Blaserbuds; the worlds superlative information source, for these products

9.3x64 wrote:It certainly does not look out of place on your success. In fact it does not look any or much bigger than many other lower powered scopes.

It's actually quite compact. The issue most of us will have is the 2# weight. Give them credit for putting it in a very small package. OTOH I fail to see what it'll do that the Swarovski Z6i 2.5-15x56 with the BT won't do. Oh and the Z6i weighs less.


BTW ruistola that is a very nice looking combo. Sweet.... I had not seen the 36 mm Blaser rings till now.

I would rather have 1.8 on the lower end than 2.5 especially if using a 9.3 or something similar shooting pigs, or hunting with dogs.

Definitely understand the power issue for close in shooting. To me it's both the power issue and the FOV. Looking at the FOV situation the older I get the more FOV I'm finding I need to get on target quickly. Since the video link above mentioned the FOV I went and checked the FOV comparing the Zeiss V8 to the Swarovski z6i models.

FOV in meters @ 100 meters
Zeiss 1.8-14x50 = 23
Zeiss 2.8-20x56 = 15.2

Swarovski z6i 1.7-10x42 = 25.5 Largest FOV available from either manufacturer.
Swarovski z6i 2-12x50 = 21
Swarovski z6i 2.5-15x56 = 16.5
Swarovski z6i 3-18-50 = 13.3

The V8 1.8-14x50 weighs 680 grams.
The V8 2.8-20x56 weighs 830 grams.

The Z6i 1.7-10x42 weighs 490 grams
The Z6i 2-12x50 weighs 540 grams.
The Z6i 2.5-15x56 weighs 655 grams.
The Z6i 3-18x50 weighs 595 grams.

Looking at the overall picture it's all up to the individual and what works for the individual. Here in the states I'll add that it also depends on which company you'd rather deal with when it comes to service related issues and product knowledge among their service and sale reps. Having 20 years experience dealing with both it'll be a cold day before I buy another high end Zeiss.

Lastly I'm still waiting to hear from Stokes as to how accurate the drop on turrets are. If I recall they can be special ordered to fit a specific cartridge's ballistics. This has become quite common though with all the big brands offering them so no one has a real advantage over the others.

Zeiss specs are from this article:
http://sklep.szuster.com.pl/luneta-zeis ... x50-t.html

thechamp wrote: Lastly I'm still waiting to hear from Stokes as to how accurate the drop on turrets are. If I recall they can be special ordered to fit a specific cartridge's ballistics. This has become quite common though with all the big brands offering them so no one has a real advantage over the others.l

So far the ASV+ drop on turret rings have been spot on. I've found no reason to order custom rings as of yet. I've mostly been working with my 9.3X62 with 250 grain Accubonds and the #006 is the ticket but only goes to 400 yards. That's all that is needed for this caliber because the bullet falls below the threshold of expansion beyond that distance anyway. Here is a pic of a group I shot at 400 yards with a right to left cross wind which blew it off to the left the expected amount but vertical is dead on.

stokesrj wrote:

thechamp wrote: Lastly I'm still waiting to hear from Stokes as to how accurate the drop on turrets are. If I recall they can be special ordered to fit a specific cartridge's ballistics. This has become quite common though with all the big brands offering them so no one has a real advantage over the others.l

So far the ASV+ drop on turret rings have been spot on. I've found no reason to order custom rings as of yet. I've mostly been working with my 9.3X62 with 250 grain Accubonds and the #006 is the ticket but only goes to 400 yards. That's all that is needed to 400 yards. Here is a pic of a group I shot at 400 yards with a left to right cross wind which blew it off to the left the expected amount but vertical is dead on.

Looks good. I recall you mentioned the Swarovski BT or BR (don't recall which) was off at long range (over 600 yards or something to that nature) so I was wondering how these had turned out.

