Opinions on a few brands

Kelly Timoffee

Kelly Timoffee

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Have a buddy wanting to buy a scope for his 300WM.

It will be combination hunting/target use.6.5-20,24,30 power.

He has looked through the following:

Bushnell 6500
Conquest
Vortex Viper
Some Burris as well I believe.


I am not there to go with him but he figured get more opinions from the CGN crowd.

He figures that the 6500 has the best optics and the Conquest the worst for his eyes.(he also says his Bushnell Legend and 3200 are pretty good optically as well)

The big question is durability.I have shot but not owned the Bushell's, Personally I would go with Zeiss or Vortex.

How say you out there?

he is 99% sold on the 6500.
 
Bushnell doesn't hold a flame to anything Zeiss makes. For a 300WM I wouldn't run anything remotely questionable as far as glass is concerned. My other concern is his magnification range. 6x for the low end is very high for hunting. I don't know anyone who can consistently make rapid shots offhand at 6x magnification. The FOV will be reduced as well, making target acquisition difficult as well. I would suggest he run something in the 4-16 range. Nothing higher than 4x on the low side will serve him better and buy the best quality he can afford/find.

TDC
 
The magnification range has already been determined for the rifles intended use, there won't be close shots or bush hunting.

So, just to make sure we stay inside the options already determined that he wants.
 
In this order this is what I would get: (given the 4 choices you stipulate)

Zeiss, Bushnell, Vortex, and and longway back would be anything Burris makes

Outside of those choices it would be: Zeiss or Leupold.

This is a 300 win mag he is putting this one, so he wants top quality, otherwise it will fall apart after a dozen shots
 
IOR Valdada is a darned good scope. Mid range pricing a super clear optics. Good choice of reticles as well.

Another scope, that is a bargain for the price and stands up to the recoil of the 338 Win Mag and 300 WSM loaded with 200 grain bullets, is the Falcon Merlin.

I think SFRC, one of the banner sponsors as well as Frontier is selling them.

I have both of these scopes as well as the Zeiss and Swarovsky offerings. I would rate the Swarovsky models as the best overall.

The IOR and Falcon are nothing to poo poo though. They are consistent and repeatable when shooting squares at all ranges. I have complete confidence in them.

Here's another bit of information. I'm a diabetic and can have trouble during low light conditions that are fine for everyone else. I have never been let down by the light gathering qualities of the scopes mentioned in my reply.

The IOR scopes are heavy and made in Romania. The Falcon scope line is made in the UK.
 
bearhunter said:
IOR Valdada is a darned good scope. Mid range pricing a super clear optics. Good choice of reticles as well.

...
Click to expand...

I remember a dealer commenting on this forum a while ago that he was getting out of IOR Valdada because although they were very good while they worked and very good for the price, when one did fail the warranty service was very problematic.
 
TDC said:
Bushnell doesn't hold a flame to anything Zeiss makes. For a 300WM I wouldn't run anything remotely questionable as far as glass is concerned. My other concern is his magnification range. 6x for the low end is very high for hunting. I don't know anyone who can consistently make rapid shots offhand at 6x magnification. The FOV will be reduced as well, making target acquisition difficult as well. I would suggest he run something in the 4-16 range. Nothing higher than 4x on the low side will serve him better and buy the best quality he can afford/find.

TDC
Click to expand...

If you don't know anyone who can restrain themself from taking "opportunities" like that, Hello. :wave:
 
I like/enjoy Bushnell products, but at the price the 6500's go for, I would for sure
be looking at something other than a Bushnell.
Then again, if his eyes seem to cater to the Bushnell optics over the rest, who are
we to argue?
 
TheTooner said:
I remember a dealer commenting on this forum a while ago that he was getting out of IOR Valdada because although they were very good while they worked and very good for the price, when one did fail the warranty service was very problematic.
Click to expand...

I've had mine for close to ten years now and nary a problem. Touch wood.

I've fallen hard on the ice, right on the scope and it held up perfectly. The mounts are also IOR and are machined out of steel. Extremely tough.

I did hear of one fellow with issues though and the scope had to go back to the US importer for repair.

I was actually surprised they didn't charge him for the service, he had taken off the small cap on the adjustment brake and over tightened it, making it impossible to adjust.

They either fixed or replace it though and it took about six months.

The only dealer I knew of in Canada, was in BC. In Radium if I recall. Willy was his first name. I heard he passed away???
 
I think the optic issue has been flogged to death resurrected 17 times and flogged to death again each time. But here's my 2 cents any way

Precision shooting and anything waaaaaay out there needs clear optics and unfortunately the hefty priced tag that goes with. But for a decent price and good durabilty in a hunting scope I have found little fault with the bushnel 3200 series scopes. Heck I've got one that's sitting on its sixth gun right now and I don't know how old it is as I bought it used several years ago. It tracks true 4 clicks up down left or right at 100 yards gives an inch of movement with no issues. the optics are clear for my old bifocaled eyes and it holds POI.

As for their lower end scopes well that's another story. I'd love to try Zeiss, Kahles, Leup Mk IV's and such but the wallet can't handle it so one more vote for good old Bushnel 3200's
 
Just like some people hate Bushnell, I like Bushnell. "Magnum recoilproof - tested with 10,000 rounds of 375 H&H Magnum". That is right off of the Bushnell web site and although I don't believe everything that I read I am sure that the Elite 6500 from Bushnell was designed to handle a 300 WM and I am positive that it is a heck of lot tougher than your shoulder is.
 
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