After long protracted deliberation I finally ordered the scope for my beloved CZ550. Originally, the CZ uses a 19mm dovetail which means regular rings dont work – you gotta have rings that clamp onto the base. This limited my choices somewhat. Fortunately, I found a place that manufactures a picatinny rail that goes onto my CZ. Once thats in place I can use any rings I want. Since the base adds a bit of height I figured I might as well go with a scope with a large objective. So…what’d I get? Well, had been wanting the IOR 2-10×42 with illumintaed reticle. But…I have a 3-9x Leupold and I always leave it turned up to 9x anyway…plus, a non-variable means less to worry about…plus I dont see myself shooting anything less than a hundred yards so a fixed power shouldnt be an issue. Thus, I got this. The 10×56 w/ ulluminated reticle. Stuffed it into a set of Warne rings and headed to the range.

Now, the reason I wanted a different scope was because even though my simple Leupold VX-II gave me great results and accuracy, I wanted something with a rangefinding reticle. The reticle used in this IOR scope really appealed to me. Also, everything I have read about these IOR scopes has been uniformly positive. They are heavy, steel, waterproof and built like a tank…and thats what Im looking for – durability. David Fortier reviews these things from time to time and I enjoy reading his stuff (a closet LMI, I suspect).

Get the whole thing set up, load some ammo and of to the range. I had consulted my computer and for the ballistics I was plannong on (168 gr. AMax @2700 fps) I’d have to be 2.13″ high at 100 to get a zero of 200. So…start shooting at 50 yards. Low. Dial it up some. Little more. Dead on at 50. Okay, back it off to 100. Fire four shots, making adjustments all the way. Ok, looks like about 2.13″ to me.

Tromp down to the 200 yard and set up a target dot. Head back, put three rounds in the magazine and fire away. Elevation was dead on. Seriously dead on.

How perfect was that? My scope is 1/4 MOA clicks so I figured one click to the left should give me 1/2″ @ 200 yds. Did that, zeroed the turrets and started playing.

Having no experience with mil ranging I was taking time to do math in my head. Theres a circular steel plate hanging at 300 yards. I bracketed it as being approx. 1.5 mils. At 300 yards 1 mil = 10.8″ (3.6″x3) so 1.5 mils should be about 16″ (okay, 16.2″). Walked downrange with a tape measure. Actual size was 15″. Close enough. Empty oxygen tanks hanging from the posts measued approx. 1 mil ..should be about 10.8″…wander downrange and, lo and behold, theyre 10″. Cool!

The lines on the scope are .1 mil thick and the center of the crosshairs is actually a dot (not a solid + as shown on IOR’s website). That dot is also .1 mil thick so it winds up being approx. a 1MOA dot (ok, 1.2 really).

So…15″ steel plate. 300 yards. Computer says my bullet will drop 9″ from 200 to 300 yards. That should be approx. 3 clicks at 1/4 MOA per click. (At 300 yrds 1/4 MOA is going to be 2.7″ so three clicks should give me about 8.1″.) Clicked away, aimed for the bottom 1/3 of the plate and spanked it. Very very cool. After that it was a clickfest busting rocks and assorted scrap at the edge of the 300 yard range.

So, thus far I am happy with this scope. It also has the illuminated reticle which glows a nice red color for those annoying lowlight or even more annoying black-crosshairs-on-black-target scenarios.

Out the door price was $700, btw. Scope came with a sunshade and a pocket cardboard-slide mil/yard calculator. Handy. Me, Im just practicing my base 3.6 math.