Best Bang for Your Buck: Sightmark Presidio 3-18x50 Riflescope

There are some great value optics on the market for hunters, and the Sightmark Presidio is certainly one of them. With an MSRP of $399.97, you might expect that this scope is stripped down, but the Sightmark offers a long list of features that shooters want and is suitable for most hunting situations.

Let’s begin with the impressive 6:1 zoom ratio. Presidio scopes are available in 1-6x, 2.5-15x, 3-18x, and 5-30x configurations. So, no matter if you’re hunting game up close with a lever gun or prairie dogs and varmints at extreme distances, there’s a suitable option for every game and any terrain.

Features vary by model, so each scope is suited for the task at hand. The 1-6x24, for instance, features a second focal plane design, capped windage and elevation turrets and a horseshoe/dot reticle—an ideal setup for hunting deer, bear, hogs and even turkeys.

Larger versions, such as the 3-18x50 I tested, come with the LR2 or MR2 MIL reticles, with cascading holdover/windage dots for making long shots in the wind. The 3-18x50 LR2 that I tested is a front focal plane, so wind/elevation hold adjustments are accurate at any magnification. There’s no need to quickly dial the scope to full power to ensure accuracy because the adjustments remain true on any magnification.

The Presidio 3-18x50’s etched LR2 reticle comes with 0.5 and 1 MIL adjustments to quickly make corrections, and the even-numbered MIL hold points are numbered so you always know how much adjustment you are holding. The LR2 reticle offers 10 MILs of left and right wind hold and 11 MILs of holdover. When shooting Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor ELD-X load, the holdover at 500 yards is just 3 MIL with a 100-yard zero, so that gives some indication of the capabilities of this scope’s LR2 reticle for making long shots.

The side focus knob allows you to easily adjust parallax from 10 yards to infinity, so this scope even works with rimfire rifles or air guns (albeit a bit large and heavy). Integral with the side focus is the illumination adjustment, which offers six red illumination settings with intermediate off positions. This is beneficial for hunters because you can leave the scope in the intermediate off position, and when you want to illuminate the reticle, one simple click adjusts it to the desired brightness. Illumination is powered by a single CR2032 battery, and because these are available at most retail stores, you can pick up an extra in case your battery dies in the field. However, with a 500-hour battery life, you probably won’t be swapping batteries very often.

Sightmark claims that the exposed elevation turret on the Presidio offers 26-MOA of elevation adjustment, but on the test scope, I achieved 31 MILs. Each full turn of the turret adjusts 5 MILs, and each click value is .1 MIL. There’s also a zero stop to quickly back your scope down to your zero range, and three white lines act as rotation indicators. There’s no need to guess whether you are on the second or third revolution of the elevation knob because you can quickly reference the revolution indicator marks. The turret design is excellent with large, aggressively textured knobs that offer distinct clicks. The windage knob also features left and right indicators to ensure you make the right directional corrections.

Presidio scopes feature 30mm main tubes and come with a durable, high-grade anodized aluminum tubes. They are also IP67 dust and waterproof rated and have an operating temperature from -20 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so they hold up well to the toughest elements. The lenses are multi-coated, and the scope is nitrogen purged, ensuring waterproof and fogproof performance.

Testing the Presidio

I mounted the Presidio on my E.R. Shaw 6mm Creedmoor and performed accuracy and box tests. The first thing that I noticed was the relatively generous eyebox and ample eye relief. Oftentimes in the field, you cannot comfortably position your face perfectly behind the ocular lens, but the Presidio is forgiving. It’s not as forgiving as some high-end scopes, but it’s also a fourth of the price. For field use under normal conditions, the Presidio works very well. I also like the 3.8 inches of eye relief because it affords you plenty of room between your eyebrow and the scope. Nobody wants their successful hunt marred by a scope cut.

