Nightforce choices

[Formidilosus]

I have not, but I will take a look

If you want American or German, they are certainly about the best choice.

 

[WKR]

If you want American or German, they are certainly about the best choice.

I really like the 3-18×42 but dont like the only available reticle

 

[SDHNTR]

Now where can a guy actually look through and get his hands on all these to compare? None of my local stores carry the high end NF scopes

You can’t. Sadly. Stores sell stuff that sells. Stuff that sells gets sold to Bubba. Bubba don’t buy Nightforce.

Gotta take a leap of faith.

 

[wapitibob]

Local sportsman’s has shv, nxs, nx8, and atacr when stock is avail. Hit n miss lately.

 

[SDHNTR]

Local sportsman’s has shv, nxs, nx8, and atacr when stock is avail. Hit n miss lately.

Wow. That must be nice. Mine has like one Vortex Crossfire in the case and a Leupold Freedom for the high end buyers!

 

[atmat]

I really like the 3-18×42 but dont like the only available reticle

The 3-18x42 isn’t a Klassic.

That said, I just bought a Klassic and it comes in on Tuesday. The P3 illuminated reticle is what I settled on. Honestly, outside of the mil quad, I think it’s one of the best looking hunting reticles on the market.

Generally people’s knock on the Klassic was that it only came with 3.2mil of elevation travel. The newer 3-12x42 and 3-12x50 come with 4.8mil, which gets me to the distances I want. Unfortunately, EuroOptic said the new 3-12x50 is not available in the US.

 

[gtriple]

ZCO is better than NF in every way.

Can you explain further?

 

[WKR]

The 3-18x42 isn’t a Klassic.

That said, I just bought a Klassic and it comes in on Tuesday. The P3 illuminated reticle is what I settled on. Honestly, outside of the mil quad, I think it’s one of the best looking hunting reticles on the market.

Generally people’s knock on the Klassic was that it only came with 3.2mil of elevation travel. The newer 3-12x42 and 3-12x50 come with 4.8mil, which gets me to the distances I want. Unfortunately, EuroOptic said the new 3-12x50 is not available in the US.

I'm aware its not a klassic, the turrets on the classic look strange to me so I started looking at that 3-18x42

 

[smithmtva]

I have had good luck with the NX8 8-32 FFP and they have a lot of elevation travel

 

[gtriple]

From the ATACRs and ZCOs that I've owned:

-ZCO tracks better
-ZCO has less reticle cant
-ZCO has more forgiving eyebox
-ZCO has better FoV
-ZCO has better depth of field/less finicky parallax
-ZCO handles mirage better
-ZCO handles glare better
-ZCO has better controls (turrets, parallax, mag ring tension)
-ZCO has better process to set turret zero
-ZCO has higher optical IQ (resolution, contrast, color. etc)
-ZCO has better reticles (somewhat subjective)

-ATACR came with more stickers & marketing materials

Interesting. Are they just as rugged?

 

[SDHNTR]

I’d buy a ZCO in a heartbeat if they made something in 30mm. Same with an ATCR. I just don’t understand the need for 34mm+ on a hunting rifle.

 

[4090Sharps]

SFP over 15/16x does more harm than good.
The NX8 in 2.5-20 is nearly unusable. The 4-32 makes zero sense in SFP. Subtensions at max mag over that are totally useless and actually would be counterproductive to use in the field. FOV matters! If going over 15/16x, you NEED FFP if you want to use the reticle for anything.

Didn’t see this mentioned elsewhere, but the NX8 4-32 SFP reticle (MOAR?) has subtensions for 16x and 32x. I’m a pretty big fan of this scope. Just purchased my second one.

 

[WeiserBucks]

From the ATACRs and ZCOs that I've owned:

-ZCO tracks better
-ZCO has less reticle cant
-ZCO has more forgiving eyebox
-ZCO has better FoV
-ZCO has better depth of field/less finicky parallax
-ZCO handles mirage better
-ZCO handles glare better
-ZCO has better controls (turrets, parallax, mag ring tension)
-ZCO has better process to set turret zero
-ZCO has higher optical IQ (resolution, contrast, color. etc)
-ZCO has better reticles (somewhat subjective)

-ATACR came with more stickers & marketing materials

I agree with this assessment and I really like the locking turrets on my ZCO.

 

[justin davis]

The ZCO better be better in all regards for the price they want for those. Wow

 

[WeiserBucks]

The ZCO better be better in all regards for the price they want for those. Wow

It's certainly better, but they're priced above most people's budget.

 

[atmat]

Here's a NF that broke in half simply from being shipped from EuroOptic (which does a great job packaging) to a customer (not me).

Haha I’m waiting on my first optic from EuroOptic tomorrow. Glad you added the part in parenthesis!

Also, I can’t get over ZCO using 36mm tubes. I can’t afford one anyway; but if I could, I don’t think I would for the tube size anyway.

 

[SDHNTR]

Didn’t see this mentioned elsewhere, but the NX8 4-32 SFP reticle (MOAR?) has subtensions for 16x and 32x. I’m a pretty big fan of this scope. Just purchased my second one.

I know, I just never could get used to having it on 2 different settings or doing the math. The NXS in 3-15 SFP or something in F1 is just more user friendly for me.

 

[SDHNTR]

Haha I’m waiting on my first optic from EuroOptic tomorrow. Glad you added the part in parenthesis!

Also, I can’t get over ZCO using 36mm tubes. I can’t afford one anyway; but if I could, I don’t think I would for the tube size anyway.

Serious question…. What practical advantage do 34+mm tubes get you? Other than more Rambo cred? More weight and more mounting challenges is all I see. Is it the ability to dial out further on one revolution? Or just more absolute erector travel? I have never once felt the desire to dial longer than I can with any of my 30mm scopes, 1000+. What am I missing?

I’d love ATACR glass, but just don’t understand the big tubes.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Serious question…. What practical advantage do 34+mm tubes get you? Other than more Rambo cred? More weight and more mounting challenges is all I see. Is it the ability to dial out further on one revolution? Or just more absolute erector travel? I have never once felt the desire to dial longer than I can with any of my 30mm scopes, 1000+. What am I missing?

I’d love ATACR glass, but just don’t understand the big tubes.

Erector travel. Some people shoot beyond a mile pretty regularly and want a scope with enough travel to accommodate. Most folks don't need it.

 

[SDHNTR]

Erector travel. Some people shoot beyond a mile pretty regularly and want a scope with enough travel to accommodate. Most folks don't need it.

Really? There’s enough people shooting a mile plus to build entire scope lines around them? More than there are hunters who would rather save the weight and mounting height? Why? I don’t follow or understand the civilian tactical shooting world so this is totally foreign to me.

I just want (not need) an NXS with better glass or an NX5.