I'm considering putting a Monarch 3 2.5-10 with BDC reticle on my X-Bolt in 270 Win. Just wondering if anyone with experience with this scope has any thoughts to share. This setup will be used primarily for hunting. All the reviews I read are fantastic, so I'm getting ready to seal the deal.
Nikon Monarch 3 - Thoughts?
- Thread starter JeffDilla
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All I use are Nikon scopes, on my CZ 22LR, Bushmaster AR, and my Remington 700 LTR. I also have an older pair of Nikon compact binoculars that have never failed me in almost 20 years -- no problems whatsoever, through hiking and on the range.
The 700 LTR wears a Monarch 3 4-16x42 mil dot with side focus. It is crisp and clear, under $500, and I chose it after looking for weeks through Leupold, Bushnell, Vortex, Burris, Zeiss and others. Good enough to put 10 rounds into less than half an inch at 100 yards with my handloads. Read Nikon reviews on Optics Planet and elsewhere.
I give the Monarch 3 two thumbs up.
The 700 LTR wears a Monarch 3 4-16x42 mil dot with side focus. It is crisp and clear, under $500, and I chose it after looking for weeks through Leupold, Bushnell, Vortex, Burris, Zeiss and others. Good enough to put 10 rounds into less than half an inch at 100 yards with my handloads. Read Nikon reviews on Optics Planet and elsewhere.
I give the Monarch 3 two thumbs up.
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http://www.opticsplanet.com/reviews/reviews-nikon-monarch-3-4-16x42-mildot.html
18 reviews, average 5 out of 5 stars. This model comes with other reticles. I think you will find most Nikons are highly rated by their users.
18 reviews, average 5 out of 5 stars. This model comes with other reticles. I think you will find most Nikons are highly rated by their users.
Good to know. I have a Nikon Prostaff that I use on my muzzleloader. Its not bad but doesn't quite rate with my Leupold VX-2s. I understand the Monarch series is a step above the Prostaff. I also have a set of Nikon binos that I'm really happy with.
Monarch 3
In the interest of full disclosure I do some freelance PR/Shooting Event's for Nikon Sport Optic's. I have been doing some work for Nikon for 6 years now but I have been using their scopes since 1985. The MONARCH 3 is an easy choice for someone looking for very nice glass and not break the bank. Lots of great features, fine focus eyepiece ( my older eyes love that feature), 1 piece tube, clear with excellent early morning and late evening light tranmission. Best of all it's back by Nikon's No Fault Policy. I'm a big fan of the BDC reticle too. Dialing in my distances with Spot On is quick and easy. If you choose the BDC reticle and have any question's feel free to drop me a note and I'll do my best to help you out. Here's a pic of a MONARCH 3 on a 22-250 that made easy work of a steel target at 400 yards.
In the interest of full disclosure I do some freelance PR/Shooting Event's for Nikon Sport Optic's. I have been doing some work for Nikon for 6 years now but I have been using their scopes since 1985. The MONARCH 3 is an easy choice for someone looking for very nice glass and not break the bank. Lots of great features, fine focus eyepiece ( my older eyes love that feature), 1 piece tube, clear with excellent early morning and late evening light tranmission. Best of all it's back by Nikon's No Fault Policy. I'm a big fan of the BDC reticle too. Dialing in my distances with Spot On is quick and easy. If you choose the BDC reticle and have any question's feel free to drop me a note and I'll do my best to help you out. Here's a pic of a MONARCH 3 on a 22-250 that made easy work of a steel target at 400 yards.
View through a Monarch 5 I caught on sale. Normally I wouldn't pony up that much and get a Monarch 3 or VX-3/3i, but the sale price was too good to pass up.
The 2.5-10 is a better all around choice than the 4-16 IMHO.
The 2.5-10 is a better all around choice than the 4-16 IMHO.
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I own four Nikon scopes mounted on as many rifles and I am well pleased with all. The biggy ? One does not have to re- mortage the farm to purchase one!
I read that Nikon has that option for custom turrets available. That level of technicality is out of my realm of knowledge though! I do like the BDC reticle though.
I did go to Cabelas today and looked at the scope. I liked it and thought it was nice. The clarity and features were good. I have to admit that it didn't jump out and scream "buy me!", as I though it might. So I didn't end up buying it yet. I want to mull it over for another day or two, as it's a fairly significant purchase for me. It probably didn't help that I stood at the counter for 20 minutes waiting for assistance while literally 8 guys shuffled around moving boxes behind the counter before asking me what I needed. I wasn't exactly anxious to spend my money there...
I did go to Cabelas today and looked at the scope. I liked it and thought it was nice. The clarity and features were good. I have to admit that it didn't jump out and scream "buy me!", as I though it might. So I didn't end up buying it yet. I want to mull it over for another day or two, as it's a fairly significant purchase for me. It probably didn't help that I stood at the counter for 20 minutes waiting for assistance while literally 8 guys shuffled around moving boxes behind the counter before asking me what I needed. I wasn't exactly anxious to spend my money there...
Nice
Walk., You got a nice MONARCH 5 with Advanced BDC for wind. Very nice. I have had my hands on one yet, hopefully soon.
Jeff, Nikon's Custom Turret really isn't a big deal to order. Yes, Chronographing your load is important as is measuring the scope height from mid-bore to mid-scope. The rest is pretty simple for atmospheric conditions for where you usually hunt. I put a write up I found on 24Hour CF that might help you out. I got permission from the author to use it.
Unfortunately his pics aren't coming through with the article so I will try to add one for you.
