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Nikon Scopes

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JimFromTN View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JimFromTN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Nikon Scopes
    Posted: July/24/2018 at 14:05
Just out of curiosity, has Nikon improved their glass at all in the last 20 years?  When I fist started buying quality glass (something other than simmons, tasco, or bushnell), Nikon had basically 3 levels of glass.  There was the prostaff, buckmaster, and monarch.  The monarch was the top of their line and you could get the Monarch UUC, the monarch gold, and the Monarch X. My understanding was that it was the same glass, just different configurations.   I bought a monarch gold on clearance and it was a great scope.  It was top of the line at its price point, especially at clearance prices.  I know they have come up with new lines of monarch scopes but has the glass improved at all or is it the same glass from 20 years ago?  
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SageRatSafaris View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SageRatSafaris Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/24/2018 at 15:16
I don't know the answer, but I'd be very surprised if Nikon didn't make incremental improvements to their glass, coatings and prescriptions over the past two decades. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote saltydog235 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 06:48
They sure do sell a lot of refurbished stuff, personally I’d rather have my stuff furnished the first time around. I had a few instances dealing with the warranty department of theirs, it’s great, they send you a new one every single time it breaks. I got two whole shots on a 7mm08 before one broke.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lockjaw Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 09:29
I have 2 Nikon Monarchs. One is a 3-9x40 UCC, and its always been very bright and clear. 

The other is a Monarch 3 4-16x50 BDC, and its bright as all get out. I don't like looking through it turned all the way up, but its a nice scope. 

They seem to get more bulky looking as time goes by. Don't think they weigh more though. 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sgt. D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 12:43

 The short answer, Yes!!

The Pro-staff and Monarch are very competitive in glass quality these days. I don't recommend many scopes but those are some I recommend very often. As for "bang for the buck" you won't find a better deal. My personal scopes are Zeiss Diavari, IOR and Vortex so I have a pretty good idea of quality glass. For under 600.00 you can get a scope that will allow you to hunt to last light and their turrets are much better also.

This is the one I recommend most often for deer hunting.

Check out the SWFA inventory.

Nikon 3-9x50 ProStaff Riflescope    Matte, Nikoplex  $226.95

https://swfa.com/nikon-3-9x50-prostaff-riflescope.html

 

 

Take care of Soldiers, Show em how its done and do it with em, Run to the Fight & and hold your ground! I die my men go home! If you're a NCO and this ain't you. GET OUT! GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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koshkin View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote koshkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 14:20
Originally posted by JimFromTN JimFromTN wrote:

Just out of curiosity, has Nikon improved their glass at all in the last 20 years?  When I fist started buying quality glass (something other than simmons, tasco, or bushnell), Nikon had basically 3 levels of glass.  There was the prostaff, buckmaster, and monarch.  The monarch was the top of their line and you could get the Monarch UUC, the monarch gold, and the Monarch X. My understanding was that it was the same glass, just different configurations.   I bought a monarch gold on clearance and it was a great scope.  It was top of the line at its price point, especially at clearance prices.  I know they have come up with new lines of monarch scopes but has the glass improved at all or is it the same glass from 20 years ago?  

Monarch Gold and Monarch X were very different from (and much better than) Monarch UCC.  UCC and all subsequent Monarchs are made in Phillipines.  Gold and X were Japanese.

Currently, all Nikon scopes are made in the Phillipines.

They have gone through gradual changes, some for the better and some for the worse.  Overall, optical quality with all companies, including Nikon has become better over the years.

ILya
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tahqua View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tahqua Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 17:06
I missed out on the old 1.5-6 x 42 Gold...................
I have always liked my 2-7 and 3-9 Monarch UCC's. Though  the reticles aren't good in low light and heavy cover.
Doug
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Peddler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 17:34
I have 3 old Monarch UCC made in Japan and a 1.5-6 x 42 and a 2.5-10 x 50 Monarch Gold.
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tahqua View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tahqua Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 17:40
Lucky you, Skip
Doug
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Peddler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2018 at 17:51
Originally posted by tahqua tahqua wrote:

Lucky you, Skip


The 1.5-6 x 42 is on my TC G2 .45 ML in Talley Mounts. TC doesn’t offer the .45 any longer but there are still some barrels around and Bullberry still makes them.

