Nightforce Moisture issues

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Curious if anyone here has had issues with moisture getting in and fogging up the ocular lens on nightforce scopes?
I came across this on my instagram, relatively well know LR instructor/course claiming this happens more often than not. I asked what models and to my surprise he said all ATACRs.
I’ll say I’m a big fan of nightforce, never had this issue or any other.
Thoughts?

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Yeah, NF breaks like everything else. Max Ord has posted a lot of ATACR fails. All in stories that you can’t search. I haven’t had moisture issues with mine, but had an ATACR that didn’t track 100%, and another with a canted reticle.

Yea I understand everything breaks, but a 60% failure rate? And I’ve never seen him post about leupold issues, I think that’s his brand. I was just curious if any hunters had the same issue.

 

[4th_point]

Might not be water but grease.

I've never seen it happen myself, on any scope, but it's been brought up in the past at different forums. And now that you mention it, I recall the ATAC-R being mentioned mostly, but could be remembering that wrong.

 

[Helislacker]

Have you ever seen this with ATACR’s @Formidilosus?

 

[Formidilosus]

Have you ever seen this with ATACR’s @Formidilosus?

No. But I can ask about those scopes. The scopes from the the base organization that he implies those are from, that do fog up internally are the Trijicon SCO 1-8x’s- it happens often enough.


While it wouldn’t surprise me in the least that the ATACR’s aren’t overall as durable/tough/etc as the NXS line in total abuse taking, I have experience with a few hundred used as hard and consistently as any scopes anywhere, and I also wouldn’t go off of someone that is sponsored, payed, etc to use another scope companies optic.

 

[4th_point]

Some decent dings on that ocular housing.

 

[4th_point]

..and I also wouldn’t go off of someone that is sponsored, payed, etc to use another scope companies optic.

A little disappointing that Maxordinate is aware of, and points out, the influencer/shill tactics by other manufacturers, but it seems like they do basically the same for their industry partner.

 

[Qholum37]

My NX8 has been through a ton of very wet and cold conditions and I have never seen it even close to that! In fact, none of my scopes from various manufacturers have ever fogged up that bad!

 

[Formidilosus]

My NX8 has been through a ton of very wet and cold conditions and I have never seen it even close to that! In fact, none of my scopes from various manufacturers have ever fogged up that bad!

I’ve seen quite a few scopes with moisture inside, however almost all were military optics and it seems that exposure to cleaning chemicals, or high pressure (diving) with scopes not designed for it were the issues. Lots of Leupold Mark 4’s leaked, however for the most part you can’t really blame the scope itself as it wasn’t designed for that use regardless of who bought and used it.

 

[justin davis]

Weird. I’ve Never had an issue.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

About what I figured. I’ve had 5-6 NF and no issues, thought I’d try to poll a larger audience just to check. I’m sure they do have issues but this seems like social media embellishmet….

 

[4th_point]

I don't have any reason to believe that Maxordinate is embellishing per se. Maybe filtering problems with other makes (e.g. Leupold)?

So just because a person has a bias, doesn't mean that their observations are inflated. And I doubt that Maxordinate is just making things up.

I'd still like to know if it's moisture or grease. Moisture should be seen at both ends. Grease seems to occur at the ocular.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

I don't have any reason to believe that Maxordinate is embellishing per se. Maybe filtering problems with other makes (e.g. Leupold)?

So just because a person has a bias, doesn't mean that their observations are inflated. And I doubt that Maxordinate is just making things up.

I'd still like to know if it's moisture or grease. Moisture should be seen at both ends. Grease seems to occur at the ocular.

I’m definitely not saying he’s making anything up, just that a 60% failure rate seems crazy high, and saying it’s the norm….. again why I was checking with other users I know push their gear hard.
He says in story it’s water.

 

[Helislacker]

even if this is a consistent issue at Maxord classes, I think one of the factors might just be service life. LE agencies rarely have the funding to be purchasing new optics every few years. Outside of large metro full time teams of federal teams, almost no agency is regularly purchasing new optics and I wouldn’t be surprised if these are all pushing almost a decade of service. NF are probably the most common LE riflescope in existence now because they last, can take abuse, and retain zero. I’m sure some of these NF scopes have been bouncing around in bearcats and patrol vehicles since before the Mark 5 was even an idea.

That said, as Form mentioned, skepticism should be raised when someone has vested interest in promoting a product with well documented, consistent, and major zero retention/tracking issues across basically every model - Leupold. Particularly when that individual just happens to be trashing his sponsors main competition when it comes to Mil/LE contracts.

 

[4th_point]

He says in story it’s water.

Might be water. We only have that one snapshot in time that you posted, but that pattern is a little unusual to me.

I've had moisture in optics and the condensation has been pretty uniform in distribution. And it can run like condensation on window glass.

Is it possible that he just jumped to conclusions, and assumed that it's moisture?

I don't know, but grease is another possible cause.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I’m definitely not saying he’s making anything up, just that a 60% failure rate seems crazy high, and saying it’s the norm….. again why I was checking with other users I know push their gear hard.
He says in story it’s water.

If NF has a 60% failure rate, I hope the warranty is as good as Vortex’s.

 

[Formidilosus]

I’m definitely not saying he’s making anything up, just that a 60% failure rate seems crazy high, and saying it’s the norm….. again why I was checking with other users I know push their gear hard.
He says in story it’s water.

It depends on the use and the scope. There are no widespread issues with NF’s fogging internally- actually even the Mark 5’s I haven’t seen ant do it, nor have heard any internal fogging issues with them. As for his “6/10”…. Yeah ok. The only way that is happening is taking standard ATACR’s and exposing them to chemicals that could break down a seal, or diving with non Milspec models.

I’m happy to take ATACR’s and throw them in a bucket of water for a week. I could care less if NF ATACR’s were failing QC- there are other scopes that work. However, bet money that even if he’s seen 7 fog internally, that when traced back to why- it isn’t a pervasive problem with the scopes. It’s not even a pervasive problem with scopes that people think I “hate”- Mark 5’s, Vortex’s, etc.

Might be water. We only have that one snapshot in time that you posted, but that pattern is a little unusual to me.

I've had moisture in optics and the condensation has been pretty uniform in distribution. And it can run like condensation on window glass.

Is it possible that he just jumped to conclusions, and assumed that it's moisture?

I don't know, but grease is another possible cause.

That is exactly what it looks like when moisture gets inside and then heats up.

 

[alpine_troop]

Six more counter data points on NF ATACRs: I am intimately familiar with 6 of the 5-25x56 models issued and used professionally for going on 8 years in one of the wettest climates in the lower 48. We don’t have water in any of our scopes.

 

[Marble]

I've never had a scope fog up internally. Had it on the outside but not the inside.

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