Thread: Nikko Stirling - thoughts

yes I did get @gadgetman beloved Nighteater and it was the best $2000 I have ever spent on a scope

In all seriousness it is my second Nighteater and both have performed well for the money. At higher magnification I find they get blurry and some are better than others.
I also have a Game king on another .22 and it's a great scope for the money.

Over all they perform well, they seem to last and give a shooter good value and acceptable optics and clarity for the money.

I sold a Night eater and regretted it so now I've got another. Also have a gold crown 3.5 -10 and a 3 -9. Value for money I reckon. I broke a gameking half mil dot 3-9 dropping the rifle on a rock so now I've got a panamax to replace it.
I also have leuopolds, vortexes and weavers all are there because they perform.

good value for $$, but the scope i miss the most was a tasco world class 3-12x50 with 30mm tube. japanese optics.
was so good i swapped a leupold for it.

I've used a few on my .22LR, haven't compared their optical quality against the lower end of the main stream brands, eg. VX1, Fullfield, Prostaff, but have found them to be mechanically very reliable.
Does anyone know the order of ranking of their models optically?
The models that I know of:
Diamond
Mount Master
Night Eater
Gold Crown
Game King
Panamax
Octa

So many model names it's hard to tell how they rank against each other......

Got an old school gold crown that's been on a heap of rifles since I was a wee pup....has taken a beating and still going strong and I love good optics and spent shed loads more on scopes over the years....the newer ones I saw in the UK were pants as they say over there...

I have a new 3-9x Panamax floating about that came with my Howa 223 package. Funds are limited and i now need a scope for my new Howa Lightweight 308. Was thinking of putting something better on it; maybe I should just chuck the Panamax on in the interim? It has a Redfield 2-7 on it but the dials aren't accurate when sighting in.... Sorry; not trying to hijack a thread!

Go for it you may be surprised

ive had nighteater and a couple of platinums ,rate them great .loved the platinums .pity they are unavailable now

Have had an older jap gold crown - very good. Had a newer one I cant remember model but one day I went to look through it and the reticle was a little pile of sticks in the bottom of the field of view

Originally Posted by Synthetic

I've used a few on my .22LR, haven't compared their optical quality against the lower end of the main stream brands, eg. VX1, Fullfield, Prostaff, but have found them to be mechanically very reliable.
Does anyone know the order of ranking of their models optically?
The models that I know of:
Diamond
Mount Master
Night Eater
Gold Crown
Game King
Panamax
Octa

So many model names it's hard to tell how they rank against each other......

I can help with a few...

Mount master is on par / price pointed to be similar to the older silver crown.

Gold crown and Gold crown AO (Now Air king) is the next step up. (I think panamax fits in here too somewhere with Game king closer to the Silver crown / mount masters)

Night eater is above these and not quite the same level as Diamond but they night eaters were more popular so the the base / common Diamonds got discounted to a gold crown price point for a while making them very good value for money.

Target master falls in this same area but with a more range focused style / features.

Platinum and some of the larger diamonds would be the Nikko Premium lines. (I still have a Nikko Diamond Target master 10-50x60mm scope here with a rrp of $1700. )

Not sure where the Octa fit

A lot of people will rate the night eaters as better than the diamonds. I have both on various rifles and all do the job well. I think the diamond has the edge but only slightly.

Originally Posted by timattalon

I can help with a few...

Mount master is on par / price pointed to be similar to the older silver crown.

Gold crown and Gold crown AO (Now Air king) is the next step up. (I think panamax fits in here too somewhere with Game king closer to the Silver crown / mount masters)

Night eater is above these and not quite the same level as Diamond but they night eaters were more popular so the the base / common Diamonds got discounted to a gold crown price point for a while making them very good value for money.

Target master falls in this same area but with a more range focused style / features.

Platinum and some of the larger diamonds would be the Nikko Premium lines. (I still have a Nikko Diamond Target master 10-50x60mm scope here with a rrp of $1700. )

Not sure where the Octa fit

A lot of people will rate the night eaters as better than the diamonds. I have both on various rifles and all do the job well. I think the diamond has the edge but only slightly.

Perfect exactly what I was wanting to know

I had a play with a 3-9 mount master with mildot reticle on a .22 mag. I was quietly impressed, they seem to be great scopes for the money. I was getting hits on steel out to 200m with no great skill on my part. One issue it had though was the rings that came with it, they felt very cheap and kept coming loose.

Originally Posted by Sh00ter

I had a play with a 3-9 mount master with mildot reticle on a .22 mag. I was quietly impressed, they seem to be great scopes for the money. I was getting hits on steel out to 200m with no great skill on my part. One issue it had though was the rings that came with it, they felt very cheap and kept coming loose.

The Mount master rings do leave something to be improved upon, but the rings that come with the Mount Master AO range are much better. Double the screws.....

They used to put a one piece mount in with the Airking range. When you consider the AO vs non AO was only about $30 the rings were well worth the few extra dollars.

I had a gold crown Ao that came second hand on a 270 it was a good scope held zero the tracking was a bit inconsistent though. also had a panamax that came with a howa(also second hand) which wouldnt hold zero from one shot to the next but as it was second it may have had a hard time.
I think in general they are good value for money.

I currently have three Nikko Diamond FFP 4-14x44's fitted to a .22WMR, .17HMR and a .17 air rifle.

I saw these at the last shoot show in Auckland and this scope was my 'pick of the show' in terms of best value for money of any item seen, and my most 'likely to buy' item at that show.

I later purchased one to upgrade my air rifle scope, but after using it for a bit, it migrated to my .22WMR. Its that good for what I was doing that I ended up buying two more.

This particular model is an excellent, economical FFP illuminated scope for rimfire and air rifle.
The biggest issue with FFP is always the reticle compromise between being too heavy at max magnification and disappearing at min magnification. This scope has it about right. Anything above 7x is spot on for day time rabbit shooting while still giving you a good field of view, and provides plenty of detail in the reticle for hold over shooting which is my preference over dialing. Then, when the sun goes down, wind it down to 4x and switch on the illumination and bingo, you have the perfect spot lighting optic.

Only negatives with them:
They are heavy-ish at 620g (because they a build like brick shit houses)
If only they had a auto off function on the illumination like Leupold's VX-R .....

I paid $500 a piece for them and can't see me ever changing them out.