Tactical Scopes: Ergonomics Part 3

Cal July 20, 2014 Field Tests & Studies, Optics, Reviews & Field Tests, Rifle Scopes 4 Comments

This is the 5th post in a series covering the results from an epic scope field test focused on long-range, tactical rifle scopes in the $1,500+ price range. This represents an unprecedented, data-driven approach to evaluating the best tactical rifle scopes money can buy. Hundreds of hours have gone into this research, and both the scope line-up and the tests I conducted are built on advice and feedback from some of the most respected experts in the industry. My goal with this project was to equip fellow long-range shooters with as much hard data as I could reasonably gather, so they could see what they’re paying for.

This post is really a continuation of the previous post, which was was looking at each scope one by one, and highlight the unique features in terms of ergonomics and overall usability for each. I’ll also include a photo gallery of each scope from just about every angle, and demo the scope from the shooter’s perspective. Half of the scopes were covered in the previous post, and the others will be covered in this post.

My goal is to itemize as many things as possible that you might notice if you had a chance to handle each scope yourself. I try to describe the feel of the turret as objectively as I can. Some of the things I mention may be very important to you, and other items you may not care about in the least … but I leave that up to you as the reader to interpret. Ultimately, ergonomics is all about personal preference. I’m just trying to pass on as much as I can through written content, photos, and video to help you understand what it feels like to use the scope. Most of this stuff isn’t published anywhere, so hopefully this helps you make a more informed buying decision.

Schmidt and Bender PMII 3-27×56

The Schmidt and Bender PMII 3-27×56 scope I tested had Schmidt and Bender’s MTC LT turret (which standards for More Tactile Clicks and Locking Turret). I believe this is the only turret currently available for the 3-27×56, but this is also an option for the turret on the Schmidt and Bender PMII 5-25×56.

Relatively heavy – Although this wasn’t the heaviest scope in the comparison (there were 4 heavier), many shooters complain about the weight of this scope (its 0.5 ounces heavier than the Schmidt and Bender 5-25×56).
Consistent eye relief through entire magnification range
Easy to see what rotation you’re on – Double Turn (DT) turret design makes it hard to get lost. Has a pop-up revolution indicator that is easy to see and can be felt with touch.
MTC clicks are very stiff – MTC stands for More Tactile Clicks, which just means the turret is designed to give feedback you can sense with touch to indicate when you’re at certain adjustments. It does that by making certain clicks slightly more “sticky” than others. On this turret those are on every whole number (0.0, 1.0, 2.0, etc.). MTC designs theoretically allow the shooter to sense where they are on the adjustment just by feel. That means you don’t have to lift their head from behind the scope or could make adjustments in pitch black. Some guys like MTC turrets, others hate them. I haven’t personally been in a scenario where I needed them, so I’m not a huge fan. One downside of MTC designs is that it is easy to accidentally overrun your target adjustment, because you have to apply so much pressure to “break out” of those “sticky” clicks. For example, if you need to adjust from 0.0 to 0.1, you may spin past it to 0.3 or 0.4 and then have to back off a few clicks to get to 0.1 (hopefully without landing back on 0.0 and repeating the whole process). This is especially true for the Schmidt and Bender MTC turret, because it has a stiffer clicks than most scopes.I read a review by ILya Koskin on a Schmidt and Bender scope with these MTC turrets. Here is what he said: “Of the two S&B scopes, the first one I got my hands on was brand new straight from the dealer, and the turrets were very stiff. When that stiffness was combined with the MTC click stop, I found it virtually impossible to go one click past the MTC. I spent a fair amount of time with that scope, and I do not think I ever managed to get confident with adjusting the turret without getting visual confirmation. … I still do not like the whole MTC business. I understand the reason for it, but it is not my thing. Every MTC implementation I have seen to date makes “no eyes” operation virtually impossible for me. … Since a bunch of people out there clearly like MTC, I must be odd, which is not all that surprising.” I guess I must be odd too, because I have the same exact impression.
All features are tactile – With the MTC adjustments, pop-up revolution indicator, and lock ring design, you should theoretically be able to run this scope by touch only. Meaning you could double-check all the scope settings in pitch black (i.e. without visual confirmation).
NOT easy to adjust 1 click from whole numbers – It’s not easy to adjust by one click when you’re on a whole number because of the More Tactile Clicks. You’ll usually have accidental overrun.
Very crisp clicks – Turret snaps cleanly into each adjustment. It’s impossible to accidentally stop between clicks.
Turret Locking Ring – Locking mechanism seems ideal, and doesn’t add bulk/complexity, and is out of your way when you don’t need it.
Heavy amount of torque required to adjust elevation, for both the “normal clicks” (i.e. not the whole numbers), as well as the More Tactile Click whole numbers. This was measured to be 5.2 inch-pounds for the typical clicks, and 7.2 inch-pounds for the More Tactile Clicks. The typical click required almost 25% more force to adjust than any other scope tested.
Relatively small hash marks could be more difficult to see.
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Average (3 out of 5 stars), primarily because the clicks may be overly stiff.

