Rifle scopes with SR rail

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Introduction

While most of rifle scopes are still being installed on rifles using mounting rings, we have to admit that using mounting rails is far better solution. This is probably the reason why all premium European manufacturers of rifle scopes provide solutions with rails nowadays. There are several different rails provided by these manufacturers on the market.

First rail standard that was presented to the market in the past, was LM rail, also known as prismatic rail. All the important European scopes could have been bought with this type of rail. However, this type of rail is outdated because drilling was needed when placing such rails on rifles. Swarovski’s modern answer to previous rail standards today is their own SR rail.

Properties of SR Rail standard

There are some rail standards on the market which have hollow rails – Zeiss ZM/VM or S&B Convex rail, for example. SR rail is one of them – one mounting part can be actually put inside the rail and the other part clamps the rail from outside.

Swarovski’s rail is a bit different from the others, because it has "teeth" on the bottom side that practically work as recoil stoppers. Quite an amazing solution, isn’t it? All manufacturers that produce mounts for SR rails have the same "teeth" on their mounts to grab the rail. It is good to know that if the mount is made from two parts, only one part of it grabs the rail, while the other part is more or less loose. This is the effective solution to get rid of pressure and tension.

Pros

Rail mounts are without exception more robust and reliable than others. Swarovski’s SR rail really shines among others when we are talking about recoil. This rail is especially appropriate for hard kicking calibres, because of its "teeth" that work as recoil stoppers. Very important advantage is that during mounting, there is no stress or tension applied to the scope tube. Therefore, damage is prevented.

One of my favourite advantages of railed scopes is that perfect horizontal level can always be achieved without much effort or effort at all. This feature is really important when shooting long range – to achieve precision, the scope just has to be perfectly aligned in horizontal direction. If this is not achieved, point of impact will move sideways when clicking the elevation turret, which must be avoided.

When choosing a rail scope, the mounting process will leave no marks on the scope if the scope is later moved to other rifle or removed from the rifle.

Cons

Railed scopes might end up a little higher in some cases, compared to scopes that are installed with mounting rings.

As a rule, railed scopes are probably more expensive in most cases, compared to scopes without rails.

Brands that use this Rail standard

Swarovski’s SR rail is not widely used among other manufacturers. It was patented in 2002 and introduced in 2005 by Swarovski Optik. Today, only Swarovski’s rifle scopes are available with SR rails (plus one exception from Kahles). However, this changed from the past – in the past, Kahles also used this rail standard with many of their products, but nowadays it is used only by Swarovski Optik and only one exception from Kahles – model Helia 2,4-12x56i.

It is important to mention that Kahles was purchased by Swarovski Optik back in 1974, in 1977 Kahles became a branch of Swarovski Optik, in 1989 Kahles Limited again became an independent company within the Swarovski group and once again, in 2017, Kahles was again brought into the Swarovski advertising and sales programs.

Conclusion

All mounting solutions with rails are far more reliable, compared to rings, and SR rail is no exception. Perfect position of the scope is guaranteed even after thousands of shots fired and one of the reasons for it is wise design of small "teeth" on the lower part of the rail. We suggest that if you are in a position where you can pick between railed scope or scope without mounting rail, you should always choose a railed one. With this solution you may avoid negative pressure or tension which might damage the scope after a while and you will get a robust solution, for sure. Nevertheless, you will have no issues with finding the perfect horizontal alignment while mounting it on the rifle.

Swarovski enjoys a high reputation on the market which additionally means that all manufacturers of mounts produce their mounts for SR rails (even though only Swarovski and one exception from Kahles use them) among other solutions.

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VIDEO

Hunting riflescopes are the most common type of riflescopes. For this reason, this is the biggest category on our website. Even though there are many types of hunting-riflescopes, there are some characteristics that many of them share.

A rifle with optics - hunting riflescope

Mounting solutions - Ring and Rail mounts

Both ring and rail mounting options are available. This is the only category where rail mounting is available, but it is only available with some middle-class and premium scopes. There are four rail mounting standards altogether (the rail option offered depends on the manufacturer):

LM rail (optical devices with this rail are no longer manufactured but mounts for it are still produced)
Zeiss ZM/VM rail
Swarovski SR rail
Schmidt & Bender Convex rail

Schmidt & Bender Polar T96 2.5-10x50 with a S & B Convex rail

Tube diameter

Tube diameters of 30 mm and 25.4 mm are the most common.

