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Anyone using USOptics?

ArcticLight

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 27, 2003
977
68
Silverdale, WA
I used to have an SN-6, would love to get it back but alas....Looking at the TS-20x - anyone use one before?

Haven't seen a USO since John retired.
 
There have been some FDNs floating around the classifieds for smoking deals… if you can snag one of those for a good price, I would highly recommend it. Both the 17x and 25x versions compete with anything in the $2500 optic range… they would be the descendants of the SN that you had previously.

The TS series is nice for what it is, but certainly a few steps behind the Foundation series in terms of quality and features. Glass is as good as anything in the sub $1k price point, but the turrets and total elevation travel leave a little to be desired IMO. Solid optics if you can find them around $700 or less.
 
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I run a bunch of FDN series scopes. They are phenomenal scopes. The glass is up there with the big boys. USO just gets a bad rap on this website.

The TS scopes are okay. Nothing great but not bad. The TS 20 is probably the best one but the elevation isn’t great if you set the zero stop.
 
I still use old-school USO SN3s (1.8-10 and 3.2-17) built in Brea,CA and they work great...Called USO a week ago to confirm/deny they still support and service those scopes and they still do. Ive heard good things about the FDN scopes but no experience with them at the moment.
 
You should be looking at the FDN line. TS series is OEM out of China, and while China is producing some surprisingly decent quality stuff right now, it's still made in China, and not by the same people putting together $2500-quality-scopes.

If you want to try it regardless, euro optic has consistently the best prices on us optics in general. B-Series scopes can be had for as low as $2100, and everything USO seems to be 30% off, including the FDN and T series. I love my FDNs, but have never tried the T-series.
 
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straight to the point....the older scopes are solid, the new ones? i’ll pass. i own an sn3 3.7-15x44ergo with a 35 inch tube and illumination. also an st10 ergo with a 30mm tube. my only complaint is the illumination doent adjust low enough to not wash out your view in the dark.
 
Well I sold my SN-6 to a guy on the site, certainly would love to get it back if he's here.
Otherwise I will check out the FDN line - no chinese crap for me.
 
straight to the point....the older scopes are solid, the new ones? i’ll pass. i own an sn3 3.7-15x44ergo with a 35 inch tube and illumination. also an st10 ergo with a 30mm tube. my only complaint is the illumination doent adjust low enough to not wash out your view in the dark.
Which of the new USOs are you passing on?

TS?

Foundation?

Both?

Why?

-Stan
 
The old school USOs are survive-the-end-of-the-world tanks. I've had a 3.2-17x SN3, the fixed 10x and currently have a 4x SN12 on a carbine with an offset RMR - a poor man's Elcan SpecterDR.
 
Waste of money. Can barely give them away. 50% certs can't give away either. If you know the history you wouldn't touch them. I know 2 top shooters that must be getting paid a mint to shoot that garbage.




Let me ask - because I do know the history, I shot with a USO for several years and it was a superb scope!
I don't know any history since John retired though.
 

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There are some vintage USO that pop up from time to time in the PX.

I have this idea in my mind that one of the old 10x with the objective parallax would be a good scope to own.
 
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They were shit 25 years ago. Shit 20 years ago, shit 15 years ago, shit 10 years ago, 5 ,1 and today.

The only difference is you had very little options back in the day and the overall quality of optics was S&B or trash. The only thing they had going for them was customizable options. Options that haven't changed in 20 fucking years. Mil-gap anyone?

They are basicaly the same design which is like driving a new 1999 buick built in 2024. At 2024 prices.

You have to be really ignorant or on the take to shoot that bullshit.
 
There are a few categories of opinions regarding USO on Sniper’s Hide @ArcticLight:

One category knows the history and the hiccups and cannot look past the hiccups, even if they didn’t experience the hiccups first hand.

I sometimes wonder if these category holders are able to forgive trespassers in their lives away from this website.

Another category thinks that if X isn’t used by top PRS people then X is trash.

I sometimes wonder how this rigid point of view is applied to other parts of these category holder’s lives.

A third category has used a wide range of optics, to include USO, and offers their opinions.

A fourth category repeats rumors and has no actual experience with USO.

Some people retain more than one category of opinion.

I have used Meopta, Vortex, and have settled on USO as the MPR reticle works best for my eyes and brain and all of the other features are sufficient for PRS-dabbler usage.

-Stan
 
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So your experience is 2 niche brands and 1 mainstream brand and that gives you a valid opinion of the market? Ignorance is bliss. Want a 50% cert? Saves me a trip to the garbage cans.
 
So your experience is 2 niche brands and 1 mainstream brand and that gives you a valid opinion of the market? Ignorance is bliss. Want a 50% cert? Saves me a trip to the garbage cans.
As a self-proclaimed PRS dabbler (see above) who is always looking for more information, I eagerly await your detailed description of your personal experience using USO rifle scopes — purchase dates, model numbers, use, likes, dislikes, etc.

