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Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60

Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60

After recently reviewing the Sightron 10*42MMD Hunter Field Target scope I just had to follow it up with a review of a Field Target scope from Sightron. This is the 10-50*60 SIII; it shares the same superb quality glass as its smaller brother but has the higher magnification required for the parallax rangefinding that you need for FT.

An Ideal Spec’

This bad boy is actually a long- range full-bore scope but it has the ideal specification for an FT scope. That is not as strange as it sounds, in the early days of using higher and higher magnification scopes for rangefinding we had to buy firearms scopes as these were the only ones which had the larger magnification; there was no such thing then as a scope designed for FT use.

The Sightron SIII on test has a magnification range of ten to fifty times, the ten being ideal for those high pressure standing shots in FT and the fifty having the rangefinding magnifying power that you need for FT. This is coupled with a side-wheel parallax adjustment system for easy and accurate rangefinding, target style adjustment turrets for windage and elevation, and a light gathering 60mm objective lens up front. It also comes with flip up lens covers, which bear the Sightron name as well as the diameter of the lenses they are made for, 68mm for the front objective and 41mm for the eye piece.

MOA Reticle

This scope has originally designed as a 1000-yard scope for full-bore rifles and as such it has a firearms reticle. It as a second focal plane MOA (minute of angle) reticle, the distance from each of the main lines being 2MOA on 24 times magnification. It has the 24 mag setting marked on the zoom ring in smaller gold lettering than the rest of the magnification settings and it has a dot above the number to ensure it is lined up correctly to give a true 2MOA distance between the lines.

I mounted the scope on my Air Arms 400 test rifle and did airgun rangefinding and shooting tests on a typical knock down metal FT target with a 40mm kill zone, right out to a full 55 yards (the maximum range allowed in an FT competition). At 45 yards the spacing between the small dashed lines came to a tad inside a 40mm disc.

This revelation prompted me to measure the distance using a Mildot measuring chart, as one Milliradian is equivalent to 40mm at 45 yards. They came in at 1.5 milliradian’s for 10 times, 1.25 Mil for 24 times and 0.75 for the big fifty mag. With a bit of working out the magnification relative to a 40mm disc the 2MOA reticle fitted in this full-bore scope could be used to give useful windage ‘aiming off’ reference marks.

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Rangefinding

To get more precise rangefinding for FT, I fitted a large custom made Rowan side-wheel over the scope’s existing 38mm diameter parallax adjustment hub. This wheel on the scope is not marked out with distances as full-bore users of the scope will already know what range they are shooting at and simply adjust the side-wheel as they set up on their paper targets to give them no parallax error at all.

The superbly made wheel came from Rowan Engineering and at 150mm in diameter it is made to give the shooter an area to wrap around some white tape and set up and mark out ranges on the scope to suit their own eyes and perception. I found the scope very good when it came to parallax rangefinding. The image snaps in and out or clarity, on the Rowan wheel I got a distance of 5.2mm between my 50 to 55 yard mark, 5.5mm between my 45 to 50 yard mark and 5.7mm between my 40 to 45 yard marks, all at a full fifty times magnification of course.

These are the distances perceived with my eyes, but the distance between each 5 yard mark at the high end of rangefinding will vary depending upon the size of the side-wheel you fit and your own eyes. I found I could tell the difference between a 51 or 52 yard target, but I do have a bit of an advantage as I’ve been rangefinding for FT shooting since back in the late 1980’s. The lenses are multi coated using Sightron’s ZACT-7 process, and the image quality is what you would expect on a scope costing twice as much.

Target turret adjustments

For dialling in the range the scope is very well catered for, it uses Sightron’s ExacTrac system that has proved its worth at 1000 yards on a heavy recoiling centrefire rifle and so copes with the 55 yards on a precharged pneumatic recoilless rifle very well. The click values are 1?4 MOA at 100 yards, the turrets can be re-set to zero for dialling purposes using an Allen key.

This is the illuminated version of the Sightron 10-50*60 and the 2MOA reticle has a centre dot which glows red. It has 11 brightness settings on the rheostat dial which sits on the eye bell of the scope and also houses the CR2032 battery. Having an illuminated aiming mark is a distinct advantage when shooting FT targets in really dark dense woodland. On the other hand, to help with those mega bright days where the sun can enter the objective (front) end of the scope making it hard to see the target, the SIII can be fitted with a 75mm long sunshade which you can buy as an optional extra from Aim Field Sports.

Conclusions

The Sightron 10-50*60 SIII is both an impressive full-bore 1000 yard scope and a very good FT scope, it is so good at both due to the high grade lenses and the precise turret adjustment system. More and more shooters, both full-bore and air gunning types are turning on to the fact that for the money Sightron scopes deliver an image quality only seen on the very high end European made scopes, but at nowhere near their hefty price tag.

PRICE: £1100

  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

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  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Sightron SIII SS 10-50x60 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

gun
features

  • Model: Sightron SIIISS 1050*60LRIRMOA
  • Country of manufacture: Japan
  • Magnification: 10x to 50x
  • Parallax: 8 yards to infinity
  • Click value: 0.250 (¼ MOA at 100 yards)
  • Objective: Dia 60mm
  • Body Tube : 30mm
  • Finish: Matt Black
  • Eye relief: 96.52 - 114.3mm
  • Exit pupil: 6 to 1.2mm
  • Overall length: 430mm (without the optional 75mm sunshade fitted)
  • Weight: 0.8kg (Without any larger side-wheel fitted)
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