NX8 reticle mag range

[headwind]

Can anyone with experience tell me if there is a difference in reticle size at 10-12x between the 4-32 and the 2.5-20 NX8?

I like the idea of having a little higher ceiling on the mag range with the 32, and the prevailing wisdom seems to be that the 4-32 has the edge somewhat in optical performance. The reality is my eyes and brain seem to be most comfortable in the 10x to maybe as high as 15x range for the majority of my shooting. Would the FFP reticle in the 2.5-20 be larger at that magnification? Hopefully I'm making sense. Feel free to beat me down if this is a dummy question

Thanks

 

[Sigma]

Can anyone with experience tell me if there is a difference in reticle size at 10-12x between the 4-32 and the 2.5-20 NX8?

I like the idea of having a little higher ceiling on the mag range with the 32, and the prevailing wisdom seems to be that the 4-32 has the edge somewhat in optical performance. The reality is my eyes and brain seem to be most comfortable in the 10x to maybe as high as 15x range for the majority of my shooting. Would the FFP reticle in the 2.5-20 be larger at that magnification? Hopefully I'm making sense. Feel free to beat me down if this is a dummy question

Thanks

headwind,

you asked a very fair question, some scope manufactures will augment reticle “size” to make the low end on lower mag scopes more usable (thicker and easier to see).

i’m pretty positive nightforce should be the same though, becsuse they are pretty implicit with the reticle selections.

i’m a high mag junkie so the 4-32 gets the nod from me. but personally i run 2nd focal to avoid the thinning and thickening effect at extremes (i mostly target shoot so i prefer the thinner reticle):

 

[4O6shootist]

So when the NX8 originally came about, the 2.5-20 had some issues, but newest production has seemed to remedy them. The 4-32 is a more forgiving optic depth of field and eyebox wise still. In the FFP models, subtenion and thickness will be equal at same magnification(I have 2.5-20, 4-32 FFP, and 4-32 SFP models). However, in the SFP scopes the 4-32 models have a finer reticle. The subtensions are true at 20X on the 2.5-20, and the 4-32 has multiple values built into the subtenions making it true at 16x and 32X. Here's a link detailing that info: https://www.nightforceoptics.com/technology/reticles/mil-cf2-mil-cf2d/

 

[headwind]

Good information, thank you guys. So just to clarify the 4-32 and 2.5-20 reticles should be indistinguishable from one another at 10 power? Both matching eachother in size and usability where their ranges overlap, but one goes a hair smaller on the 2.5 and larger on the 32. Do I have that right?

 

[4O6shootist]

Good information, thank you guys. So just to clarify the 4-32 and 2.5-20 reticles should be indistinguishable from one another at 10 power? Both matching eachother in size and usability where their ranges overlap, but one goes a hair smaller on the 2.5 and larger on the 32. Do I have that right?

Correct in FFP models.

 

[Sigma]

Good information, thank you guys. So just to clarify the 4-32 and 2.5-20 reticles should be indistinguishable from one another at 10 power? Both matching eachother in size and usability where their ranges overlap, but one goes a hair smaller on the 2.5 and larger on the 32. Do I have that right?

that is correct.

i would go for the 4-32 personally……the 2.5x in FFP is very fine, kinda unusable IMO. 4x is plenty low, and 32x will satisfy you on the higher end.

 

[DFOOSKING]

I think your asking about line thickness.

You have the spacings between hashmarks in the reticle diagram.

But the diagrams also denote the hashmark's physical dimensions (circled in red below).

You need to google the reticle diagram or go to the manufacturer's website.

 

[headwind]

I think your asking about line thickness.

You have the spacings between hashmarks in the reticle diagram.

But the diagrams also denote the hashmark's physical dimensions (circled in red below).

You need to google the reticle diagram or go to the manufacturer's website.


View attachment 8096145

Yeah line thickness exactly. I did refer to the diagram on the nightforce website but they don't break it down scope by scope they just quote a few different crosshair thickness for different mag ranges like 4-16, 5-25 so it wasn't conclusive. That or I am just not knowledgeable enough to comprehend the information there.

 

[DFOOSKING]

Well they probably don't do the same reticle and just change line thickness to often. They probably offer another reticle entirely and it might have the thickness you prefer. It just is what it is.

When you see the diagram the spacings are set. They are that those spacings for a reason. People want .2 mil spacings for the first two mils in all directions. But out to the edges 0.5 mil spacings might be preferred....or whatever. You start asking them to make one or two lines thicker and not fuck with anything else....they aren't gonna want to carry shit ton of sku's. They likely want to have a reticle and just slap it in all the optics of a series regardless of magnification range and roll on. You start fucking with the line thickness in one area and it might make some portions almost useless or entirely useless....then you'll have a cascade effect of thickening everything.

Your probably gonna have to quantify what your eyes can't see well. And instead of looking to a NX8 with the "XYZ reticle"....you need to see if any reticle in the series fits that thickness limitation.

You might just have to go buy a Bushnell or a Burris or a Tangent instead.

 

[DFOOSKING]

I also wonder if you have the diopter properly for your eyes.

 

[headwind]

Well they probably don't do the same reticle and just change line thickness to often. They probably offer another reticle entirely and it might have the thickness you prefer. It just is what it is.

When you see the diagram the spacings are set. They are that those spacings for a reason. People want .2 mil spacings for the first two mils in all directions. But out to the edges 0.5 mil spacings might be preferred....or whatever. You start asking them to make one or two lines thicker and not fuck with anything else....they aren't gonna want to carry shit ton of sku's. They likely want to have a reticle and just slap it in all the optics of a series regardless of magnification range and roll on. You start fucking with the line thickness in one area and it might make some portions almost useless or entirely useless....then you'll have a cascade effect of thickening everything.

Your probably gonna have to quantify what your eyes can't see well. And instead of looking to a NX8 with the "XYZ reticle"....you need to see if any reticle in the series fits that thickness limitation.

You might just have to go buy a Bushnell or a Burris or a Tangent instead.

I also wonder if you have the diopter properly for your eyes.

I'm not struggling with diopter or subtensions. I dont have any issues with the scopes ive already got. I just wanted to know if there was any reason to believe that the reticle on the ffp nx8 2.5-20 looked any different than the 4-32 at 10x because if so that would make me lean towards that scope as I'm really a 10-15x shooter unless it's 100yd paper. Nightforce goes into some detail about this for the beast, atacrs, even the various nxs models but not the nx8 that I can see.

 

[headwind]

I also wonder if you have the diopter properly for your eyes.

I will say though I thought the exact same thing when I was first shooting the burris. Spent a bit of time double checking diopter but that scope is a good example where I only really start to get use out of the subtensions above 12x, which is fine but if I'm buying another scope it would be great if it was a bit more legible at 10x or so. None of this is make or break but I want to be picky before I spend the coin

Edit: also the reticle I was looking at for the nx8 was mil xt so yeah maybe I'll continue to dig and look at other reticles. Or maybe this will be a sfp scope for me, I'm cool with those too