-Stan
 
I had an sn3. It had an "iphy" inches per hundred yard reticle. It wasn't the reticle I would have chosen if I I had purchased it new but it was a solid optic. The stadia lines were a bit thick for my taste so I sold it. I wish I still had it.
The iphy reticle made a lot of sense for those that could never grasp the idea of the reticle being a measuring device and that dialing dope has nothing to do with inches or centimeters.
I thought the "erek" elevation knop was WAY ahead of its time
 
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DeathBeforeDismount: tells people to GTFO for not having experience, or not having any skin in a given thread's topic, also has zero experience with current production USO and... Has to crap on it in every thread that comes up and won't concede on any points regardless of any first hand owner's point of view.

I've owned:
ATACR 7-35
Kahles k525i
Steiner m7xi
Vortex razor ii
Maven rs.4
Athlon Cronus btr
Viper pst ii
Athlon Ares etr
USO FDN 10x
USO FDN 17x
USO FDN 25x

But I guess I've never owned a tangent, ZCO or razor III, so my 5 niche brands and 2 mainstream brands gives me an invalid opinion of the market.

"Ignorance is bliss"

DBD, You must be pretty blissful then? What experience with the FDN line do you have other than assuming other people's scopes crap the bed, then being told it was an issue with their rangefinder, yet still you ignore it and truck on saying only you can be right? What do you even add to the community other than douchenozzlery? Seriously, it's rare I see a useful comment from you in any thread whatsoever, just personal attacks interspersed with some gas lighting here and there.
 
DeathBeforeDismount: tells people to GTFO for not having experience, or not having any skin in a given thread's topic, also has zero experience with current production USO and... Has to crap on it in every thread that comes up and won't concede on any points regardless of any first hand owner's point of view.

I've owned:
ATACR 7-35
Kahles k525i
Steiner m7xi
Vortex razor ii
Maven rs.4
Athlon Cronus btr
Viper pst ii
Athlon Ares etr
USO FDN 10x
USO FDN 17x
USO FDN 25x

But I guess I've never owned a tangent, ZCO or razor III, so my 5 niche brands and 2 mainstream brands gives me an invalid opinion of the market.

"Ignorance is bliss"

You must be pretty blissful then? What experience with the FDN line do you have other than assuming other people's scopes crap the bed, then being told it was an issue with their rangefinder, yet still you ignore it and truck on saying only you can be right? What do you even add to the community other than douchenozzlery? Seriously, it's rare I see a useful comment from you in any thread whatsoever, just personal attacks interspersed with some gas lighting here and there.
Your experience is shit too. You have owned 2 flagship out of like 10 ( and 2 of the shittier ones at that in NF and kahles). Gen 2 is like 10 year old tech. Steiner m is shit for the money. Kahles is so bad they had to to unfuck the 525 by coming out with the new version since they actually looked worse than a 624 which also has shit optics for the money. You are right. No alpha scopes...tangent, zco, gen 3 razor, minox or even S&b.

Your comparison is like dogshit to ground beef while we're over here eating aged ribeyes.

Ask anyone else who lived through it and experienced it. Hell it's all documented on this very site for your reading pleasure if your not to lazy or dumb to find it.

Everytime one of you children come around like you just discovered jerking off and now want to lecture us on how to lay down pipe you want us to regurgitate the same long detailed out posts that prove what we say are irrefutable. The people who actually have experience with these products and lived through these times know better. But I'm not going to do your work for you.


Come back when you earned the experience to have an opinion worth listening to.
 
You know what experience I have with current USO. Sitting at the zero line talking to Jake Vibbert who is one of the top shooters still shooting a USO last summer. He shot like dogshit on Saturday and we asked him what was going on. " scope broke had to go back and get a new one". Wouldn't hold zero.

The most acomplished prs shooter of all time telling us the scope he is paid to shoot shit the bed and cost him about 20 or so places.

Is USO going to pay you when their shit breaks so you don't have to give a shit either?

Guys can't even give away FDN or whatever the current polished piece of shit is at 40% of retail price. They sit FOREVER even at like 1500 bucks for a flagship scope. And you know who ends up buying them? Some new dumb fuck who doesn't know any better and reads bullshit like what yall post and then gets to learn an expensive lesson.

The market has spoken and they don't want this shit.

Done posting in this thread its a waste of electrons.
 
You know what experience I have with current USO. Sitting at the zero line talking to Jake Vibbert who is one of the top shooters still shooting a USO last summer. He shot like dogshit on Saturday and we asked him what was going on. " scope broke had to go back and get a new one". Wouldn't hold zero.

The most acomplished prs shooter of all time telling us the scope he is paid to shoot shit the bed and cost him about 20 or so places.

