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Rifle Scopes Are the Marines dropping S&B

cro789

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  • Dec 20, 2008
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    I heard that the marines are dropping the S&B scopes because they break them. Has anyone else heard this and can it be confirmed. What scope are they going to also.
     
    That is an old story,

    the S&B being used was a hybrid of Premier and S&B, when they divorced the USMC went to Premier. Since Premier really does not exist I am sure they need a new scope about now, especially with the changes in the industry.

    The USMC has not bought new S&Bs for a while, which is why you see both S&B and Premier and recently I know they bought some NF scopes

    But the stories are a mix of old and new. They didn't want to replay the contract process when the two divorced so they opted to just change it over to Premier, we all know there is no Premier now.
     
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    PS we donated SH Scope Tools to all the School Houses,

    7108946


    These are school House scopes
     
    That is an old story,

    the S&B being used was a hybrid of Premier and S&B, when they divorced the USMC went to Premier. Since Premier really does not exist I am sure they need a new scope about now, especially with the changes in the industry.

    The USMC has not bought new S&Bs for a while, which is why you see both S&B and Premier and recently I know they bought some NF scopes

    But the stories are a mix of old and new. They didn't want to replay the contract process when the two divorced so they opted to just change it over to Premier, we all know there is no Premier now.
    LowLight..... Question... when reading the story on the rifle Chris Kyle used when he was a sniper. He gave what he liked and so on. Is it up to each shooter to build their own rifle? or does the military provide it? He said he loved NightForce because of how durable they were. Just wanted your insight to this.

    Thank you
     
    No, you get what they give you, you don't build or bring your own

    the Seals use rifles from Crane, Mk 11, Mk 12, Mk 13, Tac50s and the Tac338 at the time, they all use NF. The one Chris used was actually a shit scope for the job, but all he knew was what they gave him. The NF was the 8-32X at the time he spoke about it, not a great scope for this job, that was an F Class scope. Good for that not for the military.

    NF Second Focal Plane scopes are very durable, SFP are more durable in fact than FFP ones, but everyone uses FFP now so it's a dead issue.


    He had choices, but only what is in the system, could you imagine a guy "Building a Rifle" and it failing the blowback would be huge.
     
    Choices in scopes require a process,

    that takes a long time, they have to solicit requests, test and evaluate, it's not as easy as saying,

    We want X Scope....

    That only happens on small scales, drastic changes or large Marine Corps wide changes have to go through contracting. Now they can write the solicitation so it favors a specific scope, but they still have to accept competing offers from other brands. They cannot say, We want Nightforce, they have to say, We want a 7-35x scope that includes the following specs

    7-35x
    Objective lens diameter 56mm
    Tube diameter 34mm/1.34 in
    Internal adjustment range (MOA/Mil) e: 100 MOA
    w: 60 MOA
    e: 29 Mil
    w: 18 Mil
    Click value .250 MOA
    .1 Mil-rad
    Calibrated Ranging Power N/A
    Parallax adjustment 10 m–∞
    Exit pupil diameter 7x:6.0mm
    35x: 1.6mm
    Eye relief 83-91mm/3.26-3.58 in
    Field of view @100 yards/100 meters 7x: 14.97ft
    35x: 3.44ft
    7x: 4.6m
    35x: 1.05 m
    Objective outer diameter 65 mm
    Eyepiece outer diameter 44 mm
    Overall length (inches/mm) 16.0 in/406 mm
    Weight (ounces/grams) 39.3 oz/1113g
    Mounting length (inches/mm) 6.5 in/165 mm
    Front/Rear Mounting Length 2.3 in/2.4 in
     
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    Choices in scopes require a process,

    that takes a long time, they have to solicit requests, test and evaluate, it's not as easy as saying,

    We want X Scope....

    That only happens on small scales, drastic changes or large Marine Corps wide changes have to go through contracting. Now they can write the solicitation so it favors a specific scope, but they still have to accept competing offers from other brands. They cannot say, We want Nightforce, they have to say, We want a 7-35x scope that includes the following specs

    7-35x
    Objective lens diameter56mm
    Tube diameter34mm/1.34 in
    Internal adjustment range (MOA/Mil)e: 100 MOA
    w: 60 MOA
    e: 29 Mil
    w: 18 Mil
    Click value.250 MOA
    .1 Mil-rad
    Calibrated Ranging PowerN/A
    Parallax adjustment10 m–∞
    Exit pupil diameter7x:6.0mm
    35x: 1.6mm
    Eye relief83-91mm/3.26-3.58 in
    Field of view @100 yards/100 meters7x: 14.97ft
    35x: 3.44ft
    7x: 4.6m
    35x: 1.05 m
    Objective outer diameter65 mm
    Eyepiece outer diameter44 mm
    Overall length (inches/mm)16.0 in/406 mm
    Weight (ounces/grams)39.3 oz/1113g
    Mounting length (inches/mm)6.5 in/165 mm
    Front/Rear Mounting Length2.3 in/2.4 in

    Yep, the joys of writing a contract to be narrow enough to only allow one winner.
     