I just found a company that will have laminated thumb hole stocks and forearms for the G2 soon.
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sambarman338 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sambarman338 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/29/2018 at 22:21
The picture through my Monarch 4-16x42 is very clear and sharp but there might be considerations even more important. I am critical of the tunnel vision from the over-intrusive field stop and large rubber eyepiece, which I hope is not present on their small scopes meant for dangerous-game rifles.

The good news might be that they are very tough. An American contact has the habit of firing hundreds of rounds a day through .338 magnums and his 416 Rigby. He says he has wrecked three Burris scopes with Posi-lock. This surprises me because I think a third screw to stop the damnable erector tube rocking around under recoil is the only logical hope for image-movement - maybe it just needs to be beefed up a bit. When all is said and done, a scope is a sight, not something you should be using to find targets invisible to the naked eye. Staying on zero despite recoil and bumps is more important than anything else.

Having spent most of my working life in newspapers, I know that Nikon SLR cameras were the professionals' choice, largely for their toughness. And, according to my recoil-addicted mate, Nikon makes the toughest riflescopes, too.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote koshkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/29/2018 at 22:26
Sambarman, all current Nikon scopes are made by the same Philipine OEM that makes scopes for a bunch of other scope makers.  Forgive my directness, but your buddy's story is either BS or luck of the draw (or as is often happens a bit of both).

ILya

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sambarman338 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/30/2018 at 01:16
You've got me there, ILya.The man I mention is not a personal friend, and does not occur to me as a great researcher. On some subjects, we are chalk and cheese.

However, I find a simple honesty in the stuff he has told me. Why anyone could be bothered going to the range at 7.30am and staying until 9 some nights is beyond me. Why he would or how he could afford to fire 120 .338 magnum shots on those days and 100-plus from his 416 rifle is beyond my ken. But as with the other guy I mentioned, I find his experience a kind of independent, destructive testing when it comes to the scopes. You'll be happy to know he does not use old reticle-movement scopes. Except for his liking of Nikons, he's American as apple pie.

Your words about BS and luck of the draw may be valid, but where else can we turn for insight into these matters - HP White?. The scope makers probably do extensive tests but any results they give us will be the ones that favor their positions, mixed up with advertisers' puffs.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote koshkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/31/2018 at 14:07
Originally posted by sambarman338 sambarman338 wrote:

You've got me there, ILya.The man I mention is not a personal friend, and does not occur to me as a great researcher. On some subjects, we are chalk and cheese.

However, I find a simple honesty in the stuff he has told me. Why anyone could be bothered going to the range at 7.30am and staying until 9 some nights is beyond me. Why he would or how he could afford to fire 120 .338 magnum shots on those days and 100-plus from his 416 rifle is beyond my ken. But as with the other guy I mentioned, I find his experience a kind of independent, destructive testing when it comes to the scopes. You'll be happy to know he does not use old reticle-movement scopes. Except for his liking of Nikons, he's American as apple pie.

Your words about BS and luck of the draw may be valid, but where else can we turn for insight into these matters - HP White?. The scope makers probably do extensive tests but any results they give us will be the ones that favor their positions, mixed up with advertisers' puffs.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a reasonable idea of failure rates and testing methods for riflescopes on account of me working for a company that makes opto-mechanical and electro-optical test systems for riflescopes and other such things.

While I am viewing your acquaintance's story with a certain amount of skepticism (I have never seen a story with these many big bore rounds fired on a routine basis check out as anything but BS), even if true, it is indicative of absolutely nothing.

Destroying a sample of one in a non-controlled environment does not tell us anything useful outside of the fact that the guy doing the testing can't tell his ass from an elbow.

It reminds me a story of a prominent gun write who wanted to optical qualities of riflescopes in his backyard, so he made up a printed scale with different line thicknesses and started staring at it with different scopes.  All the scopes he has tested see somewhere between lines #5 and #8, ranging from $50 scopes to $2k scopes.  That basically means that two thirds of his scale is useless, but he is so spectacularly incompetent that he can't comprehend it despite a couple of people politely pointing it out.

It is not an uncommon pattern with gun writers who are constantly flattered by manufacturers to the point they start believing in their own brilliance a bit too much.

ILya
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