Nightforce doesnt gather light?

Originally Posted By: Tim NeitzkeTake a NF scope with it's inner workings add Swarovski glass and the price of a mid grade Leupold !
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That's exactly what I was thinking. After glassing for groundhogs on a sunny day for about 15 minutes through a Swarovski Z5, it felt like I just got hit with a flashbang when I pulled my eye away. Very bright, crisp, and clear.
 
i dont own a nightforce, but i do own many leupolds, mostly vari-x 3's. i have a 6.5-20x50 30mm tube side focus long range leupold on my 50. one day another guy had a tac-50 out with a 5.5-22x50 nightforce. i was able to shoot both rifle side by side and i have to say that regardless of price i liked the leupold better. better in brightness, better in crosshair definition, and better in clarity. if the price were the same i might buy one just because of what everyone says about them.
 
I have a Swaro z6 2-12 with the BRH and wasn't very pleased with it on a night hunt.. I could not see the reticle.. Imagine this.. dark night, dark reticle, dark animal.. um.. I don't care what scope glass you have it will be hard.. on the flip side. The Swaro does unsurprisingly well during the day.. I still swap the swaro for the Trijicon when I am going hog hunting and I know I'll be staying late.. Just my 2¢
 
The nightforce that I use does illuminate, just pull the focus knob out and the reticle turns a nice shade of red, that mite help in lowlight conditions as well.
 
Threads like this are very informative. I mean, I just learned that Nightforce is on par with Tasco in the "light gathering" capabilities
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A bunch of guys forget when "looking through someone’s scope at the range" that there are others out there that have bad eyesight or at least have different eyesight than you. All those scopes out there have focus ring on the eyebell. This is valuable little thing that will let you focus the reticle & clarity to YOUR eyes. This can be very different for different people.

There was a young man that came over to the house the other day to check his Remington 700. It was an ADL with an older 3-9 Tasco scope on it mounted in Lupy rings (typical deer killing machine). After he shot several times with not much consistency; I sat down behind the gun. I immediately ask him if he was blind (followed by a dumb look; which I then asked if he wore contacts). I turned the focus ring (a bunch) for me & shot a few times & got his gun right. He then sat down to "check" the gun for him & he exclaimed "I can see the bullet holes now!". Someone had obviously turned the ring to what looked right for THEM, & it was horrid for me & him.

Just because you get to "look" through a scope on the range. Unless you get permission to turn the side focus & focus ring to clarity for YOUR eyes... Don't just "think" the scope line is crap or not par to your personalized scope.

Now I will admit NF is not on par with S&B, Ziess (high end not Conquest) or Swarovski in the glass department. I have even seen a few Leupys that were as clear (MK4 & VX7) but your typical VX3 does not have better light transmission than any NXS, BR, or Varminter that I have ever compared at dusk (I have all these scopes -including the Lupy's- & are not just making BS assumptions like some).

To the OP; NF does do a decent job at dusk or twilight. There are others out there that do a bit better but you will pay the price for those too. All get to a point which makes seeing at longer ranges in very low light difficult. Conquests & VX3's gather all the light you need for typical LEGAL shooting hours, NF will surpass that. Probobly the biggest thing that needs to be noted is that if you have the NF illumination turned up too high. It REALLY distorts your night vision & can cause a decent "low light" image to go south. Likley the the cause of most negative comments about NF & low light.
 
Originally Posted By: Tim NeitzkeOriginally Posted By: OldTurtleColeridge,,,There are a whole bunch of good points in your last post...
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Yes there is !

Yes, a bunch!!

Another thing I've noticed is that when the $50 (or $500) scope is brighter than the $2000 scope, the learned evaluator never mentions whether the comparison was made with both scopes set for an identical exit pupil.
Were the exit pupils equal in the aforementioned comparisons?
How about a show of hands?
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A few thoughts:

My general feelings about illuminated reticles(and I do own at least 6 or more) is that if it is so dark you can't see your damm crosshair, you can't see your target very well either, regardless of whether the crosshair is lit up or not. If the reticle is lit up too much, you may even see less of your target.

NF is not the greatest glass out there. But it is plenty good. Everything else about them is plenty good and then some.

As for the "radioactive phosphorous dust", I thought they just used tritium(which is also mildly radioactive)? No?
 
Alot of good info from guys that have been around and done alot.

Most people don't realize how good glass can make such a difference, there is a reason for the difference in price from your lower end companies. If you were shooting in competitions, you would notice the difference I think.
 
Quote:All those scopes out there have focus ring on the eyebell. Yup, that and the side focus can cause folks real problems. I am very near sighted and all of my NF scopes are set up so the target is in the best focus when most of the parallax is removed. Unfortunately, that is at the expense of sharpness of the reticle. A person with normal 20/20 vision would need to refocus the cross hair and change the side focus from my settings.

NF scopes are a great product. The biggest problem I find is ghosting when shooting into the sun, but I rarely see that mentioned on shooting forums. I used to have NF on some of my hunting rifles, but they are now only on bench guns and varmint rifles. NF scopes are just plain heavy and bulky, so I have gone to Zeiss Conquest scopes on my hunting guns. The Conquest line tracks very well and the glass is good enough. Of course you lose a lot of adjustment with the one inch tube.

Of the scopes I have used, the clearest and best low light scope is Schmidt and Bender. Still, any quality scope will transmit enough light to get you arrested for shooting before or after legal shooting hours.
 
Originally Posted By: Ankeny
Of the scopes I have used, the clearest and best low light scope is Schmidt and Bender. Still, any quality scope will transmit enough light to get you arrested for shooting before or after legal shooting hours.

Ding Ding Ding!!!!!
We have a winner!!
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Originally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: Ankeny
Of the scopes I have used, the clearest and best low light scope is Schmidt and Bender. Still, any quality scope will transmit enough light to get you arrested for shooting before or after legal shooting hours.

Ding Ding Ding!!!!!
We have a winner!!
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I know you are speaking from experience Jeff (for the guys that don't know)
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Originally Posted By: coleridgeOriginally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: Ankeny
Of the scopes I have used, the clearest and best low light scope is Schmidt and Bender. Still, any quality scope will transmit enough light to get you arrested for shooting before or after legal shooting hours.

Ding Ding Ding!!!!!
We have a winner!!
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I know you are speaking from experience Jeff (for the guys that don't know)
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You got me there!!
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fw707,
I cannot believe Leupold owns Swarovski. I didn't check on it, I just can't believe it. I did a Private Investigation job for Swarovski a few years ago at the Pa. Sportsmans Show in the Farm show bldg. in Harrisburg, Pa. This was about 6 or 7 years ago. They were getting scopes stolen etc.
Anyway they (Swaro) told me at that time that they Owned Kahles scope company. I'll have to check on that.
 
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Originally Posted By: 2muchgunHe was kidding Peter.

Leupy does not own Swarovski.

Swaro does own Kahles, though........

Yes, I was kidding.
My point was you can hear some weird stuff at the sporting goods store!
 


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