Rifle Scopes Top tier scope recommendation

I personally own and have shot several thousand rounds behind these 2 scopes. 540i and 527. Please buy the ZCO. Trust me. I am waiting on an 840 to replace my 540.
The one thing with ZCO is you can buy for relatively cheaper than new in the PX and definitely get back what you paid for it minus shipping and insurance if you don’t like it. Can’t speak to 540’s.
 
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Care to elaborate?
Its a long story but consider if something is wrong with your Kahles your probably not going to have it for a few months. Other top tier brands you can measure that in days or weeks. I just don't think swaro/kahles US understands the level of service appropriate or have the capabilities in place to compete with ZCO and TT in this >$4000 tier.
 
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Its a long story but consider if something is wrong with your Kahles your probably not going to have it for a few months. Other top tier brands you can measure that in days or weeks. I just don't think swaro/kahles US understands the level of service appropriate or have the capabilities in place to compete with ZCO and TT in this >$4000 tier.
Super legit concern with that optic.
 
Its a long story but consider if something is wrong with your Kahles your probably not going to have it for a few months. Other top tier brands you can measure that in days or weeks. I just don't think swaro/kahles US understands the level of service appropriate or have the capabilities in place to compete with ZCO and TT in this >$4000 tier.
I get that ZCO service is stellar and can attest to as much. I had to use ZCO service and other than the $140 it cost me to ship it properly insured, and the fact that they WILL NOT put anything in writing documenting their initial inspection findings, repairs, collimation tests, etc, the service was good. I even got a coveted ZCO hat in the process. Jeff personally called me to discuss the issue and Lori called me to arrange the shipping back to me. Nice. Of course when you never put anything in writing, its easy to deny it ever happened. (Things that make you go hmmmm.) I'm a cynic I know.

All that said, I know dozens of competitiors with Alpha tier glass. All of them have at least a second tier (NF,RG3,K525, etc) optic as backup if not other alphas. Things break. Triggers, scopes, actions, chassis, etc. Top level competitiors have backups for everything. Is a two week repair turnarround better than a two to four month one? Yes. Prepare accordingly regardless.

I know my opinion means nothing as that has already been established above. But. When I got my ZCO527, I thought it was like a big screen TV in 4k. That was compared to the NF735, K525, RG3, Mk5, Bushy ET's I had owned previously. The significantly larger ocular yielded virtually no black ring around the image and the resolution was amazing. I still stand behind the resolution of the 527, but when you look through a 527 and K540 back to back; side by side at the same magnification, the 527 feels like you're looking through a paper towel tube. That is what Kahles calls the "game changer". It is shockingly obvious to anyone who has actually looked through one. I know this is CRAZY and nobody with a ZCO or TT would ever fathom that their viewing experience is the least bit "tunneled"; that is until they look through a K540. Personally, I think the real game changer is Kahles controls. No one else in the industry has the control layout Kahles has. If you shoot at 12-15x and never dial, full stop, doesn't matter. If you dial as much as you possibly can and want to run as much magnification as the atmospherics will allow, the Kahles controls, LSW, AND the field of view are the real game changer....in my opinion.
 
Here are the FOV numbers for the K540 in a metric that competitors can truly relate to. Dial the same magnification on your current scope and see how many mils you can see each side. Conversely, If you normally shoot at X power, see how many mils that equates to in your current scope and see what power you could instantly be shooting at with the K540 all while maintaining the same FOV.

40x - 6.5 mils each side
35x - 7.5 mils each side
30x - 8.5 mils each side
25x - 10 mils each side
20x - 13 mils each side
15x - 17 mils each side
 
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But if the shots being made successfully, then was the extra 2500 needed, or wanted.
Ah, really? I guess you don’t shoot matches that require you to adjust for wind on a tight timeline then. The mark of a shooter graduating to upper mid pack is one who sees exactly where almost every bullet goes, hit or miss, and immediately decides why it went there, and adjusts appropriately. 12 shots, 10 positions, in 90 seconds means to be competitive a shooter needs to clearly see almost everything that happens down range.
 
