are swarovski scopes worth the extra money?

05 September 2003, 13:09

Wstrnhuntr

hvyw8t,

I suggest either locating the source of your loss of zero woes or making use of the Leupold garantee. Leupold should certianly be able to scope a 7stw without losing zero.

As for the twilight issue, where I hunt, if it is too dark for my scopes then I can rest assured that it is VERY close to the 1/2 hour after legal sundown shooting slot.

Personally I would rather have one Leupold, one night vision scope and one Bushnell Elite than just one Swavorski. [Razz]

[ 09-05-2003, 05:12: Message edited by: Wstrnhuntr ]

06 September 2003, 01:32

1894

Current price of 6x42 scopes in the UK in order of increasing $

S&B Hungarian 466
Zeiss 529
Leupold 531
S&B German 657
Swarovski 711

Most will buy the Hungarian S&B or the Zeiss.

12 September 2003, 18:10

Cole

How about variety? love my 8x30 swarovski binos ! carried them in Africa and Alaska ,and a few other places. Have a collection of scopes on an assortment of rifles that are USED for big game hunting, complete with dents and scratches. Note worthy Vari X 2 1-4 mounted on a 458 lott. NO PROBLEMS. A DOCTER 3x9 mounted on a 9.3x62 excellent German glass. Excellent adjustments. Might be as good as swarovski. A fraction of the cost. TO avoid problems in the field with high recoil rifles, use lighter weight, smaller decent quality scopes such as Leopold . The heavy scopes are prone to move or break during extreme recoil. More mass means more shock to internal parts ,mounts and screws.The lighter the rifle recoil ,the bigger the scope you can use (smaller target),without problems. The heavy recoil rifle does not need a wine bottle size scope on it to kill a 1000 lb. animal. STALK CLOSER.BIG TARGET

13 September 2003, 02:49

Hot Core

quote:
Originally posted by hvyw8t:
...my leupold seems to keep loosing its point of aim. ...

Hey hvyw8t, I did a quick scan of the posts and may have missed something. Are you absolutely sure the problem is with the scope?

I do not remember any of your other posts concerning the changing Point-of-Impact(POI), so some of my questions may seem a bit trivial. Are you using factory ammo and changing between "Lots" from the same manufacturer? If so, that might be your changing POI. Or if you are changing brands of ammo, that can also change the POI.

If you have Termite Food(aka Wood) for a stock, then your problem might not be with the scope either. That doesn't mean you shouldn't upgrade your scope if you want to, but if in fact you have a TF stock, it would be very depressing to put a "new" scope on and still have the same problem.

quote:
Originally posted by wayne nash:
...European scopes are ...designed for pre-dawn, and twilight ...something we do not do here in North America. The extra ten minutes those scopes will give you at either end of the day ...

Hey Wayne, You are apparently unaware that the legal Hunting hours in your Yankee Land portion of North America are not the same everywhere else. In the South Carolina Lowcountry legal hunting hours begin 1 hour before official sunrise and go until 1 hour after official sunset.

In this situation, having excellent optics mean being able to see the Trophies if they come out during those twilight periods at each end of the day. They are also of benefit during periods of inclimate weather when the sky is dark and the clouds are low at sunset or sunrise.

In addition, you also need to be able to "see" the CrossHair and you have a couple of options here as well. I have a lot of experience with 50mm Leupolds and their HEAVY Duplex reticles. Got them because of those previously mentioned legal twilight periods. No fun at all to spot a trophy 45min after sunset(or before sunrise) through the binoculars and than not be able to determine where the center of the reticle is located in the scope.

I've not used an Illuminated reticle(yet), but I can see where they would be an advantage during twilight "IF" they are not so bright as to blind you when looking through the scope.

13 September 2003, 04:06

Cobra Kahn

A friend of mine just purchased a Swarovski Scope and mounted it on his 300 Weatherby. Quite frankly, I didnt like it. The retical was way too bold for my liking, I perfer a fine plex that I can see a bulls-eye through and even at full magnification (12X I think) I had a hard time seeing bullet holes in paper at 100 yards!

My opinion is that it is a $1400 piece of junk! I'd go with a Burris, Leupold or Nikon.

13 September 2003, 04:28

stubblejumper

Most people prefer a thicker reticle for use in low light conditions.Then again if you don't hunt early mornings or late evenings I guess a fine crosshais would be just as good.

13 September 2003, 09:16

Eremicus

Only the super euro scopes can really work on a dark, cloudy day ? That's not what JJHack has told me and not my experience.
JJ pointed out to me that one looses the reticle long before one looses the image on almost any scope. John Barsness says the same thing.
JJ killed a goat killing, Mt. Lion at about 4:00AM in the forested area of his home state of Washington not long ago. His scope was a 2.5-8X36 Leupold fitted with a Premier Reticles 4a reticle. A reticle that is not nearly as heavy as the Leupold Heavy Duplex, the euro nos.1, or 4e reticles.
I've got a buddy who just returned from africa. He killed a Serval Cat at night with an ancient, old steel tube K-6 Weaver.
I've done lots of early morning hiking in full darkness to position myself for the day's hunting. Without using a light, conditions got so bad I could see more than 4-6 ft. in front of me at all. This would be a full cloud cover night, no moon and in a heavy second growth fir forest. Yet I could see up and down the road for at least 75 yds. with my 6X42 Leupold. With the 4a version, I could see the reticle well enough to shoot. Before legal shooting time, I could target anything, anywhere.
Heck, I owned a couple of old Bausch and Lomb Balvar8's that could see and target anything well before, or after, legal shooting time. They featured 1960's technology.
The idea that only the euro made scopes will work under really bad low light conditions simply isn't true. E