Rifle Scopes NF ATACR 5-25 FFP vs Vortex Razor AMG 6-24

Eaglearcher20

Eaglearcher20

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 25, 2018
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Johnstown, PA 15905
#1
Looking for my first mid-long range scope to be used for hunting and some plinking at mid range (500yd) to start. Will be going on a 308 Q the Fix. Want to keep the scope under $3k.

The NF 5-25 ATACR and Vortex AMG 6-24 seem to fit that bill and haven’t read anything bad about them. Leaning towards the Vortex for price and the fact I can get the reticle in MOA which I’m used to. However, if it won’t be too difficult of a transition I will get a Mil reticle.

Open to any suggestions as I’m fairly new to long range shooting. I have no desire for competitions at this point, but plan to spend a lot of time practicing to make a hobby out of shooting.
 
#8
The AMG would be perfect for your use in that it's light weight and has a very usable reticle. Shop around and you can find them at a good price too.

And remember not every company sells Vortex and NF so if you talk to a company make sure they sell both so you are getting a level playing ground for information. CS Tactical I think sells both.
 
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#13
I have both. For a gun that’s going to be hunted and possibly trying to stay a little lighter, the vortex is a good scope. The tunneling on the ATACR doesn’t make the field of view anything great at 5x so you’re not gaining low end power. Imagine quality and brightness will be the other difference. The Nightforce has the edge in both cases. Bigger objective helps with that. Shaving weight would be the only reason I would choose the amg over the ATACR if cost were equal. Cost isn’t equal though and only you can decide if there is enough difference to make it worth the $$ to you.
 
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#14
Rob01 said:
The AMG would be perfect for your use in that it's light weight and has a very usable reticle. Shop around and you can find them at a good price too.

And remember not every company sells Vortex and NF so if you talk to a company make sure they sell both so you are getting a level playing ground for information. CS Tactical I think sells both.
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Geno C. said:
I have both. For a gun that’s going to be hunted and possibly trying to stay a little lighter, the vortex is a good scope. The tunneling on the ATACR doesn’t make the field of view anything great at 5x so you’re not gaining low end power. Imagine quality and brightness will be the other difference. The Nightforce has the edge in both cases. Bigger objective helps with that. Shaving weight would be the only reason I would choose the amg over the ATACR if cost were equal. Cost isn’t equal though and only you can decide if there is enough difference to make it worth the $$ to you.
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That’s the type of feedback I’m looking for. Thanks for the input.
 
#15
I have 2 of the ATACR 5x25’s SFP. I love these scopes. I like the MOAR-T models. The thin crosshairs on the -T models are awesome. The zero stop works great and returns great. I got both from EuroOptics. One was a demo scope. 2229$ The scope looked brand new. I would have never known it was a demo scope. It came with everything in the box. They say the demo’s have not been mounted to any gun. They have demo’s now on there website.
 
#16
Eaglearcher20 said:
Looking for my first mid-long range scope to be used for hunting and some plinking at mid range (500yd) to start. Will be going on a 308 Q the Fix. Want to keep the scope under $3k.

The NF 5-25 ATACR and Vortex AMG 6-24 seem to fit that bill and haven’t read anything bad about them. Leaning towards the Vortex for price and the fact I can get the reticle in MOA which I’m used to. However, if it won’t be too difficult of a transition I will get a Mil reticle.

Open to any suggestions as I’m fairly new to long range shooting. I have no desire for competitions at this point, but plan to spend a lot of time practicing to make a hobby out of shooting.
Click to expand...
Don’t worry about transitioning to mils. You are shooting numbers. It doesn’t matter if a shot requires 3 miles or 10 3/4 Moa. Just dial or hold the number in the scope and squeeze the trigger. Where miles are easier is wind holds. 10 mph full value wind requires a 2.1 mil hold. For a 7 mph wind you simply multiply .21 x 7 which gives you 1.5 mils.
7 1/4 Moa is the same hold. How much is a 7 mph hold. Try that shit in your head. Mil base scopes are easier than Moa scopes.
 
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#17
I’ve got the 5-25 and 7-35 ATACR F1’s and two Vortex AMG’s. While a previous poster said that the ATACR has a better image quality, it’s really splitting hairs. The ATACR does appear to be slightly brighter, but the overall image quality is very close. Both are great optics with high resolution and very little chromatic aberration.

At the weight and price that you can get an AMG for, it would be a solid option for the Fix. For a dual purpose rifle (range/hunting), the locking Ltec turrets on the AMG are another upside imo. I’m partial to mils, and the EBR-7B reticle is great.

Hard to go wrong with either of those two choices, but the AMG would be a solid choice, and save you several hundred dollars as well.
 
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#19
Nightforce 1 said:
I would Eye eBay, for both scopes I love SFP so the nightforce ATACR I would buy would be the SFP I’ve never ever had any luck with vortex, but they do honor there warranty and I did use it several times. I run NXS nightforces now and love them lots more.
They can be found around your 1800-2200 price range they are the best scopes I personally have ever owned. Only way I would change from a Nightforce NXS is to an ATACR
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I wouldn't ever trust E-bay (or Amazon) for a high end scope purchase. Way too many scams and fakes out there. And there are great vendors here on the hide. Deal with them and avoid those worries of scams or fakes.
 
