Shepherd scopes,good or bad opinions????

I've got one on my 7 MAG. It's not the best in low light and the "ranging system" is really only designed to work on one size of game, so I still have to make "compensations".

It's an interesting concept, and would work well if you were using it on a dedicated gun (deer, elk, whatever), but I don't think I'll buy another one.

I can get more scope (or spend less) and get a mil dot or ballistic plex scope.
 
a couple Guys i work with use them but they shoot one gun with one load for one type of animal and dont shoot very much.
The guys that shoot alot end up looking for an other scope after they get tired of sending the sheperds back for repair.

Gary
 
My brother in law use one on his muzzleloader and for the most part is happy with it. But... He uses it only for deer and only one load. He would think it is perfect except the eye relief isn't that great and he gets wacked from time to time.


ELJ
 
About 8-9 years ago I called Shepard to get some replacement scope covers for a customer.At that time the covers were plastic press fit cups,no elastic joining them,not see thru,pretty cheap.I'm thinkin these are junk,but they will send them out to take care of the customer.After getting nowhere with the customer service girl,she puts me on with her boss,then this woman proceeds to chew my BUTT out for having the audacity to even THINK they would mail those out free.In the end we got the caps shipped to our shop for $20,GAVE them to our customer free of charge and I got ANOTHER butt chewin from MY boss over the deal.I never miss a chance to tell that story and I hope it costs them a customer every time.Spend yer money with someone who cares about their customer!
 
I have used them for years with no problems. Yes they can be a little rough to mount because they require your mounts to be real close.

Yes they are only designed for a certain gun using certain loads. I use a P2 on a 308 with 168gr.

No these scopes work on all game. The circles cover 18" which makes range estimation easy. Find the circle that fits and pull the trigger.

Man=shoulder to shoulder
Deer= top of back to brisket
Coyote= top of back to ground

My Shepherd has been on several rifles bouncing around on a 4 wheeler for the last 10 years or so.

My Brother has two Shepherds and never a problem.

When you can shoot ragged holes at 100 yards then switch to 400 yards and hit a sheet of Notebook paper in seconds with no adjustment on a light rifle, you have a good scope and rifle.

Imagine a 1 shot sight in.

Imagine changing your crosshair from a 200 yard zero to 300 with out firing a round.

Shepherd is a good scope but due to dual recticles and Minutes of angle marks inside the scope it is complicated for some.

With a 44 mm Objective Shepherd is better than most at night. My 50mm Leopold sees better in the dark but I rarely hunt with anything other than my Shepherd on my 308 regardless.
 
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It seems to be a love or hate thing dont seem to be as clear as my Leupold



Mine is not as clear as my Leopold either, but the extra features are clearly worth the little bit of loss. My Shepherd rode on the ATV all morning, killed one Coyote, and will go hunting in the morning.
 
I've never had 1 yet, but i do apply ballistic and ranging reticles for downrange elevation, windage and ranging all the time. The reticles are designed for certain groups of cartridges that give similar downrange ballistics just like many other ballistic reticles out there, and can be easily adapted to other trajectories if u need it to, but this takes applying ballistics programs, actual shooting, and manipulating ballistics programs to get the reticle to fit the trajectory.

I really like their windage system, and it should be repeatable if it's truly designed like they say it is.

The reticle rangefinding system is better than guessing, and will help for ranges to about 400-maybe 500 with a degree of consistency. All reticle-rangefinding is based on the theory of equal triangles, and can be quantified by a simple adaptation of the mil-ranging formula. Beyond 500+/- reticle rangefinding becomes too inconsistent to depend on really. Depending on magnification of scope, size of reticle subtension, how steady the scope is when ranging, variation in size of tgt. (even as little as 1") may change the range by 50 yds. or more. Even the MOA scale itself introduces some error in the calcs. when using tgt. sizes in inches. BUT IT'S BETTER THAN GUESSING!! so...

It's a great concept in theory---IF the mechanics/optics are up to par i'd buy 1.
 
Decided to send one of my Shepherds back to the factory to have it checked out. Talked to Dan Shepherd who formed the opinion that I bent the scope.

I have had this scope about ten years using it for long range competition and most lately Coyote hunting at least three times a week.

I did turn my 4 wheeler over with this scope on the rack but did not think it hit the scope.

When I talked to Dan Shepherd he told me and I quote "I don't give a damn if you bent it or not I will fix it anyway."

I can deal with people like that. This is the reason I don't buy cheap scopes.
 
Got a friend whom has one on his 270. He is a deer hunter and likes it. I shot it last year when I sighted it in and it made me kinda dizzy with all the stuff in there. My hunting partner bought a couple of Burris's with the balistic plex reticle in them and I found them much easier to use.

I've never shot a range finding reticle before and most everything I've got has the duplex except for one old target scope with fine cross hairs and a target dot.

If you've looked thru one and like it get it. Take a look at the Burris balistic plex first. Great optics and easy to use.

My favorite scope for the last few years has actually been a Simmons AETEC 2.8 to 10. Clear, great eye relief, easy power adjustments and it has held up to my 8mm Rem mag with no problems (that eye relief thing).

The one recommendation I can make for a person shopping for a scope is try to get to a store that has a good selection of scopes and a try stock so you can actually look thru a bunch mounted on something that gives you a real feel for how a scope is actually going to work.
 
Quote:
Decided to send one of my Shepherds back to the factory to have it checked out. Talked to Dan Shepherd who formed the opinion that I bent the scope.

I have had this scope about ten years using it for long range competition and most lately Coyote hunting at least three times a week.

I did turn my 4 wheeler over with this scope on the rack but did not think it hit the scope.

When I talked to Dan Shepherd he told me and I quote "I don't give a damn if you bent it or not I will fix it anyway."

I can deal with people like that. This is the reason I don't buy cheap scopes.



Talked with a Lady at Shepherd Scopes about my scope and what can I say she knew her business. She told me that Shepherds did not have the extreme range of adjustment that other scopes have due to their large recticles. She said my scope was way off. I knew all this before I sent the scope. She sold me a new set of rings that have inserts built into the rings to shim the scope and get it close to the center of adjustment. No BS about rifles tapped off center and such just here is the situation and here is the cure. I can deal with that. She even sounded like she was good looking.
 
I owned one a few years ago and thought it was a decent piece of glass. Sold it to purchase a 4.5X14 Leupold and haven't wished for it back. Never had to send it back or had any problems with it just thought it would be easier to zero for 275-300 yrds and forget about it and it is IMO. Never had a coyote or a fox sit still long enough and when they are curled up sleeping there isn't enough body profile showing. If you happen to have to make a quick shot a duplex or mil-dot has less to distract the eye. If I found a Shepherd cheap I would buy it and lower the circles all the way down and just use the center crosshairs. My $.02 RR
 


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