Eye relief for Magnum Rifles

duke1

duke1

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I own a 375 H&H Magnum and I'm able to shoot it comfortably except that the scope will touch me slightly when firing the gun. I have on it at the moment a Bushnell 3200 Elite (4-12X) and I believe that I should be looking for one with a longer eye relief. This slight touch affects my concentration and would like to correct it.

The touching occurs mainly when bench rest shooting at the range..... a position usually not used for hunting. According to Bushnell, the eye relief is 3.3" but they don't mention at what magnification (I use 12X for target shooting/sighting). I see some of the lesser expensive Bushnell scopes will go to at least 5" eye relief.

So, my question is: what are some on the longer eye relief scopes out there (between 4" to 6"). I see some Bushnell 6500 have around 4" eye relief but what about other makes?

Duke1
 
This is a great little scope, sighted one in on a Sako A7 270 WSM about a month ago for my son-in-law...

http://www.zeiss.com/c1256bcf0020be5f/Contents-Frame/c6b062a1c5089a5585257546006e354d

Specifies 4" of eye relief. Don't think you're going to find much more than that.

He bought it at Wholesale Sports for $499. It's a promotional model in 3x9x40, and that price should apply just about anywhere. (It's $399 stateside.)

4x12 is quite a step up in price, but on a .375 Ouch & Ouch, do you really need the extra power?

Optics, IMHO, are about as good as it gets without paying out 2 to 3 times as much for another big name make and model. Awesome clarity and brightness! European parts, assembled in the US.

And it's made by Zeiss, which is probably all you need to know.

To handle the recoil of your rifle, I think you definitely don't want to look at cheaper models than the Elite series. The 6500 Elite also is a beautiful scope, but considerably more dough than this Zeiss.

:)
 
I was going to jump in recommending the Conquest. Looks like someone beat me to it.

I have the 3-9x40 on a .280 and I love it. Eye relief is excellent. The scope can also take a beating, I slipped on some loose talus while sheep hunting and dropped my rifle. It landed scope side down and took a chip out of the finish of the scope. Big impact for a scope and I wanted to confirm if it held it's zero. Went to the range the next day and the zero was exactly as I left it.
 
I just put on a zeiss 3-9 on my 375 , adequate eye relief but I still prefer the eye relief and "eye box" that the leupold 2-7 has, the zeiss has a nicer picture however and I like the reticle in the zeiss, much bolder than the leupold duplex in my 2-7.
 
Nikon Monarch's run around 4 inches of eye relief until you get to the bigger power zooms. I would guess that the 3.3" relief on yours is only based on the base zoom. Once you take it in that would shorten up even a little more.
 
A friend chimped out and put a Bullsh!tnell on his lightweight .300RUM. Every shot I've seen him take off the bench puts that ocular lens within a whisker of his eyebrow. It's only a matter of time before he'll get a case of "magnum eyebrow" when using a hasty rest in the field. Eye relief has never been an issue with my Leupolds.
 
"...at what magnification..." Eye relief has nothing to do with magnification. It's the distance between your eye and the rear ocular that gives you the full circle of the scope.
"...mainly when bench rest shooting..." Sounds like you're crawling the stock a bit when on a bench. Your hunting coat will add that wee bit of length needed to avoid Weatherby eye brow.
 
duke1 said:
I own a 375 H&H Magnum and I'm able to shoot it comfortably except that the scope will touch me slightly when firing the gun. I have on it at the moment a Bushnell 3200 Elite (4-12X) and I believe that I should be looking for one with a longer eye relief. This slight touch affects my concentration and would like to correct it.

The touching occurs mainly when bench rest shooting at the range..... a position usually not used for hunting. According to Bushnell, the eye relief is 3.3" but they don't mention at what magnification (I use 12X for target shooting/sighting). I see some of the lesser expensive Bushnell scopes will go to at least 5" eye relief.

So, my question is: what are some on the longer eye relief scopes out there (between 4" to 6"). I see some Bushnell 6500 have around 4" eye relief but what about other makes?

Duke1
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Hi Duke1, I just wanted to ask if your stock is too short? Does it look like it was cut? Even only by half an inch will make a difference when shooting a magnum from a bench if you're a tall gent with long arms.

