#BEST TACTICAL SHOOTERS IN THE WORLD UPGRADE#

86% of the Nightforce scopes at the championship were that ATACR F1 scope, so it has apparently been well-received by the precision rifle community. But earlier this year, Nightforce released the Nightforce ATACR 5-25×56 F1 scope, which was a First Focal Plane scope with all the features shooters were asking for. In fact, just 3 years ago there wasn’t a single Nightforce scope represented among this crowd. That hasn’t always been the case, but the new Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27×56 seems to have created a lot of believers among these top shooters.Īnother noteworthy point is the jump in the number of Nightforce scopes represented. It is good to see a company so vested in the PRS be well-represented. The guys I know couldn’t force themselves to use a product if they thought it somehow handicapped their chances. You won’t land in the top 100 of the 1000+ competitors who shot in PRS-style matches this year if you aren’t really competitive. Sponsorship may influence some choices, but I know a few of these guys personally … and they’re fierce competitors. Vortex has always been an active sponsor of the PRS and while they do sponsor some shooters, they certainly don’t sponsor this many (which is why Scott was surprised by this).

#BEST TACTICAL SHOOTERS IN THE WORLD UPGRADE#

They may have originally had a Vortex PST or Vortex Viper scope, so it was a natural progression to upgrade to a Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27×56 as they became competitive at higher levels. So as they became more proficient, and upgraded gear … they just slid up the band in the Vortex line. He thought those guys are likely the newer generation that grew up using Vortex equipment, and it’s what they know and are comfortable using. While most of those guys may not be new to rifle shooting … many are new to competing at this level. One thing he thought might have contributed is a surge of new competitors over the past year or two.

First, Scott knew he’d seen an increase in the number of Vortex scopes at PRS matches, but was surprised to see the jump was this dramatic. Scott has unique insight, because he not only attends many PRS events, but he also competes in them (finishing as high as 4 th in a 2015 PRS match).

I asked Scott Parks, who is involved with Product Development at Vortex, what he thought drove this jump in popularity. That was largely driven by the release of the new Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27×56 scope a year ago, which was a big upgrade over the previous model and a very capable scope. Vortex had more than an 80% increase in popularity among these top shooters over last year! Wow. You can see Vortex has taken a dominant lead in 2015, with more than twice as many scopes represented than any other brand. Here is a breakdown of the scopes used by the top 50 shooters in the PRS each year since its inception in 2012. So all of that has combined to shake things up in terms of what scopes the top marksmen are running. The dramatic growth and popularity of the PRS over the past couple years has also attracted more manufacturers to support and be actively involved in matches and sponsoring shooters. Wow! While some gear choices may not change much year over year … that isn’t true for scopes in 2015! Manufacturers are aggressively competing in this space, so shooters have many more choices than they did just a few years ago. Want to be the first to know when the next set of results is posted? Sign-up to receive new posts via email. This is one of several posts based on that gear survey of the top PRS shooters.

Best tactical shooters in the world