$1500 Hunting Long Range Scope

HansGrimsgaard

HansGrimsgaard

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Hey all,

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on scopes around the $1500 +\- $300 mark to determine which would suit my needs best. For fun/practice I’d like to ring steel out to 1000 yards, but would never think of shooting anywhere near that while hunting. I’d like a scope for 50-600 yard range for hunting (although I’ll probably never shoot anything at 600). Weight is a consideration, I’d like to keep it on the lighter end. This scope will be on a hunting rifle 300PRC custom Remington 700. I was creating a list to share what scopes I’m drawn to but I’d like to know your opinion. Thanks to all for their input.
 
It’s pretty hard not to compromise in some way.
For most of my target shooting out to 1000yards I prefer a 20x zoom. I have shot steel well with 14x out to 1000.
Because of cost I had to sacrifice, so I got reliable turrets and medium quality glass. $1100. If my budget allowed I would go to $2000 for better glass. Example. Athlon Ares BTR gen 2, upgrade to an Athlon Cronos
 
I'd look it a used Vortex LHT 4.5-22. It's a crossover FFP hunting/target scope. I have two and I like them a lot. They're some of the lightest FFP scopes out there at 22 oz.
 
I just went through this for my 7PRC.
Lots of choices.
I had it narrowed down to , VX-5HD 3-15X44 CDS-ZL2 SIDE FOCUS DUPLEX or the ZEISS Conquest V4 4-16x44.

I ended up buying the Zeiss off the EE.

Either of these are great for range shooting or for your hunting application.
Both have all similar features.
 
It’s been a toss up for me between the vx-5hd and the vortex LHT 3-15. I would ideally like a 3-18 zoom range and FFP seems benifical. Didn’t know the LHT 4.5-22 is FFP so thanks for mentioning that. How do you like the Zeiss so far? Have you done any long range shooting with it? Also what is EE?
 
HansGrimsgaard said:
It’s been a toss up for me between the vx-5hd and the vortex LHT 3-15. I would ideally like a 3-18 zoom range and FFP seems benifical. Didn’t know the LHT 4.5-22 is FFP so thanks for mentioning that. How do you like the Zeiss so far? Have you done any long range shooting with it? Also what is EE?
Click to expand...
It’s still in the mail , I should have it for next weekend.
EE / Equipment Exchange.
 
How much of a consideration is it really? Are you likely to notice the weight difference between the VX5 4-20x at 23oz versus a Mark 5 5-25x at 30oz or a Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x at 32oz?

I would suggest 20x as the minimum for shooting out to 1000 yards. When I built my 300 Winchester for LR shooting I initially topped it with a Mark 4 3.5-10x. Outstanding scope, but not the right tool for the job. I later replaced it with a 5.5-22x Nightforce. Kinda wish now that I had the same scope on my 308, just for consistency, but alas, I bought it first and went with the 3.5-15x Nightforce.
 
OP,

With your criteria and budget, I’d consider the Apex Optics Hunter 3-15x44. It’s unproven at this point, but some of the other scopes mentioned here have already proven to be less than durable and reliable. Depends on your priorities I guess.
 
3-15 or 3-18 is kind of the sweet spot for me. I'd rather compromise a bit on the high end of magnification rather than the low for a dual purpose setup like this. Realistically, how often do you expect to be shooting at 1000 vs hunting inside of 200 yards?

I've used a lot of FFP scopes over the years. That design makes more sense to me, but I've yet to encounter a real situation hunting where it would've made the difference. At the moment I have a SFP Leupold VX5HD 3-15x44 with the HTMR reticle and a FFP Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44 with the TMR reticle. The Mark 5HD is better of course, but not sure it's worth the extra money just to get FFP.
 
The athlon's and vortex venoms look good to me at or under your price point.

Although, for 50-600 yards, a 3.5-21x magnification range might be better than 5-25x or 4.7-24x and the bushnell DMR's are hard to come by and sell for as much or more used.
 
I had a Bushnell DMR ii 3.5-21 for a while. I hated that scope. The tunnelling at high magnification was so distracting and it was too heavy. I couldn't sell that one fast enough. Maybe they fixed some of that with the newer models
 
I only have a DMR 2 Pro, no tunneling but it has different glass. I prefer the XRS 2 over it. Both are boat anchors, not something I'd pick for a lightweight hunting rifle
 
I would get a hold of Mystic Precision. Jerry has his finger on the pulse for good valued optics for the desired application. For a little more cash you could get yourself into a Leica Amplus....
 
The Apex hunter seems to be a good option. Never heard of the scope up until this point so I’ll have to look into it.

I agree that you probably won’t notice the difference in weight to an extent. A Leupold vx-5hd at 19oz compared to a scope near double at 32oz you will tho. I primarily backpack hunt and would rather focus on that than focus on shooting steel at 1000 yards. As mentioned above, hunting after all is the goal. The 3-18 seems to be the best zoom range, or somewhere around that.

DMR II Pro seems to be a little past the budget at from what I can find is $2600 new. I’ll check out the EE once I am cleared to do so.

The Leica looks great, although I’ve never looked through the glass. So if anyone owns one and has any input that would be helpful. I do like having yard marks on the parallax for quicker focus but it’s not that important.
 
The leica amplus 6 has pretty good glass and a nice reticle close to the leupold glass.
I have a hard time choosing which is better but on average the leupold gets the nod and the vx6hd is 2 oz lighter with alumina caps installed.
IMHO the Apex is just more weight than I want in rifle I'm going to carry up a mountain.
Age does have a role in that decision though.
 
BigUglyMan said:
I would suggest 20x as the minimum for shooting out to 1000 yards. When I built my 300 Winchester for LR shooting I initially topped it with a Mark 4 3.5-10x. Outstanding scope, but not the right tool for the job. I later replaced it with a 5.5-22x Nightforce. Kinda wish now that I had the same scope on my 308, just for consistency, but alas, I bought it first and went with the 3.5-15x Nightforce.
Click to expand...

I would suggest the maximum magnification for field use is 20-24x. I used a 16x to shoot 2000yds. Never felt I was under glassed. Most people don't understand the limitations and problems inherent in high magnification optics.
 
I'm going to try out a Tract optics Toric UHD 2.5-15x44 SFP and Illuminated BDC. I have always bought Leupold (I have 7 of them) and was considering the VX5 3-15, but I stumbled across this brand and the reviews are very good. There on the heavy side, but there quality is supposed to be top notch. They have a Canadian website now too. $1394 + tax is the price. Another good option I think other than the big names.
 
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