Sightron S-Tac 4-20x50 Opinions (UPDATE w/ review)

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shelton573

Active member
I am about to start rolling on the new rifle build and was curious if anyone had any experience with this scope. The gun will be for deer, steel and occasional coyote. I have been looking at the Burris Veracity 4-20x50 but stumbled on this scope. It is at that $400 price point so I am just curious what kinda quality it is. I know the company has a very good reputation with a lot of good reviews in the S11 and S111 line, just curious how these compare. I put a sightron S1 on my 22 and am pretty impressed with it for what it cost. Any info is much appreciated.
 
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I've not handled the 4-20, but I have a S-tac 1-7 on an AR and really like it. I also have several SIII 8-32s on rifles, they are my go-to scope. Sightron is tough to beat for value.
 
I have the 3-16x42 S-Tac. I initially bought it to put on a .243 Remington 788, but have since swapped to an AR. Its a big scope, and just seemed to kill the handiness of the 788.

I have absolutely zero time behind the scope. I am able to observe a few things from mounting it, and playing with it a little. The glass is very god for the money. Very. The reticle is very well done, if a little thin. The turrets feel great. The integrated throw lever is pretty awesome, except for the fact that it is VERY sharp. Fifteen seconds with a Cratex fixed that.

I do with it had zero stop. I wish the reticle were just a bit thicker. Other than that, I have no complaints. Hopefully I will get some time on it at the range soon.
 
Originally Posted By: liliysdadI have the 3-16x42 S-Tac. I initially bought it to put on a .243 Remington 788, but have since swapped to an AR. Its a big scope, and just seemed to kill the handiness of the 788.

I have absolutely zero time behind the scope. I am able to observe a few things from mounting it, and playing with it a little. The glass is very god for the money. Very. The reticle is very well done, if a little thin. The turrets feel great. The integrated throw lever is pretty awesome, except for the fact that it is VERY sharp. Fifteen seconds with a Cratex fixed that.

I do with it had zero stop. I wish the reticle were just a bit thicker. Other than that, I have no complaints. Hopefully I will get some time on it at the range soon.

Thanks for the info. Wish ya had some time behind it to give a little more info but good to hear it at least gives a decent impression out of the gate. What would you compare the glass clarity to? And when you say the reticle is thin, is it too thin to try to hunt with in fairly low light conditions? The size isn't a huge deal because the rifle I am building took a turn for the heavy side. If I remember correctly the 4-20 is a bit bigger than the 3-16 too though. Thanks again for any info!
 
I would rank glass clarity, for me, as better than my Mark ARs, and nearly as good as my Burris XTR II. For the money, its great.

The reticle is a bit thin. I am not sure how its going to do in low light. The glass seems very good at low light when I take it outside to play with it, so hopefully the good glass will offset the thin reticle.
 
Originally Posted By: liliysdadI would rank glass clarity, for me, as better than my Mark ARs, and nearly as good as my Burris XTR II. For the money, its great.

The reticle is a bit thin. I am not sure how its going to do in low light. The glass seems very good at low light when I take it outside to play with it, so hopefully the good glass will offset the thin reticle.

That's great to know about the clarity. I'm just afraid with how thin the reticle is, it might be hard to pick up on those first thing in the morning coyote hunts if I decide to take that rifle out.
 
The good thing about the reticle is the floating dot center. I am pretty confident that, even though the reticle is fine, the floating dot will be distinctive enough to use.
 
That's a good point. Me and my coyote Huntin buddy were talkin about it tonight and we were talkin about how many coyotes he has shot with his 204 with the vari-xiii with the fine duplex reticle in low light conditions so you would have to think it would be just as good or better. If not it will land on a different gun that needs a scope and I can move on to something different. How are the turrets compared to you xtr? Thanks again for the info!
 
Turrets seem very good. They are definitely more target style than tactical, and the lack of a zero stop is concerning. They are very well marked, and the clicks are very solid, and audible.

I hope to have some more in depth reviews shortly...just havent had time to shoot the damend thing yet.
 
