Description
Rifle Scope Product Details
NightForce Tactical 5.5-22×50 NXS Riflescope, Black, 30mm, ZeroStop – .250 MOA – MOAR-T
NightForce 5.5-22×50 NXS Tactical Riflescope, 30mm, .250 MOA, ZeroStop, MOAR-T Reticle, Black, C505, C505
Rifle Scope Product Features
Nightforce NXS 5.5-22×50 Zero Stop MOAR-T Riflescope C505
About the NightForce Company
NightForce is a premium manufacturer for long gun scopes, optics, mounts, and other accessories used for guns like rifles and long guns. They create and supply their scopes and related products working with materials which are resilient and long lasting. This includes the NightForce Tactical 5.5-22×50 NXS Riflescope, Black, 30mm, ZeroStop – .250 MOA – MOAR-T by NightForce. For additional shooting products, visit their site.
Rifle Scope Information
Rifle scopes allow you to specifically align a rifle at different targets by lining up your eye with the target over a range. They do this through magnification by making use of a series of lenses inside the scope. The scope’s alignment can be adjusted to account for many ecological considerations like wind and elevation increases or decreases to account for bullet drop.
The scope’s purpose is to help the shooter understand precisely where the bullet will hit based upon the sight picture you are viewing through the scope as you align the scope’s crosshair or reticle with the intended target. Most contemporary rifle scopes and optics have around 11 parts which are found internally and on the exterior of the scope. These scope parts consist of the rifle scope’s body, lenses, windage turrets, focus rings, and other components. See all eleven parts of a scope.
The Varieties of Rifle Scopes
Rifle scopes can be either “first focal plane” or “second focal plane” type of scopes. Selecting the finest type of rifle optic is based around what type of shooting you plan on doing.
First Focal Plane Glass
Focal plane scopes (FFP) include the reticle in front of the magnification lens. These types of scopes are helpful for:
- Quick acquisition, far away types of shooting
- Shooting circumstances where estimations are marginal
- Experienced shooters who recognize their target “hold over” and “lead” relationships for their rifles
- Shooters who do not mind the reticle is bigger and uses up more visual sight space than a SFP reticle
About Second Focal Plane Scopes
Second focal plane optics (SFP) come with the reticle behind the magnification lens. In the FFP example with the SFP scope, the 5x “zoom” 100 yard tick reticle measurement would be 1/5th of the non “zoom” tick measurement.
- Long distance styles of shooting where shooters have additional time to make ballistic calculations
- Shooting where most of the shots take place within much shorter ranges and proximities
- Shooters who like a clearer optic sight picture without space taken up by the enlarged FFP reticle
Ins and Outs of Glass Magnification
The amount of magnification a scope provides is figured out by the size, thickness, and curvatures of the lenses inside of the rifle scope. The zoom of the scope is the “power” of the scope.
Single Power Lens Scopes
A single power rifle optic comes with a magnification number designator like 4×32. This means the zoom power of the scope is 4x power and the objective lens is 32mm. The zoom of this type of scope can not fluctuate since it is fixed.
Variable Power Lens Rifle Optics
Variable power rifle scopes use enhanced power. The power change is handled by making use of the power ring part of the scope near the back of the scope by the eye bell.
Optic Power and Ranges
Here are some suggested scope powers and the ranges where they may be effectively used. Remember that higher power glass will not be as effective as lower powered optics since excessive zoom can be a bad thing. The very same idea applies to extended ranges where the shooter needs to have sufficient power to see exactly where to properly aim the rifle at the target.
Lens Covering for Rifle Glass
All cutting-edge rifle scope and optic lenses are layered. Lens finishing is a crucial aspect of a shooting platform when thinking about high end rifle optics and scope setups.
ED Versus HD Glass
Some scope makers also use “HD” or high-definition lens finishes which use various processes, chemicals, elements, and polarizations to draw out different colors and viewable definition through the lens. Some scope producers use “HD” to refer to “ED” meaning extra-low dispersion glass.
Optic Lens Single Covering Versus Multi-Coating
Different scope lenses can also have different coverings applied to them. All lenses usually have at least some kind of treatment or covering applied to them before they are used in a rifle scope or optic assembly. Because the lens isn’t just a raw piece of glass, they require performance enhancing coatings. It becomes part of the carefully tuned optic. It must have a finishing put on it so that the lens will be efficiently usable in many kinds of environments, degrees of sunshine (full light VS shade), and other shooting conditions.
Single coated lenses have a treatment applied to them which is normally a protective and boosting multi-purpose treatment. This lens treatment can preserve the lens from scratches while decreasing glare and other less useful things experienced in the shooting environment while sighting in with the scope. The quality of a single covered lens depends on the scope maker and the amount you paid for it. Both the make and cost are indications of the lens quality.
Some scope makers also make it a point to specify if their optic lenses are covered or “multi” covered. This suggests the lens has had multiple treatments applied to them. If a lens receives several treatments, it can indicate that a producer is taking multiple actions to combat different natural elements like an anti-glare coating, a scratch resistant anti-abrasion covering, followed by a hydrophilic finish. This also doesn’t necessarily mean the multi-coated lens is better than a single covered lens. Being “better” is dependent on the manufacturer’s lens treatment innovation and the quality of products used in creating the rifle scope.
Hydrophobic Lens Coverings
Water on a scope lens doesn’t assist with retaining a clear sight picture through a scope in any way. Many top of the line and premium scope producers will coat their lenses with a hydrophilic or hydrophobic covering. The Steiner Optics Nano-Protection is a fine example of this kind of treatment. It provides protection for the surface of the Steiner optic lens so the H2O molecules can not bind to it or produce surface tension. The outcome is that the water beads slide off of the scope to maintain a clear, water free sight picture.
Rifle Glass Installing Alternatives
Installing solutions for scopes are available in a few choices. There are the basic scope rings which are individually mounted to the scope and one-piece mounts which cradle the scope. These various types of mounts also typically can be found in quick release versions which use manual levers which enable rifle operators to quickly install and dismount the optics.
Hex Key Rifle Optic Rings
Standard, clamp style mounting scope rings use hex head screws to mount to the flattop design Picatinny scope installation rails on rifles. These types of scope mounts use two separate rings to support the optic, and are made from 7075 T6 billet aluminum which are designed for long distance accuracy shooting. This type of scope install is fine for rifles which require a long lasting, sound mounting solution which will not move no matter how much the scope is moved or abused.
Quick-Release Cantilever Glass Ring Mounting Solutions
These types of quick-release rifle scope mounts can be used to quickly connect and take off a scope from a rifle before reattaching it to a different rifle. Multiple scopes can also be switched out if they all use a similar design mount. These types of mounts are convenient for rifle platforms which are transported a lot, to swap out the optic from the rifle for protection, or for scopes which are used in between several rifles or are situationally focused.
Sealing and Gas Purging for Glass Tubes
Moisture inside your rifle scope can ruin a day of shooting and your expensive optic by triggering fogging and producing residue inside of the scope tube. Most scopes prevent wetness from going into the scope tube with a system of sealing O-rings which are water resistant.
Rifle Optic Gas Purging
Another part of avoiding the accumulation of wetness within the rifle optic’s tube is filling the tube with a gas like nitrogen. Considering that this area is already occupied by the gas, the glass is less impacted by temp shifts and pressure distinctions from the outside environment which could potentially allow water vapor to permeate in around the seals to fill the vacuum which would otherwise be there. These are good qualities of a decent rifle scope to seek out.
