Best rifle scopes in the $200-$300 range?

The original poster was asking about inexpensive 200 to 300 scopes. I own several vortex a strike eagle is going to cost about 500 used a vortex venum is even more expensive. At 200-300 budget your in the crossfire series which are not all that great.
 
JBD said:
The original poster was asking about inexpensive 200 to 300 scopes. I own several vortex a strike eagle is going to cost about 500 used a vortex venum is even more expensive. At 200-300 budget your in the crossfire series which are not all that great.
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Used or on sale you're in Diamondback territory, especially if $300 isn't supposed to include tax. But the $200-300 segment has certainly gone to #### in the last few years, wasn't that long ago you could get a Leupold VX1 for sub-$300 on sale, or a Vortex Viper 3-9x40 with the 1" tube... Bushnell elite 3500's can still be had for $300 though, I just checked google and found two in stock on the first few pages I looked at.
 
I believe I posted this already. I have an older Bushnell 3200 on my 308 and a new Vortex diamondback tactical 3-9 on another rifle. What really bothers me about the Bushnell is the eye relief, it happened more than once that myself or a friend who shot the rifle had some eye marks from the scope even wearing safety glasses. The Vortex has a 4 inch eye relief. Ask my wife, she thinks the Bushnell is garbage and loves the Vortex. I always check reviews on US sites and what is for sale used, even with the Vortex tactical 3-9 selling a lot, I have not found even one for sale used. I don't care much for the crossfire myself and would not buy one but others like it.
 
Kezh1729 said:
LMAO, all the empty claims from a guy who is proud of himself for shooting an MOA group at 100 yards.
The company is not Chinese, some of its scopes are made in China due to cost savings, and they are not junk by any means. Particularly, the Strike Eagle and Venom are great scope and bang for the buck, both performed extremely well in various tracking tests. If you never had anything from Vortex how do you know they are junk? What are your judging criteria for a rifle scope? I can't possibly imagine someone who is proud of shooting an MOA group at 100 yards know anything about scope...
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Nailed it. Think he needs to check where Simmons scopes are manufactured now. CHINA. To the op Id just watch the EE and buy an old Bausch&Lomb. Made in Japan and awesome glass. Many times for $225-$300
 
AlbertaJohn said:
Well to be fair I just bought my first Leopold, it's a VX-Freedom 4x12-40. The rifle that it will be put on should be here this week.

Time will tell but so far just by looking through it I don't see any advantage over a vortex that cost less than half of this Leopold.

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You'd have been better off with a Bushnell 4200.
Rifleman series is just paying for the name.
 
Longstud said:
Nailed it. Think he needs to check where Simmons scopes are manufactured now. CHINA. To the op Id just watch the EE and buy an old Bausch&Lomb. Made in Japan and awesome glass. Many times for $225-$300
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I picked up a nice older Redfield for $200 that I trust more than any other similarly priced scope.
 
Suther said:
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...53-At-Home-Scope-Testing?highlight=Elite+test

Here is an interesting bit of testing someone did. I've got a vortex Viper 3-9x40, the 1" tube model that used to be $299 on sale, and while I really like that scope I don't think I'll be buying anything diamondback or crossfire given the results of this testing.
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I had a crossfire on a 10-22 that I got rid of and replaced with a $50 new weaver take off from an Axis package.
The weaver holds zero, and POI actually changes when turrets are moved, unlike the crossfire whose POI changed only after a string of shots
 
FatCatsDad said:
Says the Vortex owner.
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You think I was serious?

I would not buy a Crossfire or low end diamondback scope as mentioned. The cheapest I have is the Diamondback tactical 3-9 for $250 on sale after studying many reviews. I compared it to my older Bushnell 3200 and posted my experience. I also have a diamondback tactical 6-24. I posted the youtube review where it won against the competition, so everything posted here about cheap and older Vortex does not apply in any way to the Vortex scopes I am recommending.

Actually, the OP could just go and buy one of the older fixed Japanese scopes in 4 x 32 or 6 x 32 for $30 (bit scratched but work 100 %) which I have some and he would most likely be satisfied with the results.
 
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I'd trade some optical clarity for reliability, especially when hunting. Even a cheap scope presents an image superior to my naked eye, but if it doesn't hit where I aim, its useless. For target shooting though, I really want both. Its very straining on the eye to shoot long strings of shots through crap optics. Gives me a frikken headache.
 
Kezh1729 said:
LMAO, all the empty claims from a guy who is proud of himself for shooting an MOA group at 100 yards.
The company is not Chinese, some of its scopes are made in China due to cost savings, and they are not junk by any means. Particularly, the Strike Eagle and Venom are great scope and bang for the buck, both performed extremely well in various tracking tests. If you never had anything from Vortex how do you know they are junk? What are your judging criteria for a rifle scope? I can't possibly imagine someone who is proud of shooting an MOA group at 100 yards know anything about scope...
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The bulk of Vortex’s rifle scopes production occurs in China. This includes the Diamondback Tactical FFP (First Focal Plane), Strike Eagle, and Crossfire rifle scopes product lines. Asia seems to be the place for optics. In fact, Bushnell gets theirs from South Korea.

5 shot groups at 100 yards savage axis (not three shots) I get around MOA
5 shot groups at 200 yards savage axis (not three shots) I get 1.50 MOA

I heard directly from people who spent 2-3 hundred on their VORTEX and got rid of them because it started to attract flies at the range
 
Rod B said:
I think IvoB is using that statement as an analogy to turds drawing flies.
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I have an idea why he attracted flies at the range.

At least I am member of a gun club where you hardly see somebody at the range. And if so, it's just friendlies.

Bragging at the range, lol.
 
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