Swarovski X5i 5-25x56

Optical manufacturers at every price point are currently competing to produce a riflescope to cater for the needs of all shooters.

Although some imply hunting is the target market, the target market is just that, target shooters and it seems the morals of the product seem a little vague, especially as the premium brands protect their reputations with great impunity, cautious to defend their majority of sales in the nature/birdwatching market.

I have played with a few X5s of varying specification over the last six-months and the 5-25x56 trades a little overall elevation travel (86.4 v 122.4 M.O.A.) for an extra 7x magnification over the 3.5- 18x50. Light transmission also drops from 91 to 90% but given the build and optical quality, you are never likely to notice as dusk is perhaps a little out of the design remit. This optic is a true long range performer in the real world!

Not some PR whizz kids with zero practical experience idea of one! Build quality is first-rate with deeply anodised, deftly machined components; everything fits to perfection with little undue space wasted. Illumination is controlled above the ocular lens with up/ down buttons to specify 10 intensity levels to the memory, so it will turn back on at your desired setting.

There is no cant or elevation sensor, but the CR2032 battery is rated for 260-hours and easily replaceable up top with a coin slot lid. Magnification is controlled with the usual knurled collar, rubberised for grip and operated silently with no feeling of work happening.

Parallax on the left side worked within the specified limits, with a fine enough thread pitch to guarantee both corrected image and clear focus with a relaxed exit pupil, allowing the head/neck to remain relaxed in position 95mm back from the fast focus eyepiece. Like all Swarovskis, this offers that little bit more negative, -3 dioptre for the shorties (I’m one) as well as +2 for long sighted.

High Ceiling

The turrets both provide 80-clicks/20 M.O.A. per turn, with windage marked left and right of centre. It’s possible to go beyond the half turn on windage, so be aware that a marked `zero` might be one turn away, keep track of your adjustments because for true long range target shooting, nine M.O.A. is not actually that much. Elevation has a zero stop which can be overridden to descend 10-minutes below your zero, handy sometimes if you change ammo but really not that necessary and a compromise for internal turret space. Turret setup is fairly complex but good instructions, a multitool and key are supplied, so just take a few minutes and you are done.

The turret will rotate as many as five times beyond zerostop, but once zeroed will have lost some of this range. Each turn is clearly marked with a numbered indicator window, so it’s impossible to get lost. The feel of the clicks is precise and easy to dial, it’s well-marked and doesn’t really overrun with 80-clicks being as many as you want on a unit of this physical diameter.

Any more and you really need a larger diameter to retain any kind of useful separation of the ball detents within, before it would begin to feel like a mushy 5-50x60 from China with 200 M.O.A. of internal travel. The knurling makes it pleasant to hold and turn regardless of gloves but one downside is it does limit the ability to apply an easily legible trajectory label, something serious users will want to do rather than inputting M.O.A. or `click` values from a separate printout chart of ballistics app.

 

Fantastic Support

Swarovski do offer a fantastic ballistic program but most importantly, extensive online information about reticle subtensions allowing you to print out the best setup for you at your chosen magnification setting. Being second focal plane (SFP), they will vary depending on magnification setting. There’s the option of 1/8th M.O.A. clicks which is a mixed blessing. Yes, it adds a little more fine detail, but with 100-clicks per turn, it leaves you adding 12.5 M.O.A. per total rotation into your mental arithmetic, which may add mistakes. Can you place shots within 1.3-inches at 1000-yards? I don’t think this scope will really appeal to the F-class shooting crowd who are really the only ones interested in such critical shot placement!

One missed shot due to an addition error will never correct that extra accuracy of 16.6mm or 0.652-inches at 500-yards when varminting, will it?

 

All Base Ten To Me

After years of combined usage of both metric and imperial distance and angular measurement, it seemed a little strange to see Swarovski, a long time purveyor of the 1cm @100-metres click value swap over to the allegedly more precise/desirable M.O.A. system which immediately leads the eye to the Target shooting market, specifically in the USA. With a reticle and turrets aligned perfectly to read/aim/dial off windage and elevation errors, which is frankly mandatory for long range shooting these days, it was definitely a target, more than tactical market, they sought to aim for, due to the reticle being in the second focal plane.

The simple fact is that although some of these factors seem a little conflicting to the connoisseur of long range shooting and optics, what is long range? Well, there are plenty of hunters out there to whom this scope will allow `play days` at their local range and experimentation on paper or steel, way beyond their hunting tastes. For that, Swarovski has made a fine optic that will appeal to many users, especially those who never were metric in the first place.

I can see options for mRad/ cm clicks appearing in the future with perhaps first focal plane and for long range varminting with superb glass quality and fine adjustability, it is a blissful optic but the turret is a little more than it needs to be! Offering 10 MOA of `negative` travel below the zerostop does seem excessive… it more than likely added size to the turret, which is very tall and I can see damage occurring, even if not day to day mis-adjustment. I have no time whatsoever for estimated adjustment values, so if I’m working in M.O.A. I stay with yards for estimated adjustment at range (which is still an approximation as 1 Minute is actually 1.047-inches at 100-yards or multiples of such)

 

Further Upgrades

A Personalised Extreme Cam (PEC) is available specified exactly to your ballistics, engraved with distances rather than M.O.A. adjustments for the first two turret rotations, although these will push the price dangerously toward the £3k threshold. Tiny ammo variations can make massive differences at any range, so the PEC could quickly go off spec and require replacement at the same price again. One awesome feature Swarovski offer is their online ballistic resources, these calculate your bullet’s trajectory, but also give superb diagrams of your reticle, visualising ALL the dimensions it subtends at any range and magnification you set it to.

Several reticle choices are available, but I liked the 4WX-I+ with hash marks separated by one M.O.A. (depending on magnification), these allowed precise aim offs without being too busy. Everything about the image quality had every Swarovski hallmark, a good depth of field, showing great detail, even in areas of darker shadows with lovely warmth to the colour. Illumination was precise and without any glare or shimmer, the tube deadening any intrusive sunlight well too.

 

Conclusion

It’s easy to think all that mechanical range internally has left little space for decentsized glassware. I must admit it seems odd not to have taken the step up to a 34mm tube; it’s not as if the scope would have suddenly got bulky, not with that stovepipe hat turret up top!

Swarovski’s engineers have made significant changes to the return lever and springs that stabilise the internal inversion system. These maintain shot-toshot accuracy, while allowing the physical movement of a cylinder/ lens package within the external tube and resists the physical force the turret places upon the mechanics when you apply the clicks. The tube walls are thicker to improve strength along with more steel components in the turrets to improve durability on what will be a lot of dialling. This is without doubt a fine scope, perhaps the pinnacle of the breed but is it worth the money? Well that is your choice and Swarovski fans who see their brand as the ultimate already, now have a further step up the ladder to wish for.

PRICE: £2740

CONTACT:
Swarovski Optik
01737 856 812
http://uk.swarovskioptik.com