Nikon 3-9 EFR Review

JoeWayneRhea

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Apr 5, 2015
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Alright to be honest this is the third one of these I've owned so its not a huge surprise when I unboxed it but I'll try and be short and hit the highlights . . First off you can see its a nice looking scope , about 12.5 inches long so its kinda in the short scope category. Front AO moves very smooth and stays put , turrets are capable of being zeroed after truing up and click very solid , tracks perfect at my limited 40y range . Glass is Very good for this price point , and I really like the crosshair with the small target dot . A couple things this scope does well is something a lot of guys don't touch on often.
First it holds Zero ! When you are lucky enough to have a rifle that doesn't have POI shifts you for Damn sure want a scope that'll do the same . A lot of them won't for under 200$ . And the BEST Feature for sure is this .. Almost NO scopes in this price range are at their sharpest focus when all the Parallax's eliminated . Think about that for a moment ... Next time you are out shooting and have you gun on the bench do the head-bob thing and find the sweet spot where the crosshair is absolutely glued on the target with no movement . Don't worry about if its focused , just try and get ALL the parallax out of the sight picture using the objective adjustment , wherever its located .
Now when you are done see if the target image is perfectly focused , go on ahead I'll wait ... ... Odds are its not . The side "focus " or front " focus" is a tool to make the two images stable ...Its NOT a target focus ..BUT here's the good news , on GOOD scopes it almost always will be !!! You can use the rear crosshair focus to tweek the tiny difference if needed . On a lesser quality scope you are gonna have to choose .....Clear target image , or Zero parallax error ..You can't have both
I've had 3 of these like I said and I continue to buy them for This very reason above all others . For guys worried about the tracking and repeatablity here's a target I shot at 40 yards and after each 5 shots I moved the turrets one full turn shot 5 more and then moved it back . Its about as good a group as me and this gun are capable of on a day like today where its a little breezy
. Well anyways that's my review . I apologize that I didn't have a bunch of measuments and optical scientific type talk ( I'll work on it ) .. .A scope is used to help ya hit what your aiming at , this one does that extremely well . If there's a scope out there that is under 300$ that I haven't owned I honestly have no idea what it could be . This is the one scope for 200$ I would recommend to anyone .
 
Its very nice for the money . But not as nice as a VX2. To my mind the VX2 is the next "real" step forward in quality in small variables . It does everything just as well but the Leupold has better glass no way around it . I have one at the custom shop right now that I think will be my ultimate scope for a FWB rifle .
For half the cost you get about 90% of the Leupold . So in my mind its a bargain . There's absolutely nothing wrong with the glass in the Nikon , but I own enough scopes I can look thru them back to back and the Leupold is a step up .
 
Yea Im a bit jealous of that custom shop thing. Most leopolds and scopes in general are geared to powder here. In other words, parallax set at 50-100 meters and none mil dot reticles. 

This one would be something worth picking up but, Its light and nice to use on a hunter but then no mildot or tactical turrets that you can turn for elevation. close but no cigar.
http://skytte.astrosweden.se/sv/articles/2.107.4805/leupold-leupold-vx-2-ultralight-3-9x33-efr

One brand that you guys might not have is Delta optical. 

FFP, Good glass, parallax from 8 meters, "mil dot" reticle. Going to pick one up next summer to go on my hunter vulcan.

http://en.deltaoptical.eu/products/closer-to-the-target/riflescopes212/titanium-sport-shooting2/delta-optical-titanium-45-14x44-ffp-ao119-en/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Knpt9nNK6o
 
I have owned 3 deltas. The standard 6-24x42 the more advanced 4,5-30x50 and the FFP 4,5-14x44

The 6-24 is Good up to 20x but only a standard mildot reticle that is calibrated at 10x. So not a good scope if you need lots of holdover because at 20x 4mildots become 2...

The 4,5-30 is a great scope, good all over apart from the reticle, it is Nice but I would prefer something else like their LR600 reticle. It is a bit heavy too.

The 4,5-14 is also a great Little scope. Really Nice but unfortunately the reticle is way too thick. At 14x good luck target shooting...


I ended up selling all of them and setteling on a SWFA 12x42. Because on the ffp I ended up on the same magnification anyways due to the reticle thickness.

The only scope I have some regret in selling is the 4,5-30 because it was such a great 50m target scope at 20-30x power.
 
True, for Me fixed power is so Nice because you just Take aim, adjust parallax and shoot. No need to worry about magnification or whatever.

I know where to get them cheap. Buy from Poland. It is a polish brand so it is cheaper there. I bought all of mine from Militaria.pl wich was cheaper with ups shipping to my door than astrosweden without shipping...
 
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Well that didn't turn out good, out of focus about the only thing you can see OK is the field of view and reticle.
Think ill have to set up later and adjust them better.

Hawke glass wasn't worse but i think they cheat a bit. Tinting their lenses yellow so they look brighter?. 

This clearly needs an extensive shooting and foto session that I dont have time for right now. Maybe after xmas :|

Shot out of my gym windows that havent been cleaned in years.