Schmidt and Bender PMII 5-25×56

The Schmidt and Bender PMII 5-25×56 scope I tested had Schmidt and Bender’s DT turret (which stands for Double Turn). It’s available with a few other turret options, but the DT turret design is what I’m referring to here.

Heavy, but good optical performance for weight – This is a relatively heavy scope, which more than one shooter has lovingly referred to as “a boat anchor.” However, there were 5 scopes that heavier in the group of 18 I tested. The Schmidt and Bender 5-25×56 did rank 6^th highest for optical points per ounce, so it packs a lot of performance for its weight.
Relatively long scope at 16.4”
Most compact width of any 50 or 56mm scope – Only the 42mm and 44mm scopes were more compact (in terms of width).
Relatively inflexible mounting length – Only has 1.5” of straight tube on objective side of the turret box, which limits how much you’d be able to move the scope within a mount to get proper eye relief for your natural point of aim. If a scope ring took up 1” of space on the tube, this would limit you to only being able to adjust the scope ±0.25” within the mount. You likely will need to adjust the mount on the rail to achieve proper eye relief.
Consistent eye relief through entire magnification range
Easy to see what rotation you’re on – Double Turn (DT) turret design makes it hard to get lost. Revolution indicator turns bright yellow when you’re on the 2^nd revolution, which is hard to miss.
Easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Amount of torque required to adjust the elevation was 3.8 inch-pounds, which is right in the sweet spot many find ideal (2.5 may be too light without a lock, 5.0 may be too heavy).
Very crisp clicks – Turret snaps cleanly into each adjustment. It’s impossible to accidentally stop between clicks.
Large numbers on turret are easy to see
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Outstanding (5 out of 5 stars). Only 3 scopes were rated this highly of the 18 tested. This seemed to be a fairly ideal turret, without much room for improvement.

Steiner Military 5-25×56

Long scope – At 16.5” it was the 2^nd longest scope of the 18 tested (only the US Optics was longer)
Wide scope –3.8” wide (measured from the edge of the windage knob to the edge of the parallax knob) makes it one of the widest scopes tested, and almost 1/2” wider than the average scope tested.
Consistent eye relief through entire magnification range
AMAZINGLY easy to see what rotation you’re on – Innovative design changes out the numbers on the turret as you enter the 2^nd revolution by sliding the numbers from the 1^st revolution up out of the way to reveal the second set of numbers. It is a Double Turn (DT) design, so there are only two sets of numbers to worry about, which further simplifies this. This design makes it impossible to accidentally be on the wrong rotation. Hopefully the added complexity and moving parts won’t impact reliability, but we saw no indication that it would be an issue. Watch the demo video below to see this feature in action!
Easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Amount of torque required to adjust the elevation was 3.9 inch-pounds, which is right in the sweet spot many find ideal (2.5 may be too light without a lock, 5.0 may be too heavy).
Crisp clicks – Turret snaps into each adjustment, although it didn’t feel as positive as some of the other scopes tested. However, I found it impossible to accidentally stop between clicks.
Relatively small numbers on the elevation turret – This could make it harder to read the turret from behind the scope.
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Good (4 out of 5 stars)

US Optics ER25 5-25×58

The US Optics ER25 5-25×58 scope I tested had the EREK turret (which stands for Erector Repositioning Elevation Knob). It’s available with other turret options, but the EREK turret design is what I’m referring to here.

