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Rifle Scopes Is a $$ scope worth the money?

M

Morgan321

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Minuteman
Apr 27, 2013
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I was going to get a mk6 to replace a swfa ss(10x). Is it worth the cost? I would buy it at the fed/mil price, but even that is a big number. I've never shot the same gun back to back with such drastically different scopes.

The gun shoots barely under 1 moa now and a nearby range I use is expanding from 500 to 1200 Yds. Talk me into or out of it. I want it, but being relatively new to long range shooting I can only think of the thousands of rounds I could load for the price of a mk6.... I am inclined to think that much ammo shot practicing would make a bigger difference in my skill than a $$ scope, but I'm too dumb to know for sure.
 
Its a great scope. And at the price you are going to pay, you can dump it for a profit if you feel that its not worth it. With that being said. I always like to keep a swfa 10x around as a spare scope. Great basic scope.

Love mine

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 
The only thing that sucks about buying a high end scope, is everything else looks like crap afterwards.

Honestly, when you are out shooting long range, with the bugs and dust and heat on your neck. It is a relief to have the clear image and scope that tracks.

Also, for the most part, higher end scopes will retain more of their value if you decide to trade up or over.
 
Yeah, it would make sense if the rifle shot better IMO.
 
You should look at the Vortex line. Best bang for you buck. Lifetime, transferrable, no fault warranty. Mil/mil and MOA/MOA with solid clicks and great tracking and reticles.
 
The only thing that can replace a high end scope is another high end scope. Glass, Coatings, Materials and Engineering all play into the end product. Most people that say "I dont need an optic like that..." either havent used one or dont want too. When you are talking about making a shot when it counts, the best glass you can get is what you need.

The Mk6 line is great. Also take a look at the Kahles 3-12 with the MSR reticle.
 
if you're getting it on the Mil/LEO pricing then you definitely need to pick it up as it will be the best bang for your buck, no pun intended :)

As said above, if you're not happy with it you will be able to sell it for a profit so you won't lose money. but, as someone else said, once you buy a high end scope everything else looks like crap.

my advice is to grab it, you'll be very happy with it.
 
I hated my mark 6. Worst turrets I've prolly ever felt. Worse than 400 scopes. No illumination. The glass is very good and the reticle isn't bad. But for the price the turrets should be crisp and it should have illumination. Also my parallax came messed up and had to be sent back for repair. They replaced the entire erector assembly. Still had to pay 40 bucks to ship to them.

I'd go nf for a mid level scope. And premier or kahles for high end. As said above if you qualify for mil discount you'll prolly sell it for a small profit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
sib1948 said:
You should look at the Vortex line. Best bang for you buck. Lifetime, transferrable, no fault warranty. Mil/mil and MOA/MOA with solid clicks and great tracking and reticles.
Click to expand...

Vortex is dog shit compared to both swfa and the mk6 line.......good thing they got a great warranty,..you'll need it a few times
 
Bushnelll has he best mil prices IMO..... Leupold is not much better than what u can get from euro or sportoptics
 
I have a Mark 6 on my AE. I love it. Furthest we shoot is out to about 1000 yards. Can't beat it. Got a TMR reticle to match my Mark 4 and my Mark 4 spotter. I agree, the turrets are a bit different than before, but nothing to lose sleep over. The Kahles that was mentioned is another great choice
 
I had a $2400 USO and side by side with a Vortex 2.5-10 x32, I couldn't really tell a difference. I still sold the Vortex cause it broke, but I also sold the USO and bought a NF.

If you have a budget, the SWFA is a great scope and it's diminishing returns after that. The Bushnell 3.5-21 is supposed to be really good and can be picked up for 900 from euro optic for a limited time. I should have mine on Monday.

The only reason I'd buy another premium optic is knowing that I'm doing so mostly because I can afford it and can justify that very marginal gain.
 
An accurate rifle system consists of five main parts. 1 the shooter, 2 the rifle barreled action, 3 the rifle stock, 4 the scope & scope base and five the scope. Any or all of these affect accuracy so when you try to go cheap, that's what you get. There are also other devices that make a difference like a scope level, bipod and rear shooters bag but I hope you get the idea.

IMHO Bushnell is the way to go. I have the hdmr with the tremor 2 mil/mil turrets and the Larue Lt-111 mount. Larue has a combo package with a hdmr and Lt-111 mount for about $1500. I will be buying a second Bushnell for another rifle. I think the model will be the ers with the zero stop and again the tremor 2 reticle.

Bushnell also has a T&E and le discount program for law enforcement. I can send you the info if you like? I used this program to try out the hdmr and I kept it.
 