I recently pickup up a Monarch 5 4-20x XR scope for my 22-250. I wasn't a huge fan of the BDC turret since its difficult if a target is in between the circles. I really like the fact that once you submit all your data your get a custom turret that works from 100-800 yards. I know 800 yards is a reach for a 22-250 but whatever. I used a Magnetospeed chronograph to get my data and in 10 days a custom turret showed up. Its pretty neat how they engrave whatever you want across the top of the turret. I just put in my rifle data. My rifle is a Remington 700 with a Timney trigger and a Ben and Carlson stock that I pillar bedded. I ended up painting the stock and action so its all ready for some chuck hunting. I couldn't bring myself to paint a new scope. After confirming my 100 yard zero I cleaned the rifle and just had to wait to go to my long range club. I figured I wasn't going to dick around, I said lets see how well this turret works. My first shot was cold bore on a clean barrel at 500 yards. I honestly didn't expect it to do that well. My first shot drilled the steel plate dead center. Next I went out to 600 yards. I hit the plate but was a little low. Feeling confident I said lets try 700 yards. Another hit! Next I ran the turret from 100 thur 500 yards and it preformed perfectly. A great feature is the turret won't go below the zero setting. So with mine just run it down to 100 yards and your good to go. My results were excellent. I have to admit I shoot long range quit often and got really good data which is very important. Factory ammo lies about their velocity so its very important to confirm what the box company states. For example both of my 22-250 got about 3825 fps out of Hornady Super Performance ammo. They stated 4000 fps with a 24inch barrel. Thats a big difference which adds up when shooting long range. Overall I loved the smoothness of the power ring and the turrets have excellent clicks. Optical quality was very high and the scope tracked flawlessly. Im looking forward to hunting coyotes and chucks with this setup. Nikon did their homework on this one. Im looking forward to new products in the near future. Maybe one day they will make some tactical scopes?
Edited by bhoges (07/28/16)
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Walk., You got a nice MONARCH 5 with Advanced BDC for wind. Very nice. I have had my hands on one yet, hopefully soon.
Jeff, Nikon's Custom Turret really isn't a big deal to order. Yes, Chronographing your load is important as is measuring the scope height from mid-bore to mid-scope. The rest is pretty simple for atmospheric conditions for where you usually hunt. I put a write up I found on 24Hour CF that might help you out. I got permission from the author to use it.
Unfortunately his pics aren't coming through with the article so I will try to add one for you.
I recently pickup up a Monarch 5 4-20x XR scope for my 22-250. I wasn't a huge fan of the BDC turret since its difficult if a target is in between the circles. I really like the fact that once you submit all your data your get a custom turret that works from 100-800 yards. I know 800 yards is a reach for a 22-250 but whatever. I used a Magnetospeed chronograph to get my data and in 10 days a custom turret showed up. Its pretty neat how they engrave whatever you want across the top of the turret. I just put in my rifle data. My rifle is a Remington 700 with a Timney trigger and a Ben and Carlson stock that I pillar bedded. I ended up painting the stock and action so its all ready for some chuck hunting. I couldn't bring myself to paint a new scope. After confirming my 100 yard zero I cleaned the rifle and just had to wait to go to my long range club. I figured I wasn't going to dick around, I said lets see how well this turret works. My first shot was cold bore on a clean barrel at 500 yards. I honestly didn't expect it to do that well. My first shot drilled the steel plate dead center. Next I went out to 600 yards. I hit the plate but was a little low. Feeling confident I said lets try 700 yards. Another hit! Next I ran the turret from 100 thur 500 yards and it preformed perfectly. A great feature is the turret won't go below the zero setting. So with mine just run it down to 100 yards and your good to go. My results were excellent. I have to admit I shoot long range quit often and got really good data which is very important. Factory ammo lies about their velocity so its very important to confirm what the box company states. For example both of my 22-250 got about 3825 fps out of Hornady Super Performance ammo. They stated 4000 fps with a 24inch barrel. Thats a big difference which adds up when shooting long range. Overall I loved the smoothness of the power ring and the turrets have excellent clicks. Optical quality was very high and the scope tracked flawlessly. Im looking forward to hunting coyotes and chucks with this setup. Nikon did their homework on this one. Im looking forward to new products in the near future. Maybe one day they will make some tactical scopes?
Edited by bhoges (07/28/16)
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good for you, jeff.
for me, i have found the scope to be the least important part of shooting accurately.
If you have a good barrel and trigger, if you find a factory load that the rifle likes or you handload, and if you have the proper form on the bench or offhand, the scope if the least of your worries.
If I had a $2500 Nightforce i don't believe i could shoot any better than with my $500 Nikon. Well, certainly not 5x better!
Let us know when you get it mounted and zeroed....
for me, i have found the scope to be the least important part of shooting accurately.
If you have a good barrel and trigger, if you find a factory load that the rifle likes or you handload, and if you have the proper form on the bench or offhand, the scope if the least of your worries.
If I had a $2500 Nightforce i don't believe i could shoot any better than with my $500 Nikon. Well, certainly not 5x better!
Let us know when you get it mounted and zeroed....
ACP, I couldn't agree more. I have a variety of scopes on my rifles and they only do their job if I do mine. I can honestly say that I've never had a "bad" scope that couldn't guide a bullet where it needed to go. Even my cheapest $100 scopes. I settled on this scope for the power range, 2.5-10x, which is well suited to my hunting needs. That being said, the quality is certainly noticeable.
That is because $500 buys a very nice scope these days. Heck, $300 buys some real nice stuff, even compared to twenty years ago, so we are lucky in that aspect. $200 buys a nice scope as far as that goes. Just stay away from the really cheap stuff. A lot of us have found that out the hard way. Pony up and buy a decent scope in the first place, even if you have to save for a bit, you'll never be sorry about buying good glass. I saved up to buy my first Leupold many years ago, and the price hurt at the time, but I never regretted doing it.
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