The SWFA box arrived on Friday in time to head to the local shop and have the scope mounted. I bought the rifle there and they were kind enough to mount it and boresight free of charge. I usually mount scopes myself and have never had any issues but this being my first $500 plus scope I wanted to make sure the rings didn't need lapping and it was torqed to specs.
I've owned and used fine high quality optics but most were astronomy optics not riflescopes. I'm a single parent dad so Saturday afternoon I dropped off my five yr. old daughter(Tori) at my sister's and picked up my Brother-Inlaw and his Rem. 700 in .22-250. It looks exactly like the police model gglas owns but I think it has a different designation. It's topped off with a Nikon 5-20x44 SF Monarch. He loves his Nikons, owns three (more on that later).
The magnification, paralax and eyepiece focus adjustments are all smooth and without any rough spots. The eyepiece does turn a bit too easy for my taste but otherwise is very good. I did a few informal tests before I sighted in the scope. It passed the yardstick test @ 5x 10x and 15x measuring a perfect 10 mils at all magnifications @ 100 yrds. Eyerelief was as advertised at almost 4" and only changed slightly at 13-15x. The eyebox is friendly and overall I found the scope easy to use without any eyestrain at all.
I checked the side focus using my Nikon Monarch Gold 1200 Rangefinder and it was dead on from 35-300yrds. where I decided good enough. I checked it at four distances.
I know it's not apples to apples. The Weaver is $750, FFP EMDR and has a 6mm larger objective. The Nikon is $520,SFP and NikkoPlex but before, during and after the shooting started I used every chance I got to do A/B comparisons without making it too obvious to my BIL.
First off the Nikon is not a terrible scope but it does have some issues. Somewhere between 13-14x it gets hazy with a yellow tint. At 10x it's bright,sharp tothe edge and has good contrast. All in all I think there are much better choices at that price point, Vortex Viper for one.
I set up one target at 50 yrds. and we each set up targets at 100 yrds. We used Birchwood Casey targets with a 1" center bull and .5" bulls on each corner. My first shot at 50 yrds. was 1.75" low and 2.75" right. I converted the inches to mills(had to double the clicks because I was shooting at 50 yrds.) and the next shot was .25eft and dead on in elevation. That's the first scope I'VE EVER OWNED that did that. Two shot zero WOW. My BIL was impressed. His Nikon won't do that.
I moved on to 100 yrds. I shot one five shot group first, .75" dead on in elevation but off about .1 mil left. I gave a click right and shot another group, .55" and dead on both ways.
At this point I was feeling a bit cocky and decided to "attempt" to show off. I shot the box. The corner bulls are 8" apart so I made the needed 2.2mil (22clicks) adjustments between shots. I either hit or came within .3" or so of the first four bulls. On my last shot, return to zero, I turned the turret the wrong direction which sent me completely off the target. It only took me second to figure out what happened. I cranked it back up 5 mils and it returned to zero perfectly.
After using the scope for a couple of hours I find that I really like this reticle. The open subtention in the middle of the crosshairs is helpful as well. I don't care for Mildots but I do like the EMDR circles hashesat the half mil are a very nice touch. I can see where it will help with ranging if that's your thing, I use a rangefinder myself. The hashes will also help with holdover or windage if you choose to go that route and not use the turrets.
I shot about 80 rounds before we packed it in. During the shoot from time to time I would look into the woods (shaded areas) to check contrast, depth and so forth. The Weaver ousted the Nikon at every turn and it wasn't very close. By the end of the day even the Nikon lover was very impressed with the Weaver Tactical. He says it's too heavy, and it is, but it's a bench and bipod gun so it doesn't matter to me.
Now the only question is,will it stay on the .17 or will I move it to the Ruger T/V .223? Too much time and not enough glass.
Andrew
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