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Nightforce NX8 2.5x20 - Not finding a whole lot of info. on this scope

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houndog

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May 6, 2005
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Been thinking about what scope I might put on a DD 14.5" upper I recently purchased, and thought a Nightforce NX8 2.5x20 might be a good choice, but can't find much info on it. Not sure if this is because it's relatively new and fairly expensive, only fills a narrow niche, or just isn't a popular option.

In any event, what I like about the scope is:

1. Nightforce's reputation for ruggedness, reliability and solid optics.

2. Fairly small size and light weight, particularly for a 20x scope.

3. FFP

4. Wide zoom range.

Honestly, started looking at the Nightforce NXS 2.5x10, since most of my shooting will be 600 yards and in. However, I suppose the extra 10x is nice, particularly if I want to see how well the rifle groups at 200-300 yards. And with a 2.5x20 range, I can dial the rifle down to 3-5X if I'm shooting from an unsupported position and then 18-20x for groups or relatively small steel targets at 600.

I really don't plan on doing any close in shooting with this gun and therefore don't need anything with a true 1X (and honestly will probably never dial the scope all the way back to 2.5x). Similarly, 20X is probably more magnification than I need for most of my shooting. However, I suppose it's nice to have both less and more magnification than I need.

Looked at another way, I'm not sure what scope I'd like more than the NX8 (at least in it's price range). NXS 1x8? A nice scope but not crazy about the reticle for precision shooting and a little more magnification would be nice. NXS 2.5x10? Again a definite option, although I think it's been discontinued.

Vortex 1x10? Don't really need 1x, would like a little more than 10x, and isn't it boat anchor heavy?

Sure I'm missing a bunch of other alternatives (particularly scopes in the 3x18 range like Vortex PST 3x15 or Razor 3-18), but what other options have similar magnification, and are relatively light and compact? And come in at a similar price point? I mean I'm sure Zeiss, Kahles, P&M, etc all make very nice scopes around 3x18, but at what price?
 
The Leupold MK5 is a 3-18 and comes in pretty close weight wise and in that price range or cheaper depending on reticle and if it’s illuminated.

Other than that, there isn’t a whole lot with that much magnification.

I’ve got an SHV F1 that is a great scope, but only a magnification of 4-14.

The SHV is a lot cheaper than an NX8, though.
 
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houndog said:
really don't plan on doing any close in shooting with this gun and therefore don't need anything with a true 1X (and honestly will probably never dial the scope all the way back to 2.5x). Similarly, 20X is probably more magnifi
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Look at the 4-16x42 atacr

I love 2.5-20s I have a bunch but if you don’t need the low end or low weight there are better scopes out there. ATACR 4-16x42, k318i etc
 
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Have one on a 20s currently. No complaints. Went back and forth deciding between it and mk5. Went nx8 for the illum
 
adavis1138 said:
I had one. Loved the size, weight, and mag range. Hated the depth of field and messing with the parallax so I sold it.
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Every time this comes up I wonder if the parallax issues and iBox are bad from 2 to 12 or so on the mag range.

That's really all I care about for hunting purposes. Above 10 or 12 I'm just stationary punching paper anyhow so I really don't care.

I've got two baby attackers but still can't shake my interest in the NX8.

I tree stand on some wood plots and two and a half would actually be nice on the bottom. Totally fine using illumination to see the reticle.
 
I found the nx8 4-32 to be more forgiving.
 
i have one (2.5-20) on my 6.5 prc hunting rifle. nice scope and nice glass, as expected from NF. being ffp with a really wide magnification range though, at the low end the reticle is almost invisible, but, with the illumination on, it is very visible.
 
I have one on a 6arc AR, love the scope! its the SFP version because i wanted the low end reticle to be functional for hunting. no complaints, its a great optic
 
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CaptArab said:
Every time this comes up I wonder if the parallax issues and iBox are bad from 2 to 12 or so on the mag range.

That's really all I care about for hunting purposes. Above 10 or 12 I'm just stationary punching paper anyhow so I really don't care.

I've got two baby attackers but still can't shake my interest in the NX8.

I tree stand on some wood plots and two and a half would actually be nice on the bottom. Totally fine using illumination to see the reticle.
Click to expand...