30calDeath said:
Dude WTF are you smokin? Again!
Click to expand...

Not many people here will dispute what I have said. SWFA is a superior product. It has better componets, build quality and quality control.

The only PST worth its weight is the 2.5-10x32, and its really blows the rest of the PST's out of the water for whatever reason. It's also a niche scope that competes directly with the 2.5-10 NF at half the price and 90% the quality.

Quality Jap glass and build vs cheap filipeno build and QC.

Run through the last 10 pages in the optics forum. Let me know how many broken or defective vortex's there are vs SWFA. Its not even close.
 
remr5 said:
An accurate rifle system consists of five main parts. 1 the shooter, 2 the rifle barreled action, 3 the rifle stock, 4 the scope & scope base and five the scope. Any or all of these affect accuracy so when you try to go cheap, that's what you get. There are also other devices that make a difference like a scope level, bipod and rear shooters bag but I hope you get the idea.

IMHO Bushnell is the way to go. I have the hdmr with the tremor 2 mil/mil turrets and the Larue Lt-111 mount. Larue has a combo package with a hdmr and Lt-111 mount for about $1500. I will be buying a second Bushnell for another rifle. I think the model will be the ers with the zero stop and again the tremor 2 reticle.

Bushnell also has a T&E and le discount program for law enforcement. I can send you the info if you like? I used this program to try out the hdmr and I kept it.
Click to expand...

You forgort the ammo.... going to shoot it with hopes and dreams ;)
 
Why are we assuming that with price you have quality. Seems like a silly benchmark to go off of. It is easy to say I spent three grand on a scope therefore I have a good scope and then the old rancher next to you proceeds to out shoot your ass with something he got form Walmart. You might as well take that three grand and set it on fire.
 
I will agree with one of the posters above that one you look through high end glass the lesser scopes, while still great for their respective price points, will be painful to look through. I have a Mk4 M3A 10x that came with my M24 and it's a great little scope but when I go from my Schmidt Bender back to it it huts a little to look through. The resolution and eyebox are just that much better on the S&B.
 
Get yourself a Bushnell 3.5-21 HDMR and call it good. You have to spend a lot more money to top it. Yes there are better scopes with more features, which is why I sold mine to replace with S&B's, but I was very happy with those HDMR's while I had them.

Yes, as previously stated, once you get spoiled by a top of the line scope with all the nice features you want it's really hard to be happy with cheap scopes, heck even mid priced scopes.

If you could wait a few months the Bushnell 3-12 LRHS looks like it would be a very versatile scope. Light weight-compact, low profile 10 mil knobs, 7Y min parallax, great glass and reticle. Looking forward to mine coming in!!! I'll probably buy a couple more because I like their features and they'll be a huge improvement over my my ole standby cheapy scopes.
 
Is taking money out of your left pocket and putting it in your right pocket considered "spending" money?

Way I see it, if you were to buy an SWFA for $1000, use it for a few years, and resell for $800, your cost of ownership was $200.

Or you could buy an NF F1 for $2300 (or whatever they cost these days), use it for a few years and resell for $2000. Cost of ownership is essentially the same for the NF.

Did you "spend" more on the NF?

Some scopes even increase in price as time goes by.
 
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HodgdonExtreme said:
Is taking money out of your left pocket and putting it in your right pocket considered "spending" money?

Way I see it, if you were to buy an SWFA for $1000, use it for a few years, and resell for $800, your cost of ownership was $200.

Or you could buy an NF F1 for $2300 (or whatever they cost these days), use it for a few years and resell for $2000. Cost of ownership is essentially the same for the NF.

Did you "spend" more on the NF?

Some scopes even increase in price as time goes by.
Click to expand...

You've tied up an additional $1300 for a few years, which has a cost - about 450 bucks if you had left that money in your brokerage account. Or you could buy 2 SFWA scopes and enjoy them on two different rifles. Depends on what you want out of life, I suppose.
 
damoncali said:
You've tied up an additional $1300 for a few years, which has a cost - about 450 bucks if you had left that money in your brokerage account. Or you could buy 2 SFWA scopes and enjoy them on two different rifles. Depends on what you want out of life, I suppose.
Click to expand...

A relevant point well made.

Still, mind giving me your brokers contact info?
 
I would take a long look at the Bushnell Tactical Elite G2DMR 3.5-21X50 scope. Except for the lack of a zero stop and illuminated reticle the glass and tracking compare very favorably to my Nightforce NXS 5.5-22X50 scopes a almost half the price.
 
roggom said:
The only thing that sucks about buying a high end scope, is everything else looks like crap afterwards.
Click to expand...