Scopes with a 34mm tube are rare – Schmidt & Bender Polar T96 series is one of the few that use it.
Zeiss Victory V8 and Blaser Infinity are equipped with a 36mm tube,
whilst Swarovski dS is equipped with a tube that measures 40 mm in diameter.

It is important to note that tube diameter does not affect the light transmission rate.

Turrets

Riflescope for hunters is equipped with low-profile, capped elevation and windage turrets. After a scope is zeroed (at 100 m), most users won't make any further adjustments to the windage and elevation. For this reason, the turrets are capped to prevent unwanted rotation.

As such optics is commonly used in forests where one can quickly bump the riflescope somewhere, capped turrets are the best way to avoid the unintentional shifts of the point of impact.
Furthermore, these are among the most delicate parts and can break if hit too hard.
Caps are used to prevent that.
With some modern, premium optics, there is an option of purchasing an uncapped, BDC elevation turret which allows the user to quickly compensate for the bullet drop at longer distances by setting the turret to the number for the corresponding distance (1 – 100 m, 2 – 200 m, 3 – 300 m, etc.)

The reticle

Most riflescopes are equipped with a hunting-oriented reticle. Usually, the reticle is a crosshair with thicker lines at the sides and narrower lines towards the center.

There are no holdovers or hash marks because it is meant to be simple to use.
The reticle is mainly in the second focal plane, meaning that it appears to be of the same size regardless of the magnification, providing minimal coverage of the target.
Blaser Infinity with first focal plane reticle configuration is an exception to the rule.

FFP-hunting optics were used in the past but are gradually dying out. Commonly, the riflescope is equipped with an illuminated central dot, the intensity of which depends on its purpose.

Magnification

The magnification is either

fixed or
variable.

A few decades ago, fixed magnification optical devices were the prevalent type, now it is the other way around. In England, Scotland, South Africa, and some other countries, many users still prefer the fixed type over the variable type. Entry and middle-class riflescopes have a 4–6x zoom factor, whereas the premium ones boast a 6–8x zoom factor.

Parallax

Parallax is typically fixed at 100 m.
If magnification is above 12x, a riflescope is usually equipped with an adjustable parallax setting (side focus).

Swarovski Z8i 2.3-18x56 has an adjustable parallax turret (on the left)

Subcategories

There are many subcategories:

Best Hunting-riflescopes

Riflescopes of the highest quality are produced by the renowned European sport optics manufacturers such as:

Such devices are equipped with:

an illuminated reticle,
commonly a fine, central illuminated dot.

The zoom factor is 6x or greater. There is an option of purchasing an uncapped BDC turret on most. Reticles are in the second focal plane, except with the Blaser Infinity series which features an FFP-configuration.

Premium optics boast:

an exceptional field of view,
impressive resolution,
a high light transmission rate, and
a high degree of colour fidelity.

They are difficult to compare because there are only small differences among them, but each series has its own strong point (Leica Magnus series, for example, is known for its incredibly wide field of view).

The middle-class devices are not to be overlooked since its popularity has risen considerably in the last few years.
Most of these devices are made in Japan and highly popular because of their excellent price to performance ratio.
Some European-made devices can also be found in this class.

A short presentation is available here.

Short Presentation | HuntingRiflescopes | Optics Trade from Optics-Trade

Rifle scopes with SR rail

Sub Categories

VIDEO

Introduction

Properties of SR Rail standard

Pros

Cons

Brands that use this Rail standard

Conclusion

Swarovski Z8i 1-8x24

Swarovski Z8i 2-16x50 P

Swarovski Z8i 2.3-18x56 P

Swarovski Z6i gen.2 1-6x24

Swarovski Z8i 3.5-28x50 P

Kahles Helia 2.4-12x56i

Swarovski Z8i 1.7-13.3x42 P

Kahles Helia 1-5x24i

Swarovski Z6i gen.2 2-12x50

Kahles Helia 2-10x50i

Swarovski Z6i gen.2 1.7-10x42

Swarovski Z6i gen.2 2.5-15x56

Swarovski Z8i+ 1-8x24

VIDEO

Mounting solutions - Ring and Rail mounts

Tube diameter

Turrets

The reticle

Magnification

Parallax

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Best Hunting-riflescopes

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Rifle scopes with SR rail

Sub Categories

VIDEO

Introduction

Properties of SR Rail standard

Pros

Cons

Brands that use this Rail standard

Conclusion

VIDEO

Mounting solutions - Ring and Rail mounts

Tube diameter

Turrets

The reticle

Magnification

Parallax

Subcategories

Best Hunting-riflescopes

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