During the last 8 years, I’ve brought and subsequently sold, at least 20 different airgun scopes looking for a scope that would give me a clear, sharp image. I finally had Leupold custom shop build a VX-3i 6.5-20x 40 AO scopes with a nice MOA reticule. Its everything I’ve always wanted in a scope. However like most, I can only afford only one of these! 
I decided to wait for Leupold to resurrect their little 3-9x33 EFR, but that is still about 4 months away, and usually marketing has an optimistic outlook thats now shared by manufacturing. So, I came across the Nikon 3-9x40 EFR. The specs that I found sounded much like the old Leupold 3-9x40 EFR, but what was the glass like?? Yesterday I was able to find one locally at Sportsmans Warehouse. It made a good impression in the store, so I brought it home with me and mounted it on my HW30s. First ting this morning, I did my own very non-scientific evaluation of it by comparing it side by side with my Leupold 6.5-20, and an older Hawke Airmax 4-12x40 AO. I set up an Optic Resolution Chart at 25 yards, set all 3 scopes to 8X, and adjusted each for zero parallax. As expected, the Leupold gave me a sharp, well defined image and I could read 16 point lettering at 25 yards. The Nikon image wasn’t quite as sharp, and had a bit less contrast than the Leupold. I could read 18 point lettering with it. The Hawke was way behind these two in clarity, and especially contrast and resolution. The 20 point lettering was also a bit fuzzy, noticeable less in overall image quality. So, I ended up with two good scopes, the Leupold at approximately $800, and the Nikon at less than $200! Now, “Your mileage may vary”, but my 91 year-old eye saw a smaller difference in optical quality between the Leupold and Nikon than it did between the Leupold and Hawke. So, this afternoon I made another trip to Sportsmans Warehouse and bought a second Nikon 3-9x40 EFR. This one is going on my Brocock Compatto. I really think that I’ve found a real “sleeper” and am very happy to share my good news.
Joe in Tucson
I decided to wait for Leupold to resurrect their little 3-9x33 EFR, but that is still about 4 months away, and usually marketing has an optimistic outlook thats now shared by manufacturing. So, I came across the Nikon 3-9x40 EFR. The specs that I found sounded much like the old Leupold 3-9x40 EFR, but what was the glass like?? Yesterday I was able to find one locally at Sportsmans Warehouse. It made a good impression in the store, so I brought it home with me and mounted it on my HW30s. First ting this morning, I did my own very non-scientific evaluation of it by comparing it side by side with my Leupold 6.5-20, and an older Hawke Airmax 4-12x40 AO. I set up an Optic Resolution Chart at 25 yards, set all 3 scopes to 8X, and adjusted each for zero parallax. As expected, the Leupold gave me a sharp, well defined image and I could read 16 point lettering at 25 yards. The Nikon image wasn’t quite as sharp, and had a bit less contrast than the Leupold. I could read 18 point lettering with it. The Hawke was way behind these two in clarity, and especially contrast and resolution. The 20 point lettering was also a bit fuzzy, noticeable less in overall image quality. So, I ended up with two good scopes, the Leupold at approximately $800, and the Nikon at less than $200! Now, “Your mileage may vary”, but my 91 year-old eye saw a smaller difference in optical quality between the Leupold and Nikon than it did between the Leupold and Hawke. So, this afternoon I made another trip to Sportsmans Warehouse and bought a second Nikon 3-9x40 EFR. This one is going on my Brocock Compatto. I really think that I’ve found a real “sleeper” and am very happy to share my good news.Joe in Tucson