I can confirm this. After moving from a Mk 4 to a PM II, it's very hard to get behind mediocre glass. With the new scope I find myself shooting at much lower mag.

I don't agree that Vortex Razors are dog shit compared to anything--especially a SWFA. They are both good scopes for the money.
 
What about the Sightron III line? I have very good things ragarding them. They are a little to right at a grand.
 
damoncali said:
You've tied up an additional $1300 for a few years, which has a cost - about 450 bucks if you had left that money in your brokerage account. Or you could buy 2 SFWA scopes and enjoy them on two different rifles. Depends on what you want out of life, I suppose.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and you can get runover by a truck getting your mail from the mailbox in the meantime. What good is interest/dividends/capital gains if you're dead? Live a little. Save enough, but live in the meantime.
 
samnev said:
I would take a long look at the Bushnell Tactical Elite G2DMR 3.5-21X50 scope. Except for the lack of a zero stop and illuminated reticle the glass and tracking compare very favorably to my Nightforce NXS 5.5-22X50 scopes a almost half the price.
Click to expand...

Another vote for the DMR (incorrectly called an HDMR all the time, only Horus reticled models are HDMRs) and it's a nice scope for the money.
SS 5-20s are a lot of bang for the buck, too.
 
Cobracutter said:
Not many people here will dispute what I have said. SWFA is a superior product. It has better componets, build quality and quality control.

The only PST worth its weight is the 2.5-10x32, and its really blows the rest of the PST's out of the water for whatever reason. It's also a niche scope that competes directly with the 2.5-10 NF at half the price and 90% the quality.

Quality Jap glass and build vs cheap filipeno build and QC.

Run through the last 10 pages in the optics forum. Let me know how many broken or defective vortex's there are vs SWFA. Its not even close.
Click to expand...
Interestingly enough, I have the exact opposite problem. My Objective lense came loose on my SS 10x, and its being sent back in for repair. My razor HD (Jap glass) is looking great! But with that said, my SS 3-9x42 FFP looks great almost as good as my vortex does. Never had a problem with it. Working great on a SPR.

OP. I was in the same boat you are in. Fixed 10x SS. I looked through a lot of manufactures trying to figure out a good scope for my needs, and then contacted them to see if they had mil discount. I am still in the process of trying to order with Leupold. I really would recommend someone else. For the amount of money you're paying for the Mark 6, and you get meh turrets and no illumination... I think there's better products out there even with mil discount. I couldn't be happier with my Gen 1 Razor HD 5-20 with the EBR-2B reticle. Horus feel to it, but not the price. I am getting much easier hits at anything over 300yards than my 10x. Anything short of that, it wasn't too hard with the 10x. AT first I was all about keeping magnification down to keep FOV and have a usable reticle. Now I'm all about big magnification and FFP. The reticle in the 10x is damn near the same in the Razor HD at 10x, but you get to zoom twice as higher as the 10x. Makes for picking 6" plates at 600 yards easier. I love the turrets too. First I thought omg godzilla, now its really hard to over dial or under dial when you're spinning your elevation. Zero stop is legit.

I'm sure you could spend more money and find a nicer scope, but you're going to be spending ALOT more money for a LITTLE bit nicer scope.

YMMV
 
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HodgdonExtreme said:
Is taking money out of your left pocket and putting it in your right pocket considered "spending" money?

Way I see it, if you were to buy an SWFA for $1000, use it for a few years, and resell for $800, your cost of ownership was $200.

Or you could buy an NF F1 for $2300 (or whatever they cost these days), use it for a few years and resell for $2000. Cost of ownership is essentially the same for the NF.

Did you "spend" more on the NF?

Some scopes even increase in price as time goes by.
Click to expand...

That is the sort of accounting principles that gets people in big trouble. :)
 
Clusterfrack said:
I can confirm this. After moving from a Mk 4 to a PM II, it's very hard to get behind mediocre glass. With the new scope I find myself shooting at much lower mag.

I don't agree that Vortex Razors are dog shit compared to anything--especially a SWFA. They are both good scopes for the money.
Click to expand...

Reading is fundemental. Razors are jap and much higher quality than PST. They are not even in the same ballpark.
 
Sh33pdog said:
Interestingly enough, I have the exact opposite problem. My Objective lense came loose on my SS 10x, and its being sent back in for repair. My razor HD (Jap glass) is looking great! But with that said, my SS 3-9x42 FFP looks great almost as good as my vortex does. Never had a problem with it. Working great on a SPR.

