SmallCaliberCentral

I'll be getting a new scope for my 204 in a few weeks, something like 6 x 24 power and have narrowed it down to s Sightron SII Big Sky or a Vortex. Anyone have any pros and cons for those scopes?

I have a Sightron 6X24X44 on my 17 Rem AR and a Vortex Viper on my 300 BLK AR, both are good......The Vortex is made in Korea/China (exept the Vortex Razor)........the Sightrons are made in Japan, or at least they were when I got mine. I believe the glass is better in the Sightron. Japan got its optic technology from the Germans during WWII. Not sure where Vortex gets its glass from.

Grendel wrote:I have a Sightron 6X24X44 on my 17 Rem AR and a Vortex Viper on my 300 BLK AR, both are good......The Vortex is made in Korea/China (exept the Vortex Razor)........the Sightrons are made in Japan, or at least they were when I got mine. I believe the glass is better in the Sightron. Japan got its optic technology from the Germans during WWII. Not sure where Vortex gets its glass from.

What he said. I have a 4-16x BIg Sky and a 20x SIII. Unless you really want side focus, the Sightron gets my vote (they do make a 6-20x SF in the Big Sky II, by the way; I personally like the extra 4x of a 24.) Lighter weight, arguably better glass, best tracking scopes I've owned; a bit overpriced IMO. Buy Japanese glass while you still can.

Rowdy, why won't we be able to continue buying Japanese glass? Never looked through a Sightron but like my Vortex Viper. Like my Leupolds even better, though.

Just saying it's getting harder to find glass that doesn't come from China, e.g the recently discontinued Weaver Grand Slam, the extinct Bushnell 3200s, etc; those were affordable scopes of decent quality. Not that there aren't good ones being made in Taiwan, ROC, etc., but if one could compare, say, a Grand Slam with a "Buck Commander", it wouldn't be close.
Agree that it's hard to beat Leupold.

Now I see what you mean, Rowdy. Just wasn't looking from the right angle !

I'll throw my vote in for Sightron as well. I use a 10-50x SIII for F-class and I have a Vortex Viper 6-24x and I wasn't super impressed with the Vortex. It has a noticeable amount of blur around the circumference when looking downrange. I think it is called vignetting.

Vortex is made in the Philippines. I believe the glass comes from Japan. I have not used the Sightron but I have several Vortex Viper scopes and love them. I think that they are a great value.

Sightron wins hand down in every way every time!

We use several sightrons (mostly SIII) on our pdog guns and a buddy has a vortex viper on a 22-250. The vortex looked good at the store, but out in the field was wanting compared to the sightrons. IMO the SII looked better than the viper, while the SIII looks way better than the viper. I have never used a scope that tracks like a sightron. Some of the sightrons come with lens caps, some have the target knobs without the caps, those are the best knobs of any scope anywhere I've tried, including nightforce. I think the glass is a little better in the nightforce, but the better knobs and lighter scope outweigh the small improvement in glass. Oh yay, and has a price about 1/2 or less than the nightforce. I am rambling yet?