MTMilitiaman
Member
The Nightforce is a damn good scope and the NP-R2 reticle rocks. It operates on the same principle as mid-dot, but callibrated in MOA instead of mils. Since the turrents are adjusted in MOA instead of mils, I passed the idea to my brother that it made more sense to have a reticle that operated on the same units of measure as the turrents, rather than complicate things by introducing mils and MOA into your computations. Maybe I am making a bigger deal of it than it is, but he agreed, and neither of us have any complaints with the optical quality, construction, formatting, or features of the scope, and the reticle choice makes ranging your target very easy. Of course, it cost about $1600, so you better get a good peice of glass for that much money.
One thing I am going to do differently if I get a .50 is to go with Nightforce's 5.5-22x56, instead of their 8-32x56. I'll get the same reticle, but I just don't see use for the higher magnification. The 5.5-22x, 8-32x, and 12-42x Nightforces all range at the same power setting--22x. Which means even if you have an 8-32, it still has to be on 22x to use the reticle as a rangefinder. I've ranged targets clear out to 2000 yards on 22x with my bro's scope. The optical clarity of the optics and the stability of the rifle makes this easy. At that range and power, I could give a general discription of your appearence, including gender, race, facial hair, general profile and estimated weight, as well as identifying any weapons you might be carrying, ect. The point is that I don't see the necessity of the higher magnification scopes, and in fact, asside from being unnecessary, they might even be derogitory. The 8-32x has only like 65 Minutes of internal elevation adjustment, compared to the 5.5-22x with 100 Minutes. This means you can get by with a less inclined base (my bro had to go with the 50 MOA base to get out to 2000 yards) with the 5.5-22x and still aim dead on. I personally think the internal adjustment is worth far more than the added magnification for most shooting I will do.
And yes, my dad loads for the .50. He has a single stage Lee press that he uses. I think we are using something like 213 gr of H50BMG under the 750 gr Barnes Long Range Solid, but I am not positive. The point is that powder goes fast, but watching debris bounce a foot off the ground 6 feet to either side of the muzzle brake, and hearing the impact of the rounds at 2/3 of a mile, is worth it.
