I thought I would write my initial impressions of this optic since it is relatively new. I will follow up with further impressions after I have had more time with it.
It took a long time to decide whether to purchase this scope or 'The Beast' offered from Nightforce as well. I have a feeling a lot of shooters purchasing a scope such as this struggle with the same decision. The Beast offers a FFP reticle and a really neat high speed turret concept. There is over $1000 difference in price between the two optics. Had I been putting this on a 338 Lapua Magnum or larger caliber, the choice would have been crystal clear. However I rarely shoot past 1000 yards. My 260 Rem requires just 7.4 mils to reach that distance therefore the high speed turrets become much less important to me. The other main difference is the ATACR is a SFP reticle. To me that is also trivial. I know a lot of people say the FFP reticle is far superior, but truth be told, who MILs at 5 power? I don't. The reticle at that magnification is too small to get an accurate reading. Even in a field setting when searching for targets at an unknown distance, I still would range at the highest power simply for accuracy and consistency purposes. If the wider field of view is needed to find a target, one must simply remember to turn the magnification up before milling. The FFP is certainly a nice feature, especially when accompanied by a Horus reticle, but a SFP reticle is not a deal breaker for me. With that said, I thought $1000 buys a lot of brass which in turn, means a lot of trigger time. Train with what you shoot and the FFP vs SFP argument becomes moot. That is my opinion on the deal.
When I first pulled the scope out of the box, I thought to myself that it is a massive scope. There is no doubt that it is superbly built. As I looked over it, I discovered that is was 'Made in Japan'. I didn't know that going into it and it is really irrelevant as the Japanese know how to make high quality glass. Looking through the optic, the reticle is incredibly crisp and the image clarity and quality is amazing clear. I really like what Nightforce has done with the MIL-R reticle. While I do not have significant experience with it yet, my first impressions were positive. The inverted 'T' ranging scale keeps the reticle unclutter while still providing a precise milling reference. I look forward to continue to practice with the system. As night began to fall, I was able to test out the scopes lowlight capability. While I was impressed with the scopes image and illumination at low light, I do not like the illumination activation. To activate the illumination, you pull the parralax adjustment outward the same as before. It is a personal opinion, but I don't like it. The illumination itself is well done as well but I didn't find it different than what is offered in the current NXS line. Turret adjustments are positive and precise. There is no 'slop' like some tactical turrets.
Time will tell, but I believe Nightforce has a winner with this scope. As I get more experience with the optic I will update this thread.
Mounted in 34mm Nightforce ultralite rings.
It took a long time to decide whether to purchase this scope or 'The Beast' offered from Nightforce as well. I have a feeling a lot of shooters purchasing a scope such as this struggle with the same decision. The Beast offers a FFP reticle and a really neat high speed turret concept. There is over $1000 difference in price between the two optics. Had I been putting this on a 338 Lapua Magnum or larger caliber, the choice would have been crystal clear. However I rarely shoot past 1000 yards. My 260 Rem requires just 7.4 mils to reach that distance therefore the high speed turrets become much less important to me. The other main difference is the ATACR is a SFP reticle. To me that is also trivial. I know a lot of people say the FFP reticle is far superior, but truth be told, who MILs at 5 power? I don't. The reticle at that magnification is too small to get an accurate reading. Even in a field setting when searching for targets at an unknown distance, I still would range at the highest power simply for accuracy and consistency purposes. If the wider field of view is needed to find a target, one must simply remember to turn the magnification up before milling. The FFP is certainly a nice feature, especially when accompanied by a Horus reticle, but a SFP reticle is not a deal breaker for me. With that said, I thought $1000 buys a lot of brass which in turn, means a lot of trigger time. Train with what you shoot and the FFP vs SFP argument becomes moot. That is my opinion on the deal.
When I first pulled the scope out of the box, I thought to myself that it is a massive scope. There is no doubt that it is superbly built. As I looked over it, I discovered that is was 'Made in Japan'. I didn't know that going into it and it is really irrelevant as the Japanese know how to make high quality glass. Looking through the optic, the reticle is incredibly crisp and the image clarity and quality is amazing clear. I really like what Nightforce has done with the MIL-R reticle. While I do not have significant experience with it yet, my first impressions were positive. The inverted 'T' ranging scale keeps the reticle unclutter while still providing a precise milling reference. I look forward to continue to practice with the system. As night began to fall, I was able to test out the scopes lowlight capability. While I was impressed with the scopes image and illumination at low light, I do not like the illumination activation. To activate the illumination, you pull the parralax adjustment outward the same as before. It is a personal opinion, but I don't like it. The illumination itself is well done as well but I didn't find it different than what is offered in the current NXS line. Turret adjustments are positive and precise. There is no 'slop' like some tactical turrets.
Time will tell, but I believe Nightforce has a winner with this scope. As I get more experience with the optic I will update this thread.
Mounted in 34mm Nightforce ultralite rings.
