Rifle Scopes Top tier scope recommendation
- Thread starter CroweMan
- Start date
The one thing with ZCO is you can buy for relatively cheaper than new in the PX and definitely get back what you paid for it minus shipping and insurance if you don’t like it. Can’t speak to 540’s.
Its a long story but consider if something is wrong with your Kahles your probably not going to have it for a few months. Other top tier brands you can measure that in days or weeks. I just don't think swaro/kahles US understands the level of service appropriate or have the capabilities in place to compete with ZCO and TT in this >$4000 tier.
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I get that ZCO service is stellar and can attest to as much. I had to use ZCO service and other than the $140 it cost me to ship it properly insured, and the fact that they WILL NOT put anything in writing documenting their initial inspection findings, repairs, collimation tests, etc, the service was good. I even got a coveted ZCO hat in the process. Jeff personally called me to discuss the issue and Lori called me to arrange the shipping back to me. Nice. Of course when you never put anything in writing, its easy to deny it ever happened. (Things that make you go hmmmm.) I'm a cynic I know.
All that said, I know dozens of competitiors with Alpha tier glass. All of them have at least a second tier (NF,RG3,K525, etc) optic as backup if not other alphas. Things break. Triggers, scopes, actions, chassis, etc. Top level competitiors have backups for everything. Is a two week repair turnarround better than a two to four month one? Yes. Prepare accordingly regardless.
I know my opinion means nothing as that has already been established above. But. When I got my ZCO527, I thought it was like a big screen TV in 4k. That was compared to the NF735, K525, RG3, Mk5, Bushy ET's I had owned previously. The significantly larger ocular yielded virtually no black ring around the image and the resolution was amazing. I still stand behind the resolution of the 527, but when you look through a 527 and K540 back to back; side by side at the same magnification, the 527 feels like you're looking through a paper towel tube. That is what Kahles calls the "game changer". It is shockingly obvious to anyone who has actually looked through one. I know this is CRAZY and nobody with a ZCO or TT would ever fathom that their viewing experience is the least bit "tunneled"; that is until they look through a K540. Personally, I think the real game changer is Kahles controls. No one else in the industry has the control layout Kahles has. If you shoot at 12-15x and never dial, full stop, doesn't matter. If you dial as much as you possibly can and want to run as much magnification as the atmospherics will allow, the Kahles controls, LSW, AND the field of view are the real game changer....in my opinion.
Here are the FOV numbers for the K540 in a metric that competitors can truly relate to. Dial the same magnification on your current scope and see how many mils you can see each side. Conversely, If you normally shoot at X power, see how many mils that equates to in your current scope and see what power you could instantly be shooting at with the K540 all while maintaining the same FOV.
40x - 6.5 mils each side
35x - 7.5 mils each side
30x - 8.5 mils each side
25x - 10 mils each side
20x - 13 mils each side
15x - 17 mils each side
40x - 6.5 mils each side
35x - 7.5 mils each side
30x - 8.5 mils each side
25x - 10 mils each side
20x - 13 mils each side
15x - 17 mils each side
Ah, really? I guess you don’t shoot matches that require you to adjust for wind on a tight timeline then. The mark of a shooter graduating to upper mid pack is one who sees exactly where almost every bullet goes, hit or miss, and immediately decides why it went there, and adjusts appropriately. 12 shots, 10 positions, in 90 seconds means to be competitive a shooter needs to clearly see almost everything that happens down range.
Exactly. And, if the shots are being made SUCCESSFULLY, thennnnn that's because he did all of that, right? Not every single match shooter that places in a pretty decent position is shooting ZCO or Tangent are they?
Your explanation shows your inexperience. Then throwing out $5K-$7K local cost names to prove your point is illogical and childish. You are in fact, a basic user. Get yourself a basic tool. Ignore the experience of others.
Yea? So what are you saying then? Are you saying that you must use a high end optic to do well at a match? And having an opinion on optics is childish? You make zero sense. There's nothing childish about having an opinion.
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And that’s why I take little stock in some of these opinions. If you use a Leupold, you suck. If you shoot a Bergara, same. If you buy a Christensen, same. Who the actual F are these guys besides keyboard commandos? I don’t need validation on what to shoot or who to buy from. The guy with the offensive screen name is somehow somebody we should listen to? No thanks. I know where I’ve been and what I’ve done.
Leupold certainly isnt holding Chad Heckler or Francis Colon down. Put me solidly in the column of: Doesn't need it, will get beaten by much lower tier optics, appreciates nice things, its my money. LOL.
Yea, Leupold does seem to get looked down on here quite a lot. I have one of their mid tier VX5 scopes for the 500yd and under gun that it's on, and it does very well. Very clear image. Repeatable dialing. I'm not a new Leupold fan, but I cant see them holding too many people back. Sure there are some people in certain situations that they may hold back but, not the vast majority of them. Certainly not heckler and colon that's for sure. When you're beating them, then you can come give me advice lol. Though if you've ever met those guys, you'd know they wouldn't be dicks to you when having a conversation about optics lol.
When people say 'this shows your inexperience', yea, maybe, but I'm pretty confident I know which glass shows certain resolution and which doesn't. I've stared ENDLESS HOURS through low and high end optics from a past profession, but when I come here to ask opinions, I like a clean slate and honest answers. I ask other people's opinions because I genuinely like to hear what others think of things, not because I always need them necessarily. I just like other perspectives to maybe help temper my own. Sometimes other peoples viewpoints help me look differently at subjects, and I really do appreciate other people's input on here, like the dark lord of optics and some other folks. But when you actively try to demean others because they don't share your same viewpoint, it's really odd. I can't comprehend that action. Makes no sense to me. People put too much emotion into things that really dont need emotion at all.