I bought for the exact same uses you did. Even at those mag ranges the depth of field was a problem. Changing from a 100 yard shot to a 200 yard one required messing with the parallax a considerable amount to get a clean view. That’s just not going to work for me on a hunting gun.
 
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adavis1138 said:
I bought for the exact same uses you did. Even at those mag ranges the depth of field was a problem. Changing from a 100 yard shot to a 200 yard one required messing with the parallax a considerable amount to get a clean view. That’s just not going to work for me on a hunting gun.
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Did you have this at all magnification levels?
 
adavis1138 said:
I bought for the exact same uses you did. Even at those mag ranges the depth of field was a problem. Changing from a 100 yard shot to a 200 yard one required messing with the parallax a considerable amount to get a clean view. That’s just not going to work for me on a hunting gun.
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Ooh, well that's a deal breaker.

I could leave my atacr on 150 or so and never be bothered. Hard pass- thanks for the info!
 
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Save the money and buy a Vortex LHT instead. Its twice the scope for half the price. Either are way too much scope for a 14.5".

Get a Vortex 1-10 and be done with it.
 
Thanks for the comments on depth of field. I remember reading somewhere that you really had to fine tune the parallax to the particular distance you were shooting. Obviously that's not ideal f you want to be able to engage multiple targets at varying distances. And that's really too bad, one of the things I like about the Nightforce is the Mil XT reticle, which looks to be pretty useful where speed is important and you don't want to mess with elevation and windage. Of course, that's kind of negated if I've got to fine tune the parallax.

So how bad is it? I mean, if it's set at 200 is it basically unusable at 300? I would think as you get out to greater distances it becomes less and less of an issue. So maybe not so great if you're shifting between 100 and 300, but less of an issue between 500 and 700.

And I know people love the ATACR, but weight is something of an issue and the 4x20 (which would be perfect magnification range for me) looks to be $3,000. I can pick up an NX8 with a LaRue mount for a little more than half that, so cost is also an issue.
 
Softtail103 said:
Owned it for 1 day. Eyebox was small. Parallax is terrible. I went with the Mark5 3.6-18x44 with zero problems. Mount and check this before you buy it if possible.
Click to expand...

I ignored very similar advice when I bought mine.
 
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houndog said:
Thanks for the comments on depth of field. I remember reading somewhere that you really had to fine tune the parallax to the particular distance you were shooting. Obviously that's not ideal f you want to be able to engage multiple targets at varying distances. And that's really too bad, one of the things I like about the Nightforce is the Mil XT reticle, which looks to be pretty useful where speed is important and you don't want to mess with elevation and windage. Of course, that's kind of negated if I've got to fine tune the parallax.

So how bad is it? I mean, if it's set at 200 is it basically unusable at 300? I would think as you get out to greater distances it becomes less and less of an issue. So maybe not so great if you're shifting between 100 and 300, but less of an issue between 500 and 700.

And I know people love the ATACR, but weight is something of an issue and the 4x20 (which would be perfect magnification range for me) looks to be $3,000. I can pick up an NX8 with a LaRue mount for a little more than half that, so cost is also an issue.
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Everyone’s eyes are different. To me the parallax was an unacceptable issue. I would assume it would get worse at longer ranges but I’m no expert at long distance shooting.
 
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Safttail - not too worried about eye box. I'm pretty good about setting up scopes and am pretty consistent with cheek weld, etc.

DBD - I think that's a fair comment about possibly being too much scope. I started this process thinking that 10x was probably all I really need on this gun. I have access to a range that goes out to 600, so I will be shooting at those distances pretty regularly. But I've found that for shooting steel, 10x generally works if I've got a high quality optic and a decent reticle. So I think about 90% of the time I'm not really going to need an additional 10x. However, occasionally, it is fun to challenge myself and my gun and see what kind of groups I can get on paper at 300 or 400. Plus I hope doing this will generally help improve my technique. For that having an extra 10x will make a big difference.
 
I don’t have a ton of time behind mine, and I’m not an expert, but I really like mine so far. I read about the parallax and eye box issues before I bought it and it is actually better than I was expecting. Are there other scopes that are easier to get behind or have a less temperamental parallax? Absolutely. Are they bad enough to make this scope unusable? Not yet for me.

To be fair, the majority of my shooting with it has been breaking in a new barrel and starting load development again. Known ranges on paper targets in good lighting conditions don’t exactly push a scope’s capabilities, but I haven’t noticed any real inconvenience when adjusting the parallax. So far it has been insignificant enough that I haven’t even noticed it. We will see what I think of it after I get some more time behind it and start actually using it.
 