Is USO going to pay you when their shit breaks so you don't have to give a shit either?
Paging @JC Steel for additional background, though I think he already provided it in a previous thread where a similar conversation occurred.

-Stan
 
This was in response to DBD claiming Jake's optic pooed the bed - same story as in #26 in this very thread:
Screenshot_2023-12-23-18-22-36-06_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg
 
I'll save you and Vibbert both the trouble. Same conversation, different thread, and to my point, DBD just disregards and trucks on: https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...-with-thicker-reticles.7184373/#post-11075197
Smells like bullshit for a number of reasons. I would say the same thing publicly and I got nothing against Jake he is a nice guy.

1. The range was provided for every stage and was accurate to 2-3 yards. The Munns know how to put on a match.
2. Everyone else In squad somehow not have the same issue? A shooter of that level is not going to talk to the squad and confirm data if they think something is off? It's not an AG cup match in fact many of these guys shoot in super squads. I find it incredibly hard to believe a guy shoots 10 stages and can't figure out what's going on and is not getting feedback from spotters and seeing what other guys are using for range.
3. I think he did much better the 2nd day after replacing the bad scope from day 1. I know he climbed the score sheet. A bad rangefinder doesn't explain that.
4. Jake can beat me with a broken scope. He is that good but it doesn't reconcile 1-3.

But believe whatever yall want to. This is not a callout just responding to people who want to appeal to authority since they cant refute anything I said. Hard to refute facts.
 
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My experience with USO is also when they were based in CA. Customer service was excellent as was communication and turn around time for warranty/repair work.

Note: All USO optics were purchased new through an authorized USO dealer.

Qty 2 - ER25 - One had tracking issues even after two return visits to CA. The other tracked correctly to 15 mils, but constantly had anodizing flakes appear on the objective lens no matter how many times you whacked it against a phone book (USO instructed corrective measure).

Qty 1 - LR17 - Tracking issues. Seemingly resolved after a trip to CA.

Qty 1 - SR8 - No issues encountered.

Based on my personal experience I would be hard pressed to purchase another USO product. In full disclosure, outside of playing with a few of their newer offerings at Shot, I have no experience with the current lineup, which very well may be excellent.
 
I had a TS25 shit the bed on me. Had about 30 rds of 308 on it and the ocular lens fell out. Happened on a Saturday, called USO on Monday. They didn't have 1 on hand, so gave me a TS20 to replace it. IIRC, I had it in hand on Thursday, so kudos to their CS dept.

I mounted but never used the TS20, sold it last week.
 
I actually like this thread, and now I'm open to checking out other brands.

Unless I can find an SN-6 from yesteryear but they were so big.

I'll start a new thread with preferred optics. Quite honestly at one time a Tasco Super-SNiper was going to be my choice since I don't shoot as often.

GOod to see the argument, and now I see 3 failures of USO, that's enough to wake me up.
 
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I actually like this thread, and now I'm open to checking out other brands.

Unless I can find an SN-6 from yesteryear but they were so big.

I'll start a new thread with preferred optics. Quite honestly at one time a Tasco Super-SNiper was going to be my choice since I don't shoot as often.

GOod to see the argument, and now I see 3 failures of USO, that's enough to wake me up.

Been a long time since I've seen you on here man.

I think in today's market for the $2K - $3K optics, you'll find that the Zeiss LRP S3 and LRP S5 (on sale currently), Nightforce ATACR (if you qualify for a discount) and of course the used market for even more premium options - that should compare favorably to the USO FDN optics. All of the above that I listed have good followings.

Under $2K and I was a Burris fanboy for a while...but it might appear that they (and Steiner) are having an uptick in reported issues and bad CS. It sucks, because my XTR III and XTR Pro have been great to me.

I might even look at a Nightforce NX8 or Leupold Mark 5 if you can find what you want under $2K.

For some reasons optics have more conflicts between members than any other topic. There are more "fuck you and the glass you rode in on" posts than even the Bear Pit at times.

I really want to like USO. I had an old ST-10 that was perfect. Wish I had never got rid of it. I just see more negative posts than positive ones...and a couple grand is not something I want to gamble with.
 
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I would take info with a grain of salt, it is the internet, no matter what brand you would have listed there would have been some negative posts. I have no experience with U S optics so no opinion, but I do know if you listen to every negative comment on the internet you would not be able to buy anything.
 
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Yikes. We have now devolved to listing which scopes we have experience with and which we have not. I'll refrain from listing which scopes I have had my hands on. If it is important, you can go take a look at which scopes any major retailer lists in the above $500 price range and assume I've had my hands on about three quarters of those at some point in time. Some have been tested thoroughly. Some just looked at. I sorta pre-screen what I will be spending time on.

