[Rich Z]

Or scars from lack thereof....

I have a Swarovski 6x24x50 mounted on a Barrett Model 95 (.50BMG). I haven't fired it yet. The eye relief just seemed rather shallow to me, so I've been searching around, thinking maybe I would replace the scope with something else and mount the Swarovski on another rifle.

Been looking at the Nightforce scopes, which a lot of people seem to like. I think the eye relief is rated at 3.5 inches on the 8x32x56 NXS, which seems reasonable to me. But I checked the specs on the Swarovski I already have, and they are quoting 3.15 inches. Hmm. Dragged out the gun, put my eyeball in position to where the image just barely filled the screen and then took a ruler and measured from the rubber bumper eyepiece to the edge of my glasses. Yikes! 1.5 inches! Something is amiss, I think.

Well, since I have already fired my Model 99 with a Swarovski 10x fixed scope on it, I dragged that out and did the same thing. Damn! 1.5 inches! And I have never had contact with the scope. So maybe I am worrying about nothing. The Model 95 is lighter than the Model 99, but I tend to really weld my cheek to the stock when I shoot the .50BMG.

Maybe I just saved myself a bunch of money.

But in real life, measuring from the REAL end of the scope eyepiece to your glasses (which I assume most people where when they shoot), what is the realistic MINIMUM distance you would consider as safe shooting a .50BMG??

Thanks.

 

[eli95]

Blood in the eye brow

Rich:

I have been working on this problem ever since I had my 1885 Browning 45-70 freebored.

No solution yet short of a long eye relief pistol scope.

To answer your question, something in the range of 4" I would think. That should leave 2+" between the eye brow and the scope.

If you find something that doesn't cost more then double the cost of the gun let me know.

Terry

 

[Rich Z]

Well, the Nightforce 5.5x22 scope I have coming to me is rated at 3.74 inches of eye relief. The 3.5x15 models are rated at 3.78 inches. I looked long and hard to find negative stuff about Nightforce and the only thing I could come up with negatives are:

1) Big
2) Heavy
3) Expensive

But since the same thing can be said about just about any .50BMG rifle on the market today, I think they will fit very well together.

Generally a .50BMG rifle is not something you are going to tote around in the woods hunting jackrabbits with. Even if you do want to hunt with it, you will probably lay it on the ground and shoot prone with it. So putting a 2 pound scope on a rifle that is already 25 to 40 pounds is not going to make a bit of difference in that regard.

I think I may have liked the 3.5x15x50 Nightforce as well, but I can have found I have a preference for the 6.5x20 Leupold, basically because the range of magnification it provides. That greatly influenced my decision on which Nightforce to order.

Yeah, maybe I would have been OK with the Swarovski, but all it would take is a moment of distraction and I would certainly have had that scope whacking me on the eyebrow. Now the good thing about the Swarovski scopes is that the eyepiece is rubber bumpered and also spring loaded, so if it were to hit you, it would be quite a bit more forgiving than most other scopes. But still, I think it would set up a flinch mechanism in my brain forever after if something like that happened to me.