My unit just received one NX8 2.5-20X for evaluation with the Mil-XT reticle. We will be testing and using it for the next weeks.
Our use is pretty much from 25 to 300 meters for fast shots and then to around 600 meters (mostly observation).

Let's see if the paralax is an issue for our needs.
 
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I have an NX8 2.5-20 with tremor 3 reticle on a DMR and it's fantastic. Yes it's probably overkill and expensive but I have no complaints or regrets with it. Highly recommended.
 
If FFP, great reticle, great illumination, great price, great size, great construction, great weight, and great magnification range sound too good to be true there’s a reason.

I’m sure the guys that love them love them, but I’d strongly suggest taking a look through one in the field if at all possible. I got mine to put on a mountain hunting rifle and the DOF/parallax was a deal breaker.

I should have just sucked it up and bought another ZCO 420 from the beginning, or at least tried the 4-32 NX8 which reports say is much more forgiving.
 
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Great write up on the 2.5-20x.

www.snipershide.com

Rifle Scopes - Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 - Initial Thoughts

Backstory When the Nightforce NX8 long range scopes were announced I raised an eyebrow. Over the years I’ve had or used many different long-range scopes from the budget category all the way into alpha class, but in all that time I have never owned a Nightforce and the reason is because they...
www.snipershide.com www.snipershide.com
 
I just bought a DD V7 Pro with an 18" barrel and was kind of in your boat, only I wanted all that magnification because I'm building a SPR/DMR with mine. After going through everything like you did, I decided on a NX8 4-32 The 2-10 you are looking at had problems that the 4-32 fixed, apparently I never used it I'm just repeating what I heard about the 2-10 version.

What I've heard before is that people use the 4-32 instead of the 2-10 and just view the extra magnification as a bonus, but they really use it as a 4-20 scope for their REECE type 16"ish builds. You won't need all that magnification with that short carbine barrel, but it's still good for IDing things or seeing what you are shooting at clearly. So definitely get the NX8 4-34 over the other NX8 2-10 as it fixed the problems people had with the NX8 2-10 and just use the extra magnification for IDing things, or not, whatever, you got it if you need it, even on another rifle one day. It's only 13" and change long so it won't be terribly longer on your rifle than any other LPVO, although it does have a 50mm objective lens which might look funny on a 14" barrel, but I've seen worse.

Just make sure you get high rings like 1.7s or 1.9s or something, you certainly don't need over bore with a carbine and it will be much more comfortable and easy to use, especially if you wear NV or a gas mask etc.

But as far as Nightforce goes, without going into the ATACR money range, then I would just get the 4-32 over the 2-10 or the SHV for sure. Anything else you want you will either have to go up to ATACR, and pay for it too, or go with a lesser brand, and yes they are all lesser if you want something with duty level ruggedness and great optics, they are number one for a reason.
 
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JimmyJr said:
Not sure what models you exactly are talking about.
There is an NX8 4-32
There is an NX8 2.5-20
And there is a NXS 2.5-10 made in USA.
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Not sure what you are confused about really, the 2-20 is what he really wanted, but them and the 2-10 had known problems that went away in the NX8 4-32 version. So I just told him what other people were doing, that is skipping the lower magnification NX8s and their problems altogether and just using the 4-32 as a 4-20. So that's what I told him, skip the 2-20 that he wanted and just get the 4-32 and use it as if it were a 4-20 as that was the solution that was most common for people looking at NX8 scopes.

"they really use it as a 4-20 scope for their REECE type 16"ish builds"

That's my advice for him too, buy the 4-32 instead of the 2-20 and use it as if it were a 4-20 scope. That's what most people ended up doing to avoid the issues on the lower magnification scopes in the NX8 line.
 
JimmyJr said:
But I agree, I like the 4-32 better than the 2.5-20.
But the nxs2.5-10 is pretty awesome for hunting scope, with a 2nd focal plane, illumination and parallax adjustment.
Click to expand...
Yeah the S line was intended specifically for hunting, at least all of the marketing for it I saw was geared for hunters and they would certainly be better for that I think. But the OP wanted a F1 as one of his requirements and really was looking for more of a LPVO style I believe.
 
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