With US Optics, I am not going to re-hash the whole history. I'll just repeat my experience with North Carolina made FDN scopes has been good and they seem to have re-worked the mechanics of the original designs to make them more robust and consistent.

ILya
 
Certain people just like to be heard. That’s just the way it is. It’s like they have a personal vendetta against certain brands.

I’ve personally had very bad experiences with a certain bomb proof scope company but I’m not going to bash them and scream from the hills every chance I get.
 
IMG_6985.jpeg


Welcome back, ArticLight! :)

USO does alright overall. They certainly went through a rough patch, but I’d still happily own an older ST10/SN3, or one of their newer offerings at the right price. At normal retail I’d pass though, they’re overpriced for what you get these days IMO. If you use a 50% off certificate they’re more tolerable.
 
For anyone who actually knows what quality is. Then you know that you can pick up a contract gov overrun counters sniper in the px for a good price. Where else are you gonna get a scope filled with rare earth shit like Bertrillium~Zantitium. If you know, you know. If not go be poor somewhere fucking else :cool:
 
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Saw a few of your kind dudes paging me!! I’m here my friends!!

Yes it was the rangefinder. Not the scope. Just hard for me to believe it was a rangefinder and I literally tried a few things. I did change to another foundation 25.
Still had problems with elevation but just used a little better Kentucky windage on day two of that match. Plus COF was way easier. Bigger targets. Which certainly helped me as my elevation was not as good as I’m use to.

Fun side note,
Tested that particular scope and everything tracked well. I used this scope in question for a few more matches this last year. Won one, 2nd place in another, and also used it for the PRS championship, and got another high placement.

After the lead farm match where i changed scopes, I got a new rangefinder. (Swaro el range) to replace my other set of Geovids. They were different in ranging. Actually way off. But guess what, everything is mechanical and things can happen.

I’m not interested in bashing the geovid binos, or really most any piece of gear. That’s all it is, just gear.

It was a newer optic, and it was just an idea of checking things off the list. It couldn’t hurt after i was in 19th place after day one. So i was all about diagnosing on day two. Also changed my undies after day one as well. Those really did take a crap though….lol

Tootles my friends. Be well!
 
No Time behind newer ones, have an ST-10, bought off of here 15yrs ago? EREK knobs, tracks fine, nice glass. Also an SN-3 that was made for me 1.5-6, a great LPVO, probably 18-20yrs ago
 

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Saw a few of your kind dudes paging me!! I’m here my friends!!

Yes it was the rangefinder. Not the scope. Just hard for me to believe it was a rangefinder and I literally tried a few things. I did change to another foundation 25.
Still had problems with elevation but just used a little better Kentucky windage on day two of that match. Plus COF was way easier. Bigger targets. Which certainly helped me as my elevation was not as good as I’m use to.

Fun side note,
Tested that particular scope and everything tracked well. I used this scope in question for a few more matches this last year. Won one, 2nd place in another, and also used it for the PRS championship, and got another high placement.

After the lead farm match where i changed scopes, I got a new rangefinder. (Swaro el range) to replace my other set of Geovids. They were different in ranging. Actually way off. But guess what, everything is mechanical and things can happen.

I’m not interested in bashing the geovid binos, or really most any piece of gear. That’s all it is, just gear.

It was a newer optic, and it was just an idea of checking things off the list. It couldn’t hurt after i was in 19th place after day one. So i was all about diagnosing on day two. Also changed my undies after day one as well. Those really did take a crap though….lol

Tootles my friends. Be well!

So the USO scope was fine. Someone needs to get their facts straight before they start bumping their gums


@DeathBeforeDismount would you like to retract your USO bashing statements and amend them accordingly?

Or not?
 
My PERSONAL expirence with USO led me to believe the entire enterprise was set up by Fed Ex to increase shipping revenues for “repairs”.

Both of mine broke several times before I could ever get them mounted.

USO actually gave up and said they had no idea how to fix them.
 
I really want to like USO. I had a Brea-made ST-10 that was absolutely perfect. I sold it when I made the decision to go all mil/mil (was MOA), but damn if I didn't miss it.

I am still drawn to the looks of their ocular housing and EREK-style elevation dial...but since they cost a lot (even with discount) I'm not sure I'm courageous enough to jump into one again with stories like the one just posted above.

But hey, I own an XTR Pro that doesn't have issues (knock on wood), so maybe I'd get lucky again. 😄
 
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i have 3 Sn-3s currently, 1.8-10 in a couple of different configurations. 37mm and 44mm and one tan anodized from the factory.

One is on my night thermal rig behind a voodoo. sometimes i think i should divest myself of them and go all "modern" scopes but they all just work really well, clear glass and have the erek knobs and ERGO paralax (prefer to the TPAL). with the exception that the EREK setting and the different caps are a little tedious, i dont have any issues with them. Maybe one day ill sell all of them but for now they are all doing well for me.
 
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