Seriously made up for lost time today. Covered lots of ground, saw lots of neat stuff (from surprising sources) and met/saw lots of folks. Let's roll......
Leupold Tactical: I was graciously hosted by Chris Estadt, formerly of Vortex, and got to check out all the new Lupy scopes, both "ready for production" and some concept scopes that will be arriving down the road. I got to play with the new Mark 8 CQBSS 1.1-8x26, and the new Mark 4 6.5-20x50 ER/T with Horus reticle and locking elevation turret, and all the ER/T models with Horus reticles and M5 turrets. Bottom line is this, while these scopes are all decent, the pricetags have gotten a bit out of hand, whether it is by design or not, I am not sure. However, here's some very realistic street prices on these new models:
Mark 8 CQBSS (Part #110121): $3349
Mark 4 6.5-20x50 ER/T Horus H58/locking turret (Part #111855) : $2669 or Horus H27 reticle (Part #68140): $2559 (Conversely, the same scope with H28 reticle (part #110562) without the locking turret is $2189....so that big honking locking elevation knob is a $500 option.....?)
Based on what I see on the market, with the features and reticles of its competitors, the Lupy Tac scopes haven't been a real value recently, but these prices put them in strange territory where you wonder what the deal is. I mean, the CQBSS is priced $1000 over the S&B 1-8 Short dot.....huh?
Anyhoo, the star of the show, IMO, was the new HAMR (High Accuracy Multi-Range). This fixed 4x24 little cutie has an "all business" rugged appearance and is Lupy's take on the ACOG concept. Featuring a 5.56 62-grain calibrated CM-R2 reticle (basicially the ACOG horseshoe reticle in red......5moa horseshoe with 0.5moa dot) , an integral picatinny mount, and the availability of an optional DeltaPoint reflex riding atop it, this scope is battle rifle or 3-gun ready. The sight picture was very clear with high resolution, flat, clean, with nearly 3" of eye relief. The reticle has drops to 800+ yards. It's still a bit spendy, $1199 for the standard model and $1399 for the optional DeltaPoint model, and it does need batteries, but this scope is a worthy alternative to the ACOG, IMO. Well executed and worth a long look...
I once wrote that Lupy was no longer relevant....that was my inexperience there...but, it seems they are pricing themselves out of relevancy in the commercial market....in military circles they will be more than fine.
Nikon: Ho, hum. Nothing really new here to report. All the riflescopes (ProStaff, Buckmasters, and Monarch) are made in the Phillipines now. What's puzzling is that the new ProStaff scopes have finger adjustable turrets that reset without tools, while the higher priced B'masters and Monarch knobs require a coin or screwdriver to reset to zero, very similar to the Vortex Diamondback. Odd..... The "Made in Japan" Monarch X series, contrary to rumor, are NOT discontinued....but, dealer cost on them jumped about 20% from 2010...that is not a misprint...so a slow seller will move even slower....maybe they needed a reason to discontinue them for 2012....
Bushnell: The biggest news is the Bushy followed on the heels on their highly successful 10x42 Fusion 1600 ARC LRF binos with a new 12x50 version. While the optics on these are nothing special, the laser performance has been quite surprising and satisfying to many a customer, and overall these have been a good value for the money.
The other news is the amalgamation of the Elite 4200 and 3200 series into just an "Elite" series and a new "Elite Tactical" series which seem to combine all the old Elite 6500, 4200, and 32oo Tacs under one umbrella. Other than incorporating something called "Ultra Wide Band" coatings in their optics and Argon purging, I'm not sure what is really different other than the name change (except prices are going up). To be sure, the FFP versions of these scopes have been a solid and sensible mil/mil FFP scope (except for the green illumination) but there is nothing to get really to excited about here.....
Ran into Scott Parks from Vortex Optics today...a capable shooter and online forum presence for Vortex.....a very likable guy, we talked about scopes and him meeting Lou Ferrigno of "Incredible Hulk" fame.....ironically, Scott bears more than a passing semblance to Ben Grimm (Thing) from Fantastic Four....great big fella who looks like he could smash things if the need arose...good guy to have on your side for sure...