Ah, really? I guess you don’t shoot matches that require you to adjust for wind on a tight timeline then. The mark of a shooter graduating to upper mid pack is one who sees exactly where almost every bullet goes, hit or miss, and immediately decides why it went there, and adjusts appropriately. 12 shots, 10 positions, in 90 seconds means to be competitive a shooter needs to clearly see almost everything that happens down range.
Exactly. And, if the shots are being made SUCCESSFULLY, thennnnn that's because he did all of that, right? Not every single match shooter that places in a pretty decent position is shooting ZCO or Tangent are they?
 
Exactly. And, if the shots are being made SUCCESSFULLY, thennnnn that's because he did all of that, right? Not every single match shooter that places in a pretty decent position is shooting ZCO or Tangent are they?
Your explanation shows your inexperience. Then throwing out $5K-$7K local cost names to prove your point is illogical and childish. You are in fact, a basic user. Get yourself a basic tool. Ignore the experience of others.
 
Yea? So what are you saying then? Are you saying that you must use a high end optic to do well at a match? And having an opinion on optics is childish? You make zero sense. There's nothing childish about having an opinion.
And that’s why I take little stock in some of these opinions. If you use a Leupold, you suck. If you shoot a Bergara, same. If you buy a Christensen, same. Who the actual F are these guys besides keyboard commandos? I don’t need validation on what to shoot or who to buy from. The guy with the offensive screen name is somehow somebody we should listen to? No thanks. I know where I’ve been and what I’ve done.
 
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Yea, Leupold does seem to get looked down on here quite a lot. I have one of their mid tier VX5 scopes for the 500yd and under gun that it's on, and it does very well. Very clear image. Repeatable dialing. I'm not a new Leupold fan, but I cant see them holding too many people back. Sure there are some people in certain situations that they may hold back but, not the vast majority of them. Certainly not heckler and colon that's for sure. When you're beating them, then you can come give me advice lol. Though if you've ever met those guys, you'd know they wouldn't be dicks to you when having a conversation about optics lol.
When people say 'this shows your inexperience', yea, maybe, but I'm pretty confident I know which glass shows certain resolution and which doesn't. I've stared ENDLESS HOURS through low and high end optics from a past profession, but when I come here to ask opinions, I like a clean slate and honest answers. I ask other people's opinions because I genuinely like to hear what others think of things, not because I always need them necessarily. I just like other perspectives to maybe help temper my own. Sometimes other peoples viewpoints help me look differently at subjects, and I really do appreciate other people's input on here, like the dark lord of optics and some other folks. But when you actively try to demean others because they don't share your same viewpoint, it's really odd. I can't comprehend that action. Makes no sense to me. People put too much emotion into things that really dont need emotion at all.
 
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I’d still say that the Gen III Razor is the best value for the money. Especially with a military discount or used. Great glass, positive turrets, you could beat whatever you missed the shot on to death with it if you can catch it. If someone ever missed a shot, it was not because of the Razor glass.

I did have to return an early one due to a stripped turret, but still a huge fan.
My shooting partner is on his third one right now.
I can’t blame the scope because the first time it was sitting on the bench with the rear propped on his squeeze bag. Something shifted and it fell onto the concrete directly on the parallax knob.
The second time he slid down his wooden staircase while wearing socks and it screwed the second one. He just received #3 last week.
I like the way you adjust the turrets on the Gen 3 Razor but the turrets are far too stiff for my liking.

I got lucky a couple of years ago and bought a used in like new condition Tangent Theta 525P for $4,000 Canadian.
You can’t find a used one now for under $5,500.

I also picked up an S&B PMii 5-25 with the USMC MTC turrets for $3,000 Canadian
 
My shooting partner is on his third one right now.
I can’t blame the scope because the first time it was sitting on the bench with the rear propped on his squeeze bag. Something shifted and it fell onto the concrete directly on the parallax knob.
The second time he slid down his wooden staircase while wearing socks and it screwed the second one. He just received #3 last week.
I like the way you adjust the turrets on the Gen 3 Razor but the turrets are far too stiff for my liking.

I got lucky a couple of years ago and bought a used in like new condition Tangent Theta 525P for $4,000 Canadian.
You can’t find a used one now for under $5,500.

I also picked up an S&B PMii 5-25 with the USMC MTC turrets for $3,000 Canadian
Your friend is lucky he has a Vortex holy cow. With the wrong manufacturer, that could’ve gotten right expensive quick.