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Between each gust of torrential sideways snow, I could see the buck. He was casually feeding in the late December picked bean field. A quick check with my rangefinder confirmed my best guess at the distance. With an 87 yard shot, the particular sabot and powder combination I was using fit right into the range of the top cross-hair. Shivering uncontrollably, I did my best to keep a steady aim as I pulled back the hammer and slowly squeezed the trigger. After the cloud of smoke cleared, I could make out a snowy silhouette of the buck struggling to make it out of the field.
This Nikon XR Inline Muzzleloader scope is fantastic, and for good reason. It has many features that I appreciate, and a few I didn’t even know existed until I got it. The biggest thing I appreciate is the calibrated reticle that is installed in the scope. Hard to describe with words, Nikon offers their patented BDC Reticle. Basically, there are the main crosshairs in the scope, and then several other crosshairs staggered below it for shooting at further distances. At first I was a bit overwhelmed telling myself that I had a lot of sighting in to do, but after a bit of research, that wasn’t necessarily true. Nikon has a cool resource, their SpotOn Ballistic Match Technology website, where people can go and enter the specifics of their powder charge and bullet. Then, after a brief calculation, the website gives back proper shooting distances for each crosshair. I went to the website, entered my data, and got the proper distances for my scope. Then, to confirm, I went out and tested the first few, and they were accurate! I learned that my load is on from 75 yards, and then learned the rest of the distances from there. The program will calculate shots out to 300 yards! I tested the first few on pumpkins and was pleasantly surprised. Simply Google search Nikon SpotOn Ballistic and the website will come up.
I also like the 5” eye relief of the scope. We’ve all have a few scraped noses and black eyes from shooting scopes without proper eye relief. This Nikon scope comes up easy, and with the relief and generous viewing glass diameter of almost 1 3/4”(ocular bell) is pretty simple to find the target in a reasonable amount of time. I also like the simple adjustments when sighting in the scope. The adjustment turrets are easy to manipulate, but do not move on their own as well. I’ve seen some scopes in the past that were so easy to move, they “magically” adjusted themselves at times.
Overall for the money this is a fantastic scope. This power adjustment ring is easy to operate, it is waterproof, fog proof, shock proof, and just about indestructible. Nikon is a great name with a strong warranty program if there are ever any issues. Taken directly from their website, the list below are the technical specifications. If anyone is looking for a new Scope, I highly recommend anything by Nikon. Happy and safe hunting everyone.
Product Specs
- Magnification 3 -9 x
- Objective Diameter40 mm
- Exit Pupil 4.4 -13.3 mm
- Field of View 8.4 – 25.2 ft @ 100 yds
- Tube Diameter – 1 in
- Eye Relief 5 in
- Objective Outside Diameter 49.3 mm
- Eyepiece Outside Diameter 42 mm
- Weight 13.8 oz
- Overall Length 11.3 in
- Adjustment Graduation – 1/4 in
- Max Internal Adjustment 60 MOA
- Parallax Setting – 100 yds
- Waterproof/Fogproof Yes
- Light Transmission – Up to 92%
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