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Thread: Shepherd Scope 6-18x40 Varmint

  1. #1
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    Shepherd Scope 6-18x40 Varmint

    Background

    I've never been overly keen on splashing out much money on glass. Having only used airgun and rim fire (including HMR) previously and obviously having not shot at anything beyond those comparatively short ranges, my attitude (rightly or wrongly) has always been - "so long as I can clearly see whatever it is to accurately shoot it - why bother shelling out shit loads of cash on a scope?" Lower end and middle-range standard scopes have gone on and off the various air rifles and rimfires I've had over the years. Nikko Sterling, Simmons, Hawke, MTC and Bushnell - all the usual suspects, and all doing the job I required of them just fine.

    Moving up to centre fire however, brings with it the obvious capability to take quarry at far longer ranges (200 yards and beyond). For this reason more than anything else, I figured that my optics had best be a little more "up market" and that I should be looking to put something on top of my .223 rem that the calibre deserved. Every shooter has shooting friends who are happy and willing to share their experience and opinion and advise you of which in their opinion is the best to go for (within your budget obviously). S&B, Swarovski, Zeiss. Have a look at Meopta and don't forget Leupold as well Kes...... etc. All very nice, and all very pricey brand new.

    Shepherd Scopes

    Decided to give something different a try.
    Long story short - mate of mine offers me the scope (which retails for $899 in the US) for a lot less and invites me to come down and have a look through it. I did just that and decided well, at that price I might as well go for it. I took it home, and secured it to my Tikka T3. He rang me a few days later. "What d'ya think Steve?" he asked. "It's okay mate" I replied. "The glass is good - better than Bushnell". "Try it in low light mate" came the response". "You'll see it's FAR better than Bushnell". ( )

    These scopes are lauded in the US as the famous "one shot zero" scopes. I wont go into details on how it works, it's straight forward enough and it's all on their website.

    The quality of the glass/optics/sight picture is truly amazing. I've looked through top-end glass in various gun shops before and this baby is right up there. Far better than any Bushnell etc. Think Zeiss or Meopta. Really. I was chuffed to be zeroing my new rifle looking through an £700 scope (although I only paid a fraction of that myself ) and seeing £1200+ optical clarity.
    The scope itself has front end adjustable parallax and is very sleek with a one inch tube. It has the usual 2 main turret adjustors top and side, but also two extra tiny ones in order to manually adjust the FFP reticle for the one shot zero facility. The acid test of this scope's quality came at around 8.40pm that evening when on x 12 magnification, peering into the gloom of the rapidly failing light, I was still able to clearly make out the rabbits skittishly moving around at about 200 yards away. Ten minutes later, with the light almost gone, I wound the mag down to x 6 and looked at the same rabbits as clear as day. Astonishing. I used to have a Simmons Whitetail Expedition a few years back that was superb in low light, but it truly couldn't hold a candle to this Shepherd Scope.
    The one-shot-zero facilty is a clever idea and I'm guessing would be very effective and accurate on rifles with little or no-recoil like pre-charged airguns and rim fire. After aiming at your target and firing a shot, you then basically have to move the reticle onto the point of impact (whilst keeping the rifle still pointing at your original point of aim. Your scope is then of course "collimated" to the exact spot your round hit. This to my mind, is fine in theory, but firing just one shot from a centre fire rifle or any recoiling calibre has a lot of additional "what if" and random factors built into where that particular shot might fall. How well did the shooter deal with the recoil for that shot? Was he as comfortable as he could be? Was there a sudden gust of wind down-range that he didn't anticipate? Nothing tells a story like a five shot group. End of.

    Why have I done this review?
    Well, the fact is, I'd never even heard of these scopes until a couple of months ago. I don't know anyone that uses one or has even owned one yet. The Shepherd company has been around for quite a while and clearly has a niche following in the US. Since I have one myself and rate it very highly, I thought I'd give it it's very first UK BBS review.

    Well done Shepherd. Fantastic glass, great innovation and not at German glass prices either. The best scope I've ever had by a country mile.
    Last edited by Kes; 29-08-2014 at 04:07 PM.
    "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son" Dean Wormer.

  2. #2
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    Interesting findings Kes.

    Majority of reviews a few years back concluded that while concept was good, glass quality was awful.

    Maybe things have changed - how old is your unit?

    Rgds

    Mod
    For professional guided Deer & Wild Boar Stalking, practical stalking intro's & Deer related training, DSC1 & 2 preparation & witnessing, Field Rifle coaching
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  3. #3
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    I had a play with one a few years ago. Two reticles with two sets of controls - My effing head nearly exploded.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mod View Post
    Interesting findings Kes.

    Majority of reviews a few years back concluded that while concept was good, glass quality was awful.

    Maybe things have changed - how old is your unit?

    Rgds

    Mod
    Couldn't say for sure. Probably a couple of years at most.

    It surprises me that people thought the glass quality was poor. I think it's great. I even looked through a Zeiss Duralyt today and thought, "yeah glass is about the same". To be honest, for something that's costing around £700, you'd expect the glass quality to be at least entry-level-top-end wouldn't you?
    Who knows? I could be waxing lyrical about an optic that you or anyone else might think is rubbish for the price (I doubt it mind ) but for me, the best I've ever owned in terms of glass quality was a Bushnell and this is far better. I'd love someone else on here to have owned one and add their own perspective.
    "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son" Dean Wormer.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rickenbacker View Post
    I had a play with one a few years ago. Two reticles with two sets of controls - My effing head nearly exploded.
    What do you recall of the glass quality?
    "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son" Dean Wormer.

  6. #6
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    Nice review Steve.
    This was my old scope, we had 2 samples from Shepherd and in the end decided not to proceed because dealer margin wouldn't work. I spent a night shooting with Musclefox and the shepherds compared with his Zeiss pretty well. Beer hunter in Aberdeen tested the scopes and came to a similar conclusion - superb glass.

    i advertised them at bargain prices on here but nobody took a punt, silly Billies .

    Steve's a good old boy and so we offered him one at mates rates. He trusted me enough to have it. Good result.

    Great scopes, if you can get one do so.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kes View Post
    What do you recall of the glass quality?
    Afraid I couldn't really tell mate. A friend brought it to the house one evening, asking if I had a clue about opperating it.

    Sadly I didn't. But I tried to buy it off him

    *I think Gary C. had 2 or 3 of them for sale recently, so he prolly knows more about them.

    IIRC Shepard sell scopes to the US military or police, and it certainly seemed nicely mil-spec & Waltish to me

    edit: * Beaten to it by the very man!

  8. #8
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    Hi Kes,

    In fairness, I was referring to reports from the late 80s/early 90's when Shepherd scopes first emerged with their multi stadia reticles. The bracketing rings were a great answer to 'pre-LRF' range finding and still makes for an effective and quick system. Fairly calibre specific, the system is great, just as long as your targets are 9 or 18" units.

    The 'one shot' zero system is of dubious value in reality - but the value of being able to see if there has been movement in the cross-hairs is worthwhile to my mind.

    The likes of 'Guns & Ammo' had interesting articles on the potential for long range .22 shooting with the units & I was highly impressed by the possibilities for silly range plinking.

    Shepherd vanished off the international scene for a time, and it is quite probable that their re-appearance has co-incided with improvements in optical technology and manufacture.

    I believe their glass is now made by Nikon - says a lot!

    Rgds

    Mod
    For professional guided Deer & Wild Boar Stalking, practical stalking intro's & Deer related training, DSC1 & 2 preparation & witnessing, Field Rifle coaching
    Go to www.farringtonds.com - or call me on Tel: 07798 771 062

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