I stumbled across them several years ago at the SHOT Show and decided to try one. Several years later I have them on my FN SPR(618V2), my .340Wby(P1)and my 10FP(P2) and the fourth Shepherd is back in the scope bin waiting for a new home.

What really sold me on them and the company was the following incident. The only Shepherd I had at the time was on my .340Wby. It was on an elevated shooting platform when one of my "friends" knocked it off and the first thing that struck the steps was the obj end of the scope. The fall was about 8 feet attached to a 9 pound rifle. It crushed the bell back into the tube, wrinkling and cracking it. The internals were mangled.

I sent it back just to see if it was repairable with a letter explaining what happened and telling them it was NOT their fault, I was NOT expecting anything but an estimate for repair. They called and indicated it was WAAYYYY beyond anything they could do for it BUT, They were so intrigued by the total destruction they said they were sending it back to the manufacurer in Japan when their rep went there in a month.
I just forgot about it.
2 months later I get a call from Shepherd telling me my NEW, REPLACEMENT scope was on the way.

Great customer service and a great scope system that works.

Lawcop, how many rounds down range so far with that set up on the 340,have been thinking about one for the 300 Wby,

They're right up the road from me. Great folks with a great product.

[ 04-27-2003, 02:15: Message edited by: Nebraska ]

That seems like some great custumers service!

Johan

Can someone who has one explain them in more detail to me? I looked at the site and I still don't appreciate what the extra knob is for etc.

Take the 6X18 for instance and relate it to varmint hunting and not just to a 18" coyote. How whould I use one to tell 350 yds from 400 yds for instance with any flat shooting varmint load as an expample?

I got rid of mine. I sent it back because it wouldn't hold zero. Six months later I hadn't heard a thing called them they couldn't find it. sent them the usp numbers. They still couldn't find it when they did they said they found in on a shelf another couple of months back and forth said that they couldn't get the right parts. Other a year later they sent the scope back. Never seem to get the thing to shoot right.
I went to mildots and a laser works very well. But then that was years ago maybe they have improve.

It has two reticles, a front focal plane and a rear focal plane.

To sight it in you just fire a shot, then while looking through the scope, move the small cirle to the point of impact while holding the main reticle on the point of aim. When this is complete you just move the main reticle till it centers the small circle and presto, you are sighted in.

This is for any round, any distance.

The scopes are available with different retilcles for different rounds. You just pick the correct round based on the ballistics of the bullet and you also have a ranging reticle that will work with that round.

Thanks to all for the very good explainations.

How about optic quality?

I do most of my deer & elk hunting early in the morning (sunrise) when the elk & deer are on their way to the timber from the meadows & clearcuts. Nobody sells Shepherd in my home state, so therefore I'm unable to determined optic quality but I do like the range-ing set up.
So could you give me a honest optic quality comparsion to such brands as Leupold, bushnell 3200 or 4200, Burris or even Tasco?

I have a shepard on an 03-A3 with a hart barrel chambered in 30-06. This is my carry gun when I'm being serious. I am currently shooting 190gr hornady bullets at 2700 f.p.s. and have had very good success at every range, on targets, out to 900 yds. My longest whitetail shot is a whopping 125 yards with it. I had an opportunity while groundhog hunting a few years ago on a coyote that I guessed was 1000yds using the ranging circles. I did not bag the coyote, but had five shots at him that changed his direction of travel 180 degrees five times, I lead it to far each time and the bullets impacted in front of it changing it's course five times. The elevation was there, but not the moving target accuracy on my part. Optically, it is as good as any of my leupold scopes. If you have one, try setting the scope at about 5.5 power for evening and early morning, you will be surprised what you can see.

I have read a lot of negative comments on these scopes by what seem to be military sniper trained personnel, as each one was comparing them to the mil dot configuration. I have yet to hear a negative comment from those that I know personnally that have them. I also know that without a laser I have hit every IPSC target I have shot at out to 900 yds with the first and each successive shot, the wind was not a factor on the long shots.

I'll have to be honest. I have never seen a Shepard I thought was above mediocre. Non of the high end gun shops around here will carry them. They will custom order if a customer wants one. I don't believe they are even close optically to a Leupold or Zeiss.

I have one on my Anschutz .22 RF. I use it for gophers, mostly, but you can have a lot of fun at the range taking sucker bets. The Anschutz is the only .22 I have ever owned that I've sighted in for 100 meters, and with the Shepherd scope on it, hits on 6" steel plates out to 200 meters are easy, and 300 meters are do-able if there's little or no wind. As to the optic quality, I don't think they're as good as Leupold or Zeiss (or any of the other European manufacturers, but they seem about as good as my Bausch & Lomb scopes. FWIW - Dan

[ 04-28-2003, 19:03: Message edited by: dan belisle ]

You guys that like to have fun with reticles, might enjoy investigating this.

This reticle which has scales for the WERM formula in MOA and MIL (.2) is sold and offered in Horus Vision and S&B Scopes. Used in conjunction with Palm software it considerably simplifys the problem of first shots at unknown ranges.



Horus Vision Web Page

Boy, that sure looks simple to me.

It's not simple, but it's fast and flexible.

Try the game on the site, and follow the instructions.

I like it a lot.

D.