3-18x50 ’s Head-to-Head

The 3 to 18x scope variant is risky business. You can either hit the sweet spot or fail fantastically. Simply because entering the realm of 6x zoom optics (18 divide by 3 equals 6 – i.e. 6 times magnification power) a lot can start going wrong with regards to glass clarity and turret adjustability – and you’ll only know when you start pushing the limits out at distance. Probably the reason you don’t find them in every range of every well known brand.

For this comparison we’ve set our sights towards the north – Germany to be precise. The brand in question is firmly established in virtually all facets of the optics world, and their riflescopes are sought after for good reason. Their 3-18x50 falls exactly within the price range locally that our HR6-IR (3-18x50 FFP) should retail for (i.e. R13,000 above our actual retail price)… so we thought game on.

The competitor does not offer this optic in MRAD, however, as there are about 3.44 minutes of angle in each milliradian, we’ve used this factor to convert their specs for the sake of comparison.

Worth noting is that the competitor’s scope only comes in Second Focal Plane options (to our knowledge), which already puts the HR6-IR ahead in our opinion though this can be ascribed to preference.

Also be aware that people relish the opportunity to cite Schott glass when talking about their German optics (the Japanese equivalent is Hoya) – this has practically no comparative bearing unless the grade of Schott glass is known in relation to the grade of Hoya glass being compared to. As it stands light transmission is excellent in both stables with only fractions of a percentage separating the two on each tier.

Ok, enough of all that, how do they stack up?

So then, still spending more on a badge not designed for you as a South African?

SouthPoint Optics - built in Japan - Proudly South African.

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