what is the deal with SWIFT SCOPES?

[jeff223]

no one i know of sells them in Michigan.Bass Pro Shops or Cabellas or Jays or Gander Mountain or Bobs Gun Shop.just no one.the only place you can get one from is mail order outlets.on differant talk forums there  people that say they have them and they have all good things to say about SWIFT SCOPES.whats the deal with them?are they good scopes for the money?it sure would be nice to check one out somewhere

[acearch72]

Well, I will give you my opinion.  3 years ago I purchased a Lazzaroni 308 Patriot, which is a little more gun, both performance and recoil, than a 300 WSM.  The owner of the gun shop talked me into going with a Swift scope on it.  I put the Swift Premier 4 x 14 x 50mm with the lighted recticle.  In looking at the scope in the gun shop it looked just as clear to me as the Nikons and Leupolds, but was a little cheaper so I went with it.

I hunted the 1st year and took 3 deer with it and was very pleased.  The next year before the season I took it to the range to check zero.  1st shot was good, 2nd shot was way off high and right (thought it was a flyer)  3rd shot was way low and left.  Short story was that I could never get back to a zero, don't even consider grouping.  I guess it couldn't stand the recoil and there was a recticle problem.

Called the dealer and he said bring in for a free replacement, which I did, however he didn't have the same scope in stock and would take about 1 month to get one in.  So I bought another scope (Zeiss Conquest) and put on that gun, and when I got the Swift back I put it on my son's 264 winmag.  I will say that the Swift no questions asked full replacement warranty is very good, but getting a free replacement is sort of a problem if they don't have it and you need the scope.

Anyway my son used the scope 1 year and was dissapointed.  Even though crystal clear in daylight, he had problems in rain and fog.  As well, the lens coating is not very good as when you looked toward (not into) the sun it would flash out and you would only see basically a rainbow of color.  He sent the scope back in to Swift with a complaint stating the above and they again gave us a brand new scope.  However, the same problems persisted, so I sold the Swift and bought another Zeiss Conquest.

I also bought a Swift for my father-in-law's 30-06.  It was the cheaper model Swift, not the Premier.  He has been tickled pink and had absolutely no problems with it.  

So, my thoughts are if you are going to put it on a light kicker it should be OK, but you won't get the best performance in low light or in incliment weather.  I would qualify this as my opinion and is not supported by my father-in-law.

However, I really feel that you can get a better scope for the money.

[quickdtoo]

Swift's forte is that they don't spend money on advertising, just a good product for the money. In the sub $200 price range there are few great optics available, the Swift 676 is one of em at ~$120, fully multicoated lenses, you'd be hard pressed to beat it by much with optics costing twice that amount. I have several and they perform flawlessly and I'd not hesitate to use them on any firearm I own from the rimfires to my .45-70. I would only recommend the Premier line as the standard line leaves a bit to be desired in optical quality that I have seen. I don't really see any comparison to the Zeiss Conquest, that would be an apples and oranges comparison in cost but not so much in optic quality, IMO as the 649R 4-12x50 Premier sells for only $160 and the Conquest for $390-$500 depending on model. As far as warranty, their no questions asked lifetime over-the-counter replacement policy goes, it is beat by no one in the industry, only equaled by Leupold and Sightron. If you don't have a Swift dealer in the area, their east and west coast customer service offices are there to take care of the problem. The local Swift dealer usually takes care of those here, but their service centers are always easy to reach and help ya out. I've seen a scope that was ran over by a pickup truck(was leanng against the truck and they moved the truck) that was sent in and replaced by Swift, believe it or not! Bet they talked about that one at Swift! I've seen several that were obviously abused by the owners and they were still replaced by Swift, either by the dealer(my hunting partner worked there) or by Swift themselves in the end.

To sum it up, Swift Optics are the sleeper in the sporting optics world and for the money, real hard to beat.

http://eabco.com/Swift01.htm

http://63.106.130.71/warranty.htm

[Redhawk1]

I had 2 of them, I was talked into them. Now I replaced them with Leupold. I did not like the amount of eye relief compared to the leupold.  

[Nobade]

If you want one I have a 6-18X you can have Real Cheap! I took it to the range once and while it would hold zero, the adjustments aren't repeatable enough for silhouette use. Probably would be fine for a groundhog scope but not for target use.

[Graybeard]

it is beat by no one in the industry, only equaled by Leupold and Sightron.

Too many seem not to be aware of Bushnell's warranty on Elite scopes. It reads EXACTLY the same as Leupold's. But Bushnell adds one more thing no one else does. They will buy back the scope in the first 12 months if you don't like it for any reason.

[jeff223]

thanks everyone.i own some Simmons,Bushnell,Burris and one junk BSA scope.im in the market for a pistol scope right now and i was just wondering about the Swift Scopes.no dealers around me in Michigan that i know of.Swift is out for me at this point when i cant even check one out.i kind of made my mind up,and im going with a Bushnell Trophy on my G2 Contender

thanks again

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Looked Swifts in the store---un-impressive is what comes to mind---I'd never buy one.

Your money is better spent on a quality optic like Burris---Leupold and Zeiss.

[quickdtoo]

it is beat by no one in the industry, only equaled by Leupold and Sightron.

Too many seem not to be aware of Bushnell's warranty on Elite scopes. It reads EXACTLY the same as Leupold's. But Bushnell adds one more thing no one else does. They will buy back the scope in the first 12 months if you don't like it for any reason.

Bushnell's lifetime warranty only applies to the original owner, Leupold's, Sightron's and Swift's doesn't matter, the warranty applies to the product regardless of who owns it.

US WARRANTY
In the past our products have had different lengths of warranty coverage. However, since 1984, the majority of our products carry a Limited Lifetime Warranty. Bushnell Performance Optics guarantees your product to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for the lifetime of the original owner. The exceptions are as follows.
Bushnell Elite Riflescopes

"No Questions Asked One Year Warranty ELITE Replacement Policy"
(This offer is limited to one original purchase refund per address. For additional information about this offer, please contact Customer Service)  

http://www.bushnell.com/customer_service/warranty.html

[contender hunter]

quickdtoo,  why can a company like swift make a  2X7 scope with 55 ft. FOV and all others including leupold have 42-43  ft.FOV -is there claim valid ?

[quickdtoo]

Don't know if their claim is valid or not, I don't have one to check out, nor do I know anyone that has used that scope. I do have several Swift Premiers, though. IMO, as long as you stick with the Premier grade scopes, you're better off as the standard grade doesn't have a great reputation from what I've read of other's experience with them.

[Dand]

Seems like the Swift premiers are popular with some of the air rifle crowd. That's where I first heard of them.  I picked up a used 4-12 premier for my air rifles about a month ago.  Haven't used it enough to have a strong opinion.  I've had it briefly on my BSA super sport .22 and now its on my Beeman R7.  The R7 is accurate enough to tell me more about this scope once I make time to do some shooting.  I liked the idea that I could switch this scope around on my air rifles, a couple of my .22 rf and maybe even try it on my 300 win mag. Mostly I've been a Leupold guy but I'm going to try this one for fun.