Heavy – At over 2.5 pounds, it was the 3^rd heaviest of the 18 scopes tested.
Very, very long – 1.6” longer than any other scope tested, which made it noticeably longer in use. This might not be a problem, but could present maneuverability issues. Most of the length is due to the straight part of the tube on the objective bell, which is almost 1” longer than any other scope.
Relatively short height at 3.0” (measured vertically from bottom of objective bell to top of turret)
Slightly larger objective lens – Has a 58mm objective, rather than the standard 56mm, which makes it the largest lens of the group. However, the Leupold Mark 8 actually had a larger objective bell.
Easy to adjust magnification – Has a very wide area that twists to adjust magnification. The magnification ring is 2.0” long, which can make it easy to quickly grab and adjust the magnification from behind the scope.
Widest turret of any scope tested – Many people feel like wide turrets give you more control and it helps the hash marks be a little more spread out and easier to differentiate. Although I wasn’t partial to wide turrets before this field test, I found myself preferring them by the end of it.
Unusually large turret box limits mount selection and flexibility – The turret box on this scope was obviously larger than any other scope I’ve used. The illumination controls weren’t combined with the parallax knob or on the eyepiece like you see on many scopes. This can limit how you’re able to position the scope on the rifle, because you essentially won’t have much clearance (if any) to move the scope forwards or backwards to attain proper eye relief for your natural point of aim. I also noticed it wouldn’t work with the one-piece mounts from Spuhr, and it may not fit any one-piece mounts. I prefer one-piece mounts that are cut with a precision CNC machine (like the Spuhr mounts), because there is absolutely no need to lap the rings. I also tried it in the two-piece Spuhr mount, but even with those they had to be so spread out that they hung off the picatinny rail (even on a 6 3/8” rail on a long action rifle). There are obviously scope mounts that do work for this scope, but your choices are limited because of the oversized turret box.
Eye relief varied between max and min magnification – My measurements showed the eye relief to be roughly 2.8” at 25x and 4.0” at 5x.
Not easy to see what rotation you’re on – The revolution indicator is the old-style lines under the turret, which isn’t the most obvious system. It isn’t as apparent as more modern designs like those provided on tactical scopes from Steiner, Schmidt and Bender, Hensoldt, Kahles, and Leupold.
Very small numbers on elevation turret – Smallest of any scope tested, and about 35% smaller than the average size. This might make it hard to read from behind the scope.
No numbers for 2^nd or 3^rd revolution – There was only one set of numbers on the turret, which were obviously for the 1^st revolution. That might not be a huge deal, except there are 11 mils of elevation per revolution … so the math is awkward.
Easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Amount of torque required to adjust the elevation was 4.3 inch-pounds, which is right in the sweet spot many find ideal (2.5 may be too light without a lock, 5.0 may be too heavy).
Clicks are NOT crisp – Unlike most other scopes, the clicks on the US Optics scope were a bit “mushy.” They didn’t snap into place with each adjustment, and you could easily accidentally stop between clicks. While this may or may not have any impact on performance, it didn’t give you the confidence that positive clicks and tactile feedback provide.
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Poor (2 out of 5 stars).

