Ask the pack- rifle scope recommendations
- Thread starter HulksStache
- Start date
Vortex are good quality for the $$ and they have a good warranty. Lot of good options out there just depends on your budget
Well the Simmons on my Dad’s Browning 30-06 is great. It’s an older gun with an older scope, but I have no complaints with it.
I also suggest looking at the Vortex. I 've got four, and would buy again.
I've used others, but that would be my goto. The Vipers are a good line.
Vortex or Leupold for your situation where 250 yards is max distance would be good choices. I just mounted a Vortex 4x12x40 on my Grandson’s.243 this afternoon. If you want to step it up a notch or think you may eventually hunt elsewhere with longer range shooting both Swarovski and Zeiss have some scopes with very nice glass. Models without a ballistic turret are not too expensive. We target shoot at longer ranges and hunt out west a lot where long shots are typical and find the Zeiss V4 Conquest series to be our favorite. I have the 4x16x44 on my elk rifle and the 6x24x50 on my mule deer / antelope rifle. The 44mm scope fits in a horse rifle scabbard much better than a 50mm scope. Some Swaro and Zeiss scopes are shockingly expensive but not all of them. I have a Swaro 4x12x50 on a .270 that I used for a long time on local deer. I haven’t looked them in a long time but I think it was about $800. Zeiss has some in the same price range or a little less. The V4 models with the ballistic turrets typically run from $1,000 to $1300 depending on features. I will warn you that once you use a nicer ballistic turret scope you will never want to go back. Most shots out west in our experience seem to be between 300 and 450 yards and those are not hard shots with the right equipment.
Spend as much as you can afford. Putting a cheap Wal Mart scope on a quality rifle is sacrilege.
1. German glass
2. Japanese Glass
3. American glass
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. all others.
1. German glass
2. Japanese Glass
3. American glass
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. all others.
That German glass is fantastic but I just never could make myself spend the money on one of those. it Is definitely the best by far.
I just went through this exercise and bought 2 rifle scopes. But in the end I decided the single most important thing was reliability. I am backcountry hunting in awful terrain and need something that can handle the abuse I will put it through.
Anyhow, Rokslide is a Western hunting forum and some of their mods actually test rifle scopes for their durability/reliability. They zero it then drop it from knee and chest high a couple dozen times. Then check it again. Then they throw it in the back of the truck and drive everywhere. They test the scopes for about a year and 3000 rounds. Hardly any can hold a zero. I'm blown away by how many can't handle the ride in the truck.
Anything Nightforce, SWFA, and Trijicon makes seems to pass. After that it gets slim. Maven made a scope specifically to pass that type of rigor, the RS1.2 2.5x15x44.
So I bought 2 of these. The Maven mentioned earlier is on my .300Wby and a Gen II 3x15x42 SWFA that is on the 6.5 CM.
Vortex and Leupold have some great glass options, but they fail miserably in the zero retention testing. For my money, 250 in. I would spend $350 on a SWFA fixed power 10x42. When you get down to brass tacks, what is more important than holding zero?
Rokslide Scope Field Evaluations
Anyhow, Rokslide is a Western hunting forum and some of their mods actually test rifle scopes for their durability/reliability. They zero it then drop it from knee and chest high a couple dozen times. Then check it again. Then they throw it in the back of the truck and drive everywhere. They test the scopes for about a year and 3000 rounds. Hardly any can hold a zero. I'm blown away by how many can't handle the ride in the truck.
Anything Nightforce, SWFA, and Trijicon makes seems to pass. After that it gets slim. Maven made a scope specifically to pass that type of rigor, the RS1.2 2.5x15x44.
So I bought 2 of these. The Maven mentioned earlier is on my .300Wby and a Gen II 3x15x42 SWFA that is on the 6.5 CM.
Vortex and Leupold have some great glass options, but they fail miserably in the zero retention testing. For my money, 250 in. I would spend $350 on a SWFA fixed power 10x42. When you get down to brass tacks, what is more important than holding zero?
Rokslide Scope Field Evaluations
It was long ago, but I enjoyed my Luepold with see-through sights. 356. I set it one time. I never had to adjust it again. It was a Remington 7600 and was deadly for 300 yards with those sights. I seldom had to shoot over 100 yards, but I was able to if I when I needed to hunt in other places.
Other common topics right now are the basketball team or politics…. I’d much rather talk about guns and scopes than either of those.
Hey guys, just don't click on the post, assuming the title says the right stuff, you know what it is.
Move on .
Move on .
For 250 yds, Vortex, Arken and Athlon are all reliable, good scopes. I would recommend the Vortex Viper PST gen2 but if you're not stretching it out then the Strike Eagle would serve you well. Can't recommend a Leupold at all anymore.. You have to spend $2k to get quality and then it doesn't touch a Nightforce.
The main thing is getting comfortable with whatever you choose. It cost me a rack buck because I wasn't used to the scope on a friend's 30-30. I missed a 10-point because I couldn't find the buck in my field of vision fast enough. Be sure you can quickly see a buck... then zoom in.
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