Thread: Swarovski 3-18 alternatives

Looking for a light weight decent scope for my go to standard hunting rig.

Someone school me on if theres a better alternative to the Swaro 3-18? If it were FFP it would be about ideal.

So, what I want:

Low to high power range
Good glass
Enough dial to 800m ish
Solid and light, 450grams
Decent reticle, I dial everything pretty much. Would put a custom turret in a Swaro
Very reasonable price.

What other options are there?

I’ve got and tried most. I own kahles, Lightforce , March, S&B, Luepolds and always come back to the Z5 3-18 Swaro as my most fav scope. Great power range, 25mm tube, great glass. I have 6 or 7 Z5’s and a Z6 and have stopped searching for the perfect scope. The Z5 fits my needs well.

Good question, watching with interest. A scope in 3-18x44 is what I think is close to best set up for all round NZ hunting. There’s a few others fall into this mag range & size. Leupy VX6 with 44mm objective, Sig does a 3-18x44 but both are heavier than Swaro by quite a bit.
The “light weight” requirement is what makes the search difficult. And many other options are 50mm objectives which pushes weight up further & some of these are pretty big as well as heavy. Ok if you have a dedicated LR rig and don’t jump it thru the bush or monkey scrub.
I really like the Zeiss 3-18x50…. Just wish they offered it in the 44mm objective size.
One of the criticisms of Swaro is that the trade off in light weight is lack of robustness. Never had an issue mysebut I’m pretty careful with my gear.

3-18x and 450grams??? Your options are limited.

Add in lockable turrets and zero stop

Originally Posted by Shearer

3-18x and 450grams??? Your options are limited.

Not a strick need. But not keen on an 800gram scope. Have a NXS. Love that I could beat something with the scope. But, I'm lazy and don't work on my fitness enough to lug it about

Z6 2,5-15x44 does it for me

575g
30mm

I got a bit obsessive trying to find the lightest weight possible

March F 3-24

z6 3.5-18x50 595g if you can find one
Or even better Z8 3-28 x 50 665g with Al the bells and whistles

Sent from my CPH2531 using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by 199p

Add in lockable turrets and zero stop

Yep 100% forgot that. A must!!

Solid and light had me cackling

There have been a couple of these Z5 for sale on here recently. Might be worth PM to the sellers and ask they were just freeing up cash or have they found something better ?

The obvious alternative is the Leupold VX 5. Not quite as much top mag but better at the 3x end. 0r a 2-10x of some sort without dial or parallax. If its your all round go to rifle that should be fine.

Originally Posted by Southcity

I’ve got and tried most. I own kahles, Lightforce , March, S&B, Luepolds and always come back to the Z5 3-18 Swaro as my most fav scope. Great power range, 25mm tube, great glass. I have 6 or 7 Z5’s and a Z6 and have stopped searching for the perfect scope. The Z5 fits my needs well.

Stop showing off yo! daham!

Settled for the 4.5 -- 22 X Vortex Razor light, FFP, ilumination, great reticle, zero stop, locking torrets, 22 ounces. Only the March beats it at way more money.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

There have been a couple of these Z5 for sale on here recently. Might be worth PM to the sellers and ask they were just freeing up cash or have they found something better ?

The obvious alternative is the Leupold VX 5. Not quite as much top mag but better at the 3x end. 0r a 2-10x of some sort without dial or parallax. If its your all round go to rifle that should be fine.

Yep missed one!