Steiner Predator Riflescope review

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D5CAV
Posts: 2428
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:48 am

Steiner Predator Riflescope review

Post by D5CAV »

Since I was pretty happy with the Steiner tactical scope, when Botach was blowing out Steiner Predator Xtreme scopes for a stupid price (like less than a low-end Leupold), I picked up a couple.

This is the scope at Midway. Botach had them for about 1/3 the price: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/842522 ... icle-matte

Short review, even at the price Midway is asking ($900), it's a good scope for the price.

Also got the KZ scope rings, which Botach was also blowing out. http://www.botach.com/products/kz-snipe ... rings.html

These are still available, and I would recommend, especially at the blowout price - $35.

Unlike the Steiner tactical scope, it is not illuminated, has standard hunting turrets, and has a 2nd focal plane reticle. It is a 30mm tube instead of the beefy 34mm tube on the tactical scope. Even so, this was still a hefty and solid piece of glass.

I mounted the scope on a 7.62 NATO AR10 clone with the KZ high rings.

Fit was good with the KZ rings. The KZ rings looked like they had been in a warehouse in New Orleans during the Katrina flood (which may be why they were on such a deep discount). They were in plastic, but had some light surface rust and some other corrosion. Some work with steel wool cleaned that up. For $35 I was willing to put up with some cosmetic issues.

Other than the cosmetic issues, the rings appear to be well made and had tight tolerances. There was little play and binding as I tightened up the scope.

On to the range, the scope adjustments were crisp and positive, with no apparent binding or creep. Groups changed as I made the adjustments, with no stringing or shifting.

At 100m, I could barely read the lettering on the standard NRA target. I can read that lettering with my Swarovski and Zeiss, but not quite as crisp with the Steiner. However, I got the Steiner for less than the price of a Leupold, and it blows the Leupold out of the water.

Maybe it was the amount of sunlight when I was at the range, but I didn't remember as much yellow chromatic aberration with the Steiner Tactical. It was quite noticeable in the Steiner Predator Xtreme, especially when the sun came out behind the clouds. Since I was at a target range, it was more annoying than anything, but I'm not sure how that will impact animal identification when hunting. Again, for the price, I think I can live with it. I may decide otherwise if I lose an animal due to color contrast issues.

The KZ rings were rock solid. No movement through 3 boxes of ammo. Of course, this scope was mounted on a 7.62 NATO launcher, not a .300 RUM launcher, so not quite a fair comparison.

I recommend the Steiner Predator Xtreme scope and the KZ 30mm high rings.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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PawPaw
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Re: Steiner Predator Riflescope review

Post by PawPaw »

I've never used their rifle scopes, but during my last tour I was issued Steiner 10X50 binoculars. Very impressive. I used them to judge tank-gun hits on boresight panels at 1600 meters and it was very easy to see the round strikes. I was impressed with Steiner optics, and I especially liked the mil reticle in the right half of the binocs.
Dennis Dezendorf
PawPaw's House
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