04-13-2020, 04:36 PM
DL42 Wrote:Thats the thing, once I started shooting longer distances with FFP, I immediately preferred it. Thats the issue though... right now that scope is a Bushnell 3-18 and I usually keep it between 8 and 15. The glass is crystal clear until the scope is maxed out, and the reticl is perfect. On a FFP scope with a top end of 30, the crosshairs would have to be invisibly thin at low mag. I also hate how most SFP scopes require you to be at full magnification to use the subtensions. Unless youre buying a very nice scope, its hard to get a clear sight picture at full mag, and often, thats just too much zoom. Which Athlon scopes have you had and which common Vortex (or other common brand) would you compare them too? Ive heard many great things about Athlon, but is that because they really are that good of a value, or is that because the people writing the reviews are comparing them to junk? For example, I thought my Viper HST had clear glass until I tried something a little better.
Personally I think the 3-18 range (give or take) is pretty well suited to the Grendel and I've never felt like I needed more. I have an LRHSi 4.5-18 and it is a damn good scope for the money, I have used it extensively and feel like it is highly underrated. I also have a DMRi II and a XRS II. Compared to the Bushnell scopes, I think the LRHS/LRTS glass is probably better than the DMR and XRS. Matter of fact, I'd put the LRHS/LRTS up against a Vortex AMG, which I like quite a bit and I paid almost four times the money for. At the ranges I typically shoot the Grendel I have never found 18X to be too little magnification but I have found 30X to be almost worthless for anything but 100 yard load development groups.
As far as the scaled reticle being unusable on the low end of high magnification scopes, 3x for example. If you need to dial back to get the field of view necessary at 3X then you probably don't need the complex reticle in that instance. What is your max point blank range for your cartridge at your zero? Mine is greater than 300 yards which means holding center mass on an IPSC and still getting a vitals hit without dialing or holding; ie only crosshairs or dot necessary. However, if all you're shooting is static known distance you may as well just buy a SFP duplex scope of any magnification that works for you and build a range card for your load because none of this will matter at all.