Valdada IOR 3.5-18×50

3rd point of tension like benchrest scopes – Has a stiff spring opposite the elevation & windage turrets to help ensure the tube is always properly aligned against the erectors. I recognized this feature, because I had recently visited Benchrest Hall of Famer, Cecil Tucker, and talked about a similar feature he implemented many years ago on Leupold Competition Scopes (and still does today for benchrest shooters around the world). The way I understood it, some scopes aren’t repeatable because the erector tube doesn’t stay seated firmly against the elevation and windage knobs. This could be due to recoil or occur when you reverse the direction you’re adjusting the scope, but issues may be erratic and hard to replicate, so it can be a frustrating problem. A photo of Cecil’s design is below, and it is essentially a solid post (like a bolt) you tighten to force the scope up against the elevation turret and to the right against the windage turret. You have to loosen it to adjust the scope and then retighten. Burris has a design for their scopes they call Posi-Lock that is virtually identical. Valdada released an improved design in 1994 that used a heavy spring to force the tube against the turrets instead of a solid post, which makes it where you never should have to loosen or tighten this part of the scope to make adjustments, but it provides the same benefit. Nightforce has a similar feature on their Precision Benchrest line of scopes they call a “coil spring plunger return system to maximize tracking accuracy.” Is it necessary? A hall of fame benchrest shooter would say yes. Do we need the same precision a benchrest shooter needs? Couldn’t hurt.
Adjustable 2nd Zero indicator can be used for:
- 2nd zero is for when rifle is unsuppressed, and primary zero is with suppressor attached
- Competitors who regularly shoot at two set distances (600 and 1000 yards, 200 and 300 yards, etc.). Have a zero at each distance.
- Hunters that want a zero at 200 yards and another zero at 600 yards (so they don’t have to count clicks)
- Two different loads you commonly shoot in the same rifle (maybe hunting and target, or normal and subsonic)
Relatively heavy for a 50mm scope. It weighed about the same as the Steiner 5-25×56 and the Leupold Mark 8 3.5-25×56, which are large scopes.
Relatively compact height at 2.9” (measured vertically from bottom of objective bell to top of turret)
Relatively inflexible mounting length – Only has 1.5” of straight tube on objective side of the turret box, which limits how much you’d be able to move the scope within a mount to get proper eye relief for your natural point of aim. If a scope ring took up 1” of space on the tube, this would limit you to only being able to adjust the scope ±0.25” within the mount. You likely will need to adjust the mount on the rail to achieve proper eye relief.
Turret is very wide and relatively short – While this is personal preference, many people feel like wide turrets give you more control and it helps the hash marks be a little more spread out and easier to differentiate. Although I wasn’t partial to wide turrets before this field test, I found myself preferring them by the end of it. In fact, these Valdada scopes could have the ideal size turret in my view.
Consistent eye relief through entire magnification range
Not easy to see what rotation you’re on – The revolution indicator is the old-style lines under the turret, which isn’t the most obvious system. It isn’t as apparent as more modern designs like those provided on tactical scopes from Steiner, Schmidt and Bender, Hensoldt, Kahles, and Leupold.
VERY easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Torque required to adjust elevation was one of the lightest tested (approximately 2.0 inch-pounds). Some may consider this too light without a locking turret, but it was very easy to use.
Crisp clicks – The turret snaps cleanly into each adjustment. You might be able to accidentally stop in between clicks, but you’d probably have to be trying to do it.
Relatively small numbers on the elevation turret – This could make it harder to read the turret from behind the scope.
No distances marked on parallax knob. Some guys prefer to not have distances on the knob, because they’re virtually never perfect (exact adjustment can vary with temperature and other factors). But it’s sometimes helpful to preset the parallax to a ballpark distance before you start a hunt or a stage of competition. For example, a shooter may like to preset the scope to be focused for roughly 300 yards. So while exact indexes on the parallax knob are never perfect, having some numbers can be helpful (of course, you can also use a sharpie).
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Good (4 out of 5 stars).

