Ain't she pretty?
As per the article, civilian sales will cease come January 2017. This is not the end of the world for civilian shooters, of course as there are many other excellent alternatives to the Mark 4. And there is also the secondary market. You should never pay full price for anything especially a $2000+ glass in a tube.
One question I have always wanted to ask the very discriminating shooters that are this community: has anyone ever used a Shepherd scope? Like many of you, I have seen their advertisements in Firearms News for years and years but have not come across a single person that could vouch for the products. So either they are really, really good and people assume that the name vouches for itself, or they are really, really crappy and people assume that everyone knows. Kinda like Mosin's.
18 comments:
$900 price tag avg. Probably not a lot of them out there. Never heard of them until now. Interesting reading their literature.
They do have a "Testimonials" page here:
http://www.shepherdscopes.com/gallery.asp
I have wondered the same thing about Shepherd scopes. I have never heard anything bad about them.
i've got 2 Shepard 310P-2 scopes on Ruger .308 varmints. holds under 1 MOA to 600. didn't the Marines use them in Beirut in '83? regards, Skynet
Political appeasement or corp logistics ?
Selling only to government/Leo is a huge problem in the firearms arena. I submit that a decision like that should draw a total boycott of all items that company sells. If a company wants to contribute to government separation from the people like that, so be it, as it is their choice. We should make ours accordingly. We should not contribute one penny to that effort, that self defeating attitude. In effect, this is the opposite of the Ronnie Rule. Why reward that with our dollars?
Why HELP government and business shut us out?
Because Nightforce doesn't have equivalent or better glass...
Played with a Shepherd scope long ago. Not suitable for a prolonged two way in my option, (but what do I know. I see Leupold losing many orders do to this move. (Is America going the way of other country's with no mil stuff down the road?) BTW the Mk-4 is a fair scope for a prolonged two way, but it is far from the best. I doubt the rest of the optic world will fold after getting a mil contract, as they know once it's completed, their civi sales was/is the bread an butter. S&B is/has major issues with Q/C and most folks humping iron an glass are tired of being pack mules 24/7. So the likes of other much lighter brands are getting air time and are doing very well. Heavy Tacticool, ain't the be all on a two way. Lite is still right, and not all need 15x + power to ID or get the job done. B-4
I've seen them advertised in the
Shotgun News twenty years ago.
As mentioned previously, not many
will fork out that kind of money.
I wouldn't ...There's too many other
options for less that deliver
competitive reliability and quality.
For those who desire the range and drop
features, the Primary Arms 5x prism scope,
with the acss reticle system is a huge
value for what they're selling for.
I prefer Nightforce to Leupold.
I bought a used Shepherd and the previous owner was unable to follow directions. He actually took a pair of freakin pliers to the adjusters! I sent into Shepherd, and Mr. Shepherd himself called me up and was pissed that someone had desecrated one of his scopes. He fixed it and only charged me $20. That said, the scopes are as advertised, not surgical precision, but that's what my Nightforce is for. As for Leupold, they can pound sand. I own six different Leopold scopes, but if they go thru with that, I will not buy another!
DD
I live 11 miles from shepherd scope, I tried one and was one of the worst scopes I ever used
Oh noes, now where will we go for expensive optics with mil reticles in the second focal plane and MOA adjustments?
SFP and mil/MOA? Sorry, Leupold, but the ship has sailed on that for long-range optics.
The Mark V1 scopes are much better than the Mark IVs, non-lead glass so no frosting.
I heard over a year ago that Leupold was going to phase out the Mark IVs.
Leupold makes good Scopes, but dollar for dollar, an equivalent Vortex will give you much more scope for the money. The viper PST has become my go-to glass on all of my rifles.
There is a huge advantage in SFP over FFP for 80% of all tasks, in one very important task FFP is the loser every time. Square range, an tacticool fans will never ever understand that simple fact. When your playing tag for keeps, you tend to over look tacticool B/S.
B-4
As regards Shepard, I have one but it has not seen enough use for me to have a meaningful opinion. So far it does well, but so far isn't far enough for me to recommend it. I like a lot of things about it, but I will not provide a recommendation.
As regards Leupold, if they refuse to sell any one product to 'civilians', although I currently own a number of Leupold scopes, I will never buy another Leupold product ever again; Nightforce covers the high end nicely, and Burris covers the midrange very nicely. I have been especially impressed with the MTAC line of scopes. I have mounted these on everything from .223 self loaders (1-4x)to magnums and 50 BMG (3-10x) with no issues. Those I do recommend highly. They have highly repeatable zeros and do well on the box test. For a 400 dollar piece of glass it is an excellent value.
I took a pronghorn antelope at 325 yards with a Redfield 5-Star 3-9x40 scope on a Steyr Pro Hunter rifle chambered in .270 with 130 grain Federal Premium ammo. My favorite hunting rifle, a Remington Model 600 Mohawk chambered in .308 has a Leopold 3-9x40 scope. It shoots to less than a minute of angle with 165 grain Federal Premium ammo. (5/8" group of 3 at 100 yards)
- Old Greybeard
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