Kowa: My peeps at Kowa are introducing some new lower priced roof and porro prism binoculars but only mockups were on the show floor. A new super telephoto lens/spotting scopes (Prominar 88mm) with body focus that doubles as a spotter or a telephoto lens for digiscoping is the new hot item.
However, the really big news was Josh Lazenby (Kowa product manager) whipping out a mildot reticle 30x eyepiece for the Prominar 77mm and 88mm spotter. I've said the Prominar Kowa spotters are the best in the world (because they are) but the one hole in the game was lack of a reticle'd eyepiece for us tactical guys. While it was "only" a mildot reticle, the fact I was even shown this is a huge step in the right direction. My suggestion: Make it a more sophisticated mil-scale reticle for spotting and put it in a LER eyepiece for range use and I'm all in. Listen up: All you fellow shooters and Hide members, if you would like to see this happen, email Josh at Joshua(at)kowa.com and politely tell him this would be of interest. Use your collective marketing power and you can/will make this happen. We need to encourage manufacturers to come off the fence. Here's a golden opportunity. Thanks.
A couple of years ago, I jumped into the Kruger Optical Lynx APR FFP illuminated spotting scope (raise your hand if you remember). These were less than stellar and I could barely move them for just a few hundred dollars. Well, now they sell for $1200-$1300 MAP....I hope they are improved...
Anyway, I bring this up because I recovered from the trauma enough to visit them again and check out the new DTS 1-8x40 Tactical Sight. One thing for sure, there is nothing that looks like it in the world, so rather than try to describe it, here's a link http://www.krugeroptical.com/ko-tactical-scopes-next.asp With it's carbon fiber frame and funky design, this is definitely an "out of the box" riflescope suitable only for an AR platform. Looking through the thing you have either a 1x reflex sight (complete with obligatory greenish glass) or with a flick of the switch you get a 2-8 mildot reticle scope (choice of either FFP or SFP models on the table). Definitely different! David Fortier (he of "Premier Reticles has gone out of business" fame) was fawning over the "best" field of view (1x with a40mm objective will do that...) MAP on these is $1499, but could be had for about $1200 or so......at any rate, a unique product that guarantees looks at the range if you dare show up with it on your flat-top....
Zeiss: Big Blue is a fairly decent seller for us, mostly Conquest scopes with the occasional Victory scope, bino, or spotter. The only truly new product for 2011 is the Dialyt 18-45x65 Field Spotter...a Euro-inspired straight tube black rubber armored objective focus spotting scope, 15.5" long and about 42ounces, made to be easy to pack and designed for fast target acquisition in a field environment, tripod adaptable. This scope had an excellent sight picture, and unlike other draw-tube scopes it might compete against, it is completely waterproof. With a price of around $1200, this is an interesting option that I would like to evaluate in a field setting.
Sniper's Hide member "Jeff inTexas" FYI, your favorite classic Zeiss binos are being discontinued this year...might want to get another pair :+)
Folks, in case you didn't know, Armament Technology is the muscle behind Premier Reticles now....great folks, and notable in their own right for the Elcan line of rifle sights. These always have had great glass, excellent reticles and are in real world military use. The Specter series of sights include the 1-4x and 1.5-6x models, but the newest kid is the SpecterOS4x....basically a fixed 4x Specter with either a chevron BDC style reticle or crosshair/CQB reticle, these babies MAP at $1199 and have awesome FOV and NV compatible illumination. What I'm trying to say is that we are an authorized Elcan/Armament dealer and would love to hear from you concerning this product! Andrew, Ted, and the rest of the guys in the booth are top notch to work with, in my experience.
Well, that's all I can squeeze for now, tomorrow I'll report on Steiner, surprising new scopes from Weaver, Hawke, and S&B...
Tomorrow I visit Meopta, Kahles, Nightforce, USO, and Borka tools......and whomever else I can find....
Oh, say hello to the newest S&B dealer...... :+)
Catcha Friday...
Scott
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