Valdada IOR RECON Tactical 4-28×50

3rd point of tension like benchrest scopes – See the description on the Valdada IOR 3.5-18×50 scope above for more details and photos of what this is.
Adjustable 2nd Zero indicator – See the description on the Valdada IOR 3.5-18×50 scope above for more details.
Uncommon tube diameter limits mount selection. The Valdada 4-28×50 features a 40mm tube, which isn’t as common as 30 or 35mm. There isn’t a Spuhr mount available, which I think are the best mounts money can buy. However, Valdada included some rings made by American Rifle Company, and they were outstanding. If you don’t know American Rifle Company, you should watch an interview I had with the genius behind the company, Ted Karagias. I believe Ted could be the John Browning of our time.
Very heavy, especially for a 50mm scope – It was the 2^nd heaviest scope in this test, only topped by the Hensoldt. It is almost ½ a pound heavier than the Steiner 5-25×56.
Relatively short height at 3.0” (measured vertically from bottom of objective bell to top of turret)
Relatively wide scope at 3.9” (measured from edge of windage knob to the edge of the illumination knob)
Turret is very wide and relatively short – While this is personal preference, many people feel like wide turrets give you more control and it helps the hash marks be a little more spread out and easier to differentiate. Although I wasn’t partial to wide turrets before this field test, I found myself preferring them by the end of it. In fact, these Valdada scopes could have the ideal size turret in my view.
Eye relief varied by approximately 1” between max and min magnification (3.1” at max, 4.0” at min)
Awkward target focus – It doesn’t have a standard parallax knob for target focus, but instead that is a ring on the objective bell. Some lower-end scopes have a similar approach, and it can be awkward to adjust from behind the scope in prone. Some testers hated it, and others thought it wasn’t a huge deal.
Not easy to see what rotation you’re on – The revolution indicator is the old-style lines under the turret, which isn’t the most obvious system. However, Valdada did add colored indexes to help slightly (see photos). It still isn’t as apparent as more modern designs like those provided on tactical scopes from Steiner, Schmidt and Bender, Hensoldt, Kahles, and Leupold.
VERY easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Torque required to adjust elevation was one of the lightest tested (approximately 2.4 inch-pounds). Some may consider this too light without a locking turret, but it was very easy to use.
Crisp clicks – The turret snaps cleanly into each adjustment. You might be able to accidentally stop in between clicks, but you’d probably have to be trying to do it.
No distances marked on parallax knob. Some guys prefer to not have distances on the knob, because they’re virtually never perfect (exact adjustment can vary with temperature and other factors). But it’s sometimes helpful to preset the parallax to a ballpark distance before you start a hunt or a stage of competition. For example, a shooter may like to preset the scope to be focused for roughly 300 yards. So while exact indexes on the parallax knob are never perfect, having some numbers can be helpful (of course, you can also use a sharpie).
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Good (4 out of 5 stars). Clicks might be slightly too light for a non-locking turret.

Vortex Razor HD 5-20×50

The Vortex Razor HD 5-20×50 scope I tested had Vortex’s 5 mil turret, although it’s also available with a 10 mil turret. The 5 mil turret model is what I’m referring to here, although most of this info is common to both models.

Fiber optic indicators on elevation turret to help identify 0, and on magnification ring index (see photos).
Simple cap over the elevation knob for easy zero reset
Relatively heavy for a 50mm scope. It weighed about the same as the Steiner 5-25×56 and the Leupold Mark 8 3.5-25×56, which are large scopes.
Nice to have option for a 5 mil or 10 mil turret – Although most long-range shooters would likely opt for the 10 mil turret, if you stay under 600-800 the 5 mil might be a great option.
Large numbers on turret are easy to read – These were the largest of any scope tested.
Not easy to see what rotation you’re on – The revolution indicator is the old-style lines under the turret, which isn’t the most obvious system. And on the 5 mil turret, you have A LOT of lines, because it needs a lot of revolutions to provide enough overall travel. It isn’t as apparent as more modern designs like those provided on tactical scopes from Steiner, Schmidt and Bender, Hensoldt, Kahles, and Leupold.
VERY easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Torque required to adjust elevation was in that sweet spot @ 2.8 inch-pounds (2.5 may be too light without a lock, 5.0 may be too heavy)
Crisp clicks – The turret snaps cleanly into each adjustment. You might be able to accidentally stop in between clicks, but you’d probably have to be trying to do it.
Lowest click density – The 5 mil turret has lot so space between each hash mark, which can make it easier to differentiate between each one to ensure you’re on the right adjustment. That also means there is a considerable amount of travel between each click, which makes it easier to control than a short space. And although the 10 mil turret would obviously be twice as packed as the 5 mil, it would still be spacious compared to most of the 18 scopes tested (i.e. the click density of the 10 mil turret is below the group average).
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Good (4 out of 5 stars).

