Rifle Scopes anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

[johnnyappleseed]

i've got a 3-15 ffp on my winchester 70 sporter 25 06

the dang rig with a harris bipod weighs approx 11 lbs

it's getting too heavy for me to lug around

i'm thinking of downsizing to a 2-10 with the 600 yard reticle to reduce some weight

i figure my 25 06 is about a 600 yard rifle anyway and i should be able to dial farther out than that if necessary

i'll mainly use it for coyotes, antelope, and deer

so what do you think?

 

[nfoley]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

I have the 2.5-10x24 and love it. I have used it to hit steel at 800 yds without issue. I believe it weighs around 19 oz, quite a bit lighter than the 5.5-22 nightforce I have on another rifle. The reticle I have is the NP R2.

 

[JohnnyC]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

The 2.5-10 is SFP only, take that into consideration, especially coming from a FFP optic.

 

[Redmanss]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

With your current scope, how often do you shoot with it set above 10x? Will you miss the additional magnification?

Depending on exactly what scope you currently have, you're not even going to shave a pound off your rifle's overall weight, and you're pretty light at 11 pounds already. I recommend you go with a better sling, biathlon style from TAB for example, or some type of pack with a rifle scabbard. You're more than likely not going to need the rifle readily handy for snap shooting, so one of those two improvements would be the better option.

I'm not saying the NF isn't a good scope, just that you can keep your current, invest a bit into how you're carrying your load, and save yourself time and money all around.

 

[ORD]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

The weight savings going from the F1 to the 2.5-10x is only about 12oz (3/4lb). While I agree that ounces can quickly add up to pounds, I don't know that you will perceive a huge difference shedding an 11lb rifle down to a 10lb rifle. Now, personally, for use on small-to-medium-size game, within 600yds, I don't think I would need any more than the 10x offered by the NXS Compact in terms of magnification, but remember that you aren't just giving up weight with the scope swap, you are giving up: addt'l magnification, additional light-gathering ability, FFP vs. SFP, etc.

Take Redmanss' advice on gearing up "smarter" and don't worry so much about "lighter" in the long run.

 

[tylerw02]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

To me, the biggest loss in going to a 2.5-10x would be you'd be stuck with fixed parallax. If you can handle that, then it may be worth looking into. I'd still skip the velocity reticle. Get a normal mil reticle and learn to use it.

 

[Sendero_Man]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

I run a 2.5-10x32 with the HV for my coyote, deer, hunting rig. I love it.

I have taken coyotes at night at 380 yards. No problem with light gathering early or late either.

If ya have the funds, go for it. If not, like others said, the small weight loss is gonna be mute.

 

[E. Bryant]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

I just picked one up for a "lightweight" (relative to my tacti-cool boat anchors) hunting rifle that I am building over the winter. My choice was based upon several factors:

1) Weight. While 3/4lb isn't an enormous amount of weight, it's not like that much can easily be shed from other areas of a rifle that is already built with an eye towards mass reduction (#3 barrel, aluminum scope base and rings, carbon-fill stock, etc.).

2) Realistic expectations for usage. If I need to shoot the whiskers off a varmint in the next county, I have other choices. Putting rounds center-of-mass on larger four-legged game at a couple hundred yards doesn't require 25x magnification... or at least I'm trying to convince myself

I doubled-down on this by picking the FC-2 reticle, since I anticipate that fast acquisition at low magnification will outweigh the need for the last few 0.1 MOA of precision.

3) Change of pace. I've never tried the 2.50-10x32mm NF model previously. Frankly, this was the strongest reason for my decision - just being honest!

 

[CE1371]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

I have the 2.5-10x32 with mil/mil and mil-dot ret

I do a lot of high-altitude/back country hunting where every ounce of weight shed counts. The optic has been phenomenal on my Sako A7 .300 WSM and I also use it extensively on my AR when I go varmint hunting.

I love the weight savings, the size, and it provides everything I need out to a thousand.

The one thing I dislike is that the optic has to be at 10 power to properly use the mil-dot to estimate range.

 

[jipper74]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The one thing I dislike is that the optic has to be at 10 power to properly use the mil-dot to estimate range.</div></div>

Don't get me wrong, FFP is nice for ranging at any magnification. But the 2.5-10x is set up nicely to range at three convenient magnificaiton levels.

At 5x, each whole spacing between mil dots is 2 mil. At the lowest (2.5x) magnification the spacing of each mil is 4 mils.

 

[CE1371]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

Good point that I glossed over.

 

[tylerw02]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

I can imagine that the reticle would be almost useless at lower powers anyway. My S&B is hard to use at 5-7x. I've got a SFP Leupold 3.5-10x and rarely is 10x too much.

 

[hk dave]

Re: anybody use the nightforce 2-10 ?

I think the 2.5-10x is perfect as an SFP scope. Like others have said, I can't see where FFP would be useful.