Tauron 3-18x50 GenII (SCFF-64) Review

Here is the review of Tauron 3-18x50 GenII (SCFF-64) from Ryan Paul.

After one of the hardest winters we've seen locally in years, some sunshine and a break in the weather allowed me some trigger time behind this great little scope. On paper, the 3-18x50 GenII struck me as a scope that would fit a utilitarian rifle well. Its modest weight, 30mm tube, and wide magnification range seem like a perfect fit for a do-it-all rifle. To top it off, the locking target turrets and easy to see and use illuminated reticle design mean that you will be able to quickly make precise shots at distance without hassle. On paper at least, right?

Not long ago I finished building a rifle that turned out to be a perfect platform for this optic. A Mossberg bolt action receiver, with a heavy profile barrel chambered in .308 Winchester that measures in at 18" to the muzzle brake. This combination is nestled nicely into a stout chassis, and all combined makes a very capable rifle that is ready for anything. It needed a scope that was just as versatile. Enter the Tauron 3-18x50 GenII.

Before I break down my experience, let's cover some of the basics. This scope covers all of the basic parameters that I consider to be mandatory for any good optic: IP67 waterproof rating, elevation zero stop to compliment the target style exposed turrets, a wide and usable field of view, nitrogen purged to prevent fogging, and best of all, stainless steel erector components under the hood of those turrets.

Some features that I think help to define this optic as a great utilitarian, do-it-all optic: 

• Locking turrets- While not necessary for a competition optic, any optic with exposed turrets that will see use in the field should have locking turrets in my opinion. This ensures that unwanted changes to your scope settings never happen during transport.

• Reticle design- The target style reticle in this scope is a bit unique. It is a MIL reticle that allows for elevation and windage holds, as well as target measurement. It is however, not a busy reticle. It gives you the sub tensions you need to make your shots without cluttering up the image with a sea of etchings and dots. It includes a slightly larger center dot that is clearly designed for getting on target fast, instead of favoring a super tiny dot that can be difficult to see in darker environments.

• Scope dimensions- This is not a compact optic. It is, however, sized very appropriately for its use case. This is not a giant, competition style target optic. It's 30mm tube and 50mm objective lens will feel right at home on a hunting rifle, duty rifle, or gas gun of your choice.

On to my experience. On this particular day, it was very sunny outside with a full coating of snow. This amount of light can actually cause issues with certain optics, resulting in the image being washed out, or chromatic aberration becoming very prevalent. After settling in behind the rifle, I panned across the range and viewed all there was to see. My first realization was the surprising lack of aberration even with the intense light of the sun on the snow covered mountain. Not to say there wasn't some CA present, but it was far less than expected for a scope that comes in at $299. Along with this, the center image was crisp through the entire magnification range, with little change to clarity at maximum power. One thing to note is that the parallax is picky, and on low magnification the outer edges of the image were out of focus due to the landscape in the periphery being at a different distance than the center of the image. This can be seen in the images below. At high magnification however, the edge to edge clarity was fine.

Adjusting the scope to zero was simple, and setting the zero stop was straightforward. I ran over 150 rounds through the rifle and the scope remained zeroed perfectly, so it can definitely handle the recoil of a .308. Eye relief and field of view are good, and I would consider them comparable to other scopes in this price range. I took most of my shots at targets that ranged out at 306 yards. I used both the adjustable turrets to compensate for bullet drop, as well as the reticle. Both methods of compensation matched my ballistic solver perfectly and I had clean hits on my steel targets. It was a windy day, and the windage sub tensions in the reticle  allowed me to compensate for the changing winds with no issue.

Final thoughts: For $299, there are not many scopes out there that give you all the features that this scope does. To top it off, those features all work. The turrets are crisp and the locking mechanisms are solid. The glass is clear and bright, and the adjustments/sub tensions are accurate. There are some good scopes out there at this price point, but they don't offer locking target turrets with a zero stop, and reticle illumination, and a wide 3-18x magnification range, AND stainless internals. 

Overall, the Tauron 3-18x50 GenII is a very solid value, and is a useful optic for a wide range of users. Top it off with the Vector Lifetime Warranty, and it's hard to beat in this category.

To view the original review in Facebook, click here: Range Report: Tauron ( previously Taurus) 3-18-50 GenII .