Zeiss Victory FL Diavari 6-24×56

Lightest 56mm scope in this test – Weighs just 31.7 ounces, which is at least a 1/2 pound lighter than the Schmidt and Bender scopes, Nightforce BEAST, US Optics, Valdada IOR 4-28×50, and almost a full pound lighter than the Hensoldt scope. Because of its low weight and stellar results from the optics tests, it ranked 3^rd highest score for optical points per ounce (only topped by the 42mm and 44mm scopes).
Relatively inflexible mounting length – Only has 1.6” of straight tube on ocular side of the turret box, which limits how much you’d be able to move the scope within a mount to get proper eye relief for your natural point of aim. If a scope ring took up 1” of space on the tube, this would limit you to only being able to adjust the scope ±0.3” within the mount. You likely will need to adjust the mount on the rail to achieve proper eye relief.
Parallax index is easier to see – The index mark for the side-focus is up at a 45 degree angle instead of being in the middle of the tube. This is a very small feature, but it makes it easier to see when you’re peeking up over the scope. Even though the number indexes are really just rough estimates, I appreciate designers who try to make improvements on small details like that.
Only available in clockwise turret, while most North American scopes are counter-clockwise. You could make the switch, but it may be hard to get used to shooting some scopes that are CW and others that are CCW.
Only available with turret in Shooters MOA – There are no options for a turret in MIL or true MOA. This could be the biggest problem with this scope. Each click on this scope equates to 0.25 inches at 100 yards, not 0.25 MOA. Lots of people get confused on this, because they’re very close to the same thing … but not quite. In fact, most hunters (Zeiss’s target customers) don’t shoot to a distance where they’d even notice the difference, but long-range shooters might. At 100 yards, 1 true MOA equates is 1.047” where 1 Shooter’s MOA is exactly 1.000”. Not all ballistics engines support Shooter’s MOA, so that could cause issues (or at least confusion).
Lift & turn automatic turret lock is awkward – This turret features a lock that requires you to lift it up to be able to adjust the elevation. It has a spring that snaps the elevation turret back in the locked position when you release it. So it can be an awkward pull up, turn, and release cycle when you’re dialing a bunch of elevation at one time (like when you’re going from zero up a full revolution). Watch the demo video below to see what I mean.
Narrow turret – The Zeiss turret was the narrowest turret out of the 18 scopes tested, at 4mm thinner than next closest scope.
Kind of easy to see what rotation you’re on – The revolution indicator on the Zeiss scope was still lines similar to the old-style lines under the elevation cap, but theirs were on top of the turret and more noticeable. It was also easier because the Zeiss only had 3 revolutions of elevation. The downside is that it had significantly less overall travel than most scopes tested. But that did make it easier to not get lost on what revolution you’re on.
VERY easy to adjust 1 click without accidental overrun. Torque required to adjust elevation was 2.5 inch-pounds, which is very light and easy to work with. Since the scope has a locking turret, that lightweight adjustment shouldn’t be a problem.
Crisp clicks – The turret snaps cleanly into each adjustment. You might be able to accidentally stop in between clicks, but you’d probably have to be trying to do it.
Turret Overall Feel & Usability = Average (3 out of 5 stars).