When people say 'this shows your inexperience', yea, maybe, but I'm pretty confident I know which glass shows certain resolution and which doesn't. I've stared ENDLESS HOURS through low and high end optics from a past profession, but when I come here to ask opinions, I like a clean slate and honest answers. I ask other people's opinions because I genuinely like to hear what others think of things, not because I always need them necessarily. I just like other perspectives to maybe help temper my own. Sometimes other peoples viewpoints help me look differently at subjects, and I really do appreciate other people's input on here, like the dark lord of optics and some other folks. But when you actively try to demean others because they don't share your same viewpoint, it's really odd. I can't comprehend that action. Makes no sense to me. People put too much emotion into things that really dont need emotion at all.
My shooting partner is on his third one right now.
I can’t blame the scope because the first time it was sitting on the bench with the rear propped on his squeeze bag. Something shifted and it fell onto the concrete directly on the parallax knob.
The second time he slid down his wooden staircase while wearing socks and it screwed the second one. He just received #3 last week.
I like the way you adjust the turrets on the Gen 3 Razor but the turrets are far too stiff for my liking.
I got lucky a couple of years ago and bought a used in like new condition Tangent Theta 525P for $4,000 Canadian.
You can’t find a used one now for under $5,500.
I also picked up an S&B PMii 5-25 with the USMC MTC turrets for $3,000 Canadian
Your friend is lucky he has a Vortex holy cow. With the wrong manufacturer, that could’ve gotten right expensive quick.
There’s a thread. People were rating it higher than ZCO or tangent
That is crazy if so. I’d love to get behind one to compare because I’m fucking in love with my 7-35 tangents.
Review: ZCO 840 versus March 5-42x PRS Edition
So to start I have no affiliation with March or ZCO and paid for both my ZCO 840s and my two March 5-42x PRS Editions. I hope this review can help anyone on the fence wondering about getting a March that's shopping it against the ZCO. I debated on not calling out the ZCO 840 to avoid it...
www.snipershide.com
Think this is the one
I’m poor i have to keep my Zco’s and am about to redeem a cert for a. Nightforce 735.
Shame shame shame
Ha ha ha. Ive always wondered when the time will come that a cheaper manufacture will produce stuff similar or even better. Competition is good. I like my ZCOs too, the 8-40 is great. But my PRS shit always gets one of my Tangents.Review: ZCO 840 versus March 5-42x PRS Edition
So to start I have no affiliation with March or ZCO and paid for both my ZCO 840s and my two March 5-42x PRS Editions. I hope this review can help anyone on the fence wondering about getting a March that's shopping it against the ZCO. I debated on not calling out the ZCO 840 to avoid it...
Think this is the one
I’m poor i have to keep my Zco’s and am about to redeem a cert for a. Nightforce 735.
Shame shame shame
Nightforce… sell that shit, buy a real man’s optic. You’ve already got the clip ons…
Are you implying March is a cheap brand? Some of the best glass and optics on the planet they just needed some help getting in line with the market. The prs scope is already an incredible optic and many have swapped from other tier 1 optics to the March.
I am bias being behind the March and the designer of the FML-WBR but many shooters in the prs have provided feedback to us and others that the March prs scope is an incredible offering. The mirage cutting capabilities, overall resolution and clarity of the glass is absolutely incredible. The march handles mirage and washout from direct sunlight second to no other optic and if you get a chance go look behind one you’ll see just how good it is.
We also spent a ton of time on the turrets for both spacing and feel as well as making them writable for prs stages.
The FOV on the march is only second to the kahles 540 but the eyebox and relief are more forgiving the more ocular angle you have the tighter the eyebox and relief become. March opted to stop at 26 degrees which makes the FOV at 25x around 18.6mil total where most optics are in the 14-16 range.
The depth of field is also very good and we pretty much run one setting for parallax from 300-1000 depending on ocular and the individuals setup.
The reticle FML-WBR is a very usable, intuitive reticle design that offers alternating bask marks at .2 but also an open area at .5mil with floating dots at each mil mark. The reticle was designed to be usable both in load development and completion from 12x-42x so quite a bit of time was spend on the reticle thickness.
The tube of the March is also 4mm thick which is over double the thickness of most optics on the market yet its weight is also in the middle of the market. March believes that the consistently and robustness of a scope should start with the scope tube that retains the internals.
Feel free to ask me any questions in here or via pm and if you see me or another march user at a match I hope you take the opportunity to check out the optic.
Full disclosure, I run/own a ZCO 5-27 MPCT1X (which is arguably the hottest shIt next to the March PRS), and I’m interested.
I don’t know if the extra FOV is worth it for me honestly, but I doubt I’d give it up If I had it.
I don’t know if the extra FOV is worth it for me honestly, but I doubt I’d give it up If I had it.
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I’ve got a lot of Zco’s , but when you hear RKIs talk up the March so much it’s hard not to want to buy one
I know I k ow. It this is got a ai 300nm I stole. Only going to shoot it a few times a year. If that.
So going with a budget optic
You’ll likely do what most do that don’t need the FOV the then which is turn or the magnification a couple more and still have the same FOV you had on your previous scope. Most guys run the march at 23-25 or so magnification
The issue with this statement is that everyones eyes and optical nerves perform at different levels based on a host of issues like health, age, etc... resulting in differences in how their brains percieve things like CA and DoF. This is why its is disingenuous to make broad sweeping statements like yours. It can be proven in labratory experiments that one out-performs others optically but this does not translate to the differences in humans visual acuity.
Nah man I’m just fuckin around lol.
Which model is the March that we’re talking about here? I’ll order one right now, compare myself. I love trying new shit.
It would be the March 5-42 Gen II PRS edition with FML-WBR reticle. I would be glad to get you an order sorted I am the designer behind the scope and reticle for prs.
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