[updated] Scope guru's help shed some light... long Tactical -vs- short LPVO

You guys are suggesting some good scopes that I did not find when looking last week. The reticle and holdover ability matters most to me, and the March scope would have been near perfect as it illuminates the whole reticle. It is hard to find a LPVO with all the features that a large tactical scope has. With the Nightforce's larger MOA reticle I am hoping to just be able to holdover with fixed parallax at lower power and dial up the power for longer shots. And if needed I can dial up the top turret for extended ranges. While I would like to focus parallax up close, dialing while hunting might be too time consuming in the moment. I just hope the Nightforce is clear at close range.

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But will the NX8 reticle have visible holdover marks at 1x?

That's part of my concern with all this.

I'm thinking I'd be better off with a SFP reticle and have a dope sheet for 1x and another for max power. Anything in between would then within my PBR and I could hold dead on as long as I wasn't shooting up or down at steep angle.

Shooting down at an angle (rabbits out of an upstairs window) being my primary concern.

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I was thinking that while hunting carrying it on low power would be a greater benefit than not. And for longer range the power can be turned up, as there is usually more time allowed in those situations. Shooting at the range at 200 yards with higher power scopes had me "searching" for the target more than I would have liked so I don't want to be doing that in a hunting situation. As for SFP, a DOPE sheet, and all that goes with them, I like FFP for the easy yardage ranging they provide. They make dialing for yardage really easy and fast. I will use a DOPE sheet in my scope cap for my standard holdovers, but doing a bunch of ranging and holdover formulas in the field may cost me a shot. Granted, in FFP the reticle grows and covers the target more as you zoom in, but I found it to be a non-issue when actually using the NX8 4-32×50. That is a great little scope, and I hope the lower powered, shorter and lighter NX8 1-8 serves me even better.

For me the problem with 1-?'s is I never use 1x, just thought I'd put that in here, these were designed for AR's and QCB. My 1-8 Burris XTR2 is blurry at closer distances on 8X which I hate, lots of fisheye too. I'm kinda done with these 1-?'s, especially for airguns.

The last two 3 gun matches I used 1.5x with my 1-8, there's still plenty of FOV even for "fast". I won the first one.

I sure am tempted to go for that March 1.5-15x42 though! Also the Athlon Helos 2-12x40. Both aren't out yet as far as I know.

Exit pupil, glass quality, and coatings make the most difference with how bright the scope appears in low light. One of the brightest ever made was the Zeiss 6-24x72. 

I'd go for the March 1-10 with adjustable parallax over any other 1-8 or 1-10, etc, for an airgun. It just makes too much sense. Even though I like daylight bright illumination I don't find it necessary.

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The video reviews on the Nightforce seem to give it good reviews for clarity and fisheye at any setting. The only thing they had issue with was eyebox, and needing to be right behind the scope. In regards to your three-gun competition, the reviewer's said the illuminated center acted as a red dot scope for them and was far better than others. So this may be worth looking into for you. I was looking for a lighter scope that removed all of the front lense weight and had all the features of a long range tactical scope. Very few LPVO scopes fit that bill and check off all the boxes, while still being a "decent" price for the same. Heck the way the trend in LPVO's is going, in five years they will all be 1-10 power, in a 34mm tube, have every feature and reticle of a long-range tactical, and be fairly affordable.

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Well if I'm spending that kind of money I might as well get the new March 1-10x24 and have side focus. But honestly at that point I think I'd just get a dedicated bunny rifle with an Eotech and a separate woods rifle and scope combo.

At any rate, I don't want to take your thread any further off the rails. I found the original question interesting and hope it gets more input.

Please post your thoughts on shooting your NX8 1-8x24 at close range after you have some time with it.

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I shot the 1-8×24 some up close and at 100 yards tonight. My first impression that I got was how small it appears next to the already downsized NX8 4-32×50. This was one of the underlying reasons that I bought it. When sighting in at 10 yards it needed to be on a fairly low power to be in focus. I did not check the yardage as to when it comes into focus at high magnification. Being FFP obviously made my holdover reticle fairly small, but not unseen on low power. Picking up the target with this reticle was super fast and even more instinctual than with the larger objective scope with cross hair style reticles. The center dot being just over 1 moa was not an issue up close either, and the holdover markings at high power were the same as the 4-32 so they are of the same benefit. The side focus may be more useful for me bench shooting at multiple yardages, but not so convenient in the woods hunting. It seems that I can work around it with this LPVO.

@airgun-hobbyist - you can get pretty decent video shooting through the NX8 LVPOs. I really need to find some time to sort through the (terabytes of) video that I have shot this past year, but to give an example - here is one that I took shooting with my SideShot / H7 Blackbone. 12mm manual focus lens, it's focussed for my 7-35 and could be better (lighting also wasn't ideal that day): 


L2 / 350mm .25 / JSB MKII 34g / 104 meters / Tishina 150mm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_52dx8AkaU&feature=youtu.be

Turn on the HD settings in the YT place if it doesn't do it automagically

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@mtnGhost the videos you made helped greatly in my decision to move to the NX8 1-8×24 to begin with. Keep them coming. I did get the Pard's NV007 for night hunting where legal. Though I haven't put a camera on this scope yet it is a pretty clear and light little unit for the price.

I am digging the 1-8 on my Slayer. However, I would like it to go to 10 power. Nightforce is probably going that route in the next offerings, as higher power in these is the trend of the scope manufacturer's. Because of the lower high-power setting, I'm thinking of trying a second focal plane there as well. It would be easier to acquire and see the reticle on low power and because ranging and holding over (at longer ranges) is usually done by me at a high power anyway, it might be a winner all the way around.