In recent years, the firearms industry has gone long.
From bullets streamlined to slip through the air nearly unimpeded to purpose-built rifles meant to sling copper-jacketed lead a country mile, long-range shooting has been all the rage. The optics end of the market has definitely been riding high on the crest of this wave.
More and more riflescope manufacturers have been turning their eyes to aiming solutions designed to draw a bead on a flea’s behind from 300-plus-yards out. One of the most recent to unveil its high-powered wares was Nikko Stirling, who released an entirely new line dedicated to precisely going the distance.
The company released its Diamond First Focal Plane Scope at the 2017 SHOT Show. And from the looks of it, the 4-16x44mm and 6-24x50mm optics in the line should have the chops to put shooters on target, no matter how many zip codes away it’s placed.
At the heart of the Diamond line is the Skeleton HMD reticle. The red/green illumination reticle delivers a clear sight picture allowing shooters to precisely place the crosshairs no matter the light condition. As the line’s moniker suggests, the reticle is etched on the front focal plane — a must to accurately utilize the .5 MIL subtensions at any magnification. Also, being FFP, the reticle increases in size in the same proportion as the target, ensuring the crosshairs do not blot it out.
The scope is built on a 30mm aircraft-grade aluminum tube and is outfitted with large objective lenses. The 44mm and 50mm lenses should provided excellent light gathering capabilities, always a concern when attempting a distant shot. The scope’s light gathering proficiency is further enhanced with all of its lens surfaces coated with Nikko Stirling’s proprietary Microlux ETE GEN III coating — designed to reduce glare, enhance contrast and sharpen images.
The Diamond First Focal Plane scope features oversized elevation and windage turrets that have tactile and audible clicks, and adjusts at 1/10 MIL increments. The elevation turret is also outfitted with a zero stop, which halts the rotation after one turn turn and allows it to quickly return to zero. The stop can be removed, allowing the elevation turret to rotate freely and adjust to extremely long shots.
The scope is also outfitted with a side parallax adjustment that can be tuned from 10 yards to infinity, ensuring a shot always lands dead in the bull’s eye.
The scope ships with a sunshade, two elevation drop turrets (one blank) and comes with the option of a side-wheel. The MSRP on the 4-16x44mm Diamond First Focal Plane Scope is $459 and the 6-24x50mm is $490.
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