Share Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

I recently surveyed the top 100+ shooters in the Precision Rifle Series (PRS), and this post reviews the scopes those guys are running this year. For those of you who may not be familiar with the PRS, it’s an organization that tracks how top competitors place in major rifle matches across the country. PRS matches are tactical/practical long-range rifle matches shot in the field conditions. Typical ranges for steel targets are from 300 to 1200 yards, and they are engaged from prone and improvised positions, often under extreme time pressure. It is one of the fastest growing shooting sports, and has attracted some of the best riflemen in the world. Literally thousands of shooters compete, so to land in the top 100 you have to be an exceptional competitor.

More Info on the PRS

This is one of several posts based on that gear survey of the top PRS shooters. Want to be the first to know when the next set of results is posted? Sign-up to receive new posts via email.

If you could give a new shooter one piece of advice, what would it be?

“Get a setup you can afford and show up. You will learn more at a single PRS match than you ever will from reading about it.”

– John Griswold, 24th overall in Open Division

Most Popular Scopes

The chart below shows the most popular brands of scopes used by the top shooters in the Precision Rifle Series Open & Tactical Divisions (i.e. excludes Production Division, which is covered later in this post). I included the most recent results alongside the breakdown from the previous 2 years to allow you to see trends.

Vortex was the most popular brand for the 2nd year in a row, representing over 1/3 of the top shooters. Vortex has a healthy lead over the other brands, as it takes the next 2 brands combined to equal the same number of shooters.

Kahles has made huge strides in their popularity among these top PRS shooters in recent years. They’ve had steady growth, considering there wasn’t a single shooter in the 2012 survey using them, then 1 in the 2013, 2 in 2014, 7 in 2015, and finally 21 for the 2016 season.

Many shooters were also using Nightforce scopes again this season. They represented 16% of the top shooters in the Open & Tactical Divisions, which was similar to the number they had represented last year.

There were several shooters running Schmidt and Bender in the 2016 season, but you can see they were the #1 choice in 2014, and were actually even more popular in years before that. But for one reason or another, they are no longer mounted on the rifles of these top shooters, which has been one of the interesting trends in this data. The very popular Vortex Razor HD Gen II scope was released about the time that shift occurred, and it’s very likely some shooters transitioned to that optic. The PRS has also grown exponentially in that time period, which has attracted lots sponsors and that may have also contributed to the shift. Regardless of the reason, it’s an interesting trend to point out, as they are represented in relatively low numbers for the 2nd year in a row.

Leupold scopes were more popular among these shooters than any previous year. Since the PRS started in 2012, there have been 1 or 2 of the top shooters running a Leupold every year … but that jumped to 7 this year.

Those 5 optics manufacturers (Vortex, Kahles, Nightforce, Schmidt and Bender, & Leupold) combine to represent 88% of the scopes used by the top shooters this past year. Behind them is a list of other companies that make very capable scopes, including:

US Optics

Tangent Theta

Bushnell

Burris

Valdada

Steiner

Premier

So that was the survey results grouped by brand, but here are the results grouped by the specific model scope these guys were using:

The Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27×56 scope dominated again this year, with 32 of the top 100 shooters surveyed running it. That includes 52% of the shooters in the top 25! The Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27×56 has been one of the most popular scopes in the PRS since the year it was released. It has all the must-have features, and offers good reticle choices. Vortex is also very involved in supporting the PRS community, and is great at listening to shooters. Clearly many of these top competitors believe in this scope.

This year, the Kahles K 6-24×56 scope rose to the #2 spot. 2 of the shooters who finished in the top 10 in the Open Division were running this scope. Kahles is the tactical sister company to Swarovski, so their optical performance is top shelf. Kahles scopes have been steadily gaining popularity each year among these shooters, and I have to believe it’s partly due to the great SKMR reticle options, including the recently released SKMR3 reticle. I’ll share more about that reticle later in this post.

The next most popular scope was the Nightforce ATACR 5-25×56 F1. 13 shooters surveyed use this scope, which was a very respectable showing, especially considering 3 of those finished in the top 15 in the Open Division. It was one of the most popular rifle scopes last year, with about the same number of shooters running it then. Nightforce scopes are known to be tough-as-nails, and in these fast-paced, tactical matches … knowing you won’t lose your zero is huge. This is the First Focal Plane (FFP) version of the ATACR scope (Nightforce indicates that with “F1”), which is really helpful in these types of matches where you don’t always have the luxury to be zoomed in to max magnification when taking a shot. I usually find myself engaging targets at 10x to 12x magnification when shooting PRS-style stages. To learn more about FFP scopes, check out my scope buyer’s guide and features to look for.

If you could give a new shooter one piece of advice, what would it be?

“Don’t skimp on the scope. Pay for quality.”

– Reid Driscoll, 71st overall in Open Division

Reticles

Now let’s take a look at the most popular reticles these guys were running within the different brands of scopes. The chart below shows all the reticles that multiple shooters were using. Note: There were more reticles being used, but if only 1 shooter said they were using a particular reticle, I filtered those out of this chart to make the data easier to present.

