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With the Phoenix only a couple of weeks a way I decided that enough was enough and that a new scope was needed to start competing.

I have been keeping an eye on AIM Field Sports for several weeks now as they are the UK importers for Sightron and have been expecting a delivery "any day". A phone call, or two, informed me that the Japanese earthquake had caused problems with delivery times but Sightron USA was promising that they were on their way.

Yesterday I noticed the AIM web site was announcing that they had arrived so this morning I placed a order. I was a little be mused to be charged an extra £11 for delivery as the add says P&P is included, but hey ho.
I followed up the order with a phone call as I wanted to see if they had any mounts, unfortunately they do not stoke any at the moment but are looking into it - no pun intended.
I was again a little bemused to be told that the scopes are in customs waiting clearance, so not yet with AIM.

Hopefully will have it before end of next week or I will be grumbling re their advertising,

Down side of buying all this nice kit is that I am loosing excuses as to why my shooting is not going so well - I hear the wind during the Phoenix may be particularly tricky!

DM

Dangermouse wrote:http://www.full-bore.co.uk/posting.php?mode=post&f=5

Down side of buying all this nice kit is that I am loosing excuses as to why my shooting is not going so well - I hear the wind during the Phoenix may be particularly tricky!

DM

Well, stay off the Guinness and baked beans!

Scope arrived today - Friday - at 0900, two days after making the order. I can not ask more than that.

I have just managed to mount it in a set of Burris Signature Z rings, size "high" and they are pretty much spot on, a couple of mil between the objective lens and barrel. (I have a 20 moa base)

Too early to say yet what I think of it, as I have only looked through it from in doors, without it being mounted, I can not say what the optics are like, certainly not bad.

Handling the scope leaves me feeling like this is the same as any other scope that I have handled, there is no "wow" factor, no special gimmicks, just a simple 8-32x scope. The elevation clicks are positive and should cause no problems with competition nerves. The focus does not have any yardage on it, justs a increasing wedge pattern with the thin edge being for close in and the thick edge for far out. Not sure why they have done this as it gives that function a cheap feel.

The reticle is promising, the centre is a dot with no lines immediately touching it but there is a good set of marks which I will use to assist with aiming off, during strings of shots.

So in summary, AIM have excelled themselves, the court is out on Sightron until I get it to the range and that may be a week or two away,

DM

Dangermouse wrote:
Handling the scope leaves me feeling like this is the same as any other scope that I have handled, there is no "wow" factor, no special gimmicks, just a simple 8-32x scope. The elevation clicks are positive and should cause no problems with competition nerves. The focus does not have any yardage on it, justs a increasing wedge pattern with the thin edge being for close in and the thick edge for far out. Not sure why they have done this as it gives that function a cheap feel.

The reticle is promising, the centre is a dot with no lines immediately touching it but there is a good set of marks which I will use to assist with aiming off, during strings of shots

Wrap a piece pr masking tape around the focus (Parallax?) and mark your distances on it. 800/1000 etc - they will not be right every time but could also prove invaluable in poor light conditions or a rainy/misty day. I always take my parallax to infinity and then wind back, I read an article suggesting this method years ago. I have long since forgotten why but I always do it.

I have a small laminated range card which has a picture of a target frame and target on it which shows me dimensions in clicks for .25/.50/full target coverage. Again handy when you need to get on the V quickly after a second sighter.

I am looking forward to having a squint through it!

Taking the adjustments past the desired setting and back a gain is much talked a bout. Some believe that it gives the clicks a chance to settle down. From a focus point of view if you focus just in front of your target it helps see the mirage and thus judge the wind better. Doing it for the whole range will also let you see what the mirage is doing over a greater distance but not necessarily at the hight that your bullet will be flying at and can get a little confusing.

DM

I have now placed the scope where I want it in the rings and have had a better feel of it, but sadly all from home and this is what I have found so far.
The objective bell is 3mm above the barrel and at that point the centre of bore to centre of scope is exactly 2 inches, which is easy to remember.

Firstly I should make clear that I am an “average Joe” when it comes to shooting, although F Class is my main discipline this year, I am knew to it and have spent the last 5 years or so shooting Ruger 10/22’s and Marlin lever action in .357 mag.

It has taken me a couple of seasons to get my F class rig to this stage and with the exception of the Bipod; I have taken it as far as this Remy 700 can go. My previous glass, and up until my Sightron, the most expensive that I had owned, was a Falcon Menace 4.5-18x56 similar to the one reviewed at http://www.snipercentral.com/menace.htm.
First thing that I notice is that the positive clicks on the Turrets really are very positive. Winding them up and down is almost painful and you can’t help wondering if it is doing the internals any good. I am sure that the clicks will loosen off slightly as the scope gets used more and I can rest in piece knowing that the scope comes with a great warranty – should I need it.

I counted 80 MOA elevation on my scope, 10 MOA more than advertised, I cannot comment on why this should be, but that is the way that it is. Sightron have marked their Elevation and wind turret in a unusual manner as shown in this picture:

I tend not to use the lines on any scope for elevation, as I wind all the way down to the bottom and then add on my settings as need be from there, but I can see that this system could be confusing to some. I will certainly need to keep an eye on things when adjusting for wind.

Onto optics and that dot!
The dot is .25 MOA and as the scope is in the first focal plane, it stays at that size no matter what the distance. (I think that is right, ducking for cover just in case). Certainly the furthest object that I can see from my kitchen is a brick wall 162 yards away (Bushnell 1500 range finder). I was able to see that the dot was ever so slightly smaller that the mortar between the bricks. As this is the same brickwork on my house I can say that the mortar is roughly one inch high. I can say that should I have been in a position too I could have taken a head shot at a pigeon sitting on that wall.

I have no more to add re the quality of the optics, they do what is necessary. There is no blurring near the edges but then you would not expect it on a scope of this quality. Today is a bright sunny day so everything looks good, it will not be until I get to the range that I will be able to see how well they pick up the all important V.
I will mention that the instructions give a quick reference to mil dots and cover the equations required to use them, no reference was made to the marks on this scope or how to use them – I am assuming (dangerous) that they are one MOA apart, if so that will greatly assist with making this sighter shots count.

Also in the box was a sand colored Sightron baseball cap, always nice to get free bees, a scope blanket - I assume to store the scope in if it is off your rifle, and a set of unfortunately cheap flip up covers. I got the same covers with the Falcon Menace and found that they quickly lost their click, to shut and then broke. I have not put them on the scope but may purchase a set of Butler Creek covers with my next order from Sinclair’s.
That is all for now, should I get to the range before anyone else makes a report I will let you know what I find,

DM

I think your 36X is going to give you some good service, the glass is certainly good on the Sightron and on a hot day the majority of shooters are going to be backing off to 24x and less to overcome the mirage.

I certainly threw a shot away Saturday by dialling in the wrong direction with my Nightforce. I am used to S&B and use the NF so infrequently that it is easy to do something instinctively which can be wrong, or suddenly get confused so I will adopt the Christel method - she keeps a piece of paper with her drops printed on it and top left and right are some some graphics of arrows going round that show Up/Down, Left/Right - it means you can just look at it for a quick visual reference. She also keeps some wind data and other stuff on hers as well.

The thing about these sort of turrets is setting a known zero. My NF is zeroed at 200m and is effectively 3.5 MOA above true zero so I set the turret to a zero which is about half a turn up from the hard stop, again this can lead to confusion. I much prefer single turn turrets in this respect.