What optics are you using?

[elsolo]

On your .50 of course.

What you like/dislike and if you had to buy a new scope today, which one would you get?

[Ian_Cognito]

I went with an 8x32 30mm mil dot Burris Black Diamond. It's "affordable", has plenty of vertical adjustment, and has held up well so far.

[50 Shooter]

Nightforce!

[JWP]

leupold 6.5x20x50 long rang target, but want nightforce 5.5x22x56 npr2

[FullClip]

Leupold 4.5 - 14 MK-4 Long Range on my AR-50. Thinking about swapping it out with a 6.5-20 MK-III from one of my other rifles. Will be a good excuse to go "sight them in" again!!;f

[RenegadeGlocker]

Leupold Mark 4 8.5-25x50mm LR/T M1 (http://www.leupold.com/products/tactical_products/Mark_4_8_5-25x50mm_LRT_M1.htm)

Had a Gun-Store Commando tell me the Leupolds will not hold up on 50s, we will see. If he is correct, I will switch to a Nightforce.

I use Badger Ultra-High rings.

[JWP]

leupold/ior/nightforce seem to be the only ones that withstand a lot of 50 bmg

leupold has the "lifetime" guarantee as does nf, but never seen nf scope returned or any talk about it on the 50 boards

[50bmgsniper]

Running a Nightforce 5.5x22x56 NPR-2 and going to buy another one shortly for my AICS .308.;f The best scope out there IMHO.

[Drjones]

I've read many good things about the Super Sniper from Tasco. (Gasp!)

It is a $300 scope and the consensus from people much more experienced than I is that you'd have to spend at least $1,000 to get a significantly better scope.

Another thing to consider is how much you truly shoot your .50 and what you shoot for.

If you shoot your .50 enough to justify a grand or more on glass, fine. If you regularly shoot in matches and NEED a $1K or better scope, fine.

If you take it out on occasion to have some fun with and impress your buddies, you may want to reconsider a high-end scope, IMO.

I personally never settle for anything less than the best, but I most likely simply will not shoot my .50 anywhere near enough to justify spending that kind of money on glass for it.

I'm getting a Rem 700P with a Super Sniper and depending how much I like it, I may get another SS for the Serbu.

[50 Shooter]

A friend had his Super Sniper die on his Serbu after 500 rounds, others have had theirs fail also. Some have done better, some have done worse YMMV.

[Drjones]

Originally posted by 50 Shooter
A friend had his Super Sniper die on his Serbu after 500 rounds, others have had theirs fail also. Some have done better, some have done worse YMMV.


How so?

AFAIK, Tasco (or whoever bought them) offers a lifetime warranty on the scope anyway....

[50 Shooter]

The recoil killed it!

AFAIK Tasco fixed it for free.

[50bmgsniper]

Tascos are a good deal for the money.However if you ever look through a Tasco and then look through a Nightforce you will see the big difference in clarity!If you spent all that money on a $2000-$7000 rifle why would you want to put a $300 scope on it?lol.;)

[RandySmith]

Leupold 18x-40x-40mm (Premiere Reticle conversion).

Randy

[Drjones]

Originally posted by 50 Shooter
The recoil killed it!

AFAIK Tasco fixed it for free.


Well, obviously... ;Q

What I meant was; how was the scope damaged? What exactly happened to it?

[Drjones]

Originally posted by 50bmgsniper
Tascos are a good deal for the money.However if you ever look through a Tasco and then look through a Nightforce you will see the big difference in clarity!If you spent all that money on a $2000-$7000 rifle why would you want to put a $300 scope on it?lol.;)


I addressed your question in my initial post; what if someone (like me) doesn't shoot enough to justify spending over $1,000 on a scope?

Think about it; if you only shot your .50 every few months, would you seriously still want a $1K+ scope sitting on it?

In a perfect world, I'd want the best scope too, but in reality I simply cannot justify spending that much on glass that gets used so rarely.

As far as your Tasco vs. Nightforce comparison, I never even hinted at the fact that a Tasco is as good as a Nightforce.

What I DID say (and what you just supported) is that, based on what I've read from people more experienced than I, you would have to spend several times the money to get a scope that is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Tasco SS.

[50 Shooter]

I didn't get all the details from him on the extent of the damage, he did say that the crosshairs ended up looking like this " X ". So something went wrong in a bad way.

[gobabygo]

I bought a .50 recently and have been trying to decide on scopes also. I've been thinking about some people's argument that because of how much a .50 costs ($2-7k) you need to put really good glass on it.

But a lot of people put Nightforces ($1.3k) on $1k rifles (Rem 700s). So based on this ratio, should we be spending $2.6-9k on a scope for our .50s? Ouch. I can't even think of any scopes that cost that much other than US Optics.

Anyway I've got a Leupold Mark4 8.5-25x50, but I'm buying another .50 so I'll probably get a Nightforce to have one of each. One of the reasons for buying a .50 is to shoot far, and I guess you do need good glass for that.

[Drjones]

Originally posted by 50 Shooter
I didn't get all the details from him on the extent of the damage, he did say that the crosshairs ended up looking like this " X ". So something went wrong in a bad way.


Interesting. If you have any way of getting in touch with your friend for more specific details on what happened, I'd be interested, but only if it isn't too much trouble for you.

Also, I've read that the Tasco SS scopes have the crosshairs etched into the glass, so I'm very curious to know how they shifted.

^8

[50 Shooter]

DR,
He tried to post here but he's having trouble getting on, here's a copy of the email he sent me.

I used the 20x mildot SS Tasco on my early (#15) BFG.
It was mounted in IOR 30mm rings as supplied by Serbu.
As you know the glass is certainly not as clear as either the Leupold or
Lightforce products, but for 300.00 is still an very good value.
The scope worked very well at 1000yds as long as there wasn't too much
mirage and wasn't too late in the day. (hard to see through in low light)
The turret screws had a tendency to work themselves loose as well.
Finally, two years and 520 rounds later while shooting at ASR. I noticed
my shots start to string upwards and to the right, then the reticle went
counter-clockwise and I could see bits of glass/debris in the scope.
If, as you said, the crosshairs are etched on the glass, that would
explain the bits of glass I saw after it broke.
I immediately sent the scope back to TASCO in FL, and 7 days later (just
about the time the scope arrived there) TASCO announced they were
out-of-business! It took me a month to find out what they'd done with my
scope.
Turned out all the remaining 'warranty' work had been sent to ABO. It
cost me a 25.00 service fee to retrieve it from them after repairs were
done.
I now use the scope an .308.

I first replaced the scope with a Leupold VXIII 6.5-20x (in the same IOR
rings) It's an excellent scope and worked perfectly for the next year and
a half but just doesn't have the range of vertical adjustment needed when
shooting beyond 1000yds. It was replaced with the ubiquitous Nightforce
NXS 5.5-22x NPR2 as soon as I could save up enough money for it!
Well worth the money for it's clarity, range of adjustment, and eye relief.
The only scope I've looked through with better glass has been the US
Optics product. But that's waaaaay more than I want to pay for a scope on
a BFG.

[JWP]

the reticle etched lens in the tasco ss is a doublet, friends ss went 263 rds in serbu then the glue holding lens together died and ther scope "lost" the rericle as it shifted in the tube out of focus

55$ later from abo was back and he sold it

i put a 10x ss on mine [was available] and shot for about 50 rds, then got 6.5x20x50 leupold long range target off ebay for reasonable

300+ rds later still working just fine