Is a FFP scope worth the extra $$$?

What are the discounts on Promotive? Do I need an access code?

Discounts vary with manufacturer. You qualify for different discounts based on which 'teams' you can sign up under. Only 204 different teams, last I looked. Not going to even guess what would match you.

www.promotive.com

I've ordered through them a half dozen times. Shipping is from manufacturer, and some of them are faster than others. Scopes, camping gear and clothes so far. Make sure to compare the Promotive price with an actual street price, some of the deals offered really aren't.
 
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How are the reticles on the Vortex? They look tough for long range shooting compared to the open diamonds of the SWFA reticles. I am going to sell my Vortex 2.5-10x and upgrade for more magnification but I'm torn.

Currently between these two scopes:

FFP:
http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-3-15x42-Tact...pe-P62238.aspx

SSP:
http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-3-15x42-Tact...pe-P87716.aspx

Thoughts?

I like the looks of the SSP reticle better.....although it's hard to tell by a picture on line. The FFP ret just looks to odd , with the 3 heavy duplex style marks. Curious to know what the actual size of the crosshairs and harsh marks are?

Found my own answer

http://opticstalk.com/new-swfa-ss-315x42-ffp_topic36340.html
 
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I like the center of the SFP reticle as well. For $700 that is pretty much the best FFP medium magnification scope for the money. The next step up for SWFA is $1300 and that's not in the current budget unfortunately.
 
My take is that SWFA is an anomaly on price issues.

That is, the glass seems better than the price would indicate.

Vortex, I have absolutely zero experience with, outside what I've read. That all seems good so far. I'd check to see what's said about them before buying one, just to make sure. But, I don't remember anything real negative about them.

Leupold, I do have experience with. Good scopes, just don't trust some (I don't think it applies to Mark4 or 6) of them to work real well (adjust) at extremely cold (-20) temperatures. And, yes, I've got more than a few Leupold scopes. At those temps, experience tells me old steel tubed Weaver or Bausch & Lomb will adjust. I saw issues at -26 degrees at Dunham's Bay back in the late 80's. Thankfully my T-25 Weaver adjusted OK, didn't fog either.

That said, I don't think Mark 4 or Mark 6 scopes are likely to do this. And, even if they do, just how much do we use them at these temps.

It's all trade offs, there is no "one size fits all" here. Too little power, you don't see well. Too much power, they have glare and mirage issues. Variables make up some of that, but not all.
 
Vortex, I have absolutely zero experience with, outside what I've read. That all seems good so far. I'd check to see what's said about them before buying one, just to make sure. But, I don't remember anything real negative about them.
I suppose one negative is they make other manufacturers look bad by not footnoting their lifetime guarantee with "electronics excluded".
 
Nickle, any thoughts on the SWFA glass vs Vortex or Leupold in the "under $1k" range?

What kind of shooting are you planning to do? I only ask because I own a Vortex HS-T 4-16x44. It's wicked nice scope and I'm happy with it, but I shoot at 100 and 200 benchrest or prone mostly with my scoped guns. I realized that I never touch the magnification, it stays on 16 almost always. Because of this, when I needed a new scope for a new bolt gun, I decided to give the SWFA 20x42 a try. I had always seen really good reviews on them. For $300, it's the balls. The glass is very close to my vortex, has turret dials, nice big eye box, good relief. The tracking is great. I keep it zero'd at a 100 and dial up for 150 and 200 and it always goes back to zero.

That said, my goal shooting these guns is tiny groups, I like a ton of magnification, I realize you may want to turn it way down for 100 and obviously with the 20x42, you lose the ability. Just throwing my review out there.
 
The scope would be mounted on my 20" White Oak SDM upper. It would be shot for groups at 100 & 200m then steel at 4-600m.

I'm thinking:

-SWFA 3-15x is the best glass for the $, FFP, side focus, nice reticle; great reviews. The next step up is the 5-20x for twice the money and comes in illuminated.

-Vortex has the 4-16x & 6-24x at similar price points but the glass is not as clear and the reticle is not as thin or nice.

-Leupold also has some scopes in this range but their reticles are ancient in this price range.
 
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I'm thinking:

-SWFA 3-15x is the best glass for the $, FFP, side focus, nice reticle; great reviews. The next step up is the 5-20x for twice the money and comes in illuminated.

-Vortex has the 4-16x & 6-24x at similar price points but the glass is not as clear and the reticle is not as thin or nice.

-Leupold also has some scopes in this range but their reticles are ancient in this price range.

I'm going to disagree with this. I just purchased a Vortex Viper FFP 4x16-50 and put it on my FN Special Police in 308. I also have a Leupold Mark 4 in 4.5x14-50 on my Rock River Arms LAR8 (AR10 variant). I set them up side by side to see how well the glass compared. To me the Leupold had the better glass, but not by a big margin. I don't have any experience with SWFA, but do have 3 different Leupolds and so far I'm satisfied with adding the Vortex to the family.
 
Tiborasaurusrex rates the SWFA scopes very highly. Many are built off military specs. For the money the glass, build quality, and reticles are tough to beat for twice the price.

http://youtu.be/9fe4l_CAthI

He isn't the final arbiter of scope quality but he is a damn good source of info & unbiased no bullshit reviews.
 
I'm going to disagree with this. I just purchased a Vortex Viper FFP 4x16-50 and put it on my FN Special Police in 308. I also have a Leupold Mark 4 in 4.5x14-50 on my Rock River Arms LAR8 (AR10 variant). I set them up side by side to see how well the glass compared. To me the Leupold had the better glass, but not by a big margin. I don't have any experience with SWFA, but do have 3 different Leupolds and so far I'm satisfied with adding the Vortex to the family.

This is what you need to do. I found out when the group of "bench" shooters gather and went and looked at lots of scopes. Unfortunately it did not make my decision easier other than being very aware of the reticle size in relation to the target. For example my old leupold 2.5x8x32 vxIII with standard duplex reticle has been a great scope for 20 years or so. Although not so great for target shooting as on 8x at 100 yards it covers approx 2moa at the ret intersection.
Now look through something like a leupold x45 with a 1/8 moa dot you can put the dot inside the hole of your last shot.
I been walking back and forth between vortex and sighting... other than zero stop on the vortex I could not really find anything different between the two I tried. Both where very clear even on high MagX (both where 24x)

If vortex would put their new golden eye reticle in their other scopes I might consider. Or maybe by the time I decide they will actually have the golden eye out for sale.
http://shop.opticsplanet.com/vortex...S28eXyFcjracHlI2cx8QvSeHWn7ny1VqA-RoC8A_w_wcB
 
Just remember that if you're comparing the size of the reticles on an FFP scope that they are at the same magnification.
 
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