Topic: The Best Long Range Rifle Scopes of 2023 (Read 37 times)
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This is one hell of a scope for the money. Actually, it’s a hell of a scope for twice the price. Bushnell’s reinvented Match Pro brings a very useful and versatile reticle for just about any type of target co*petition, very good controls, and honest performance. Our test is designed to find shortco*ings in just about any submission, but try as we might to detect where Bushnell cut corners to arrive at an under-$700 precision scope, we couldn’t find fatal flaws.
That’s not to say this scope is on par with the $3,000 submissions in the field. The optics are forgettable, despite extra-low-dispersion glass in the objective lens. And turret co*ponents are similarly pedestrian; we noted some mushy response in our dialing regimen.
But here’s what you get for your money, and why we tapped the Match Pro ED as our Great Buy in the precision riflescope field. You get low-profile, beautifully indexed turrets with a smart red button that pops up on the second revolution, a very serviceable reticle, and a range of adjustment that can win rimfire co*petitions and should show up on PRS and NRL long-range steel co*petitions over the next few years.
“I’d reco*mend this scope for any shooter on a budget,” said one tester, who amended his co*ment. “Actually, I’d reco*mend this scope for a shooter on any budget.”
The DM2 reticle, which stands for Deploy Mil 2, was one of the most visible precision reticles in our low-light test, which measures how long shooters can see a non-illuminated reticle in the dark in order to make a reasonably certain shot. Its weight is balanced between visibility and non-obscuring of the target, and it makes good use of nomenclature, with even-numbered holds in a large font and odd-numbered holds in a smaller font. In all, it’s a fast, serviceable reticle.
Add Bushnell’s excellent warranty to the mix, and you get a very useful precision scope for a fair price, and should be considered by any shooter looking to get into long-range and rimfire co*petitions.
Vortex might have been satisfied with simply upgrading the reticle inside its flagship precision scope, which has won enough PRS and NRL matches to qualify as a class leader. But with the new Gen III version of the venerable Razor HD, Vortex has created a new turret system that is precise, smart, and innovative.
The heart of the turret update is what Vortex calls its L-TEC+ zero system in which relaxing a single set screw allows users to make fast and precise turret adjustments. The system allows zeros to be established between the turrets’ .1 MRAD clicks, meaning that shooters no longer have to be satisfied with turrets set a half click above or below their true zero, a fudge factor that is more problematic the farther you shoot.
The operation takes a bit of getting used to. Tester John B. Snow, thinking the external slot on the head of the turret was designed to accept a beefy screwdriver bit, reefed on our sample, breaking the pot-metal, before reading the instructions and learning that once the retaining screw is loosened, the turret moves easily with only fingertip tension. Our other rifle-range revelation: The creepy caterpil*ar-looking grub that emerges from the base of the turret is not an embedded chrysalis but rather a smart revolution indicator that beco*es fully emergent on the third full rotation of the elevation turret.
For the smart turret updates, the Vortex wins our Innovation Award, but that’s hardly the only update to this excellent scope. The new EBR-7D reticle is a marvel of efficient simplicity. Built around a .03 MRAD red-illuminated center dot with open aiming cross, the reticle’s elevation steps are in .2 MRAD hatches, and windage steps in .2 MRAD dots. We would like to see slightly bolder indexing, as the reticle references were hard to see below about 11-power.
The image delivered by the Razor HD is one of the best in the class, and we liked the turret indexing and smart and useful pull-to-turn illumination control. With a very close parallax adjustment and the infinitely adjustable zero, this would make an excellent rimfire co*petition scope.
Vortex is understandably proud of this scope, but with a retail price of around $4,000, we think it’s pretty pricey co*pared with its peer group.
We’ve been testing Nightforce ATACRs since 2016, when the co*pany brought out the 4-16×50 version of what was to beco*e the OG of the best long range rifle scopes. We’ve seen the magnification and capabilities of the flagship Nightforce grow in proportion to the requirements of its customers, and the appearance of the ATACR atop PRS champions’ rifles for the last decade is a testament to its capabilities.
But Nightforce hasn’t been satisfied owning the MRAD market. With an MOA version of the ATACR, it hopes to win over shooters who have stubbornly resisted the transition to mils. The heart of the new Nightforce is what it calls its MOA-XT reticle, an MOA-based Horus-style grid reticle that provides fast and clear aiming points.
“The reticle is about as good as an MOA-based reticle can be for dynamic long-range shooting,” said one tester, a confirmed MIL shooter. Indeed, at first glance, the MOA-XT appears to be based on MRAD values, but a closer look shows the granularity that MOA-based reticles are known for, with a .16 MOA central aiming point and 1 MOA marks on the main stadia with numeric labels every 2 MOA and bold dots every 4 MOA on the horizontal stadia.
Beyond the new reticle, the ATACR brings everything you’d expect to the platform: excellent glass with best-in-class edge clarity, very responsive turrets tuned to .25 MOA click values, and a smart push-to-activate illumination system. Mounting dimensions on the 34mm tube are excellent, and the platform’s durability has been proven in co*petitions and on battlefields for a decade.
Our test team returned with mixed feedback on this scope. Half love the race-car style that helps the XTR PRO stand out in a field of same-looking black tubes; the other half felt the styling was a thinly veiled attempt to differentiate Burris from Steiner, owned by the same holding co*pany. Half our testers thought the customized “Race Dial” is a genius device to quickly dial between known distances at various shooting stations in co*petition. Other members felt like this was an unnecessary shortcut.
More unanimous was the high praise for the optics. The Burris finished near the top of the field in both resolution and low-light performance, and shooters generally liked the image, though some detected edge distortion at lower powers. On the mechanical side of the ledger, testers reported that the turrets, parallax, and illumination knobs all had noticeable grit or tightness in their movements.
The XTR PRO is available in three different reticles, all first-plane MIL-based models. There’s the SCR2 ¼ MIL reticle and the venerable Horus TREMOR5. Our test sample came with the excellent SCR2 MIL reticle, which is relatively sparse but has enough references to be functional not only at long-range steel targets but also on rimfire ranges. We liked the ranging references and very fast numeric references on both the elevation and windage stadia.
Lastly, the tool-less elevation turret is worth special mention. Squeeze two tabs on the cover, lift, and you can easily remove the cap, revealing a second dial with a tension lever. Swing out the lever, and you can zero the turret to any position, even if it’s between .1 MIL click values. This is an innovation that other brands are wise to use, because it allows for infinitely precise zeroing, a feature that resolves deviation that beco*es more significant with target distance.