One thing is for sure at this point, and that is that the overwhelming majority of these top shooters are running hold-over reticles. That just means the reticle provides points of reference so they have the option to hold for elevation AND wind adjustments if necessary. With traditional milling crosshairs, if you have vertical and horizontal points of reference that allow you to hold for wind OR hold for elevation. In the long range world, most people dial elevation adjustment and hold for wind. But, in the PRS there are very tight time limits on some stages, and you just don’t always have the luxury of time to dial the elevation adjustment for each target. They also have some stages that explicitly prohibit the shooter from touching their turrets after the first shot. In either of those cases, it is very helpful to have a reticle that provides additional points of reference so you can hold for elevation and wind at the same time.

On this year’s survey, I asked the shooters how often they held for elevation. 89% said they only hold for elevation when the stages requires it, or when the time limits are very tight. However, there were 3 shooters who said they hold for elevation and wind adjustments over 90% of the time. Only 2 shooters said they always dial their elevation adjustment (i.e. they never hold-over). There were a couple shooters who said they might hold in these others cases:

Sizes of targets are large (i.e. they dial elevation adjustments on small targets)

Distances align with 0.5 increment holds

While most of us prefer to dial if we have the chance, to be a well-rounded shooter in the PRS, you probably need to be comfortable doing both. A hold-over reticle can make that much easier.

In terms of popularity, the Vortex EBR-2C reticle towers over the others. While that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best reticle, it is the most popular option for Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27×56 scope that so many competitors are running. It is a fairly uncluttered, hold-over reticle.

The next most popular reticle was the Horus H59 reticle. Unlike a lot of the other reticles, this one is available through multiple brands, like Nightforce, Schmidt and Bender, Leupold, etc. The Horus reticles were the first gridded reticles, and started this whole revolution. The H59 is the bestselling Horus reticle, and it’s been “field tuned” based on input from elite sniper teams all over the world, and includes patented speed shooting features, moving target holds, and extended wind and elevation hold points. To learn all about the H59 and gridded reticles in general, check out this instructional video on hold-over reticles with Mike Lamb.

The next most popular reticle was the Kahles SKMR3 designed by Shannon Kay, a top PRS competitor who placed 7th overall this year in the Open Division. Shannon is not only a world-class competitive shooter, but he is also the owner and primary trainer of the K&M Precision Rifle Training Shooting Complex, all while he continues to serve in the US Army, where he helped develop some of the most advanced sniper training in the world. That guy must not sleep!

The SKMR (Shannon Kay Milling Reticle) line of reticles were released on Kahles scopes a couple of years ago, but the 3rd version (aptly named SKMR3) was a recent addition, and that was the version that was most popular among these top shooters. It packs in all the must-have features, like 2/10th mil marks along the horizontal axis for precise wind holds, a floating dot aiming point so the target isn’t obscured, slight variations in hash marks so it’s easy to find your hold without having to count lines, bold outer posts to help engage targets when you’re dialed to low magnification, number indexes, etc. … all while maintaining a simple, uncluttered field of view.

The Horus TREMOR 3 (aka T3, TRMR3) reticle was another very popular reticle, and for good reason. This reticle was designed based on input from Todd Hodnett, and it has one feature that differentiates it from the rest of this hold-over reticles: wind dots. The TREMOR reticles are all about faster shooting, and one primary way they do that is through the “Time of Flight Wind Dots.” It is a pretty cool feature that allows you to think of wind holds in mph instead of mils, and they can be calibrated to your specific weapon system. I recently bought a scope with a Tremor 3 reticle, and have used it effectively on everything from my 6XC to my 338 Lapua Mag. The Tremor 3 reticle is very feature rich, as it combines aspects of both the Tremor 2 and H59 reticles. Watch Todd Hodnett explain Wind Dots and other features of the TREMOR 3 reticle.

If you could give a new shooter one piece of advice, what would it be?

“Don’t worry about gear or rifle. Use what you have and come to a match. You will learn far more and then can make an educated buying decision for the gear, rifle and optic that best fits your budget. Just come and shoot!”

– Clint Adams, 53rd overall in Open Division

Most Popular Scopes in Production Division

In 2016, the PRS introduced the Production Division. The idea was to lower the barrier of entry to start competing by offering a division where shooters can be competitive with factory rifles. In this division, rifles can’t be altered/improved in any way from the original factory configuration, and combined MSRP for rifle and scope can’t exceed $3,000. (Update: They tweaked these rules slightly for the 2017 season.)

So based on those rules, shooters had to think through what equipment gives them the most bang for their buck … kind of like most of us! The top 4 competitors from the Production Division took our survey, and here are the scopes they were running:

If you’re looking for some other suggestions on scopes for different price points or budgets, check out this post: Best Long-Range Scope: Buyers Guide & Features To Look For

© Copyright 2020 PrecisionRifleBlog.com, All Rights Reserved.