Nightforce Reticle Decision

J

jim

Member
I would appreciate some thoughts on a couple of Nightforce reticle choices for bench shooting at distances from 400 to 600 yards. There are 2 Nightforce scopes that I can obtain a very good deal on - one is a CH2 reticle with crosshairs and a .20 MOA dot in a NSX 5.5x22x50 model and the second is an NXS 8x32x56 with a NP-R1 reticle with 1 MOA hash marks both vertical and horizontal. I know there may be better reticle choices however with the good deal on these two scopes I will be purchasing one of them so would like thoughts on these 2 reticles.

Thanks
 
Jim,

Buy the 8x32x56.

This choice of these two different scopes includes two choices that should matter to you more than differences in reticle style.

Do you want 5.5x22 or a 8x32? Do you want a 50 or 56mm scope? If you need someone else's opinion on their preferred reticle of these two choices then you should be ambivalent on the question of reticle.

If you're going to use this scope for hunting and not just target then the fine cross hair and dot can be hard to find against the background.

For bench shooting, of these two choices, I recommend you choose the 8x32x56 but not for the reticle. I use a 5.5x22x50 NP-R2 on a a LR hunting rig. A 56mm is to much to sclupp around much farther than the bench. The greater magnification of the 32 is of some benefit on the bench. If you were to be ordering a new scope and had the full range of options available to you I would suggest you consider a 12x42x56 with the NP-DD double dot reticle. I would not pay much extra for that particular reticle choice over most others though.

For the shooting I do, I don't care for busy reticles that fill the field with a bunch of distracting hold off points and range finding features. But those reticles have their fans too.


Actually, buy them both if they are really good deals and pay for a reticle change in the 5.5x 22x50.


Greg
 
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No clutter reticles

I own two NF scopes. A 12x-42x-56 NXS fitted to a .25/06 field varmint rifle and a 8x-32x-56 BR fitted to a .222rem also a field rifle. After trying a couple of different reticles in some friends scopes I came back to the CH2 because it was uncluttered and all the various hold points really can't be used when making split second decissions anyway.
Andy.
 
as a side note..the 5.5-22 is the scope the SEAL's use on thier current accuracy international sniper rifles.......

mike in co
 
I have 5 Nightforces in BR and NXS models ranging from 5.5-22 to 12-42. ALL reticles are NP-R2. Next one will be NP-R1.

The 8-32 BR NP-R1 is the one you want.
 
As has been said, for known distance shooting from a bench, you want the 8-32 BR...if you're limited to those two. You can live with the NP-R1, I think.

If it was me, I'd look for a 12-42 BR with a NP-2DD or one of the CH reticles. I have a NP-2DD and a CH-3. I like both quite a bit, but am bending toward the CH-3 as I don't use the lower dot at all. I'd be fine with a CH-1 or CH-2.

The bottom line is that when I'm sitting at the bench, the clock is ticking down and the windflags are spinning like tops, I don't want any more complications in that scope than are absolutely required for the game.

But, tastes vary. There are 31 flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins for a reason.
 
I had a 12-42 NXS with the fine crosswire, CH1 and found it easy to hold off more accurately than a dot for long distances. I think I heard they no longer provide that reticule in the NXS.
 
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