Sightron SVIII 5-40x56ED - Zero Stop - Illuminated - MH-6

Tested the SVIII ED 5-40x 56 against my Valdada Recon G2. Clarity is every bit as good and has 10x more on the top. G2 now back in its box collecting dust on my shelf and SVIII sits on top of the rifle.

I was going to the range to do a load development for one of my rifles. I had recently received my s8 lrm from Sightron and had it in a adm 20 moa qd mount. The primary scope for the rifle I was working with was a us optic b25 5-25x56 with an Horus h37 reticle also on a adm qd 20moa mount. I thought I would bring the s8 along and try it after working the load development.

I spent most of the day behind the us optic b25 at the 25x magnification factor. The us optic is a fussy scope when it comes to head placement at high magnification. Any head movement out of the sight box and you loose your target view. Working on it for most of the day can cause eye strain, head fatigue, mostly just wear you out.

Though the load work up was a long session, at the end of it I thought well i am tired, but as long as i have the s8 here mount it up and see what she is like.

I was surprised at how forgiving the sight box for the s8 was. After having my head in a vise all day with the b25 the s8 was a joy to be behind. I can’t say enough about the sight picture and the forgiveness of being behind the s8. The fatigue was gone and I could clearly see the target at 40x power even with my head to one side or the other. It was nothing short of unbelievable when comparing it to the b25.

My first thought was maybe because of the 40mm tube is why the s8 is so forgiving on sight picture, but I have a 40mm ior scope and at max power the ior is more stingy than the s8 when it comes to head placement. So it must be a combination of glass formula, and tube size, with a little magic dust thrown in.

Looking thru the glass, focusing, all good with the s8. My only critique would be the turret mushiness on the s8. The turrets on the s8 are not as tactile as any of the other scopes mentioned. I remember having conversation with sightron about this prior to making the purchase, so I knew about the turrets before buying the scope. They do lack a tactile feeling and they seem to have a little slop at each mil hash mark but the slop in turret does not transmit to the reticle. It’s just in the knob itself. You can still dial where you need to go and the reticle locks in at each hash division.

All in all the view from behind the scope coupled with the forgiveness of head placement on sight picture makes up for anything the s8 turrets leave behind.

Super Happy and Impressed
I was privileged to look through a few optics such as ZCO, Tangent Theta, Athlon Cronus, Element Titan&Theos, Schmidt and Bender, Leupold Mark 5 HD and Vortex Razor gen 2&3. This Sightron S8 glass quality is for me superior, crisp, clean, clear, high level of detail and bright. The turrets are very nice, the eye relief is great at all magnifications 5-40, parallax focus easily and daytime reticle illumination. The MRAD LRM reticle and the thickness is perfect for hunting, PRS and ELR. The scope mounts are solid high quality steel, easy to mount. The FOV is same as the 34mm tubes scopes i compared with. Highly recommend the scope if you aim to buy once right.

The New King
This is a beast! The glass is Swarovski grade clear and power at 40 is superior to night force. The mh6 reticle is what most elr shooters want to the tee. I can’t say enough but this is my new favorite that’s even over my Atacr-7

New king?
I run SharpShootingUK and have been sent this to assess. It’s early days but it seems to be all over the Crusader 5.8-40 that is my top choice for long range FFP diallers under £3000. A full review on my channel over the winter but the performance at 40x is amazing, the turrets finally up to speed and the internal adjustment range is huge too. Nothing seems to be below par against the best scopes in the world so far.. And nobody can complain about 40mm tube because they throw in the mounts for you as well. A very very exciting new offering