High-end scope help.

[DT556]

I'm in the market for a scope for my LMT MWS, and have to be honest and say that scopes aren't my strong suit. It's going to be on his LMT MWS. I figured I spent all this money on a rifle, might as well get a nice scope to go with it. I've narrowed it down and want to stick with Nightforce. As of right it has the chrome-lined 16" barrel, but will most likely be getting the 20" stainless barrel soon.

So with that being said, I want to easily see targets at 1000+ yards to use the rifle's full potential. I was looking at the NXS 3.5-10 x 50mm, NXS 5.5-22x50 and the brand new ATACR 5-25 x 56mm. I'm going to go with the MOAR reticle too. I'm kind of leaning more towards the ATACR, but want to hear from you guys to see what you have to say. Also can somebody explain the Zero Stop, .250 MOA, and .1 Mil-Radian.

Thanks.

[Grizzdude]

First thing first, find out if you want to go with MOA or MIL adjustments, I personally prefer the mil system. This will determine if you go with the MOAR reticle or the MIL reticles. For the money the best bet is to go with the ATACR, it is very worth it. Call up sport optics and they will give you a nice discount price, better than any other place I have found. Zero stop is a function to stop your scope from dialing further down. It is useful for high stress situations where you want to be able to dial down to your zero without looking at the knobs. .250 moa is almost 1/4" at 100 yards, .1 mil is .36 " at 100 yards. It boils down to how you want to do the math, using fractions (moa) is not as easy as whole numbers 1-10 (mil). Watch a video on youtube about moa vs mils, it will explain a lot. I currently have a nxs 5.5-22x56 mil scope, I was shooting 2000 yards this morning and can easily see torso target at that distance, actually hitting the target that far is a whole other subject. If you have more questions I'd be happy to help.

[jasonnorcal]

Sorry, isnt it a 2.5-10 or 3.5-15. I'd stick with the lower power. It's smaller and lighter for 1, which will be good for any 308 AR. For 2, it has a more useable magnification range imho. You can still shoot 1000yds with 10x

[HK Dave]

If you're planning to ever use the reticle to do holdovers, go with a Nightforce F1 with FFP reticle.

You don't NEED more than 15 power unless you're shooting itsy bitsy targets... which you probably wont be doing with a 16" chrome lined barrel at 1000 yards.

If you end up with the 20" chrome lined barrel, I'd still recommend the Nighforce F1.

If you want incredible clarity, spend a little extra dough on the S&B PMII 3-20.

I also HIGHLY recommend you learn the mil system. It's really intuitive and once you figure it out, you'll wonder why moa even exists.

[BillyGoatMachine]

Good advice here.

[Cypriss32]

Any thought to the bushnell hdmr. They are fantastic scopes with all the best features.

[gunsmithcats]

Hdmrs are great. Ditch mildots and go Horus. U never have to touch a dial again

[mike.h]

To the OP, I feel your pain. You are going to get a ton of opinions, and a lot like Grizz's hold merit. Here a link to the optics forum on snipercentral, :http://www.sniperforums.com/forum/optics/. All your questions should be answered, Also go to you tube or the NF wed site for your questions about zero stop and such.

And for another opinion, here my take. The professional (military, tactical such as police etc) and experienced shooters are familiar with the mil dot system and it's not that hard to master. New shooters are leaning towards the MOAR system. For me the MOAR system is easier. One thing, the mildot is a little faster then MOA when dialing in your distance because the mildot is a larger angular moment then the MOA. In other words, less clicks with the mil dot system. 1 MOA roughly translates to 1 inch at a 100 yards, 1 moa at 200 yards is 2 inches, etc. Like Grizz said 1 mil at 100 yards is 3.6 inches, etc. Go to you tube, all will be explained.

I think you are on tract with the NF, either one of your choices will work well. The lower magnification scopes works better on the battle rifle so your use will dictate your scope. A couple of the guys that I shoot with are using the NXS 8-32x56HS Zero Stop MOAR, one on a r700, .308, the other is a MRAD .338 Lapua. I've shoot these pieces and the larger scopes are right at home.

ps. this is just my opinion,

[Grizzdude]

Hdmrs are great. Ditch mildots and go Horus. U never have to touch a dial again

Only problem with the horus is you would never want to use that in a hunting/tactical situation, too much clutter. You want to be able to identify your targets with ease. But if your just target shooting the horus sounds nice.

[neal0124]

I have an nxs 2.5-10 compact on my ar-15 and a 3.5-15 full size on my 308ar. Both have zero stops and the full size has high speed turrets. Whatever graduation you choose, moa or mil, do not get one without a zero stop. You're already spending a bunch of money, might as well spend a little extra for the zs. I would stick with the 3.5-15 on a mws. I've used my 2.5-10 on the 308 out to 1k and can see the target no problem but that extra 5x makes it much easier. If you go with a 5.5-22 you'll get a smaller fov on max power and it will be easier to lose the target when you shoot, then you'll have to find the target again.

[evol ways]

Here's my 20" CL MWS. I've shot out to 1000y with my NF 3.5-15 F1 MLR reticle. Love this scope and combo. You will not be dissapointed with NF.

I think the MLR reticle is perfect for me since its pretty simple and not to much going on through the scope.

[FMJBT]

Only problem with the horus is you would never want to use that in a hunting/tactical situation, too much clutter. You want to be able to identify your targets with ease. But if your just target shooting the horus sounds nice.

I'd pick the G2DMR over the Horus reticle for that reason. It has many features of the Horus, but in a simpler and more intuitive design. Touching dials is like bronchitis- "Ain't nobody got time fo dat!"

[HK Dave]

I've never liked Horus. I can't imagine someone being able to make a better shot with Horus over something like a G2DMR.

[Tripeaks69]

Between the choices you have, I go for NF 2.5-10x32 NXS zero stop mil/mil for 16 inch barrel AR platform if u want medium range shooting, and 5.5-22x50 mm zero mil/mil SFP or NF F1 mil/mil FFP for long range bolt action rifle.


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[acourvil]

How good are your eyes? Speaking as a 50 something guy with o.k. but aging eyes, I would get a minimum of 15x and a maximum of 25x. Could you shoot 1k with 10x? Sure, but a 6x6 target at 1k looks pretty small at 10x. At 15x, it's a more reasonable size, and 20x is even better - BUT, the higher you go in magnification, the more the mirage will distort what you are seeing. And over 25x the field of view gets too small and it can be too much work to get back on target after recoil, or bumping the rifle, etc. Of course, with the higher range, you can always dial down to what is comfortable in the circumstances. That can be a problem if you are ranging or holding over with the reticle unless you get a FFP, but if you are ranging with a laser and dialing the turrets it won't matter.

The NXS scopes have really good glass, but it's not the best. A buddy of mine got an ATCR recently, and apparently that glass is a notch better than the NXS.

As far as Mil v. MOA, as long as the reticle matches the turrets, it's a matter of which version you are more comfortable with. Personally, I like MOA because its a slightly smaller unit (1/4 MOA v. .1 Mil), and the quick calculations are a little more intuitive for me since an MOA is roughly 1 inch per hundred yards. But it's the same math either way.

Oh, and if you are doing long range shooting, definitely get the zero stop. Otherwise you will at some point forget whether you returned the turrret to zero or not and be way off due to the rotation error.