I have never owned a Nikon scope. Have always preferred Leupold and Bausch &Lomb (now Bushnell Elite). Was looking at a Monarch 2.5-10x scope until someone told me they don't stand up to hard recoiling rifles. Would like to hear from those who have or have had them. It will likely see a 300 mag or a 338.

I have an older 2.5-10x on a 300 win mag. No problems at all, though I don't have a lot of rounds through it.

Sounds like they are clear enough the problem seems to be the in-ability to hold zero over a long period of time. This is mentioned in another thread on this website . Think I'll pass on the Nikon.

There are no problems in general with Nikon Monarchs holding zero over lengthy periods -- no more so than with any other good scope. Mount it properly and it will perform just as it should.

I used Nikons for years and can attest to their utter reliability.

I think they work just fine...

I had a mysterious miss using my Monarch 4-16x42 after a minor bump and found the impact had moved 12MOA. This may have been the fault of the Tikka alloy mounts but I suspect the scope.

I find the rear focus is way to easy to turn. It's happened twice to me packing with a sling. The scope rubs against my pack and twists itself out of focus. Not at all convenient.

The 1st Nikon Monarch 5-20x40 I bought had a wandering zero problem. I sent it back to Nikon and they replaced it (it took a few months...) with their new model 5-20x40 SF M NP.

Zero holding is ok now and it has served me wel so far. However, I can't say the optics are as sharp as my Swarovski or Leupold Vari X-III.

A friend of mine put a Nikon Monarch on his new Kimber Montana 300 Win Mag. It shot right around an inch.....after adding a muzzle brake (which helped a lot) it now won't do better than 2". We've tried multiple loads, and I'm starting to wonder if it is more than harmonics and the scope just wasn't up to the task of that hard-kicking light rifle.....

Time will tell....

Cheers,

Dan