I had a great time at the range today with my new IOR. VERY pleased with this little scope.
I called Scott up last week and chatted with him about this scope. Well, he sold me, and I sure am glad he did. It arrived yesterday, and apparently shipped directly from Valdada. The box / packaging / instructions are nothing exciting, but I suppose that's not what we buy a rifle scope for. Pics:
My initial impression of the scope was very good. The glass looked as favorable as it could just peeking through it indoors and down the street while dark. I was extremely impressed with the turret feel. This is my first IOR, and had no idea what to expect (except what was relayed to me by others). After a brief initial inspection I put it away in anticipation for today's range trip.
I woke up this morning and loaded 50 rounds (why do I always wait until the last second to load???). Loaded everything up and headed to the range, which is about 45 minutes away. A short side stop was in order though. Scott was still out of Seekins rings so I had to get something to mount this bad boy. It just so happens that US Tactical Supply is more or less on the way to the range, and they had one last set of Badger 30mm standards (.823” height). I swung in and picked those up, and hit the range.
I got the IOR mounted all up and am very pleased with the “aesthetics” of it on the LTR. It's a good fit for a shorter barreled rifle, and doesn't overpower the gun like some larger scopes I've had on it. It also feels great as it is relatively light weight (the spec sheet claims 18 oz, I didn't confirm that). After mounting I got it zeroed up, ran a reticle / tracking check, and burned the rest of my rounds just getting used to the scope.
For the reticle / tracking test I randomly placed 5 target dots on a large piece of paper. I then shot 5 3 shot groups, all using the lowest dot as my aiming point. This was to ensure that the reticle and turrets were true and corresponded with each other. After shooting the last group I returned the turrets to zero and shot a 4th shot into the original dot, ensuring return to zero. The turret cranking ended up going like this:
ZERO ---> FIRED 3
UP 2.2 – RIGHT 1.2 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO
UP 3.6 – LEFT 0.7 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO
UP 5.2 – LEFT 0.3 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO
UP 6.0 – RIGHT 1.8 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO ---> FIRED 1
Picture of the target:
I would say the scope passed with flying colors. I think the small amount of error there was, was certainly due to my mediocre (at best) milling. The last shot after return to zero was smack dab with the first 3. This exercise is definitely a confidence builder.
Regarding the glass, it definitely gave me that “WOW” factor. Crystal clear edge to edge, bright, vibrant... what else can I say, it's really nice to my eye. As good or better than anything else I've looked through. Even on 10X, I didn't find shadowing due to head position an issue at all. It was fairly forgiving and took a distinct movement to lose any sight picture.
Regarding the reticle, I like it. I'm not sure if I like the “dot” style better or an open center design better (Leupold TMR style), but I'm pretty sure I prefer both to a run of the mill “crosshair”. One of my few complaints about the scope is you really lose sight picture diameter from 4X down to 2.5X. A bunch. The reticle is also really small on 2.5X. Due to those two things, this will pretty much be a 4X-10X scope in practical use for me. Here are some pictures of the reticle (target boards are at 200 yards):
2.5X (Note how much smaller the sight picture is within the tube)
4X
6X
8X
10X
I called Scott up last week and chatted with him about this scope. Well, he sold me, and I sure am glad he did. It arrived yesterday, and apparently shipped directly from Valdada. The box / packaging / instructions are nothing exciting, but I suppose that's not what we buy a rifle scope for. Pics:
My initial impression of the scope was very good. The glass looked as favorable as it could just peeking through it indoors and down the street while dark. I was extremely impressed with the turret feel. This is my first IOR, and had no idea what to expect (except what was relayed to me by others). After a brief initial inspection I put it away in anticipation for today's range trip.
I woke up this morning and loaded 50 rounds (why do I always wait until the last second to load???). Loaded everything up and headed to the range, which is about 45 minutes away. A short side stop was in order though. Scott was still out of Seekins rings so I had to get something to mount this bad boy. It just so happens that US Tactical Supply is more or less on the way to the range, and they had one last set of Badger 30mm standards (.823” height). I swung in and picked those up, and hit the range.
I got the IOR mounted all up and am very pleased with the “aesthetics” of it on the LTR. It's a good fit for a shorter barreled rifle, and doesn't overpower the gun like some larger scopes I've had on it. It also feels great as it is relatively light weight (the spec sheet claims 18 oz, I didn't confirm that). After mounting I got it zeroed up, ran a reticle / tracking check, and burned the rest of my rounds just getting used to the scope.
For the reticle / tracking test I randomly placed 5 target dots on a large piece of paper. I then shot 5 3 shot groups, all using the lowest dot as my aiming point. This was to ensure that the reticle and turrets were true and corresponded with each other. After shooting the last group I returned the turrets to zero and shot a 4th shot into the original dot, ensuring return to zero. The turret cranking ended up going like this:
ZERO ---> FIRED 3
UP 2.2 – RIGHT 1.2 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO
UP 3.6 – LEFT 0.7 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO
UP 5.2 – LEFT 0.3 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO
UP 6.0 – RIGHT 1.8 ---> FIRED 3
BACK TO ZERO ---> FIRED 1
Picture of the target:
I would say the scope passed with flying colors. I think the small amount of error there was, was certainly due to my mediocre (at best) milling. The last shot after return to zero was smack dab with the first 3. This exercise is definitely a confidence builder.
Regarding the glass, it definitely gave me that “WOW” factor. Crystal clear edge to edge, bright, vibrant... what else can I say, it's really nice to my eye. As good or better than anything else I've looked through. Even on 10X, I didn't find shadowing due to head position an issue at all. It was fairly forgiving and took a distinct movement to lose any sight picture.
Regarding the reticle, I like it. I'm not sure if I like the “dot” style better or an open center design better (Leupold TMR style), but I'm pretty sure I prefer both to a run of the mill “crosshair”. One of my few complaints about the scope is you really lose sight picture diameter from 4X down to 2.5X. A bunch. The reticle is also really small on 2.5X. Due to those two things, this will pretty much be a 4X-10X scope in practical use for me. Here are some pictures of the reticle (target boards are at 200 yards):
2.5X (Note how much smaller the sight picture is within the tube)
4X
6X
8X
10X
