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Well I Have Bought a Scope
Yes, I have finally made the plunge. The last step I was going to take in my five months of searching for the right scope was a lot of fun. I went to a big outdoor sporting store so I could put my hands on a Swarovski, Zeiss, Nikon, Burris, Shepherd and a Leupold. I wanted to view the resolution and image clarity of each scope, as well as experience first hand the fit and finish. The five months of reading and researching was quite intense and complicated and was the reason I decided on these six scopes. I was able to talk with the tech departments of the above-mentioned scopes. I ask questions concerning glare, resolution, contrast, light transmission, durability against the elements, recoil resistance, tracking or repeatable accuracy, what kind of glass they used, coatings, eye relief, weight, and mechanical soundness of the inner workings.
When I reached the sports store I ask to see these six scopes. The salesman was very nice and helpful. He put them one at a time on a rough-cut stock to mimic a rifle and set each scope at six-power. I was able to read a card that was placed on the wall some 30yds across the store. With each scope I could clearly make out the different lines marked on the card. Every one of the scopes had great resolution; in fact their resolution was nothing short of marvelous. I was so impressed and pleased. Only one problem!! My choice was now even harder. They all had great adjustments and wonderful eye relief and excellent fit and finish. I ask myself, ?Well Mike, what are you going to do now??
Then it dawned on me as I turned and looked the other direction across the store some 40 yards (this was a big store), noticing the huge front window. The sun was starting to set and it's rays came through the window creating a real back lighting problem. The rays were coming through the window in such a manner, that you could not make out the face of the man behind the front counter. It reminded me of last year when not long after dawn, my guide, Scott Adams and I were glassing a cannon. The sun was just fixing to break above the ridge in front of us and everything in our binos and scopes were flooded with reflected light. The glare created by the sun coming over the ridge was causing us a severe light reflection dilemma that was effecting our picture image. In remembering that event I came up with an idea. I said to myself, ?That's it! Let me look straight into the face of the person at the counter who was standing in front of the window and see if I could notice good definition of his facial features.? I also wanted to see if I could get a clear picture of the trees some 300 yds the other side of the window.
Well I picked up the Swarovski first and put it on the lowest power and I could see the persons face and the trees that were outside the window. I said ?wow? this is no 300 dollar scope that I am used to using! Then I noticed some reflected light in the objective lens causing some glare, so I moved the scope to try and lesson the effect. I was not surprised that there would be some of this sense the light coming through the window was so bright compared to the darkness that I was standing in some 40 yds inside the store. So I did the same thing with the Zeiss, Nikon, Burris, Shepherd and all of them performed just about the same. With only the Leupold left (which was a Leupold Premier 3.5-14x50 30mm tube), I picked it up assuming that I would get at least the same performance or close to the same. Well, was I surprised! When I put the Leupold up to my eyes I saw the persons face with just a little more definition than the other scopes. I also saw the trees some 300 yds past the window with greater detail and clarity. There was no reflected light or glare factor causing me to move the objective lens for a clearer view. I put it down and said to myself, ?maybe this is just an accident!? So I lifted the Leupold up to my eye once again and looked through the LPS with the same results. Yes, without a doubt a clear image of the person in front of the window, with as close to perfect an image as one could expect of the trees some 300yds the other side of the window. There was no reflected light detected or glare to distract from the clarity of the image.
At this point I ask the salesman if he would look through each scope and tell me if he could see any difference in the performance of the scopes. He looked through the scopes in the same order. He saw the reflected light creating a slight glare problem in every scope as until he got to the Leupold. He was noticeably surprised that there was an identifiable difference in the Leupold?s ability to reduce reflected light and glare. In fact he said, ?I would not have believed you if you were to tell me that the LPS can out performed the Swarovski or Zeiss in this way, if I had not experienced it myself.?