It looks like I have one on the way. When I get it I will try to do a review on it to give everyone a bit more info on the scope. Thanks
 
Apparently they got popular quick because the quickest I can get one with the MOA reticle is around the 18th. It will be a bit before I can do a review. I called Sightron and they said they never expected it to go over that well and couldn't keep up with demand. Hopefully they don't rush through production....
 
Mine is supposed to ship today or tomorrow. The only thing I am concerned with is if the reticle will be too thin for hunting. Other than that I can't find many negative comments on it.
 
Just a quick update and short review for anyone looking at this scope. I finally got time to get it mounted and spend some time behind it. Here are my opinions good and bad on the scope.

First, it is sitting on a one piece 20 moa weaver rail in warne maxima medium rings. This is on a self assembled savage 6mm creedmoor I just recently finished. Just a heads up, anyone looking to run this style base and rings on a savage you will be able to clear low rings. I will be switching the mediums out for the lows on my 22-250.

Scope construction: straight out of the box it feels like a really well built scope. It does not seem nearly as heavy as I expected which is good on an already very heavy gun. Looking it over I quickly noticed my first and biggest complaint. They must have cut some corners on coating the scope. The black finish can easily be "white marked" even with you fingernail. When I say white marked I mean it looks like a scratch but can be wiped off fairly easy. I then noticed the same White markings from where it rubbed the bag it was shipped in. All can be rubbed off easily yet it is a bit frustrating but I can live with it. Also, the Siii series sunshade fits the scope as well which I bought separately. That is where you can really tell the difference in coating between the S-tac and the Siii since the shade is meant to match the Siii. There is a visible color and finish difference when screwed in but not enough to fret about as far as looks go. Two of my buddy's didn't notice until I pointed it out. I can try to post pictures tomorrow if anyone wants them.

Glass: After mounting the scope I finally got a really good look through the glass and I must say I am impressed. The glass is very clear, bright and sharp. The sight picture does not blur or fish eye as you run through the power ring. I did notice the eye box gets a bit touchy with anything above 18x but not bad enough to complain. The scope maintains good clarity all the way to 20x. I have not got to compare it side by side with any scopes in its class (only scope there when I shot was my buddy's Schmidt and bender and that's just not fair). I can update once we do some vortex, Nikon and leupold comparisons. Light transmission seems to be very good even in low light conditions as well.

Eye Relief: the eye relief is nothing short of impressive. Without actually measuring I'm going to guess its somewhere a bit over 4" at all power ranges. When adjusting the power ring you have to move your head little if any to maintain a full sight picture.

Reticle: the MOA2 reticle is very nice and not typically something you would expect for the price. It is very thin with a 1/4 moa floating dot in the center which makes it nice for punching paper and banging steel. To me, the dot helps me settle in and feel a bit more comfortable/confident when shooting. The only downfall to the reticle is since it is very thin, it will be tough to hunt with in low light conditions I think. I messed with it in a couple different conditions and It is not bad on something like a cut bean field but if you have a dark backdrop then you will have some trouble. In my opinion this is not enough of an issue to hold it against the scope.

Parallax Adjustment: The focus knob is very large and adjusts smoothly. When focusing on a target, the "sweet spot" is very defined and easy to find.

Power Ring: The power ring adjusts very smoothly and has a very aggressive design so it is easy to adjust even if you have gloves on. It does have a built in throw lever which is kind of a neat idea but does add some bulk to the ring.

Turrets: the turret adjustments are one of my favorite parts of the scope. VERY positive clicks when adjusting. It is like breaking a glass rod. The turrets are resettable to zero and it is done very easily. I ran the rifle out to 600 today with good results then ran the turrets back down to my 200 yard zero. I shot at 200 yards with my last round and the shot went maybe 1/2" low but as of now I am going to call that operator error which is very very likely with me on the rifle. More range time will tell how well it tracks.

Overall I am pleased with the scope so far. The glass is clear, turrets are positive and so far tracks true (SO FAR) and it seems to be very well built. I firmly believe that this scope is a great value with a very low price point. I will be very interested to put it up against scopes like the viper pst, different leupolds, nikons etc. in the near future. I will post back as soon as I do. Thanks for looking and let me know if you have any questions.
 
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