Anyone had the opportunity to peep through one yet . . if so verdict ??

Will be interested to hear about the VX-5's as well. I bought a VX-6 2x12 last year and had barely put it on a new rifle when I found out the VX-6's had been discontinued. Guess I'll just shoot with it and see what happens.

I'm not surprised or particularly sorry to hear of an optics company backing off from 6x-multiple scopes.

Increasing multiples beyond 3x has long been a challenge and I suspect they add extra mass/length to the vulnerable erector tube, making the assembly even more susceptible to dislocation and damage under bumps and recoil.

In the interests of reliability and sportsmanship, I think we should try to do without outlandish variable ranges. Townsend Whelen was satisfied with fixed powers of less than 3x, even on his .270, and considered them good enough out to 350 yards. Have our eyes devolved since then?

The actual magnification variability of most "three times" variables (3-9X, 4-12X, etc.) is only about 2.6X or so. For example, the actual magnification of a Leupold 3-9x40 VX-II is around 3.3X to 8.8X, or roughly 2.6 times.

A very long time ago, optical engineers of rifle scopes learned that the physical and optical trade-offs in making a variable scope limited its practical range to roughly three times the low end magnification. There is nothing that has changed about physics, so when the magnification range is stretched (and it can theoretically be stretched to infinity), undesirable things begin to happen to the eye relief and "eye window" which limit a scope's usefulness as an optical gunsight.

Manufacturers are in business to sell products, so most of the scope manufacturers are catering to market demands, such demands seemingly being driven by an intrigue with widely variable power ranges. Consumers, particularly younger ones, are loathe to admit (particularly after having paid a very high monetary premium for such a scope) that its potential perceived advantages are largely outweighed by its limitations.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
The actual magnification variability of most "three times" variables (3-9X, 4-12X, etc.) is only about 2.6X or so. For example, the actual magnification of a Leupold 3-9x40 VX-II is around 3.3X to 8.8X, or roughly 2.6 times.

I guess that explains the conservative range claim of the Nickel 2.5 to 6x, though the make was soon into the classic 1.5-to-6x.

I had noticed that nominal 2-to-7x variables rarely gave you exactly what was claimed. The Leupold VX-1 2-7x apparently only goes from 2.5x to 6.5x, which is as you say, less than a 3x multiple.

My old Kahles was labelled as 2.3 to 7x and that would appear a true three multiple, if accurate.

Strangely, the earliest variable I can think of, the Zeiss Zielmulti, claimed to be 1-4x.

A few wee inaccuracies creeping in on this thread. Leupold have not discontinued the VX6's, the line that has not been continued is the VX7's.

Most manufacturers now offer scopes with greater than 3x magnification, the manufacturing challenges with erectors over 3x has long been overcome. Sure these optics command something of a premium price but given that just about all brands offer something in the 4x to 6x (or even 8x) says something.

To intimate that physics limit manufacturers to around 3x is simply not true.

I did in fact purchase a Leupold VX 5HD 3-15x44 and it is a superb optic. In a low light test it out performed all my modern top end Japanese glass and all the older Kahles S2 series scopes that I run.

quote:

Originally posted by Tentman1:
... I did in fact purchase a Leupold VX 5HD 3-15x44 and it is a superb optic. In a low light test it out performed all my modern top end Japanese glass and all the older Kahles S2 series scopes that I run.

Modern coatings, bigger objectives etc should make new scopes better, optically, but you might have to carry them for 40 years to know if they are as tough as those old Kahles S2s have been. If Atkinson's destructive 'testing' on 458 Lotts, .505s etc is any clue, I wouldn't trust much modern stuff on any big-game rifle for very long.

I shoot the 2.5x15 and 3x18 Swarovski's. They seem to have clarity at both ends of the spectrum. I suspect there is a lot to good coatings and highly polished glass.

My eyes need all the help I can get.