One of my friends is thinking about buying a .50 BMG. The gun is brand new in box. The question is, what kind of scope would be better for this application? Power, brand and reticle type??

The most important thing is the eye relief, but power is also very important. The gun will be shot at very long distances, 1000-1500 yards.

Any ideas??
BB

[This message has been edited by buffalo_buster (edited 07-21-2001).]

Nightforce NSX in the 5.5-22x56 is popular and so is the Leupold Mark-4. A Leupold VariX-III is also a 'cheaper' way to go.
Stay away from any Tasco (including their SS models. I have two, one in 10XM and the other in the 16x version) and other brands. Scopes other than Nightforce, Leupold (high end), and US Optics have HORRIBLE integrity issues on a BMG. The two scopes I have on my rifles are Nightforce 12-42x56 (too much magnification & not enough elevation adjustment, but you can see what brand of soda people are drinking at 1 mile ;-)) and the Leupold VariX-III 6.5-20 with the target knobs. Be sure to get Badger Rings or something similar to hold the scope or it will move. What kind of rifle and what price? I can give you some feedback. Also look at www.biggerhammer.net for info. Read everything on that board, and do searches for answers. If you ask a question, make it as specific as possible.

BMG,
He is thinking about Armalite AR-50 and as far as I know he is getting it for around $2400. I was trying to convince him to buy a McMillan and do it right the first time, but I guess at double the price of an Armalite, it does go beyond his budget.

I asked him to look into Burris Black Diamond in 8-32X or Leupold 8.5-25X, but not having much experience with BMG, my suggestion doesn't weigh much. European glasses are nice but fail in the eye relief department.

Any ideas on the accuracy and function of AR-50? Or do you have any other amazingly accurate BMG in mind under $3000??
BB

[This message has been edited by buffalo_buster (edited 07-21-2001).]

I also recommend the Leupold MK 4. Good scope. I have blown the guts out of 3 others (cheaper). As to below 3K AND accurate, sorry, no insight there. I shoot a Barret boltaction repeater. Pretty accurate with quality loads, but way over 3K!

With a 50 BMG, you are truly master of all you survey!

I do shoot the 50 BMG, and I shoot an AR-50. Take it for what it is costing you, but if I were buying my scope over again, it would be either a MK4 or a Nightforce. I have a Leupold VXIII LR 8.5-25 on mine, and while it is working pretty well, I am having a recurrent problem of the adjustment not taking and having to "settle in" or having to dial past and back up. Not exactly what I want, but I am in the process of ruling out other causes rather than internal malfunction. Leupold, of course, said that if it acts up again to send it in and let them have a look at it. Groups are holding just fine so IF there is a problem in the scope, it only affects tracking, not grouping. However, knowing now what I didn't know then, like I said, if doing over I would opt for a fixed MK4 or a variable Nightforce. If you read you latest issue of VHP you will notice a lot of Nightforce scopes on the winner's rifles. Hummmm.

For shooting at long known ranges, you do not need a fancy retical unless you just want one, in that case, go for it. The standard fine duplex works just fine for me. Fixed powers are nice and reliable, but if mirage rolls in a variable is nice in that you can turn down the power and limit the affects of mirage. Or you can buy two scopes and switch them out like Talbot does, lucky bugger! While my scope is 8.5-25x, I have yet to have it set on anything other than 25x except for one time when mirage was quite bad, then I turned it down to about 18x or so.

I got my AR for around $2200, so it is well under 3K for just the rifle, and with IMI M33 ball it holds 3" for five shots at 500 yards. Not a McMillan, but not $5K+ either. The McMillan I priced was $5,495, and no doubt well worth it. But, way out of reach for this shooter, considering that I have almost $6K invested in my 50 BMG setup including all the goodies. With the McMillan you could count on the total being closer to $10K.

One thing you will notice if you check out biggerhammer is that there are a lot of AR-50 brakes showing up on other makes of rifles. That brake may be big and ungainly, but by God it works. Recoil is nill, about like a light-weight 243 or a heavy varmit rig in 270. You can shoot the thing as long as the money holds out and you won't suffer from recoil fatigue. Muzzle blast fatigue? Maybe, but not from recoil.

B_Buster,
Go to the Biggerhammer.net site and do a searc on a guy named Famous Spuds. He has contacts for inexpensive nightforce scopes. Get the 5.5-22, it has more than enough elevation and plenty of vertical travel.

The AR-50 is a good entery level gun. They had some problems with the scope rail bending, but seem to have fixed the problem. $2400 isn't bad for gunstore pickup, if it was away and you had to deal with shipping & transfer fee's, then I'd say keep looking. In the BMG world there are many truth's, two that come to mind is 1) Don't skimp on optics 2) The gun is about 1/2 to 2/3 the total cost of the ticket to play.

Have your friend look at http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=38057#lastPost

AR-50 for $1825 + Shipping 'Fired a few times'-which translates into 1) Can't find anyplace to shoot it and/or 2) Too big for them

I had a 16 pound 50 bmg bullpup and used a 3.5-10x leupold tactical for three years without damage to the scope and with great accuracy. The mark IV's are great , but not for three times the money.

JohnTheGreek

John,

I blew the guts out of a variX II on the second magazine I fired out of it. I guess you got a good one.

I've been shooting .50 cal for 10 years now in FCSA matches. One of the first things I learned the hard way is to buy the best scopes and mounts available. The low freq recoil pulse of a well braked 50 will eventually destroy everything short of a Mark IV or a Nightforce.I have both the nightforce and Mark IV's and feel the nightforce optics are clearer. I have a Nightforce on my current gun which has shot a 5 1/8 group at 1000yrds and has never broken anything.Cheap scopes hold up for awhile ( sometimes only 1 shot as in a 6.5X20 leupold whose reticle vanished after the first shot) but won't stand up to continued use. If you look at the firing line at a FCSA match you won't see anything but Nightforce and Leupold these days.50's are a world to themselves and given the expense of the guns and ammo skimping on the scope will be a poor investment.-Rob

BigBores,

Sorry to hear about your scope. Hope Leupold took care of you on that deal. The only detrimental thing the .50 cal did to my vari X-III was stain it with blood when it got rammed into my buddy's head from the recoil. Thing cut him all the way to the skull. OUCH ! There's definitely a lot to be said for eye relief

JohnTheGreek

i talked to randy dirks i think i spelled his last name wrong but he make a rear rest for the 50 bmg that is great his add is in fcsa mag.he said pull you eye back till the scope almost blacks out then shoot from there.you know so you see the bulls eye but not the whole target.try it it works,thanks,keith