If you place a folded shirt behind the recoil pad to give you some extra length it'll keep the scope away from your eye when target shooting. You'll notice a black ring inside the view because of the extra distance, but it's no big deal and you can still operate without problems.

All the best.
 
sunray said:
"...at what magnification..." Eye relief has nothing to do with magnification. It's the distance between your eye and the rear ocular that gives you the full circle of the scope.
"...mainly when bench rest shooting..." Sounds like you're crawling the stock a bit when on a bench. Your hunting coat will add that wee bit of length needed to avoid Weatherby eye brow.
Click to expand...

Eye relief changes with magnification.
 
I guess you're both right........ some variable scopes today have changing eye relief dictated by magnification. Nevertheless, a number of scopes have constant eye relief and supposedly won't change with magnification. Whether a scope has one or the other depends on the design of the scope.

The spec for my Bushnell Elite 3200 eye relief is 3.3" and is constant as tested here (4-12X with AO). I also tested one of the newer Elite 4200 (3-9X) and also found this one to have a constant eye relief.

I proceeded to test my most expensive scope - a Zeiss Diavari-ZA 1.5-6x42 and this one has variable eye relief with the longest eye relief being at minimum magnification.

Based on these findings, I checked the specs for a couple of the recommended scopes and some others and here is what I found:

1. Leupold Vari-X-III 2.5-8X .. (4.4-3.5") eye relief with 3.5" at 8X

2. Leupold Vari-X-II 1.5-5X.. (4.4-3.6") ...........3.6" at 5X

3, Leupold LPS 2.5-10X45 (4.5-3.8")....... 3.8" at 10X

4. Leupold LPS 3.5-14X52 (4" ...... indicating constant eye relief??)

5. U.S. Optics 1.6-8X (4.4-4.8") ..... specs appear to be reversed??

6. Zeiss - most of the Zeiss Conquests at around 3.4-3.2" eye relief.

I don't have to emphasize that the ones mentioned here, from Leupold (LPS models) and U.S. Optics go for over $1k and more.


Thanks to all of you for the very interesting inputs - keep it coming.

Duke1
 
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Bear in mind that Leupold specs give eye-relief from the tube, and most others give the measurement from the glass. That can make a 1/2" difference from scope to scope giving the same numbers. Also consider, some brands just lie.
I'm very surprised that you haven't been clobbered already.
 
The leupold 2-7 I had on my 375 you could have your head at the back of the stock and still see good enough to shoot, I have not seen other brands of scopes personally that are that forgiving,I would imagine the 2.5-8 vx-3 would be comparable. The zeiss 3-9 does have and honest 4 inches,at least the one that I personally own.
 
machinistbutler said:
The leupold 2-7 I had on my 375 you could have your head at the back of the stock and still see good enough to shoot, I have not seen other brands of scopes personally that are that forgiving,I would imagine the 2.5-8 vx-3 would be comparable. The zeiss 3-9 does have and honest 4 inches,at least the one that I personally own.
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I don't know of any manufacturer that has such a large eyebox across the line either.
 
Mounting the scope in a manner that extends the ocular 2" behind the cocking piece because the stock is too long doesn't make sense. Particularly on heavy kicking rifles, the stock should fit you and the scope should fit the rifle. Why do you want additional stock length which increases felt recoil and is sure to result in the butt getting hung up on the trip to your shoulder?

I had a Leupold 1.5-5X on my .416 Ruger #1. Not wanting to get tagged with this thing, and not wanting a stock that was too long for me, I opted to have a custom quarter rib made that was inletted for Talley QD mounts and would place the ocular even with the front face of the falling block. I never once got tagged, and the LOP was 13.5". An additional benefit was that with the scope so far forward there was nothing impeding access to the loading ramp. The 1.5-5X has tremendous eye relief, particularly at the lower power settings. Getting a full clear image was never a problem up to 3X, and I just chose to ignore the additional magnification.

A bolt gun is normally much simpler to accommodate, and all sorts of mounting options are available which compensate for the long eyepieces of variable power scopes, which have a tendency to reach far behind the rear ring. On powerful rifles I do not like to see the ocular come behind the cocking piece of the bolt. Neither should the scope have so much magnification that it requires you to crawl up on the scope to achieve proper eye relief. The stock hits your shoulder, your cheek hits the stock, and a full sight picture should be right there without you having to squirm around looking for it.
 
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