    Choices in scopes require a process,

    that takes a long time, they have to solicit requests, test and evaluate, it's not as easy as saying,

    We want X Scope....

    That only happens on small scales, drastic changes or large Marine Corps wide changes have to go through contracting. Now they can write the solicitation so it favors a specific scope, but they still have to accept competing offers from other brands. They cannot say, We want Nightforce, they have to say, We want a 7-35x scope that includes the following specs

    7-35x
    Objective lens diameter56mm
    Tube diameter34mm/1.34 in
    Internal adjustment range (MOA/Mil)e: 100 MOA
    w: 60 MOA
    e: 29 Mil
    w: 18 Mil
    Click value.250 MOA
    .1 Mil-rad
    Calibrated Ranging PowerN/A
    Parallax adjustment10 m–∞
    Exit pupil diameter7x:6.0mm
    35x: 1.6mm
    Eye relief83-91mm/3.26-3.58 in
    Field of view @100 yards/100 meters7x: 14.97ft
    35x: 3.44ft
    7x: 4.6m
    35x: 1.05 m
    Objective outer diameter65 mm
    Eyepiece outer diameter44 mm
    Overall length (inches/mm)16.0 in/406 mm
    Weight (ounces/grams)39.3 oz/1113g
    Mounting length (inches/mm)6.5 in/165 mm
    Front/Rear Mounting Length2.3 in/2.4 in

    Thanks for the clarification. I never quite understood how it worked
     
    Often times preference is given to a US manufacturer as well as part of the selection process as it stimulates the US economy. I used to work for a company that bid for military contracts and this was pretty evident.
     
    Jesus, that's scary.

    You have well earned the "giver of bad advice" moniker.

    They recently adopted the M18 though, so it's about time they made a monumentally bad decision, at least if history is any indication.

    Probably not Sig, but please God, not a Leupold!
     
    I'm sure Ilya (@koshkin ) can explain it in better detail, but as I understand it, the SFP have fewer parts and lenses, and fewer parts in the same real estate means those parts are more easily built/designed to be more robust/durable. I think Ilya did a video a few years ago on FFP scopes and how they work. Within that video he mentioned something like a minimum of 11 lenses in a FFP scope, vice something like 7 in a SFP scope. Also, he mentioned (IIRC) some FFP scopes have up to 19 lenses. That's a lot more different things than can be bumped, busted or bent. Again, with all those parts crammed into a 34mm'ish tube, it really limits how thick and robust some of those parts can be (and still fit inside the tube).

    I'm hoping ILya can pipe in and clarify, as my memory ain't what it used to be, and it's been awhile since I watched that video...
     
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    PS we donated SH Scope Tools to all the School Houses,

    View attachment 7108946

    These are school House scopes

    Frank,
    Thank you for what you have done and given to all of us here and to the folks in the service. I am proud to be with a group that helps each other and stand tall for what we believe in. For the ones standing the wall Thank You for those that stood the wall you Thank you.
     
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    I'm sure Ilya (@koshkin ) can explain it in better detail, but as I understand it, the SFP have fewer parts and lenses, and fewer parts in the same real estate means those parts are more easily built/designed to be more robust/durable. I think Ilya did a video a few years ago on FFP scopes and how they work. Within that video he mentioned something like a minimum of 11 lenses in a FFP scope, vice something like 7 in a SFP scope. Also, he mentioned (IIRC) some FFP scopes have up to 19 lenses. That's a lot more different things than can be bumped, busted or bent. Again, with all those parts crammed into a 34mm'ish tube, it really limits how thick and robust some of those parts can be (and still fit inside the tube).

    I'm hoping ILya can pipe in and clarify, as my memory ain't what it used to be, and it's been awhile since I watched that video...

    That was one specific scope and it was fairly complicated because it was a fancy scope with fairly short overall length and large objective (Hensoldt 4-16x56). There is not prescirption for a minimum or maximum number of lenses.

    With FFP scopes, sometimes the objective lens gets a little more complicated because a lot of stuff has to be corrected before you get to the first focal plane.

    The reticle cell itself is a lot smaller and some alignment tolerances are tighter. Given modern manufacturing methods there should not be much difference between FFP and SFP scopes durability-wise, but FFP designs will generally be more expensive all else being equal due to tighter tolerances required.

    ILya
     
    I heard from a guy that knows a guy say that those real special type of jarheads that close their eyes and yank on the trigger hopping to hit things far away always learned towards the NF scopes they had over S&B's and Leupolds that sat on the shelf. I don't remember them being S&B/Premier collaborations, but that was a while ago. Seems about right though.