Nightforce NX8

[BluMtn]

Several NX8, 2.5x20 and 4x32 SFP and have yet to have a problem killing stuff. Also several Trijicon Ten-Mile 5x25's SFP and again no problem killing stuff.

 

[justin davis]

Awesome scopes! I’m a big fan of them

 

[Kurts86]

I’ve had 3 of them and they are almost all I’ve used hunting over the last 4 hunting seasons. The low light clarity is quite good, I’ve shot right up to the last minutes of shooting light in the 10-15x magnification range. I don’t have a lot to say beyond they just work for a lot of hunting applications that aren’t just timber hunting inside of 100 yards.

 

[SDHNTR]

All my nightforces are SFP with the exception of the ATACRs. Love the SFP for hunting and have never had a problem killing animals at long distance.

Ok. Picture this. You are hunting solo. 520 yd shot. Cross canyon. 10-15 mph crosswind. Buck is in a small clearing in hillside, surrounded by thick cover. What do you do?

 

[voltage]

The worst part about the NX8s is trying to keep all the women away from you since your rifle will look so cool.

 

[voltage]

This year, I used a 4-32 NX8 on a 625 yard shot on an elk with a low sun in my face. I was at 16x and was able to spot the impact. My buddy was using a Zeiss V6, and was unable to see the bull with the sun at that angle.

 

[HuntHarder]

Ok. Picture this. You are hunting solo. 520 yd shot. Cross canyon. 10-15 mph crosswind. Buck is in a small clearing in hillside, surrounded by thick cover. What do you do?

Dial 520 yards, hold the wind and send it. What am I missing?

 

[HuntHarder]

This year, I used a 4-32 NX8 on a 625 yard shot on an elk with a low sun in my face. I was at 16x and was able to spot the impact. My buddy was using a Zeiss V6, and was unable to see the bull with the sun at that angle.

Funny, I shot a deer this year at 645 yards with my NX8 2.5-20 and looked after the shot and I was on 18x. Very similar to your situation. I watched the vapor trail and impact, no problem, shooting a 6.5.

 

[43.6N]

4-32 nx8 ffp. Rode out two hunting seasons. First on 6.5prc. Then 22creed. I also put it on my 223 trainer briefly while working out some load development.
No issues.
I definitely prefer it on a low recoiling setup.

My use case case been picking out legal mule deer in antler restriction units. Once I’ve confirmed the animal is the same one I saw in my spotter, magnification gets dialed down to 8-10x in order to keep fov and awareness through recoil.

 

[SDHNTR]

Dial 520 yards, hold the wind and send it. What am I missing?

On what power?

 

[HuntHarder]

On what power?

If it's sfp, and top end power is 32x, id shoot it at 16x and double the value of the wind hold moa marks. If it says hold 4 moa, half max power hold is 2moa.
I prefer FFP, but killing with sfp is easily accomplished.

 

[Rock’N Tacos]

Ok. Picture this. You are hunting solo. 520 yd shot. Cross canyon. 10-15 mph crosswind. Buck is in a small clearing in hillside, surrounded by thick cover. What do you do?

I have been in a similar situation. 520 yards isn’t that far when you are shooting high bc bullets. I have never wounded or not recovered an animal. I would hold front shoulder. I have been shooting SFPs for over 20 years and never had an issue. I killed a black bear this spring at 650. An elk this fall 520, both with my 6.5 prc shooting 147gr eldms. It isn’t that I don’t have FFP scopes, my lightweight 280 AI wears one, but only because the 4-16x42 atacr doesnt come in sfp. Until my current system fails me miserably, I see no need to pivot entirely to FFP scopes.

The more likely scenario for us all is having a big buck just inside dark timber at last light and trying to find the crosshairs on an FFP scope at low power. I have also been in that situation several times and will trade wind holds for a better reticle at low power any day.

Unless you are hunting prairie, wind is never consistent, especially in the mountains, shooting across canyons. Wind is swirling, switching directions and is never the same across a bullets path. I have friends with kestrels and FFP scopes that miss and wound a whole lot more than I do.

 

[SDHNTR]

If it's sfp, and top end power is 32x, id shoot it at 16x and double the value of the wind hold moa marks. If it says hold 4 moa, half max power hold is 2moa.
I prefer FFP, but killing with sfp is easily accomplished.

I can almost agree with you on that strategy as an option, but do you really like doing that math? I know I don’t. Is it a double or a halfing of the subtensions? All under duress and perhaps with a fleeting shot opportunity? And even at 16x, that is still too much mag IMO, unless you’re shooting waayyy out there.

What if that shot is only 380-400 yards? And maybe there’s a bit more wind? You need those wind holds. Even 16x shrinks FOV way too much at that range.

You shoot. You get blown out of the sight picture by recoil and tight FOV due to too much mag. And maybe an awkward field position. You’re solo. The buck isn’t where he was before in that little clearing. Where did he go? Do I need a follow up shot? Did he go up, down, right or left? Did he fall and slide downhill? Did I miss? What next?

