Swarovski Z5

Dixie07

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I am in the process of building a custom rifle chambered in 7mm LRM. I am leaning towards getting a Swarovski Z5 rifle scope. I was wanting to hear some reviews on this scope for a long range rifle. I had also considered the Z6 to go up to the 30mm tube. I would like to hear any and all opinions, not just limited to Swaro. I am also building this to be a lightweight mountain rifle, so weight is a factor. Thanks guys.
 
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I put one on my new Sako A7 and absolutely love it. My other rifles are all topped with Zeiss Conquests in various sizes. The Swarovski is certainly more expensive but I don't know if I'll ever buy another scope again, especially for a long range rifle. The glass is clear like you would expect from Swaro. The magnification to 18x allows for a lot more confidence than something like 9x. With the quality of the glass and the parallax adjustment, even long range targets are clear at the highest magnification levels. I have mine with the ballistic turret and it's a sweet setup. Not to mention the scope just looks sweet on a mountain rifle.
 
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Here's a pic of it on the rifle with the New Mexico mule deer that fell to it! It's a sweet combo.
abysujev.jpg
 

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Dixie07

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Thanks for sharing the pics and nice deer. The ballistic turret was a big selling point to me too. I have been looking St the turret that Outdoorsmans makes for the Swarovski scopes. I also like how lightweight they are for a 50+ objective rifle scope.
 
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It's just a standard reticle. I forget the name without looking it up (Z-plex maybe?). I think with the ballistic turret it's standard. Any kind of compensating reticle is mostly useless with the ballistic turret anyway.
 
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And yeah, I'm thinking of grabbing one of the outdoorsmans turrets. I just have the standard one right now. Also I have the 44 mm objective and I think it's plenty.
 

Matt Cashell

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The z5 is an awesome scope!

For light weight, you may also want to look at the 4-12X50 Z3 w/ BRH or ballistic turret. You don't have AO, but parallax is set at 200m, so it isn't much of a problem, even out to 800 yards or so. You also have an advantage in exit pupil at max power, if you plan on making any longer shots in really low light.

If you go for the BT, checkout Swarovski's windage reticle. Then you can dial your drop and hold your wind ... slick.
 
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The Z5 with ballistic turret is awesome. Best scope I have ever used! It is also one tough scope. I fell and slid 40 some feet a couple weeks ago while goat hunting. I came to a stop when I slammed into a tree. I ended up hitting so hard, that my Near Alphamount top cap broke. After getting new caps from Richard (awesome customer service by the way. I guess I am the first person to ever break one of his mounts.) I remounted the scope not knowing if it too was broken, and I headed out to the range.

First shot was .5moa to the left at 100m. I adjusted it two clicks and dialed the turret to 400m and put three shots in a .5moa group at 400m. I dialed the turret back down to 100m and put 3 more shots in a .3 moa group. Now that's one tough scope in my books.

IMG_6879.jpg
 
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It depends on what you mean by long range and how you are going to compinsate for it. I prefer to dail in my corrections vs holdover. You should definitely go to the 30mm tube as it will allow more adjustment, if going to dial. Swaro has amazing glass but I dont know many who use it as a longrange scope. From what gather that repeatablility just isnt there, which is more important than the glass. I prefer the leupolds as they are very repeatable. Some aren't always a perfect 1/4 MOA but they are repeatable, I have not had any issues going out to 1000 yards with my vx-3. If you are looking at swaro then you could probably afford a nightforce, the nxs 5.5-22 with a np-r1 retice or one of the new reticle are amazing. The only knock on the nightforce is they are heavy! I would also recommend getting a 20 MOA base.

**edit*** just noticed your lightweight desire. For a light weight gun Im putting the vx-3 with varmint reticle in 4.5-14 with ao and the target turret in the 40mm 1" tube. Its big brother on my custom 7 RM has performed flawless.
 

RosinBag

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I would agree also that 30mm will give you more adjustments when dialing in yardage. That may not be a factor depending on the cartridge your shooting. Any decent flat shooting caliber with a 200 yard zero will get generally about 750 -900 yards in one complete revolution and even the smaller tubes will provide plenty of adjustment for that.

But I disagree on the Leupolds being great at holding zero. I have had them on my work rifles for to many years and I always am concerned with zeroing. We check zero at the beginning of training and re-zero at the end of training just for minds sake, and we find minor adjustments all the time.

The Nightforce is bullet proof but would never be considered lightweight, never. The scope your looking at is a solid setup for 99% of the hunting and shooting situations out there.

For long range, I would never buy a scope that doesn't offer the ability to dial in to your yardage with either a custom turret or MOA depending on your preference.
 
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Dixie07

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If weight wasnt a factor, the Nightforce would probably be my number one choice. I have looked through a buddy's Sightron scope, and I just was not that impressed with glass at all. Right now I am leaning towards the 5-25x52 Z5 with either the plex or BT4W Reticle. To me reticles like the BRX and BRH are just too busy for hunting. I really like the idea of the Outdoorsmans custom turret for the Z5 as well. Besides going from a 1" tube to a 30mm tube in Z5 vs. Z6, is there any advantage to getting the Z6?
 

Matt Cashell

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If weight wasnt a factor, the Nightforce would probably be my number one choice. I have looked through a buddy's Sightron scope, and I just was not that impressed with glass at all. Right now I am leaning towards the 5-25x52 Z5 with either the plex or BT4W Reticle. To me reticles like the BRX and BRH are just too busy for hunting. I really like the idea of the Outdoorsmans custom turret for the Z5 as well. Besides going from a 1" tube to a 30mm tube in Z5 vs. Z6, is there any advantage to getting the Z6?

The larger objective Z6s have ED objectives and the line offers a 6x erector ratio vs. the z5's 5x ratio. Optically, the z6 line offers a minor improvement, generally.
 
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