As many of you are aware, Nikon has purchased a banner add on the ifish hunting board. I like to support companies that support this great website, I hope you do also. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
I was contacted by a local Nikon rep thru ifish to field test some of Nikons products, and write about the experience on ifish. I will be testing both the Nikon Spotter 16-47 x60 spotting scope and a Monarch UCC 3.5 - 10 x 50 rifle scope this fall.
I tend to like higher end optics, but cant always afford what I like. My hunting style is to spot at long distance and then stalk that position. Tree stands are for guys who have more patience than me.
There is a lot of equipment out there I would like to have, but my budget only goes so far, and goes less and less each year as my kids get bigger and their needs have developed beyond milk, and clean diapers. I can usually be found with the following on my person at anytime in the field. Spotting scope, range finder, binoculars and rifle with scope when the bow is hanging in the garage. No old timer, traditional equipment will be found in my gun cabinet. I hunt with wheels on my bow, and look thru optics that are waterproof and have multi coated phase corrected prisms. Black powder went by the wayside with the horse and buggy, though I wish I had a horse and a couple mules on a few kills in the past.
My hunting partner and myself have been hunting with the Nikon 800 yard ranger finder for a couple years now. I have to admit it has been a great product, and has not failed us. I have had it pretty wet a couple times and it didn’t go on strike and not show up to work.
I am really looking forward to using the Monarch rifle scope. The 50 mm objective is just awesome. I have wanted a rifle scope with a bigger objective and more power for some time. Maybe it is Tim (tool time) Taylor related but more power is always better.
Did I tell you it has the 50 mm objective, I could hardly wait to get it on the rifle. I have had problems with the knurled grips on the power adjusting ring on my Leupold as it is not always easy to get a grip on the ring with wet cold hands. Nikon has a finger coming off to the side of the power adjusting ring. Right off I think this is a good idea and I hope with some field use I can prove it is a good idea as it appears easier to adjust the power. I grabbed the gun out of the safe a couple days ago and tried to take the old scope off. Like most things in my life it didn’t go as planned. The rear ring came right off, but when I got to the front ring the bolts would not come out. Between the lock tite, and 15 years of water, dust and some home grown rust, the bolts and the ring became one.
I managed to strip out both bolt heads with the allen wrench. So off to the hardware store to get a drill bit and an easy out which would fit in the stripped out head. After drilling the 5/64th hole I managed to break the tip of the easy out off in the hole I drilled.
Then I tried to drill the bolt head off so I could remove the top half of the ring. What I really needed to do was take it to a gun smith at this point, but hey.... if they can do it, so can I. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] The busted easy out was just to hard to drill with a drill bit. So out comes the Dremel and the cut off wheel, the scope is coming off the gun one way or another. :shocked: I managed to carefully cut the bolts between the top and bottom half of the ring. I actually did this without cutting into the side of the scope. I pretty much ruined the ring where they meet as there was literary no room between the top and bottom halves of the ring. Yesterday I went to the sporting goods store to get a new front ring and mount. They are only sold in front and rear pairs but they had the part for the front ring I destroyed in a remnants box and sold it to me for $5. So last night the scope went on the rifle and off to the range I go this week when I get a hall pass. I feel like a High School kid going to the dance with the prom queen.
My working spotting scope for the last several years is a Leupold 12- 40 x 60 gold ring. It is fairly short with the double tube design, and fits in the pack nice. Before that I used a Bausch and Lomb 12-60 x 60 telescope which didn’t fit in the pack so nice. Nikon has set me up this year with a model called the “Spotter” 16-47 x60 spotting scope. I like the size of the unit and being waterproof I look forward to some rain during hunting season. It weighs about 10 ounces less than the Leupold I currently pack. Last night at dusk I had the Leupold set up side by side with the Nikon on the porch. I was looking down the street at a bird sitting in the top of a spruce tree. I have not checked the specs on the field of view but at matching powers they seemed about the same. I could notice a little more eye relief with the Leupold, but as far as clarity and brightness, the Nikon was performing well. I had no problem counting needles on each limb at about 150 yards. I really liked the case that came with the Nikon spotting scope. The case is designed to be left on the scope while it is on the tripod, yet it is easy to unzip and access the features and use the scope. A very nice luxury feature that will keep the scope looking new for years. I priced the Spotter at a local store and it was a couple hundred dollars less than the Leupold I have.
I look forward to shooting the gun with the Monarch scope later this week. I will keep you posted on my further thoughts on the optics as I use them. And after the hunting seasons I will let you know how they performed and my final opinion on the optics.
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