Well can anyone guess which scope I bought? You got it, the Leupold Premier 3.5-14x50. Of course something else happened when I was in the store. I bought a Weatherby Mark V stainless steel 300Wby Mag. to mount my new scope on. Yes, I know I was going to put it on my 7mmSTW, but I could not resist my favorite caliber in a Mark V. Can?t wait to get to Arizona and make that cross cannon shot on that unsuspecting bear. Arizona, hear I come! I want to thank everyone who responded to my initial post and for all the advice and help. pricem
Yes, I have finally made the plunge. The last step I was going to take in my five months of searching for the right scope was a lot of fun. I went to a big outdoor sporting store so I could put my hands on a Swarovski, Zeiss, Nikon, Burris, Shepherd and a Leupold. I wanted to view the resolution and image clarity of each scope, as well as experience first hand the fit and finish. The five months of reading and researching was quite intense and complicated and was the reason I decided on these six scopes. I was able to talk with the tech departments of the above-mentioned scopes. I ask questions concerning glare, resolution, contrast, light transmission, durability against the elements, recoil resistance, tracking or repeatable accuracy, what kind of glass they used, coatings, eye relief, weight, and mechanical soundness of the inner workings.
When I reached the sports store I ask to see these six scopes. The salesman was very nice and helpful. He put them one at a time on a rough-cut stock to mimic a rifle and set each scope at six-power. I was able to read a card that was placed on the wall some 30yds across the store. With each scope I could clearly make out the different lines marked on the card. Every one of the scopes had great resolution; in fact their resolution was nothing short of marvelous. I was so impressed and pleased. Only one problem!! My choice was now even harder. They all had great adjustments and wonderful eye relief and excellent fit and finish. I ask myself, ?Well Mike, what are you going to do now??
Then it dawned on me as I turned and looked the other direction across the store some 40 yards (this was a big store), noticing the huge front window. The sun was starting to set and it's rays came through the window creating a real back lighting problem. The rays were coming through the window in such a manner, that you could not make out the face of the man behind the front counter. It reminded me of last year when not long after dawn, my guide, Scott Adams and I were glassing a cannon. The sun was just fixing to break above the ridge in front of us and everything in our binos and scopes were flooded with reflected light. The glare created by the sun coming over the ridge was causing us a severe light reflection dilemma that was effecting our picture image. In remembering that event I came up with an idea. I said to myself, ?That's it! Let me look straight into the face of the person at the counter who was standing in front of the window and see if I could notice good definition of his facial features.? I also wanted to see if I could get a clear picture of the trees some 300 yds the other side of the window.
Well I picked up the Swarovski first and put it on the lowest power and I could see the persons face and the trees that were outside the window. I said ?wow? this is no 300 dollar scope that I am used to using! Then I noticed some reflected light in the objective lens causing some glare, so I moved the scope to try and lesson the effect. I was not surprised that there would be some of this sense the light coming through the window was so bright compared to the darkness that I was standing in some 40 yds inside the store. So I did the same thing with the Zeiss, Nikon, Burris, Shepherd and all of them performed just about the same. With only the Leupold left (which was a Leupold Premier 3.5-14x50 30mm tube), I picked it up assuming that I would get at least the same performance or close to the same. Well, was I surprised! When I put the Leupold up to my eyes I saw the persons face with just a little more definition than the other scopes. I also saw the trees some 300 yds past the window with greater detail and clarity. There was no reflected light or glare factor causing me to move the objective lens for a clearer view. I put it down and said to myself, ?maybe this is just an accident!? So I lifted the Leupold up to my eye once again and looked through the LPS with the same results. Yes, without a doubt a clear image of the person in front of the window, with as close to perfect an image as one could expect of the trees some 300yds the other side of the window. There was no reflected light detected or glare to distract from the clarity of the image.
At this point I ask the salesman if he would look through each scope and tell me if he could see any difference in the performance of the scopes. He looked through the scopes in the same order. He saw the reflected light creating a slight glare problem in every scope as until he got to the Leupold. He was noticeably surprised that there was an identifiable difference in the Leupold?s ability to reduce reflected light and glare. In fact he said, ?I would not have believed you if you were to tell me that the LPS can out performed the Swarovski or Zeiss in this way, if I had not experienced it myself.?
Well can anyone guess which scope I bought? You got it, the Leupold Premier 3.5-14x50. Of course something else happened when I was in the store. I bought a Weatherby Mark V stainless steel 300Wby Mag. to mount my new scope on. Yes, I know I was going to put it on my 7mmSTW, but I could not resist my favorite caliber in a Mark V. Can?t wait to get to Arizona and make that cross cannon shot on that unsuspecting bear. Arizona, hear I come! I want to thank everyone who responded to my initial post and for all the advice and help. pricem
