Review: SWFA SS 3-15x42 at 2013 Sniper Challenge

[jawbone]

This summer I competed in the 2013 Sniper Adventure Challenge organized by Competition Dynamics out of Denver, CO. The event was held in the rugged high desert of New Mexico over the Fourth of July weekend.

I was shooting a custom-built AR-15 mounted with an SWFA SS 3-15x42 scope. I had heard lots of good things about SWFA from the shooting community, but this was my first hands-on experience with one of their scopes.



Due to the rules of the match, bipods were now allowed for the carbine shooter. Therefore my shooting position for the fist stage was sitting cross-legged with my rifle supported on my pack between my legs. I scored a first round hit on an 8" target at 295 yards. I hit 2 more targets at 415 yards with 2 shots each and one more at 375 yards. Needless to say after that experience I am impressed, and I trust my SWFA scope.

The folks at SWFA have produced a workhorse scope. It performed flawlessly under pretty harsh conditions. It survived both the rugged high-desert and being transported in my Eberlestock Gunslinger II pack (which is no easy task).



The scope came with SWFA's first focal plane Mil-Quad reticle. Having the reticle situated on the first focal plane made it convenient to hold for wind regardless of the power setting. After shooting with the scope I appreciate the thought processes that went into the design of the reticle. The Mil-Quad made holding for wind very straightforward; it was easy to keep track of where I was in relation to the world. The image was bright, clear, and comparable to my teammate's Nightforce.

The dope on the SS scope was spot on. The 0.10 mil clicks were crisp and solid. It never felt like I was going to bump them off setting. The turrets felt good in my hand and were easy to operate. Setting zero on the scope was easy as well. After getting dialed in, all I had to do was manipulate a couple of set screws. The only thing I would've liked to have seen in regards to this was a zero stop.



Having a side parallax knob was very convenient, as was the gradated markings (6m to infinity). It made it easy to set the distance in a tactical situation without having to mess around trying to "focus" on the fly. The throw knob on the power adjustment was also really handy. It's one of those seemingly minor details that I didn't even know I wanted, but once I had it, I didn't want to shoot without it.

Summing up, the SS 3-15x42 is an extremely rugged, easy to use scope. The price tag is icing on the cake. I would not hesitate to take this scope into a real-world tactical situation.



Review by J. Russell

[TheBelly]

How's the eye box/relief?

does it have a locking diopter adjustment?

[brutal]

How's the eye box/relief?

does it have a locking diopter adjustment?

Short, no.

Still a nice piece of $700 glass. I just picked one up on a BF special for $573 shipped.

http://swfa.com/SWFA-SS-3-15x42-Tact...pe-P62238.aspx

[<MADDOG>]

Sorry guys, this feel like an advertisement...

And I'm sorry, SWFA glass had nothing on NF, especially in low light, in my past experience... And unless someone chimes in otherwise; I doubt they still do.

[jawbone]

Sorry guys, this feel like an advertisement...

And I'm sorry, SWFA glass had nothing on NF, especially in low light, in my past experience... And unless someone chimes in otherwise; I doubt they still do.

This is not an advertisement. I'm just a guy who enjoys shooting. My teammate was running a Nightforce on his .260 AICS; the images are indeed comparable.

[Delfuego]

I think for $500-$700 its sounds like a nice scope. My SWFA 5-20x HD has better glass than a NF NXS (my opinion only). I've not had the chance to see the ATACR yet, but have heard its nice. This scope is made in the same factory as the fixed SWFA scopes, so is more likely comparable to that that product. Seem to be an honest review to me and makes me want to shoot that match!

[Tim K]

I'm the teammate mentioned in the review. As you can see from his profile, he lives in Washington. Jawbone and I only had 18 hours before the event to be together in person and sort through all the issues that needed to be addressed before we hit the trail. During that time we did have a few minutes to jump down behind both rifles (mine has a NF 5.5-22 X 56 on it) and quickly compare them. I was especially interested since I'd never looked through one of these before.

We put the NF on 15X and spent a little time trying to see how they looked. I'm an avid tester of scopes, to the point where I've built jigs to test tracking and reticle accuracy. That said, I'm neither very skilled at discerning differences in glass quality nor do I care too much. For the kind of shooting I do, glass clarity is nice to have, not essential. With that background in mind, I thought the image of the SWFA stood up well to my NF. Was is as crisp? No, of course not. It was, however, pretty damn good. We did not have the opportunity to view them in low light.

Frankly, I was impressed with the whole package. I'd rather it had an illuminated reticle, but that's a quibble. The lack of a zero stop is the fatal flaw to me, but I'm guessing the aftermarket is going to take care of that problem (you reading this Skullybones?). I was impressed enough with it that I've purchased three SWFA scopes since that time. Sadly, none were this exact model but that's a function of me not having the bank to spend that much. Had the budget existed to have these instead of fixed power scopes, I'd have done it.

At some point, I'd like to wrestle this scope away from him for a couple of days and put it through my test regime. That would confirm the tracking and reticle accuracy, both of which appeared to be good based on our limited experience.

Here we are getting ready to shoot. Jawbone killed it, hitting his targets pretty quickly and leaving me time to get off four shots. That performance was good enough to put us in 2nd place for that stage. (Unofficially, since we forgot to turn in our score card). That's Dino standing there to our right. He was the RO on that stage.

[skullybones]

Tim and I will be collaborating on a zero stop design for the SWFA scopes in the near future (if you didn't get his hint.) It won't be anything revolutionary, but it will be a quality component that affords users a zero stop in an inexpensive package.
I will update this page when we have a working prototype.

That ends the thread derail.

I will add that I was thoroughly impressed with a fixed power model shooting the prairie dog match.

[TheBelly]

NECRO-THREAD NECROPOST!!!!!!!!!!!


Any long-term review points? how is this scope working now?

[XC700116]

Not certain, but I know he was still running it at the TBAC Team challenge in October and it seemed to be running just fine.