This exact scenario happened to me on a 519 yd with an 18x SFP scope years ago before I knew better and understood the importance of FOV. I spined the buck and I’m not sure I ever would have found him if it weren’t for the fact it was still alive and I heard him kicking in the duff.

All of this is solved with FFP and 10x ish. Or a lower max power SFP.

FOV matters! A lot.

 

[SDHNTR]

I have been in a similar situation. 520 yards isn’t that far when you are shooting high bc bullets. I have never wounded or not recovered an animal. I would hold front shoulder. I have been shooting SFPs for over 20 years and never had an issue. I killed a black bear this spring at 650. An elk this fall 520, both with my 6.5 prc shooting 147gr eldms. It isn’t that I don’t have FFP scopes, my lightweight 280 AI wears one, but only because the 4-16x42 atacr doesnt come in sfp. Until my current system fails me miserably, I see no need to pivot entirely to FFP scopes.

The more likely scenario for us all is having a big buck just inside dark timber at last light and trying to find the crosshairs on an FFP scope at low power. I have also been in that situation several times and will trade wind holds for a better reticle at low power any day.

The low power part is easily solved with illumination.

This has nothing to do with high BC bullets and 520 being deemed far or not far.

 

[Rock’N Tacos]

The low power part is easily solved with illumination.

This has nothing to do with high BC bullets and 520 being deemed far or not far.

High BC bullets is the closest thing to a cheat code for wind. My point is 520 with a 10mph wind doesn’t impact the bullet enough to justify a FFP scope in my opinion. Everybody’s experience varies and I am not trying to convert somebody one way or another.

 

[SDHNTR]

High BC bullets is the closest thing to a cheat code for wind. My point is 520 with a 10mph wind doesn’t impact the bullet enough to justify a FFP scope in my opinion. Everybody’s experience varies and I am not trying to convert somebody one way or another.

Ok fine, 20 mph wind then. But that’s not the point. I don’t think you are understanding me. This isn’t a ballistics discussion, it’s a field of view discussion. It’s a matter of understanding the importance of spotting your hits and being able to react accordingly.

 

[Rock’N Tacos]

Ok fine, 20 mph wind then. But that’s not the point. I don’t think you are understanding me. This isn’t a ballistics discussion, it’s a field of view discussion. It’s a matter of understanding the importance of spotting your hits and being able to react accordingly.

Spotting shots while hunting as a spotter is extremely hard unless the background is a bare dirt hill. An FFP scope, even with a christmas tree reticle isn’t going to help. If you do spot your shot, its not that hard to adjust with an sfp scope as long as you keep the magnification the same with the second shot as the first. Its all hash marks for references.

 

[HuntHarder]

I'm in the camp of use what works for you. Many guys on here preach fixed 6 out to 700 yards. In my opinion, 6x is not used past 200-300 yards. I just prefer more power. The NF 2.5-20 ffp has 42' FOV at 100 yards. At 500 yards @ 20x it's 35'. Hardly a huge difference. I just haven't experienced a lot of issues doing what works for me. If someone shoots SFP and it works for them, I'm not going to try and talk them out of it.

People talk about NF reticles being terrible hunting reticles. I have yet to have any issues with the MOAR ffp. Green illumination solves the low power issues and it has wind moa marks. The THLR reticle, guys lose their minds about, looks busy and not useful to me. If they like them tho, use them. Our hunting styles are probably different. To each their own. Bottom line is NX8 scopes are great scopes and more than adequate for a hunting rifle.

 

[Flyjunky]

I can almost agree with you on that strategy as an option, but do you really like doing that math? I know I don’t. Is it a double or a halfing of the subtensions? All under duress and perhaps with a fleeting shot opportunity? And even at 16x, that is still too much mag IMO, unless you’re shooting waayyy out there.

What if that shot is only 380-400 yards? And maybe there’s a bit more wind? You need those wind holds. Even 16x shrinks FOV way too much at that range.

You shoot. You get blown out of the sight picture by recoil and tight FOV due to too much mag. And maybe an awkward field position. You’re solo. The buck isn’t where he was before in that little clearing. Where did he go? Do I need a follow up shot? Did he go up, down, right or left? Did he fall and slide downhill? Did I miss? What next?

This exact scenario happened to me on a 519 yd with an 18x SFP scope years ago before I knew better and understood the importance of FOV. I spined the buck and I’m not sure I ever would have found him if it weren’t for the fact it was still alive and I heard him kicking in the duff.

All of this is solved with FFP and 10x ish. Or a lower max power SFP.

FOV matters! A lot.

There is no math involved. The reticle has both 16x and 32x holds listed.

Maybe I’m a genius at math but I don’t find it difficult to shoot at 8x and double the 16x #.