Target Sports

SCOPE REVIEW: EASY ON THE EYE

Created on 14th May 2009

TIM FINLEY tests the new Nikko Stirling 10-50x60 - and finds it's a worthy successor to its famous sibling

THERE IS a particular scope that has dominated the Field Target scene for years. Its popularity is based upon both its performance and its competitive price. That is the Nikko Stirling Diamond Sportsman 10-50x60. When the company announced the scope would be replaced with an updated new model, complete with different lenses, the FT world drew a sharp intake of breath. Would it be as good as the old model? A rush to buy up the old model began. Now I have had the opportunity to test the new model, but will it be like the older one, as used by both World FT Champions and casual club shooters alike?

The new model's basic specification remains little changed from the old one. It's based around a 30mm diameter scope body. It has a side-wheel parallax down to 10yd, a choice of reticles, target style turrets, 10-50x magnification and a 60mm objective lens. This is to my knowledge the fourth version of the scope built on the same basic body. The second and third have been used in top flight Field Target shooting for years, because of their specification, rangefinding abilities and competitive price. The differences between the third and this new version are many. All have been built in Japan with Japanese lenses. The 2008 version is built on a totally new scope body design, making it 10% lighter than the previous one. It's 37mm shorter too. The company has added another Japanese multi-coated camera quality lens to the lens package, beefed up the adjustment system and increased adjustment range by a quarter. But it's no good lightening the weight and adding extra lenses if it wrecks the rangefinding capabilities. The quarter-fold increase in elevation adjustment will make it easier to set the scope up, meaning you don't have to shim the scope up as much to obtain the dialling range needed for targets at between eight and 55yd.

It was with some trepidation that I opened the massive box. The first thing to catch my eye was the large green dust cap on the windage and elevation turrets. The previous model had green turrets too, but with no dust caps. Normally scopes are all black so the green colouring sets the Nikko out from the rest. Along with the aforementioned 25% increase in dialling, Nikko Stirling has given the shooter a handy system to know where they are in that increased dialling range. On the body of the adjustment system under the green-coloured rotation cap there are indexing marks to show the shooter the current number of full rotations of the turret made. The ‘0' mark is set mid-adjustment with numbers one to three above and below the zero mark. The windage turret has the same system. The turrets are taller than the older models too, sticking up some 35mm with the dust caps on. The screw-on dust caps are a handy feature to protect the windage turret from accidental movement when taking it in and out of gun bags/slips. Both windage and elevation adjustments feature 1/8 MOA at 100yd ‘clicks', the same as the old models.

Rangefinding ability

The parallax adjustment system is the heart of any FT scope, as we use this to rangefind the distance to the target. This comes with a 90mm diameter sidewheel fitted, which can be removed with the Allen key provided to reveal a 42mm diameter wheel underneath. This smaller wheel is of no real use to ultra-fussy FT competitors, though. The bigger wheel indexes on the smaller one with a slot and screw. Two Allen screws clamp the bigger wheel on via a split ring system. The parallax side wheels are both marked with yardage markings. The larger wheel is marked up with 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 100 and 200yd to infinity, as is the smaller one. The read-off or index mark is a gold spot positioned right at the base of the side-wheel spindle on the left hand side of the scope saddle.

The 60mm diameter objective lens did not come with a sunshade on the scope supplied for test. The older model's sunshades will not fit this new version, but a specific screw on sunshade for it is due soon. I mounted the scope on my PCP Air Arms Custom S400 HFT/FT test bed rifle. This would let me see just how good a rangefinder the new scope was in real conditions. The test scope was fitted with a Mil Dot reticle in the second focal plane. This means that the size of the reticle does not alter as the magnification is adjusted. The Mil Dot reticle is set to be correct at only 10x magnification, which I checked with a calibration chart at 15yd. It's a bit useless for a 10-50 mag scope. However, at around £550-£600 for the scope you cannot expect a first focal plane reticle such as the one I had a hand in designing for the Schmidt & Bender 12.5-50x56 Field Target scope. This beast costs three times as much as the Nikko Stirling. A NATO reticle is also available for the scope. That type has been designed as a tactical sniping reticle, with steps to measure how far away a man is, but I would recommend the Mil Dot reticle for FT. To make the best use out of the second focal plane reticle you could rangefind first on 50x magnification, then wind down to 10x to shoot. The Mil Dot system spacing gives you a 40mm gap between the dots when viewed on a target at 45yd (on 10x magnification only). This would give you some degree of windage aim-off reference although a 40mm disc spacing at 50 or 55yd has been the FT scope standard for years. With a first focal plane reticle as in the Schmidt & Bender I can use the reticle as an aim-off system on any magnification from 12.5 to 50. As an example, with the second focal plane Nikko on 50x magnification, the reticle measures 1Mil with four of its dots at 15yd.

I use quick release QR Leupold mounts on my testing rifle and once the scope was on I took it to a shoot and set about testing the rangefinding. The first thing I checked was the shortest range to which the scope could come down. On its spec sheet it states 10yd. I found the scope I had would not come down past 11yd on a full 50x magnification. The rest of the marks out to 20yd were not too far out but the 50yd mark was out. There is no 55yd mark, which we need in FT. No top-flight FT shooter I know uses the distance marks supplied, with the possible exception of the Burris 8-32x44. I would recommend placing targets out at all ranges and marking your own ranges on the side parallax wheel, but avoid doing this on an exceptionally warm or cold day.

Many Nikko Stirling users bolt on an offset cam wheel of some sort. The best I have seen are Barry Taylor's CNC machined versions. These larger offset cam wheels give more accurate rangefinding over the standard wheels at the longer ranges 30-55yd.

In my trials the rangefinding was as good as any FT scope I have tested, with the possible exception of my Schmidt & Bender. Then again, the price difference is huge. Even though the factory marks were not spot-on, the scope gave me the same position on the wheel when rangefinding a target at 55 yards no matter how fast or slowly I turned the wheel. It was very consistent indeed; the only gripe I have is the position of the small gold indexing mark to read off the range. This is positioned too far away from the big wheel to be accurate to the yard. It's not a massive issue as most FT shooters read off the range via a small metal or plastic strip that they clamp in the jaws of the rear scope mount rings.

This brings us to the differing size of the new scope compared to the old one. The saddle position of the scope has changed on the new model, making the mounting process somewhat different. It means a shooter with the older scopes cannot simply take off the top scope mount rings, remove the old scope, fit the new one and re-attach the top rings. Because the saddle position has altered, the rear mount will need moving on the scope rail to maintain the eye relief and make sure the mounts do not impede the wheel.

Considering whether I would actually use the scope for competitive FT, with some 20 years of top-level competing behind me, I'd have to say yes, I would. I wouldn't swap it for my Schmidt & Bender, but I could buy three Nikko Stirlings for the price of one S&B. The new scope will win competitions, of that there is no doubt. Is it a worthy successor to the ‘Big Nikkos'? Yes, it definitely is.

SCOPE REVIEW: EASY ON THE EYE

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