Nightforce Optics
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Nightforce Optics, Inc. is an American manufacturer of high-end
telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate po ...
s,
spotting scope A spotting scope is a compact high-power telescope optimized for detailed observation of distant objects. They are used as portable optical enhancement devices for various outdoor activities such as birdwatching, skygazing and other naturalis ...
s and mounting accessories, based in
Lavonia, Georgia Lavonia is a city in Franklin and Hart Counties, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,156 at the 2010 census, up from 1,827 at the 2000 census. Geography Lavonia is located in northeastern Franklin County at (34.436055, -83.106270). A sm ...
with factory headquarters in
Orofino, Idaho Orofino (''"fine gold"'' rein Spanish) is a city in and the county seat of Clearwater County, Idaho, along Orofino Creek and the north bank of the Clearwater River. It is the major city within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. The population was ...
. Established in 1992, the company is the
optic Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...
subsidiary of Lightforce Performance Lighting, an
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n manufacturer of specialty lighting products based in
Hindmarsh, South Australia Hindmarsh is an inner Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Charles Sturt. The suburb is located between South Road, Adelaide, South Road to the west and North Adelaide. The Rive ...
.


History

The company's founder, Ray Dennis, is an Australian
dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...
whose parents were German immigrants settled in
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. At a very early age he participated in
rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
and
fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...
with his grandfather, and became a keen hunter as he grew older. Due to the nocturnal nature of many Australian wild animals,
spotlighting Spotlighting or lamping (also known as jacklighting, shining, illuminating, and pit-lamping) is a method of hunting nocturnal animals using off-road vehicles and high-powered lights, spotlights, lamps or flashlights, that makes special use of ...
is the most common hunting method. After finding the contemporary spotlight products inadequate for his need, Dennis developed his own spotlight design using
injection molded Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...
plastic, 7-inch reflectors and a 100-watt halogen projector
bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
, which is lightweight and capable of pushing beam illumination to over . At the same time, he also found the popular European scopes on the market were missing the right features needed for his night hunting applications such as
parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...
adjustment and high
magnification Magnification is the process of enlarging the apparent size, not physical size, of something. This enlargement is quantified by a calculated number also called "magnification". When this number is less than one, it refers to a reduction in siz ...
s, and the American products often had small
objective Objective may refer to: * Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope * ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film * Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object * Objective Productions, a Brit ...
size and very fine
reticle A reticle, or reticule also known as a graticule, is a pattern of fine lines or markings built into the eyepiece of an optical device such as a telescopic sight, spotting scope, theodolite, optical microscope or the screen of an oscilloscope, ...
s and hence lacking in light-gathering power and reticle clarity. When going to the 1986
SHOT Show The SHOT Show , which is an acronym for "Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show", is an American annual trade show for the shooting sports, hunting, outdoor recreations and firearm manufacturing industries. The show is owned and sponsored by ...
in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
to try market his spotlights, Dennis found a manufacturer in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
that can produce scopes designed to his suggested specifications, and ordered a batch of 500 units to be made and sold in the Australian market. The sale was a success, and Dennis decided to establish his own company named Lightforce to sell his products, with the intention to also venture into the US market. The American branch was initially established in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
with only two staff members, and primarily focused on marketing spotlighting products as Dennis considered the American optics market was already well-established with little room for a small new competitor like his company. To his surprise, the American consumers responded rather coldly to the spotlights (as night hunting was rare in North America at the time, and spotlighting was outlawed in many states), but very warmly to the scopes. The company then switched its focus to sell predominantly optics in America. The company changed its name to Nightforce in the early 1990s after being confronted by a
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
n
lightbar Emergency vehicle lighting, also known as simply emergency lighting or emergency lights, is a type of vehicle lighting used to visually announce a vehicle's presence to other road users. A sub-type of emergency vehicle equipment, emergency veh ...
manufacturer also named Lightforce, who demanded $25,000 for trademark sharing — an amount Dennis found unacceptable. After that manufacturer later went out of business, the company acquired the legal rights to use the "Lightforce" brand name to its lighting products, and retained the "Nightforce" brand for its sporting optics products as the trademark already established a sizable market following with its 3.5-15× power Varmint scopes. In 1998, the company moved its operations from
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
to
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. Soon afterwards, the company rolled out the famous NXS series scopes, which was their first standard bearer product suitable for both military and hunting applications, aiming to appeal to top-tier groups (such as the
Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...
) within the
American armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
. Military contracts started to come in in the early 2000s, and the company bidded in the
Precision Sniper Rifle The Precision Sniper Rifle (PSR) was a program by United States Special Operations Command to replace all bolt-action sniper rifles in use by United States special operations snipers with a single bolt-action rifle chambered for a large caliber Ma ...
program in 2009 but lost out to
Schmidt & Bender Schmidt & Bender (often abbreviated as S&B) is a German company specialized in producing high end telescopic sights for hunting, sports, law enforcement and military arms. The company was founded in 1957 by instrument maker Helmut Schmidt and mast ...
. However, in 2010, the company was awarded a $25.8 million firm-fixed-price contract to manufacture scopes for special forces and snipers in the
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
,
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
,
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
and
Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
, with accompanying service for spares, repairs and upgrades.


Products


Riflescope

* ATACR™ ("Advanced Tactical Riflescope") family * B.E.A.S.T. ("Best Example of Advanced Scope Technology") 5-25×56 F1 * SHV™ ("Shooter Hunter Varminter") family * Competition™ series * Precision Benchrest™ series * NX8™ 1-8×24 F1 * NXS™ ("Nightforce Xtreme Scope") family


Spotting scope

* TS-80™ Hi-Def™ 20-60× * TS-82™ Xtreme Hi-Def™ 20-70×


Accessories

*
Scope mount Scope mounts are used to attach telescopic sights or other types of sights to firearms. The scope sight itself is usually made for only one of two main types of mounts, which can be classified as ''scopes for ring mounts'' (for example a 30  ...
** Standard Duty series
aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
mounts and bases ** X-Treme Duty series
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
/
titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
rings, mounts and bases * Carbon Fiber Tripod * Nightforce Angle Degree Indicator (with various mounting options) * Top Ring
bubble level A spirit level, bubble level, or simply a level, is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal (level) or vertical (plumb). Different types of spirit levels may be used by carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, ot ...
* Power Throw Lever (PTL™) * Nightforce Tool Kit * Nightforce Cleaning Kit


References

{{reflist


External links


Nightforce official website

Lightforce official website
1992 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Optics manufacturing companies Manufacturing companies based in Georgia (U.S. state)