The Black Diamond family is made up of scopes in three magnification ranges: 8-32X, 6-24X, and 4-16X, the latter also available in titanium. All have 50mm objective lenses, which is plenty big for adequate light transmission at all magnifications in good ambient light conditions and optimal for up to 10X magnification under poor ambient light conditions. Reticle options are Fine Plex, Ballistic Plex, and Ballistic Mil-Dot.

The Burris Xtreme Tactical Riflescope was designed for law enforcement use, but Layne says varmint hunters also will appreciate its attributes.

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the latter two reticles, the Ballistic Plex has hatch marks on the lower quadrant of its vertical crosshair for holdover while the Ballistic Mil-Dot has those as well as dots on both quadrants of its horizontal crosshair to be used for holding into the wind.

The latest addition to the Diamond family is the Xtreme Tactical Riflescope, or XTR for short. While it was designed specifically for use by law enforcement, I am sure varmint shooters will also be attracted to it because of its ability to take uncommonly hard knocks in the field. It is available in a fixed 10X magnification and in two variables: 1.5-6X and 3-12X, the latter available with black or olive drab finish. All have 50mm objectives. As you can see in the specifications chart, the XTR in 3-12X is five ounces heavier than the Euro Diamond with the same magnification range.

This is due to the 25 percent thicker wall of the XTR tube, which gives it approximately 42 percent more strength. Its reticle options are Plex (regular or illuminated), Mil-Dot, and Illuminated Ballistic Mil-Dot. The tactical adjustment knobs of the XTR have both radial and vertical resettable zero references as well as up and down revolution indicators. A knob on the lefthand side of the adjustment turret contains parallax adjustment as well as a reticle illumination switch with various intensity graduations between its on/off positions.

Hunting Coyotes With The Model 75 Varmint & Burris XTR

Most of the coyotes I have taken through the years were enticed within shooting range by an ancient Burnham Brothers mouth call that is capable of imitating the spine-chilling screams a terrified rabbit makes as it is being ripped apart. Using it to bring coyotes in close can be exciting, but in no way does it compare to the excitement of using dogs to outwit an extremely intelligent opponent. And I don't mean chasing them with dogs. The method I recently experienced was new to me and is actually the other way around. The Sako Model 75 Varmint in .223 and Burris 3-12X XTR scope proved to be very effective on coyotes. A coyote is extremely territorial by nature, and when it spots another canine in its stomping grounds it often reacts by attempting to chase the intruder away. If the dog is properly trained, it won't stand and fight. Rather, it will run away from the coyote and directly to the camo-clad hunters who have set up downwind with rifles ready. That's exactly what happened on the very first setup my friend Will Ross and I made. As we were setting up, we momentarily lost sight of his two dogs, and when they suddenly reappeared behind me at about 10 yards, three irate coyotes were bearing down with fangs bared, fur standing on end, and blood in their eyes. After the dogs and their pursuers ran between Ross and me, one of the coyotes stopped long enough at about 90 yards to allow me to plaster the crosshairs of the 3-12X Xtreme Tactical riflescope on its chest and end its career with a single round of Federal Premium .223 ammo loaded with a 55-grain Ballistic Tip. Other things also worked nicely on that hunt. The nine-ounce pull of the set trigger on the Model 75 made the rifle easy to shoot accurately from the Shooters Ridge monopod I was using. And our Faded Sage camouflage clothing with its No Trace scent eliminator from Conk's Camo prevented the coyotes from seeing or smelling us even at extremely close range. n

The Ballistic Mil-Dot reticle of the XTR scope is subtended for the .308 Winchester loaded with the 175-grain MatchKing bullet and for the .223 loaded with the 77-grain MatchKing. With a bit of imagination it can be used with other cartridges and bullet weights. When using an XTR in 3-12X for shooting prairie dogs, I often found a number of targets at about the same distance from my position with wind velocity quite consistent, so I chose to click into the wind rather than hold into it.

The extremely accurate adjustments of the scope allowed me to do that quite successfully, and calibrations on the adjustment knobs made it easy for me to go back to my original zero and start all over each time the wind shifted or the range changed. Windage and elevation adjustment knobs of the entire family of Diamond scopes, and this includes the XTR as well as the Euro Diamond and Black Diamond, come with screw-on dust caps.

All in all I have been quite pleased with every Diamond scope I have tried. All have proven to be extremely durable, click adjustments have been dead on the money, and optical quality has been second to none. On top of all that, the entire line of Diamond scopes looks as good on the outside as on the inside. They are, in fact, the most handsome scopes Burris has ever built.