As far as the quality different between the 2 brands I am also wondering on a more experienced opinion. But my honest opinion is I've heard nothing but gold on the top tier ior scopes and s&b has had some quality control issues in recent years. Just my point of view no fact or long term experience to draw from.
Isaiah 55
Mar 26, 2017
Thanks
Fun with guns
Mar 29, 2017
If you're gonna spend that kind of money on an IOR scope, get a FFP (or First Focal Plane) scope. As far as I know, the Terminator only comes in Second Focal Plane. The Recon, Patriot and Crusader are in the same range and feature FFP.
A.R.M.
Apr 7, 2017
Isaiah 55,
I would like to share my experience with S&B.
I had an S&B 12-50X56 PMII and traded it for a 5-25X56 for this simple reason:
very rarely did I use magnifications above 20X. Only when environmental conditions were ideal was 50X practical even though the optical quality of my 12-50X56 was brilliant. Truth be told, I left it at 12X most of the time even when I was shooting at longer distances.
Richard Utting of sharpshootingUK did a comparison of a S&B 12-50X56 and the IOR 12-52 on Youtube.
Beware, magnification isn't all it's advertised to be.
Fun with guns
Apr 7, 2017
Well said Isaiah. I have the Spyder by IOR Valdada and it goes up to 36 power. As an example, I went out with a few friends the other day and let them take shots with my rifle at 700 yards. The WHOLE TIME we were shooting, we were using 18 power and below and didn't even need that. Sometimes, they had trouble quickly getting the sight on target because of the lost objective view sizer when zooming in. I do like the higher magnification for observation purposes but you don't need the higher magnification to shoot. With the rifle you described, you can shoot much longer than 700 yards, but even at double that distance you don't need 50 power scopes.
RexReviews
Apr 28, 2017
Check out the FFP Mil/Mil CRUSADER. That's what I'm doing with mine. S&B is incredible quality, but the IOR 40mm series is a different world of experience once you get behind one. The Schott glass is done right and the huge diameter lens stacks used in these optics are something to behold. They are hard to find, but if you get your hands on a Crusader, you will know what I'm talking about :-) Just 1 man's opinion.
A.R.M.
Apr 28, 2017
Rex,
As always, thanks for sharing the information!
There are so few retail establishments where a person can get their hands on equipment like this, actually look through it and decide if it really is the right choice.
With that said and looking ahead to RX-17 and the rumored guest list, I really hope to see some of the equipment featured in Rex Reviews (IOR, Mirage ULR, etc.) at the seminar. I realize it will be impractical to have truckloads of all the different equipment options for those of us who want to build an ELR rifle to look at however, some top tier and bottom tier equipment may prove useful for comparison purposes.
Thanks again!
Isaiah 55
Apr 29, 2017
Thank you everyone who commented. Great Perspective! I appreciate the comments on what power that is actually used for Extreme Long Range. This build will take a year or 2 so optics might make a huge change in that time.
As far as the quality different between the 2 brands I am also wondering on a more experienced opinion. But my honest opinion is I've heard nothing but gold on the top tier ior scopes and s&b has had some quality control issues in recent years. Just my point of view no fact or long term experience to draw from.
Thanks
If you're gonna spend that kind of money on an IOR scope, get a FFP (or First Focal Plane) scope. As far as I know, the Terminator only comes in Second Focal Plane. The Recon, Patriot and Crusader are in the same range and feature FFP.
Isaiah 55,
I would like to share my experience with S&B.
I had an S&B 12-50X56 PMII and traded it for a 5-25X56 for this simple reason:
very rarely did I use magnifications above 20X. Only when environmental conditions were ideal was 50X practical even though the optical quality of my 12-50X56 was brilliant. Truth be told, I left it at 12X most of the time even when I was shooting at longer distances.
Richard Utting of sharpshootingUK did a comparison of a S&B 12-50X56 and the IOR 12-52 on Youtube.
Beware, magnification isn't all it's advertised to be.
Well said Isaiah. I have the Spyder by IOR Valdada and it goes up to 36 power. As an example, I went out with a few friends the other day and let them take shots with my rifle at 700 yards. The WHOLE TIME we were shooting, we were using 18 power and below and didn't even need that. Sometimes, they had trouble quickly getting the sight on target because of the lost objective view sizer when zooming in. I do like the higher magnification for observation purposes but you don't need the higher magnification to shoot. With the rifle you described, you can shoot much longer than 700 yards, but even at double that distance you don't need 50 power scopes.
Check out the FFP Mil/Mil CRUSADER. That's what I'm doing with mine. S&B is incredible quality, but the IOR 40mm series is a different world of experience once you get behind one. The Schott glass is done right and the huge diameter lens stacks used in these optics are something to behold. They are hard to find, but if you get your hands on a Crusader, you will know what I'm talking about :-) Just 1 man's opinion.
Rex,
As always, thanks for sharing the information!
There are so few retail establishments where a person can get their hands on equipment like this, actually look through it and decide if it really is the right choice.
With that said and looking ahead to RX-17 and the rumored guest list, I really hope to see some of the equipment featured in Rex Reviews (IOR, Mirage ULR, etc.) at the seminar. I realize it will be impractical to have truckloads of all the different equipment options for those of us who want to build an ELR rifle to look at however, some top tier and bottom tier equipment may prove useful for comparison purposes.
Thanks again!
Thank you everyone who commented. Great Perspective! I appreciate the comments on what power that is actually used for Extreme Long Range. This build will take a year or 2 so optics might make a huge change in that time.