Swaro' Z5 3.5x18x44 BT 4W opinions needed...

[Rambler]

Swarovski Z5 3.5-18x44 BT 4W Riflescope Black 59764

Buy Swarovski Z5 3.5-18x44 BT 4W Riflescope Black 59764 at Eurooptic. Z5 Riflescopes from Swarovski are in a class of their own. Swarovski Z5 scopes in stock, best prices, no tax, & same day free shipping! Call (570)368-3920 or order online now!

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Gonna mount it on a Cooper M51 Montana Varmint chambered in .17 Remington. This will be my all-round varmint rifle to include anything from prairie dogs, jack rabbits, crows, raccoons, foxes, cats and coyotes. Shots on varmints with this rifle will typically be no further than 500yds, coyotes less.

So far, I've heard it's great glass (duh) but the eyebox is not very forgiving and the reticle is fine. Not sure a fine reticle is a problem on a varmint rifle but would like to hear your thoughts. How well does the ballistic turret work? Is it easy to set up? How is the eyebox? Do you like the reticle? Looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly here.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Not a fan of 1 inch tubes with that magnification range. Check out the Z6 2.5-15x44

 

[Rambler]

Not a fan of 1 inch tubes with that magnification range. Check out the Z6 2.5-15x44

Why not?

 

[Droppndrakes]

I like my z5. Lightweight and simple for hunting. Been all around North America and works great.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

With the BT you are limited to 13.25 MOA of elevation after setting your zero. This was a deal breaker so I sold the scope.

Glass quality was phenomenal.

 

[Spiral Horn]

Used a Z5 3.5-18x44 BRH on my primary mountain hunting rifle for a few years and really liked it - lightweight, compact, really bright and sharp; and the accompanying Swarovski ballistics App and the holdover markings were very accurate. I was comfortable with it and took a number of critters out to about 500 yards.

However, the big ??? with this scope is ruggedness and durability. After purchase, I mounted it using Talley Rings, Wheeler Gunsmithing Tools, and a torque wrench. On its maiden voyage to the range it was an extremely humid (steamy) morning and the scope internally fogged. Swarovski did repair it but gave me the 3rd degree about whether I damaged it. After that it worked fine for a few years and I really enjoyed using it. Then in 2019 as I was in final preparations for a sheep hunt the zero began to wander. It had been working fine and hadn’t recently been remounted, so it just failed. But Swarovski said that I’d damaged it and wouldn’t repair it unless I paid. Since it was cheaper than buying a new scope, I paid, got it back in time and used it on that sheep hunt. But no longer trusted its durability or Swarovski’s support if anything else went wrong. Subsequently replaced it with a Leupold VX-6HD.

To sum up - the Z5 is a really nice design, and just about perfect for a lightweight rig. But it has questionable ruggedness/durability; and in my actual experience, once mounted, if anything goes wrong you’ll just have to hope your SONA experience turns out better than mine.