Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

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Buckshot
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Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#1 Postby Buckshot » Sat Feb 08, 2020 5:57 pm

Has anyone had a look through one of these scopes ? Talked to a couple gun shops at here and in another town and they cant tell me much as they dont have them. Price is around $800 at one shop and around $1,000 in all the others. Currently using a $150 nikko stirling panamax long range 8-24 x 50. Im looking for a bit more magnification and hopefully a bit brighter picture. Dual purpose scope will be used for spotlighting at around 11-12 power, plinking up to 1,000 yards and the odd f class shoot in town. Was looking at the s3 sightrons but this is half the price. Anyone got any experience with the ed glass in these?

February 2019 edition of australian shooter mag had a little review on it but wasnt enough info to steer me away or towards trying one.

AlexE
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#2 Postby AlexE » Sat Feb 08, 2020 7:24 pm

One of the regular shooters at the Inverell range is using one. I've looked through it. It's no March or Nightforce, but it's reasonable. I'm sure if you came along to a shoot he'd let you have a look through. A word of warning - the one I have seen has adjustments in mrad. I'm not sure if they all are like these, but that renders them not much use to the semi-serious f classer

DannyS
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#3 Postby DannyS » Sun Feb 09, 2020 8:20 am

Personally I think you would be better off to pick up a 2nd hand Sightron. For the money they are a very good scope, can’t say the same for any Nikko Stirlings I’ve seen in the past.

I would suggest a 10-50 or 8-32 with 1/8 clicks, fine cross hairs and .125 centre dot.


Cheers
DannyS
You might as well be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

Buckshot
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Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:19 pm

Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#4 Postby Buckshot » Sun Feb 09, 2020 9:04 am

The gun is used daily along with a leupold rx2800 range finder to make quick shots using hold off in the mil retical. Its a compromise when at the range with the targets and guys chatting in moa while im on mils but i cant afford to buy another gun for use at the club so ive got to try make use of mils and hold off for all the shots after dialing the cross hairs over to my 2 spotting shots at the start.

Low light conditions my panamax struggles and also the mils are calibrated on this one when the mark is at 11.5 power and not 10 power like the instructions said lol.

Finding a scope that was calibrated at 25 power in mils would really help for what the gun is used for the most instead of 11.5

I might head out to the range and see if anyone there has a sightron and the hornet to look through today.

The guns only worth $500 new (howa 6.5 ) and does a lot of work and gets bumped about a bit by my side in the ute and is constantly in the dirt and dust as i shoot off bonnet, tray, and prone with a harris type bipod. $1,000 is my budget to find a good all rounder scope.

Nice shooting Alex, saw last weeks results at 800 yd. do you use clicks each shot and a plotter or just hold off according to marker?
Thanks guys.

Buckshot
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#5 Postby Buckshot » Sun Feb 09, 2020 9:22 am

If i wind my power up on this panamax to where the mils become halved i run out of dots in the scope to make long shots. Im on a large farm and 300-500 meter shots are the norm during daylight and under 300m usually under the spotlight.

Rich4
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#6 Postby Rich4 » Sun Feb 09, 2020 11:36 am

If you’re looking for a dual purpose optic it’s pretty tough in that price range, I’m in almost the same position and have gravitated to multiple rifles, quick paddock shooting is different enough to make it hard to bridge the gap even though the precision required is almost the same,
cheaper fclass optics ( and expensive )will be lacking ease and field of view, I’ve bought a Leupold with VH reticle for field shooting, you’ll pick them up under a $1000 and very fast to use, I would definitely recommend buying 2nd hand quality with warranty rather than cheap and new, these days I firmly believe that optics are a bigger bang for buck than rifles, I don’t think massive magnification is as big a benefit as quality glass and adjustments for f class

Buckshot
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#7 Postby Buckshot » Sun Feb 09, 2020 4:48 pm

Went to range but the nikko hornet ed scope wasn’t there. There was a sightron s3 and I had a look through it and found it difficult to see. Compared to my cheapo I had to get my eye back a long way and in exactly the right spot to get a full picture which i thought almost looked like a fuzzy black and white television. I’m certain that the s3 would not suit me for farm shooting after looking through it. Reminded me of the view through my dumpy level with very fine focus needed to see anything.

Maybe something wrong with my eyes because to me the $149 panamax has 10 times better picture :shock: Lol. I will try to get my eyes through that hornet ed still and hope its not like the sightron.
Thanks guys

DannyS
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#8 Postby DannyS » Sun Feb 09, 2020 8:14 pm

Couple of questions re the Sightron, what magnification was it set on? at what distance was the target? Was the reticle adjusted for you eye? Was the scope focussed correctly? Was there much mirage ?
You might as well be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

Buckshot
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#9 Postby Buckshot » Sun Feb 09, 2020 10:06 pm

They had 2 shoots today one was 200 yards and the other was 900. I looked through the sightron at 200 yards at 50 and 20 power. No mirage this morning at the 200 it was overcast and relatively cool, I fiddled with the focus but not his eye piece as he had that one where he liked it. The very narrow field of view would make my spotlighting nights tough to find the targets fast i would think as they dont wait around long here and you gotta be quick. There was a few nightforces on the mound as well but I didnt even bother asking for a look as they are way out of my budget. I asked the sightron guy what retical it was but he didnt know and said he just looks at the dot in the centre but it looked like some sort of horus retical. Id also use an iluminated retical as they work great on dull red while im whistling foxes at night with just a head torch as you cant see the crosshairs but you can see the red eyes and the red illuminated cross sitting between them nicely. I only got a pair of 53’s at the 900 this arvo but was still a fun day. Ive only shot the 900 once before so smoked em with the handicap haha.

DannyS
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Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#10 Postby DannyS » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:53 am

Hi Buckshot, generally I’ve found that most high magnification scopes aren’t at their best at the highest power and cheap high magnification scopes can be very poor. Magnifications above 40 power required a good clear day to be of much use and the higher the magnification the lower the field of view.

I would be suggesting you consider something in the 6-24 range which would also match your rifle better. The repeatability of adjustments in a scope also has to be considered and that is another area where better quality scopes have an advantage.

If you buy a new Nikko Stirling and then go to sell it down the track, you will lose money whereas if you bought a used Sightron and then later decided to upgrade, provided it was still in good condition , then you should get your money back.
You might as well be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

Buckshot
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:19 pm

Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#11 Postby Buckshot » Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:31 pm

Ordered one of the hornets with mtd rings and a vortex bubble level. Thanks for the replies and thanks to the guy for the email that owns 3 of these scopes already.

Buckshot
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Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:19 pm

Re: Nikko Stirling Hornet ED 10-50x60

#12 Postby Buckshot » Tue Feb 18, 2020 7:12 pm

Got the scope on today along with the level. First time ive set a level on a scope but after looking about at trees and things at various distances on different sloped ground its amazed me how far out ive been at setting the scope crosshairs to horizontal going by eye. Had to confirm with a lazer level and a faithful stringbob as i was sure the scope level was lying to me but it wasnt haha. Looking forward using that scope level from here on.

Unboxing the scope first thought was “would you like some gun with that scope mate” shes big and heavy and the clicks feel much nicer than the $149 panamax. I could see an ant on a tree at around 300 yards and a white cockatoo scratch his head in a tree at around 950 yards. Wow. I fired 3 shots to get it zeroed at a dot on a tree at about 100 yards and will get out and re do my zero at 200 on paper and figure out the elevations to 900 when I get time. First impression after stepping up from the$150 scope is very good. I will check the mils calibration numbers to markings on scope and see how she goes. I can almost feel a higher score already :D


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