Best scope for benchrest?
- Thread starter amodinger
- Start date
Other thoughts is I am not a fine cross hair or target dot person as I like to do hold over for wind conditions.
So I like a reticle that I can say OK the sighter is one hash to the right so I will hold 1 hash mark to the left.
over simplified but you get the idea.
It is a lot faster than trying to calculate wind speed and drift.
So I like a reticle that I can say OK the sighter is one hash to the right so I will hold 1 hash mark to the left.
over simplified but you get the idea.
It is a lot faster than trying to calculate wind speed and drift.
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I can tell you first hand that the busier March reticles aren't suited well to N50 style comps. My personal example is I used my Genesis side by side with a guys Sightron fixed power BR scope with a plain reticle and reticle wise his was much more suitable for N50 comps. Also it had super nice glass which I would attribute to it being a fixed power scope with fewer lenses. We just used the rings on the target for holdoffs and the hash marks in my scope necessitated sometimes moving those hash marks out of the way to see where the hole appeared. I found it a hindrance more than anything else.
The Genesis does excel to the max at what it and its reticles were designed to do which is long range or ELR on steel, rocks, hunting, etc when one needs those hashes for referencing. I do love mine for this!!!
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March will change the reticle on your Genesis, free of charge. At least, I've heard of several cases of this. Two of their three reticles for the Genesis are pretty clean.
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Good info!
Its a consideration if I wanted or needed to use mine for BR but I'd rather use mine as is for those other pursuits. I shoot long range steel almost every week but hardly shoot BR anymore.
Also I detest the thought of shipping and insurance to Japan so I would be very hesitant. That's just me though.
After thinking about which scope to get for the last couple years if I were dedicating a gun to BR I'd get that aforementioned Sightron because of how well it does for the price.
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Sightron SIII 10-50X60 with the MOA-2 reticle. Although on one of my guns I mounted an Athlon Helos BTR GenII 6-24. It has a bit thicker reticle and works well in low light or in conditions where you get the sun shining in your face in the morning. This one has a 34 mm tube with IR.
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The best BR scope I have (and use) for 100Y BR is the Vortex Golden Eagle 15-60x52. It has the MOA ECR-1 reticle, which I really like... I normally shoot it on 40x at 100Y.
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The brand new Athlon 15-60x56's are another choice for target shooting. One is a Heras grade and another a Ares ETR grade.
I'll post my thoughts when my ETR grade comes in.
I'll post my thoughts when my ETR grade comes in.
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I love my Golden Eagle as well, fantastic scope. GREAT OPTICS.
It is going on my .30 cal RAW for 75 yard and 100 yard usage.
The only limitation with them is the close range parallax is limited to 20 yards which means it is great for the intended bench rest shooting with a minimum of 25 yards, but would not work for FT or some other uses.
Also they can be a little dark at times with only a 52mm objective and I typically use a aperture reducer to add depth of field given the magnification.
I have an Athlon Cronos that has the same issue with a closest Parallax of 25 yards.
That one is a problem for me as my practice range at the house is only 22 yards.
I have 2 Hawke 10-50 ED that work nice but are discontinued,
However they can be found used at times and when you can find them they are a great savings if budget is a concern
I Just bought one on here recently at a great price.
Their downside is if you are a turret clicker. The turrets are OK but not great. They are a little springyMe I like to zero and do hold over for windage and up/down drafts, so it is
not as big a factor. The TMX reticle is useful for my style of shooting.
They can be used down to 10 yards. I started using them based on a great review by Percula.
I have looked thru some Sightrons and they are very nice, not GE or Cronos level but at, or above the Hawke ED glass.
It is going on my .30 cal RAW for 75 yard and 100 yard usage.
The only limitation with them is the close range parallax is limited to 20 yards which means it is great for the intended bench rest shooting with a minimum of 25 yards, but would not work for FT or some other uses.
Also they can be a little dark at times with only a 52mm objective and I typically use a aperture reducer to add depth of field given the magnification.
I have an Athlon Cronos that has the same issue with a closest Parallax of 25 yards.
That one is a problem for me as my practice range at the house is only 22 yards.
I have 2 Hawke 10-50 ED that work nice but are discontinued,
However they can be found used at times and when you can find them they are a great savings if budget is a concern
I Just bought one on here recently at a great price.
Their downside is if you are a turret clicker. The turrets are OK but not great. They are a little springyMe I like to zero and do hold over for windage and up/down drafts, so it is
not as big a factor. The TMX reticle is useful for my style of shooting.
They can be used down to 10 yards. I started using them based on a great review by Percula.
I have looked thru some Sightrons and they are very nice, not GE or Cronos level but at, or above the Hawke ED glass.
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Why not the full 60x does it get blurry? I was thinking of getting one of those for 100 yard bench rest
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I shoot at 60X on both of mine.
But from an optical image quality they do tend to loose contrast above 40X.
To me not a big issue for benchrest shooting, the blacks just look a little more gray.
Another good option is the Trijicon TenMile 5-50X-56, a friend bought one.
The first one he sent to the factory as it was really washed out in bright light. Contrast was horrible.
The second one came in and we did a big scope shoot out in my yard.
I would rank them in this order.
1 Trijicon TenMile 5-50
2 Vortex Golden Eagle ( 2 of them both identical in IQ)
3 Hawke 10-50x 60mm ED a big step down from 1 and 2 Still pretty good but it is visible the difference.
Summary of this is the TenMile (same as the Delta Stryker) was slightly more contrasty than the Golden Eagle at 50X.
I would not say the difference was a deal breaker but after my friend sent the first one back we were definitely looking very closely at the image quality of the second TenMile, and it shined.
It also has the advantage of closer focus, brighter, and wider magnification range.
He kept the second Tenmile and sold me his GE.
But from an optical image quality they do tend to loose contrast above 40X.
To me not a big issue for benchrest shooting, the blacks just look a little more gray.
Another good option is the Trijicon TenMile 5-50X-56, a friend bought one.
The first one he sent to the factory as it was really washed out in bright light. Contrast was horrible.
The second one came in and we did a big scope shoot out in my yard.
I would rank them in this order.
1 Trijicon TenMile 5-50
2 Vortex Golden Eagle ( 2 of them both identical in IQ)
3 Hawke 10-50x 60mm ED a big step down from 1 and 2 Still pretty good but it is visible the difference.
Summary of this is the TenMile (same as the Delta Stryker) was slightly more contrasty than the Golden Eagle at 50X.
I would not say the difference was a deal breaker but after my friend sent the first one back we were definitely looking very closely at the image quality of the second TenMile, and it shined.
It also has the advantage of closer focus, brighter, and wider magnification range.
He kept the second Tenmile and sold me his GE.
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I forgot about my post here but I did post many thoughts in other threads of the Athlon Ares ETR 15-60x56.
Basically it pretty much puts most target scopes I've owned or looked through to shame being right up there with the expensive ones or outclassing the less expensive ones significantly. Everything about mine is wonderful.
Optically this ETR of mine looks as nice as my S&B PM2 5-25 and is very close to my March Genesis. That 's amazing for a scope priced like it is. Also mechanical feel of the controls are outstanding.
I think one would have to spend March HM 10-60 or Majesta HM 8-80 to get a noticeably more pleasing view through a target scope.
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At some point I want to look thru one of these.
your comments on these have really made me wonder how it compares thru my eyes. Which have some of their own issues. LOL
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