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#22
If you have an opportunity to put your hands / eyes on one, I would before purchasing a high end optic. You may like the way the paralex adjustment works / location on one and not the other, same with reticle illum, turret feel, and technicality of setting "zero stop". Each turret reads different, you may like one over the other. If you are in to illum reticle, illum the reticle and see how you like the way the reticle appears illuminated and ease of use and reticle focus. Don't get hung up on warranty, I absolutely hate it when I hear friends mention the Vortex warranty, thats all I ever hear. Yes, they have a good warranty but who cares unless you make it a habit of running over your rifles with your truck, it shouldn't be a deciding factor (think of Chris Farley lol). All of these companys will take care of you if you have a legitimate optic problem. An optic you haven't mentioned thus far is Khales, I would throw them in your hunt. I bet if you are able to put your hands on the optics you are considering that you will be able to make your own decision. My first high end optic was a NF, my second a NF ATACR F1 5-25X56, not sure what my 3rd optic will be but you can bet I will put my hands on several different products (brands) before purchasing. Good luck and I hope this helps
 
#23
You might hate hearing about the Vortex warranty but if you ever accidentally damage your high end optic and forking out money to fix it or have to buy another you would have wished you had it. ?
 
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#24
TKO said:
If you have an opportunity to put your hands / eyes on one, I would before purchasing a high end optic. You may like the way the paralex adjustment works / location on one and not the other, same with reticle illum, turret feel, and technicality of setting "zero stop". Each turret reads different, you may like one over the other. If you are in to illum reticle, illum the reticle and see how you like the way the reticle appears illuminated and ease of use and reticle focus. Don't get hung up on warranty, I absolutely hate it when I hear friends mention the Vortex warranty, thats all I ever hear. Yes, they have a good warranty but who cares unless you make it a habit of running over your rifles with your truck, it shouldn't be a deciding factor (think of Chris Farley lol). All of these companys will take care of you if you have a legitimate optic problem. An optic you haven't mentioned thus far is Khales, I would throw them in your hunt. I bet if you are able to put your hands on the optics you are considering that you will be able to make your own decision. My first high end optic was a NF, my second a NF ATACR F1 5-25X56, not sure what my 3rd optic will be but you can bet I will put my hands on several different products (brands) before purchasing. Good luck and I hope this helps
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That’s sound advice. Wish I could do that.
I wanted a dirt bike. I bought one of each brand second hand. Had five in the garage at one time. Slowly sold them off one by one until I only had one left. Same for kayaks, rifle scopes, rifles, etc. It’s what I do. Buy em all and let em go slowly.
 
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#25
Mils, FFP and a good Xmas tree reticle. You may not know you need it but you do.

There is zero reason to buy an optic in 2018 without all or these.

AMG is hard to beat for the price. Next step up would be a minor zp5. $1800 vs $2800.
 
#26
Primus said:
Mils, FFP and a good Xmas tree reticle. You may not know you need it but you do.

There is zero reason to buy an optic in 2018 without all or these.

AMG is hard to beat for the price. Next step up would be a minor zp5. $1800 vs $2800.
Click to expand...
The part about the reticle isn’t entirely true. Everyone doesn’t need a Christmas tree reticle. Holdovers are really easy with any mil based reticle out to 500+ yards. You don’t need a Christmas tree for that. Past that distance a Christmas tree reticle helps. Some people always dial. Don’t need a Christmas Tree reticle for that either.

Edit: Its not so much the distance that makes holding over and windage with a standard mil reticle. It’s how far the hold. Holding less than a mil out in space is fairly easy. Holding a mil or more out in space gets tough.
 
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#27
TKO said:
If you have an opportunity to put your hands / eyes on one, I would before purchasing a high end optic. You may like the way the paralex adjustment works / location on one and not the other, same with reticle illum, turret feel, and technicality of setting "zero stop". Each turret reads different, you may like one over the other. If you are in to illum reticle, illum the reticle and see how you like the way the reticle appears illuminated and ease of use and reticle focus. Don't get hung up on warranty, I absolutely hate it when I hear friends mention the Vortex warranty, thats all I ever hear. Yes, they have a good warranty but who cares unless you make it a habit of running over your rifles with your truck, it shouldn't be a deciding factor (think of Chris Farley lol). All of these companys will take care of you if you have a legitimate optic problem. An optic you haven't mentioned thus far is Khales, I would throw them in your hunt. I bet if you are able to put your hands on the optics you are considering that you will be able to make your own decision. My first high end optic was a NF, my second a NF ATACR F1 5-25X56, not sure what my 3rd optic will be but you can bet I will put my hands on several different products (brands) before purchasing. Good luck and I hope this helps
Click to expand...

I try to get my hands on everything prior to buying but no one in my area offers more than a Vortex Diamondback level scope. However, I was lucky enough that the somewhat local F&S had a package with a Vortex Razor 4.5-27 so I was able to check that out and it was very nice. Unfortunately that is as close as I can get to the Vortex AMG. No dealers around for the others.
 
#28
Eaglearcher20 said:
I try to get my hands on everything prior to buying but no one in my area offers more than a Vortex Diamondback level scope. However, I was lucky enough that the somewhat local F&S had a package with a Vortex Razor 4.5-27 so I was able to check that out and it was very nice. Unfortunately that is as close as I can get to the Vortex AMG. No dealers around for the others.
Click to expand...

That is a legitimate issue, where I live (Ohio) there are many long range rifle competitions that take place on a semi-monthly, monthly, simi-annual, and annual basis. I know you are not in to competitions but you might try attending a couple of these events in your area, if they exist. Depending on the size of the competition, I would expect for you to see a decent variety of optics, heck, you may find one you like and weren't even looking for. From my experience, guys are more than happy to show you what they use and let you take a peek down range.
 
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#29
Eaglearcher20 said:
I try to get my hands on everything prior to buying but no one in my area offers more than a Vortex Diamondback level scope. However, I was lucky enough that the somewhat local F&S had a package with a Vortex Razor 4.5-27 so I was able to check that out and it was very nice. Unfortunately that is as close as I can get to the Vortex AMG. No dealers around for the others.
Click to expand...

If you put in your profile where you live you might find shooters close enough to be able to see what they are like. I have met people at the ranges to let them see my optics for years.
 
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