stagpanther
New member
Although I buy lots of firearms and build lots of AR's I make a point of generally never spending over a thousand dollars for anything--be it the rifle, or optics to outfit it.
However, I've been so impressed with my recent savage 110 in 338 lapua I decided to blow the biggest wad I ever have on anything thing--in fact 3 times as much as I have ever spent on any optic (including a nightforce I have). Here is the infamous IOR Valdada terminator that I fell for hook line and sinker.
After reading many times that Schott glass (not to be confused with liquor receptacles of the same name though shares a characteristic or two with them) is the ultimate glass known to the shooting world--I had to have one.
I'm not an experienced long range shooter--so I may simply not know how to properly use it yet (but at over 3K paid I intend to find out)--but here are my first impressions. Built like a tank--yes (weighs over 3 lbs I think). turrets are nice, big and easy to use--yes. tracking--don't know yet--but I sure hope it does well.
Now about that 40mm tube and the extreme range of magnification. Even on the tiborsaurus's and other glowing reviews I found online, the users mentioned they rarely saw a need to use any magnification level beyond 30 or 32 x without really elaborating why. I can't say for sure what their reasoning is--but in my case I would say once you dial up into the over 32x stratosphere it becomes almost impossible to keep the center point of the reticle still--at least I couldn't do it. Some people are under the impression the large diameter tube and objective enhances the light transmission capability--it does not--and the target picture will noticeably dim in light conditions such as early morning or later afternoon--noticeably more so than any other scope I've used; though to be fair up until the maximum magnification scope I've ever used is 24x. The battery housing and controls for illuminating the center reddot seems huge compared to the one and only component it actually illuminates--that being the center target dot itself. I suppose there must be fancy parts used to keep the size down--which I'm guessing is something like .25 MOA.
As inconvenient as all that is--I could still live with it given how outstanding the sight picture is in bright light--except there is one damning characteristic that I just can't seem to get past--and that is once the ambient light starts dimming from the equivalent of mid-day total sunshine brightness--the rear ocular lens starts reflecting a ghost image of my eye looking into the scope--which of course confuses the sight picture. I still hold out hope that there is a simple explanation for why this is happening and is a matter of easy adjustment--if not, it goes back in the box, out the door and hopefully for a refund.
Anywho, after mounting and level checking (and installing a send-it digital level--which thankfully does work as advertised) I tested 5 cartridges of the 230 eldx loads I developed as my first go at 338 lapua hand-loads and seem to shoot fairly well.
After 4 shots this is the group I had going and things were looking good--I was about to take the 5th shot when the giant magnified image of a turkey walked right into my sight picture and stood right in front of my target looking straight at me. He wouldn't budge--nor would all his buddies. I had to go yell at them and start throwing rocks at them to finally get them to bug out. My theory is the animals around here are aware of my hunting prowess--which is why game comes out all the time while I'm shooting.
When I finally loaded the 5th cartridge and took the shot--click!--but nothing happened. try a few more times, but same results, primer wouldn't go off, a Winchester large rifle magnum primer.
However, I've been so impressed with my recent savage 110 in 338 lapua I decided to blow the biggest wad I ever have on anything thing--in fact 3 times as much as I have ever spent on any optic (including a nightforce I have). Here is the infamous IOR Valdada terminator that I fell for hook line and sinker.
After reading many times that Schott glass (not to be confused with liquor receptacles of the same name though shares a characteristic or two with them) is the ultimate glass known to the shooting world--I had to have one.
I'm not an experienced long range shooter--so I may simply not know how to properly use it yet (but at over 3K paid I intend to find out)--but here are my first impressions. Built like a tank--yes (weighs over 3 lbs I think). turrets are nice, big and easy to use--yes. tracking--don't know yet--but I sure hope it does well.
Now about that 40mm tube and the extreme range of magnification. Even on the tiborsaurus's and other glowing reviews I found online, the users mentioned they rarely saw a need to use any magnification level beyond 30 or 32 x without really elaborating why. I can't say for sure what their reasoning is--but in my case I would say once you dial up into the over 32x stratosphere it becomes almost impossible to keep the center point of the reticle still--at least I couldn't do it. Some people are under the impression the large diameter tube and objective enhances the light transmission capability--it does not--and the target picture will noticeably dim in light conditions such as early morning or later afternoon--noticeably more so than any other scope I've used; though to be fair up until the maximum magnification scope I've ever used is 24x. The battery housing and controls for illuminating the center reddot seems huge compared to the one and only component it actually illuminates--that being the center target dot itself. I suppose there must be fancy parts used to keep the size down--which I'm guessing is something like .25 MOA.
As inconvenient as all that is--I could still live with it given how outstanding the sight picture is in bright light--except there is one damning characteristic that I just can't seem to get past--and that is once the ambient light starts dimming from the equivalent of mid-day total sunshine brightness--the rear ocular lens starts reflecting a ghost image of my eye looking into the scope--which of course confuses the sight picture. I still hold out hope that there is a simple explanation for why this is happening and is a matter of easy adjustment--if not, it goes back in the box, out the door and hopefully for a refund.
Anywho, after mounting and level checking (and installing a send-it digital level--which thankfully does work as advertised) I tested 5 cartridges of the 230 eldx loads I developed as my first go at 338 lapua hand-loads and seem to shoot fairly well.
After 4 shots this is the group I had going and things were looking good--I was about to take the 5th shot when the giant magnified image of a turkey walked right into my sight picture and stood right in front of my target looking straight at me. He wouldn't budge--nor would all his buddies. I had to go yell at them and start throwing rocks at them to finally get them to bug out. My theory is the animals around here are aware of my hunting prowess--which is why game comes out all the time while I'm shooting.
When I finally loaded the 5th cartridge and took the shot--click!--but nothing happened. try a few more times, but same results, primer wouldn't go off, a Winchester large rifle magnum primer.
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