No coin or screwdriver is needed as the dial on Nitrex scopes is finger adjustable. It's small though and can be a bit tricky to get a grip on. Adjustments have an audible click and each click moves point of impact 1/4-inch at 100-yards. The sample tested tracked very reliably.

I mounted the scope on a 25/06 Pro Hunter barrel on my Encore using Warne quick detach rings and base and headed for the range. Boresighting put me on the paper at 100-yards though the first three-shot group was in the upper left corner of the target. I took my time walking it home, as I wanted to see how well the adjustments tracked. I started with four clicks right and four down and the group moved exactly one-inch left and down. Further adjustments tracked well also and it was easy get the groups to impact two-inches high at 100-yards. The control dials are finger adjustable, or perhaps I should say fingernail adjustable, as the dials are tiny. It wasn't a big problem even for my large digits though, and if the scope performs as it should, adjustments should rarely be needed.

Range testing was done with a Thompson Center Encore with 25/06 Pro Hunter barrel. The large scope looks a little top heavy on this rifle but balanced well and delivered excellent performance both at the range and in the field.

The reason one buys a scope with 50mm objective is for low light performance. Since deer season was drawing to a close where I live and my friend and hunting partner, Bobby Ayers, and I wanted to take a couple does for the freezer, I decided to try the scope out on live game. The deer were wary after a three-month season and were only moving right at dusk so it seemed a perfect test of the optics. Unfortunately, the deer did not cooperate for me but I loaned the rig to Bobby for a couple days and he did take a nice doe with it late on the final day of the season. He and I were both impressed with the optics under low light conditions.

8X42mm Binocular
When I checked the list of available Nitrex binoculars, the 8X42 caught my attention. This is an excellent power/objective combination for deer hunting here in South Carolina because it offers an over 5mm exit pupil to provide all the low light transmission the human eye can use yet is fairly compact. A 10X42mm binocular seems to be the most popular these days and I prefer it for long range pursuits in good light such as hunting pronghorns, but here in the south, deer often wait until right at dark to move and 8X provides plenty of magnification for most situations.

My friend and hunting partner, Bobby Ayers, used the Nitrex scoped Encore 25/06 to bag a doe in the closing minutes of the last day of deer season. A sidenote on bullet performance: The broadside lung shot was executed at 150-yards using a handloaded 110-grain Nosler Accubond with a muzzle velocity of 3100 feet-per-second. The bullet did exit but most of the energy was spent inside. The doe ran about 30-yards.

Like the Nitrex riflescope, this roof prism binocular was basic with no frills. Lens caps were provided but were nothing to write home about. To be blunt, it looked a little cheap. The neck strap was nice, although simple and had a very soft comfortable section that fit around the neck. I opted not to use it however as I prefer to carry my binocular in my coat pocket and this was compact enough to do so. The nicest accessory was the case. It is made of ballistic nylon with a solid clasp and appears to be very rugged. A zippered mesh pocket on the front of the case is a nice touch, though I have yet to decide what to carry there.

I gave the binocular a tougher workout than the riflescope as I used it on a number of deer hunts including a couple outings in the pouring rain. All Nitrex optics are rated as waterproof and I have seen no reason to doubt it. The large exit pupil combined with fully coated lenses provided superb low light resolution. I compared it side-by-side with a couple of different 10X42 binoculars costing three times as much and the Nitrex showed a slight advantage in the dimmest light due to the larger exit pupil. This indicates the glass is top quality.