New Scope

Rifle scopes, iron sights and optics. Spotting scopes and target acquisition devices.

New Scope

Post by Sam45 » 03 Apr 2016, 6:55 pm

Hey guys,

Been shooting a little while now and want to go to a scope for some long range shooting/hunting. It's a mine field for scopes lol. Have been looking at the Nightforce SHV 4-14X50 F1 scope http://nightforceoptics.com/shv/4-14x50-f1 Currently I have a Leupold VX-R 4-12x40 on it. Will be putting it on a .308. Heading to NZ next year for 2 weeks of deer hunting.Are the Nightforce scopes that good to justify that sort of coin?

So the question is are these worth the $1800 here in OZ Is the clarity and glass that good? Does the first focal plane help in regards to shooting a pest, feral or steel out to 500 yards and beyond?


cheers
Sam :thumbsup:
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Re: New Scope

Post by brett1868 » 03 Apr 2016, 9:56 pm

The SHV is a quality scope and well suited to range work or game where you have time. My thoughts are that scopes that are built for target shooting are generally not so good for hunting. I'll probably get criticized for that comment but its my personal opinion based on having both target biased and hunting biased rifles. I've tried hunting with NF NXS 8-32 and Leupold Mk4 LR/T and while they do the job I've found that by the time you get the parallax focused and zoom set the target has moved or isn't in a good position. The 4 rifles I hunt with all have identical Leupold VX3 4-12x50 scopes where I can simply point and shoot quickly without the hassle of fiddling around with dials.
I do in occasion snipe game at distance and use a S&B PMII 12-50x56 FFP scope cause the FFP allows me to estimate range better and generally I have more time to take the shot so adjusting parallax / zoom isn't an issue.

The main strengths of a FFP scope is the ability to calculate the range to an object at any zoom level as well as a consistent holdover. Non FFP scopes the holdover will change with zoom and they need to be on a certain power to calculate range.

Probably best to decide on which type of shooting you'll do the most and purchase the scope best suited to that purpose.
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Re: New Scope

Post by Sam45 » 04 Apr 2016, 2:47 pm

You have pretty much summed up the pro's and con's in the above post. I get what you are saying in regards to too many dials and adjustments when hunting.If you have time for the shot, yes they are good.The only time I really use the .308 is for deer. Which is about 5-6 times a year. Not sure if it is even worth it.

I do need another scope as I am buying a .204 for bunnies and foxes. Maybe I should just grab another Leupold with higher magnification and put the 4x12-40 on the .204. I just don't want to waste money for the hell of it. Darn it's not an easy one.

Thanks heaps for your thoughts :thumbsup: helped heaps, but still.....


Makes this decision even harder now :crazy:
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Re: New Scope

Post by Sam45 » 10 Apr 2016, 8:37 am

Well I went to the LGS yesterday and had a look at the NF SHV 4-14X50 F1. We took out a range finder and picked a target out at 489 meters. Looked through this scope and was blown away. Looked at a couple of the European scopes for comparison and I thought the NF clarity was the stand out. The funny thing about this new NF scope is it is made in Japan lol.
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Re: New Scope

Post by Sender » 19 Apr 2016, 1:01 pm

brett1868 wrote:I've tried hunting with NF NXS 8-32 and Leupold Mk4 LR/T and while they do the job I've found that by the time you get the parallax focused and zoom set the target has moved or isn't in a good position.


If if your minimum magnification is too great you can't find the target if it's close and end up swinging around a blurry picture instead :lol:
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