Hello,

I'm back again for more advice. I mentioned in another thread I want to put together a varmint rifle, looking around at scopes and I'm not sure where to start. The nicest scopes I have at the moment are a nightforce shv, Swarovski z3, leupold vx3i and a zeiss hd5.

For my varmint gun I don't want to spend like 1200 dollars or more on a scope but I'd like something a bit different than what I have. I see SWFA has some pretty decent prices on their brand of scopes. I don't really have any "tactical" scopes at the moment. How do the SWFA offerings stack up for the $$$???

Thanks!

SWFA have always been solid values.

Perhaps nothing cutting edge, but generally well put together, with serviceable glass, and good tracking of adjustments. I believe that SWFA does stand behind them from a service standpoint (if something does come up).

I've peered through a few of their fixed 10x scopes and found them to be decent (frame of reference is Leupold MKIV as the best rifle scopes I own)

+1 on what jjkroll32 wrote. Plus I can say if you go to their line with HD glass like the 5-20 the glass is very comparable to my Nightforce NSX scopes. The glass on their non-HD scopes is good too(I am probably going to replace my NF BR on my AR50 with a SS 16X). Their tracking is very good. And SWFA does stand behind their scopes. If you have a problem they will take care of you. Also I believe all of the SS scopes are rated for 50 BMG.

Can’t speak to their scopes but their customer service is great.

See my thread here:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...910065624#2910065624

I've got a couple of their scopes, both are 20x42 they're good solid scopes, well built and good tracking ... I've got both of them on 308's, one my SiG 716 DMR and the other my SiG SSG3000 ...

Unfortunately I haven't been able to shoot them in several years due to health issues, but I'm on the mend, maybe another year or two!

I've never been a fan at all of Burris Scopes but the new tactical model of theirs I looked through was pretty impressive.

Cabela's and Eurooptics had a few great closeout deals on Leica ER's but it looks like those might be gone.

Vortex Scopes are excellent in their price ranges and have supposedly one of the best warranties out there. I guess the Vortex scopes I have do have the VERY best warrantee - one I've never needed to use! LOL

I've always found that the Highest end Japanese made Bushnells to be quite good - the ones that used to be Bausch and Lomb. The Elite 6500's I have are to my eyes about on par with older Nightforce NXS's I also have. I've never broken one either. I used to prefer their higher end Elites to the Leupolds I had at the time.

I wish you could still find some of those Leica ER's for under $1k, I'm glad I grabbed a couple when I did. The glass is better than my Swaro AVs.

Good luck with your project, I'm looking forward to see what you end up with! ;-)

I think you have to nail down the top choices then see where to get it at a reasonable price.

With a 'varmint' gun, the scope choice may be a fair amount different with being on a bench for prairie dogs compared to predator hunting in the bush.

My prairie dog scopes top out at 16 or 24 power. For most regular hunting, even longer distance, a clear, good quality 14 power at the top end is plenty(for me). Of course I wouldn't have it set that high in most cases.

Unless one has that ultra steady rest high magnification while hunting can be a hindrance. There are more than a few references to a hunter fiddling with a scope, frittering away the seconds a viable shot was offered. Just some random thoughts.

I actually just purchased their 3-15 power. I've used their 10 fixed power too. they make a decent scope for a reasonable price and just had a good black Friday sale. I will not presume to say they are on the same level as nightforce, Zeis or Swaroksi, but they are a good vakue mid range scope. I've got a Vortex PST that I like a lot as well and you might want to also check them out too.

There are number of SWFA reviews on you tube that you might find informative.

The Super Sniper scope has some interesting history including both TASCO and the US military.

I have their 5-20 with HD glass, it is excellent. Glass is very good, detents on the turrets are good, and the illumination is well designed. A lot of scope for the money, especially when on sale.

Their sample list also has some good deals. I bought a "B" grade scope that look flawless as far as I could tell.

I'm a big fan of SWFA. The 10x and 12x are very good scopes for the money, particularly if you don't mind fixed glass. Optics are surprisingly good and they are pretty rugged and track well. For the price they really can't be beat.

Suggestion that you look at the sample list is also a good one. I've purchased a couple of scopes from their sample list. "Demo B" scopes are nearly like new and can be a great value. Just bought a Vortex Razor off the sample list that looked to be brand new.

Thanks for this post. I just ordered one from samplelist for testing various rifles. I’ll try it out on my Savage next week.

Tony.