OP. I was in the same boat you are in. Fixed 10x SS. I looked through a lot of manufactures trying to figure out a good scope for my needs, and then contacted them to see if they had mil discount. I am still in the process of trying to order with Leupold. I really would recommend someone else. For the amount of money you're paying for the Mark 6, and you get meh turrets and no illumination... I think there's better products out there even with mil discount. I couldn't be happier with my Gen 1 Razor HD 5-20 with the EBR-2B reticle. Horus feel to it, but not the price. I am getting much easier hits at anything over 300yards than my 10x. Anything short of that, it wasn't too hard with the 10x. AT first I was all about keeping magnification down to keep FOV and have a usable reticle. Now I'm all about big magnification and FFP. The reticle in the 10x is damn near the same in the Razor HD at 10x, but you get to zoom twice as higher as the 10x. Makes for picking 6" plates at 600 yards easier. I love the turrets too. First I thought omg godzilla, now its really hard to over dial or under dial when you're spinning your elevation. Zero stop is legit.

I'm sure you could spend more money and find a nicer scope, but you're going to be spending ALOT more money for a LITTLE bit nicer scope.

YMMV
Click to expand...

Once again Razor is NOT a PST.

On top of that your comparing a $300 scope to a $2000.
 
Cobracutter said:
Not many people here will dispute what I have said. SWFA is a superior product. It has better componets, build quality and quality control.

The only PST worth its weight is the 2.5-10x32, and its really blows the rest of the PST's out of the water for whatever reason. It's also a niche scope that competes directly with the 2.5-10 NF at half the price and 90% the quality.

Quality Jap glass and build vs cheap filipeno build and QC.

Run through the last 10 pages in the optics forum. Let me know how many broken or defective vortex's there are vs SWFA. Its not even close.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's a regional thing, but I rarely see SWFA scopes being used, but I see vortex being used all the time. Maybe you see more stories about vortex because they move more units?

Personally the only vortex I've ever seen break is because a hunter knocked it out of his tree stand onto some bluffs then down onto the river bottom.

Your experiences may be different, but referring to vortex as "dog crap" could not be more wrong.
 
Its a big world out there peter pan.

There is a reason most people who run a pst hard or for a while, end up replacing them.

Same cant be said for the 5-20xswfa and 3.5-21 dmr.
 
Cobracutter said:
Its a big world out there peter pan.

There is a reason most people who run a pst hard or for a while, end up replacing them.

Same cant be said for the 5-20xswfa and 3.5-21 dmr.
Click to expand...

There's always one in every group...
 
And I thought we were merely drifting towards the tax depreciation value of a scope. BTW, it's 10 years. The more you spend on it the more you get to depreciate. The trick is to actually hold on to that scope for it's life span. Depreciation gives you a reason to keep a perfectly fine workable scope for more than 1 year. :) If you think about, at least for tax deduction purposes, a Tasco scope depreciates at the same rate as a NightCat. :)

I'm just being factually facetious. :)
 
I personally would stick with the SWFA line. Not too expensive and great tracking with good glass. What caliber are you shooting by the way?
 
Cobracutter said:
Not many people here will dispute what I have said. SWFA is a superior product. It has better componets, build quality and quality control.

The only PST worth its weight is the 2.5-10x32, and its really blows the rest of the PST's out of the water for whatever reason. It's also a niche scope that competes directly with the 2.5-10 NF at half the price and 90% the quality.

Quality Jap glass and build vs cheap filipeno build and QC.

Run through the last 10 pages in the optics forum. Let me know how many broken or defective vortex's there are vs SWFA. Its not even close.
Click to expand...

IM not comparing PST to the Razor line...in this quote you didnt specify which line you were talking about.
So I am not sure what the PST line is about as I have never owned one but have owned a Razor HD2 and the glass was AMAZING.
I now own a MK6 and the glass is as good as the Razor.
 
under 1 moa is plenty to shoot a long ways. if i had the money i would put a 1000 dollar scope on my air gun. i just like to look through them. have you looked at the bushnell hdmr. i just got one and i am very impressed so far.
 
Above 2500$ your wasting money... Better
Men have shot farther with less. It's marketing
if they make it someone will buy it... A scope for
3,4,5,6 THOUSAND Dollars, better be happy cause
Somebody else is probably plugging your lady!! If you
Can't see that's a total waist of money you got no
Idea what's going on... I don't care if your bill gates
And you got all you'll never spend !! Waist of money!!!
I'll say this once, beware of ANY scope manufacture that
Gives unconditional returns for broke scopes!! Throwing
Shit at shit doesn't make it shit... I had a swift go bad,got
2 new ones no questions and those went bad also... Remember
Business is always build as cheap as possible! That even goes
For the space shuttle!! They can price it supper high to make
You think different, but it still was built as cheap as possible!
 
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