Top tier glass in rifle scope

[The Fish Box]

I am wanting to build a lightweight gun with the best possible glass along with repeatable dialing. All of my current scopes are nightforce with good glass and excellent repeatability but I would like to shed some weight and have better glass. Is there a zeiss, swaro, leica or Schmidt option that will be noticeably better in the optics realm that also provides a weight reduction with dialing repeatability? @Formidilosus

 

[Formidilosus]

I am wanting to build a lightweight gun with the best possible glass along with repeatable dialing. All of my current scopes are nightforce with good glass and excellent repeatability but I would like to shed some weight and have better glass. Is there a zeiss, swaro, leica or Schmidt option that will be noticeably better in the optics realm that also provides a weight reduction with dialing repeatability? @Formidilosus

What range are you needing to legitimately shoot (how many mils/MOA is needed), and what weight?

 

[KenLee]

Dependable doesn't seem to come light. A little lighter than NF, but not alot.

 

[bp78]

In my 40s now, I personally struggle to see a visible difference in the alpha-tier glass compared to the more pedestrian "highend" glass around the the $2k mark. $700-$1k scopes vs $2k, absolutely a visible difference worth the spend, I just can't take that next leap.

 

[The Fish Box]

What range are you needing to legitimately shoot (how many mils/MOA is needed), and what weight?

In reality with how light I will be it’s going to be around 700 yards max or 11 moa with a 22 UM.

 

[Theringworm]

Dependable doesn't seem to come light. A little lighter than NF, but not alot.

Agree....you won't get reliable repeatability with better glass in a lighter set up. Just doesn't exist currently. To even try and get close you are dropping down in objective size to get there. March scopes will be lighter for sure, glass will be an improvement over NF, but I can't say it's Alpha glass.

Alpha glass with repeatability is going to be your Tangent, ZCO, S&B and maybe a couple of others. All will be weighty pigs unfortunately.

 

[Formidilosus]

In reality with how light I will be it’s going to be around 700 yards max or 11 moa with a 22 UM.

S&B 3-12x42mm Klassik with “BDC” elevation turret (4.8mils), and P3 reticle. 20oz. That’s it.

 

[The Fish Box]

@Formidilosus thank you

 

[Formidilosus]

@Formidilosus thank you

You are welcome. If you go with that scope, let me know how it works out.

 

[Yung6ix]

The Leupold Mark 5HD scopes are pretty lightweight. The 3.6-18x44 is 26 ounces, while the 5-25x56 comes right in at 30 ounces. The 3.6-18x44 is also fairly short, just over 12 inches.

 

[Pronghunter]

My top tier optics are.

NF ATACR
NF NX8
Leica Magnus
March
Zeiss V8 NA
Leupold Mark 5HD
S&B Ultra Bright
Swaro X5i
Swaro Z5i+
S&B Ultra Short
Zeiss LRP S3
Kahles 525i and 318

And about everything you can think of under those.
The Zeiss NA by far the nicest glass but it’s heavy, and…..
None of them are gonna make you “shoot” better.
And they are not like Binos where you spent hours and hours behind it. So chasing glass in a rifle scope at a certain point becomes a waist of time.
I can tell you that all the ones mentioned above, none of them are going to blow you away over the other. Most you just flat can’t see a real difference. Low light, resolution etc. unless you really know what you’re looking for. And even at that it’s almost unnoticeable.

With that, i’ve also done exactly that. Played the lightweight game. Nothing really great out there unless you go TT 3-15 or the March. The lightweight TT is limited at 15x and crazy expensive. The March warranty for me was a long difficult process.

My favorite I continuously go back to is the NF NX8.

The NX8 with its the tracking, reliability, excellent glass, the build quality etc will always be worth the 5-8oz over say a lighter weight Swaro.

I will say the Zeiss V4’s have pretty great reticle options, are in fact lighter, have pretty good glass, and yet to see one fail.

But I’ll still stick with the NF.

 

[The Fish Box]

@Pronghunter all of my current optics are either nxs or atacr currently but I like the idea of dropping some ounces. It sounds like the glass is all going to be about comparable regardless of manufacturer.