Nightforce NX8 4-32x50mm F1 Field Evaluation

[Formidilosus]

NX8 4-32x50mm Mil-C reticle, field eval. This scope was privately purchased by a third party and handed to Ryan for an evaluation. The baseline 30 round group with this lot of ammunition was 1.37” at 100 yards. I was joined by @slowelk this time.


The scope and weight-


Turrets:

Elevation turret is standard Nightforce NXS/NX8 type with zero stop. 10 mils per rev, revolution indicated. Windage is capped, and is revolution indicated. Turret is marked 5 mils left/right. The elevation turret feel is distinct, and tactile, if a bit rounded. Windage turret clicks are solid and distinct.



Mil-C reticle:


4x





16x




32x




The reticle is one of the common non tree reticle designs with a center dot and .2 mil increments in the horizontal and vertical lines. It is a good rendition of the type for dedicated long range use, but not for general use. It is quite thin at lower powers and most will find that illumination is required for broken terrain and lower light. As an aside, not that it means much, I had an extremely hard time getting the camera to focus on the reticle at 4x. It is thin.





Zero Targets and Return To Zero-

Top dot, lower right two rounds were from bore sight. Made an adjustment and 8 are in the dot. Came down .2 and right .2, went to the second from bottom dot and attached the Tactacam. Number 1 & 2 were the first two with the camera. There was a clear shift from the Tactacam being tightened down. Pulled it off, shot five more shots at the bottom dot, adjusted up .1 and left .1. Playing with the Tactacam, I figured out that varying pressure on it caused a parallax induced shift in POI. Leaving it loose enough to pull off, but tight enough to stay mostly put through recoil left POI the same- though taking it on and off (drop eval) it does seem to open up the group around .2’ish MOA. After that the remaining 8 rounds went into the second from bottom dot.



Then the RTZ check. Top dot, 10 rounds, 200 mils dialed between each shot, 2,000+ mils total.







“Tracking”

Next was the live fire “tracking” target. I measured using the reticle to be 7.6mils between dots.




No issues. Adjusted to with 1%.




Drop evaluation:

For an explanation see- Scope Field Eval Explanation and Standards


The “test” consists of three 18” drops on a mat- one left/right/top with a shot to check zero after each drop. Then the exact same thing repeated from 36”. Then three drops on all three sides for nine drops on the last part- 15 drops total. This is not “abuse”. The 18” drops are a joke really. The 36” start showing something. And when a scope make/model consistently goes through the whole thing without losing zero, failures in actual use are almost unheard of.

This one was conducted on packed, crusted snow.



No zero shift from the 15 drops. All drops and shots were filmed with the Tactacam through the scope. It’s downloading now, and when complete will go to Ryan to be loaded and posted.




Results:

The scope works. It functions and adjusts as it should, it holds zero. I have seen a significant number of these scopes, all of them functioned correctly. Being that it passed everything, I will give my subjective views as far as eyebox, image quality, and overall use and feel in the next posts.

 

[Formidilosus]

Power Ring:

The power ring rotates separately from the eyepiece. It is smooth and consistent in temperatures from 80° to 9° tested. It includes a relatively small throw lever.




Eyebox and Eye Relief:

Unlike the 2.5-20x (which is largely blown out of proportion anyways), the 4-32x F1 model is decent in it’s eyebox. Even at 32x it’s not overly critical. From 4-16x where I naturally wanted to use the scope, the eyebox is unnoticed really. That is good. Eye relief- other than the specs there’s not much to tell. It’s good.


Image Quality (glass):

Resolution is very good. Color rendition is good, and has more color “pop” than the NXS or SHV series. Brightness is good. No noticeable distortion noticed.

(I will update as more use happens)





Initial Thoughts:

Having used a significant number of these scopes, they are very good to excellent aiming devices, they function as they should, they are relatively easy to get behind and use, controls are good. I would prefer if the scope was designed and built around a 4x or 5x erector ratio, as eyebox, DOF, and ease is use would all be better.
Their largest problem, in fact Nightforce’s largest problem across the board is the lack of a true general purpose Mil reticle. Every one they make is decent to excellent for long range, and usable for close range with illumination. However, they lack something like the Mil-Quad reticle from SWFA, or better still the THLR reticle- one that is visible and usable at low powers, in low light, in broken terrain, without illumination.