Shepherd Scope 6-18x40 Varmint

[Mod]

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

[Rickenbacker]

I had a play with one a few years ago. Two reticles with two sets of controls - My effing head nearly exploded.

[Kes]

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?

[Gary C]

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.

[Rickenbacker]

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!

[Mod]

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

[Kes]

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.