Because the Presidio is rated for calibers up to .338, it works on hard-kicking guns. Sightmark doesn’t specify which .338, but since they likely mean either the .338 Win Mag or .338 Lapua, larger diameter but milder rounds like the .350 and .400 legend, .450 Bushmaster and .45-70 should not produce enough recoil to be an issue with these scopes.

Proper tracking is important for any scope, and the Presidio’s adjustments were solid. Some cheap scopes simply don’t track, and that is very frustrating because you can’t make proper adjustments when zeroing the optic or in the field. To my mind, a scope that doesn’t track properly is of no value, no matter how low the cost. But the Presidio makes accurate adjustments. One MIL is roughly the equivalent at 100 yards, and when I adjusted the scope point of impact moved accordingly.

Low-light performance was also quite good, and that’s important for hunters. Anyone who has spent much time in the field knows that game animals prefer to move at dawn and dusk, and some scopes simply don’t have the optical clarity to allow for accurate shots at last legal shooting light. The Presidio had no issues with this. It also offered very good color fidelity for a scope in this price range. Some affordable scopes make spotting an animal hidden in vegetation challenging, especially if light conditions aren’t perfect. The Presidio did an excellent job.

The Presidio 3-18x50 weighs roughly 31 ounces. It’s heavier than the old standard 3-9x40, but I believe the added capabilities make it a worthwhile upgrade. If you’re planning to hunt at thin-air elevations all day and hike miles in search of game, you may want a lighter scope. But for the vast majority of hunters, weight won’t be an issue, especially in light of the Presidio’s impressive magnification range. The few extra ounces of weight don’t matter and help mitigate recoil.

The magnification ring works fine, but it can be a bit difficult to grasp, especially with wet hands. However, Sightmark offers a simple solution. Each scope ships with a throw lever that threads into the magnification ring and allows for fast, precise elevation adjustments. That’s very beneficial when you’re shooting at multiple ranges quickly, as you would in a prairie dog town.

Practical Hunting Applications

The Presidio 3-18x50 is a versatile scope that’s suitable for most hunting situations. At 3x magnification, it works well in dense cover and boasts an almost 37-foot field of view at 100 yards. The top-end magnification is suitable for long-range shooting to any practical distance, so this scope can serve double duty as a target and hunting scope. That makes it an even more fantastic value.

The low-light clarity, durable tube design and multi-coated lenses are key features that make this an outstanding hunting scope. As with a scope that doesn’t track properly, a scope that fogs when moisture is present is not suitable for hunting. The Presidio stands up well to the elements and is durable enough to last many seasons.

The dial system works well for long shots, but I like the LR2 reticle layout. It isn’t so busy that you’ll have a hard time seeing your target through a field of dots and stadia lines, but the quick holdover adjustments make corrections fast and easy. So long as you have a DOPE card with correct wind and holdover adjustments, you’ll be able to take most shots in the field under hunting conditions without ever touching the turrets. However, it’s nice to have both reticle and dial options for making adjustments, and with so much elevation adjustment range, the scope is a legitimate long-range optic.

The Sightmark Presidio offers a lot of optic for surprisingly little money, and I think it’s a great value proposition. If you want a single scope for every hunting application and don’t want to spend a lot of cash, there are very few optics that offer more than the Presidio.

SPECIFICATIONS: Sightmark Presidio 3-18x50

• Magnification Range: 3 to 18x
• Objective Diameter: 50mm
• Main Tube Diameter: 30mm
• Focal Plane: Front
• Adjustment: 26 MRAD
• Resettable Zero Stop: Yes
• MRAD Adjustment per Click: 0.1
• Eye Relief: 3.8 inches
• Field of View at 100 Yards: 36.7 feet to 6.1 feet
• Length: 13 inches
• Width: 3.75 inches
• Weight: 31.0 Ounces
• Reticle: Sightmark LR2
• Illumination: Red
• Illumination Settings: Six with intermediate OFF
• Battery: CR2032
• Battery Life: Up to 500 hours
• Parallax Adjustment: 10 Yards to Infinity
• MSRP: $399.97

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