Yes the BT custom rings I had made were not good enough to suit me. They were still within the vitals of a deer, but Swarovski for some reason didn't use the actual field data I provided. Instead, they just made them to fit their ballistic profile of the bullet and velocity figures, which I already knew was off. I sent them the data again, and got back the same thing. At least with the Zeiss your have alternates to choose from.
Bob

stokesrj wrote:Yes the BT custom rings I had made were not good enough to suit me. They were still within the vitals of a deer, but Swarovski for some reason didn't use the actual field data I provided. Instead, they just made them to fit their ballistic profile of the bullet and velocity figures, which I already knew was off. I sent them the data again, and got back the same thing. At least with the Zeiss your have alternates to choose from.
Bob

Thanks, couldn't remember the specifics. Will say that out of their American staff I've run into one person there that left something to be desired. Word has it in person he's a great guy. On the phone he came across as a 'yankee'.... Happened to be him that I spoke with a couple years ago concerning some BT custom rings. He speaks his language and I speak mine. Theoretically they're both English, or 'Americanized English'.

Well!

In my experience, the Zeiss strikes a very good balance in several aspects I personally value in a rifle optic.

- The zoom range might not make it optimal for up close running game or long-range benchrest, but it sure covers a wide range of situations. Like I said, with a Blaser, it's not really that big of a problem to have dedicated barrels with dedicated optics to cover each specific hunting purpose, now the V8 I consider more of a "I don't know what I'll be hunting next but luckily I don't really have to care much either". It's a generic solution and a pretty damn good one at that.

- Optical quality is top notch, something which is emphasized in night hunting we do here in Finland.

- Lit reticle is a must.

- Zeiss typically has repeatable elevation & windage adjustments and strength to withstand some unintentional physical abuse without losing zero.

- 10 mrad per turn for elevation is really just the minimum I am willing to settle for since I also happen to practice long range target shooting.

- Weight and dimensions are completely reasonable given the other capabilities. Not lightweight but far from S&B 5-25, I have owned two, they're nice when you're laying down behind the rifle, other than that, they're a pain.



As for the ASV. I am not really worried about that one. Having built one pretty accurate piece of external ballistics software I know any BDC turret only applies for one particular bullet and load in one set of atmospheric conditions. Now that doesn't make them useless, not by far. I quite like the BDC approach but you do need to acknowledge their shortcomings and compensate accordingly.

I used to have a 3-12x56 Zeiss with ASV, I modified it into "double turn" as 7mrad/turn was just not enough, and I customized the turret to make room for a BDC label supplemented with a ballistics card which contained +/- adjustments for my load for different atmospheric conditions. Now having said that, the Zeiss ASV+ rings work just fine for typical hunting distances.

Thanks for your thots on the V8 ruistola. One more question for you, why would you go with rings instead of the internal rail? Or is the rail for a V8 not an option?

And . . . appears you've shot a Finnish whitetail there, Waidmannsheil.

My optics dealer is FinnAccuracy and I am good friends with the guys running that business. I just asked their opinion and in Finland the round tube models outsell rail models something like 30:1 so I'm better off with the more popular one in case I ever decide to trade it for something else. Technically I don't care either way. I've never had a problem with ring marks. I install a scope very carefully into the rings and after that it only comes off if I decide to sell the scope. I've been lucky never having to lap rings, but I try to stack the odds my way by only using good quality mounts. They sure don't get much better than the OEM Blaser mount.

Waidmannsdank. Whitetail is my favourite game animal in Finland. Still looking for that monster trophy to mount on the wall, for the taste I prefer fawns.

White tail in Finland? Interesting.

I am putting my hands on a V8 2,8-20x56 these days and I will make a report of my experiences...

Ruistola great post from you.

I have just been advised my 1.8-14x50 is in Melbourne and I should have it next week.
Can't wait to test it at the range.

I've seen one at Guns Emporium and maybe at Mialls as well.

Well it's finally arrived. I have not mounted it yet.
But my early impressions after looking through it last night and just before dark are very impressive.
Easily the brighest scope I personally have ever looked through. Filed of view at 1.8 power is also impressive.
I was most surprised by how compact it is for a scope of such power range (1.8-14x50).
It is heavy, and as I said I have not mounted it to see how it affects the balance of the R8.