.5x-4x so if you intend to use this at his lower magnification think at 4x as your lowest
-the tube is short , after turret housing you have only around 5 cm (2 inch) to play with , can cause some problems when you mount this scope , in my case all is OK but at the limit to get the proper eye box
-tracking is good not problem at all , error is in par with top scope producers around 0.096-0.098 MIL per click from my measurement, in my case after zeroed my .308 i have 12.9 MIL of adjustment , enough for 1000 or more .
-clicks i like , feel and sound OK but this can be verry subjective from user to user
-reticle is very good in my point of view one of the best reticles designed for a riflescope MP8 , at 3-4x for some eyes can be too small but this is a common case for FFP scopes , note the fact at maximum magnification you will not be able to see the entire reticle , so if you intend to shoot at 16-18 x and want to holdover you will have only 10 MIL of holdover not the entire 15 MIL reticle range
-paralax adjustement i will define as fine in the way the fine means fine tuning , you need to rotate the knob slowly to get the perfect picture
-glas
well is very good (and i say this after a comparision with top glass scopes as Kahles or Swarovski) , personaly i will always chose a very good glas in front of magnification , with a good glass you will solve more and see more at 10x the with a scope at 16x or even 20x but with not so good glass .
-light transmission is average-good i use this scope also for hunting (here we can hunt at night) in full moon night i can see, solve and shoot wild boars with no problems but only at max 6x after it gets darker (optically speaking absolutely normal) , bigger diameter scopes will do better if you want to use this also for hunting at night , at dusk is OK this 42
I have this scope on a .308 , no hard kicks from a .308 so no problem until now with my scope because of the recoil , i know 2 other guys who have IOR's on 338 Lapua and stand very good but different models so i can't use this as a fact for scope durability (i can and want to confirm only my personal experience with this scope) but i can tell you rifle and scope get good beating at hunting , dragging , bumping , occasional throw and no problem at all , keep zero , good tracking .
I need to mention also turrets who can't be locked , this cost me a beautiful roe deer (i didn't check the turrets and ...was off , missed ...) so you need to check this too before you send the shot.
Is the best scope ? Is the best scope in his class? You can get better scopes for the same money or less?
I can't answer to this , my experience is limited and as all i wrote above is MY experience and is also subjective to my general experience , i made a decision for me and my needs and i don't regret this .
Regards
P.S. Note also the fact i'm Romanian so my decision can have a +subjective factor .