Hello!
I'm that guy that said he would never get a FFP scope for hunting purposes but then did just that. I'd like to give a quick shout out to my favorite scope for all around use...target, hunting, and plinking.
The street price for this scope is right around $750-$850. For me that is more than I thought I would ever spend on a scope. I'm guessing this is out of the price range of most casual hunters or air gunners. For most of us optical geeks, this is close to the top end of what you want to pay for any scope for any purpose. What makes this scope special is it does everything I need it to do well and most things very well.
How did I end up with this scope? LOT's of research. Btw, there are two in depth reviews of this very scope on Utube. I wanted something 1) reliable/durable/quality 2) good glass, not just decent 3) easy reticle/target acquisition at all magnifications which is something many FFP scopes struggle with; my scope has the MRAD1 RD reticle 4) side focus down to 10 yds 5) a low magnification of no more than 4X and a maximum of no less than 15X 6) mil reticle and dials 7) tactical elevation turret w/ zero reset, zero stop, and a locking feature 8) lifetime warrantee
This scope checked all of these boxes and then some. For my primary uses as a hunter, the 3-18 magnification range is nearly perfect for what I need in an optic. This 6X magnification range is a great feature that not many scopes in this category have. This 6X magnification range and the 10 yd> side focus were the two features that really caught my attention with this scope.
While it seems to have all the features that I needed...how does it perform?
Three months into using it I've been enthralled. The glass is every bit as good as my VX-II Leupolds from what I can tell and possibly better. This scope's glass has been compared neck and neck with a Vortex PST Gen II 3-15 at various distances and came out on top! Everything works exactly as it's designed and functions flawlessly. The illuminated center portion of the reticle makes for a nice center dot at 3X and a clear illuminated reticle at 8X>.
What are the con's of this scope? I only found two...however, it would be good for me to mention that I've only used this scope on an airgun at less than 100 meters. While it functions flawlessly in this capacity time will tell if it can be sufficient as my all around/general purpose/long distance hunting scope.
Con #1...it's relatively heavy at 30 oz. That's almost two pounds. Compared to many scopes in this category it's about average I would guess. However, compared to my Leupold scopes that I have used mostly in the past it's a beast. My other main hunting scope is a Leupold 4-12x40 Mark AR Mod 1 AO and that things weighs under 15 oz! That's less than half the weight. Very different scopes for different purposes, however...Admittedly, the Leupold is a 1" tube vs the Meopta's 30mm tube.
Con #2...there is no elevation dial rotation indicator. There is 10 mil's of adjustment in one full rotation of the elevation dial. For most of us, that's plenty for what we need. However, it would still be nice to have that rotation indicator as a reassurance. Fortunately, there is a zero stop so if in doubt just take it back to zero.
Conclusion:
I believe this scope(and Meopta scopes in general) is vastly underrated and too unknown. In my research, I don't believe I've seen a single negative review of this scope. Time will tell...but again...lifetime warrantee? I can highly recommend this scope. If you are looking for a scope that punches extremely high and does a lot of things really well...check this guy out. Or, if you are maybe looking for a slightly higher magnification version of this...check out the Optika6 5-30x56 which has ED glass in a 34mm tube. I've seen them go on sale for close to what I paid for my 3-18x50.
I'm that guy that said he would never get a FFP scope for hunting purposes but then did just that. I'd like to give a quick shout out to my favorite scope for all around use...target, hunting, and plinking.
The street price for this scope is right around $750-$850. For me that is more than I thought I would ever spend on a scope. I'm guessing this is out of the price range of most casual hunters or air gunners. For most of us optical geeks, this is close to the top end of what you want to pay for any scope for any purpose. What makes this scope special is it does everything I need it to do well and most things very well.
How did I end up with this scope? LOT's of research. Btw, there are two in depth reviews of this very scope on Utube. I wanted something 1) reliable/durable/quality 2) good glass, not just decent 3) easy reticle/target acquisition at all magnifications which is something many FFP scopes struggle with; my scope has the MRAD1 RD reticle 4) side focus down to 10 yds 5) a low magnification of no more than 4X and a maximum of no less than 15X 6) mil reticle and dials 7) tactical elevation turret w/ zero reset, zero stop, and a locking feature 8) lifetime warrantee
This scope checked all of these boxes and then some. For my primary uses as a hunter, the 3-18 magnification range is nearly perfect for what I need in an optic. This 6X magnification range is a great feature that not many scopes in this category have. This 6X magnification range and the 10 yd> side focus were the two features that really caught my attention with this scope.
While it seems to have all the features that I needed...how does it perform?
Three months into using it I've been enthralled. The glass is every bit as good as my VX-II Leupolds from what I can tell and possibly better. This scope's glass has been compared neck and neck with a Vortex PST Gen II 3-15 at various distances and came out on top! Everything works exactly as it's designed and functions flawlessly. The illuminated center portion of the reticle makes for a nice center dot at 3X and a clear illuminated reticle at 8X>.
What are the con's of this scope? I only found two...however, it would be good for me to mention that I've only used this scope on an airgun at less than 100 meters. While it functions flawlessly in this capacity time will tell if it can be sufficient as my all around/general purpose/long distance hunting scope.
Con #1...it's relatively heavy at 30 oz. That's almost two pounds. Compared to many scopes in this category it's about average I would guess. However, compared to my Leupold scopes that I have used mostly in the past it's a beast. My other main hunting scope is a Leupold 4-12x40 Mark AR Mod 1 AO and that things weighs under 15 oz! That's less than half the weight. Very different scopes for different purposes, however...Admittedly, the Leupold is a 1" tube vs the Meopta's 30mm tube.
Con #2...there is no elevation dial rotation indicator. There is 10 mil's of adjustment in one full rotation of the elevation dial. For most of us, that's plenty for what we need. However, it would still be nice to have that rotation indicator as a reassurance. Fortunately, there is a zero stop so if in doubt just take it back to zero.
Conclusion:
I believe this scope(and Meopta scopes in general) is vastly underrated and too unknown. In my research, I don't believe I've seen a single negative review of this scope. Time will tell...but again...lifetime warrantee? I can highly recommend this scope. If you are looking for a scope that punches extremely high and does a lot of things really well...check this guy out. Or, if you are maybe looking for a slightly higher magnification version of this...check out the Optika6 5-30x56 which has ED glass in a 34mm tube. I've seen them go on sale for close to what I paid for my 3-18x50.
