How do I pick a scope?

Good day
By the your intro you are a novice. May I suggest looking up well known shooters in the precession riffle community and watch there videos (YouTube). Todd Hodnett is a well-known name (many others out there) video is Legion Productions - Magpul Dynamics - The Art Of The Precision Rifle [HD] there is a great section on scopes and reticles, it has good information. Research scopes/reticles most sites have YouTube pages on its products (watch the videos) and see what will work best for you. Ask someone at the range if they mind you looking through there scope and ask questions about their scope. If you can wait to get a more expensive scope with the features you want then do so, you will not have to buy another if you upgrade your rifle later (a scope can be shared between rifles). Leupold is an excellent scope but you are paying for the name, vortex is good bang for your buck and lifetime warranty, many others are out there as listed above. As for power 5-25X50 is the most you will ever want unless you plan on shooting past 1000 Y/M. 4-16x40/50 is good to about 800 Y/M, I maxed my 3-9 at 600 Y/M now using 5-25x50 to 1000-1200M with a Remington 700 in .308. I have also hit targets up to 600M with a fixed x4 power scope using .223/556 (with a lot of practice, military). To sum up ask someone who has the scope you are looking at purchasing if you can try it, get the best you can afford. Enjoy learning about and using your choice of rifle and scope in the ever changing world of shooting, it can be frustrating and rewarding all at the same time. Have fun.
 
Rhino62; Vortex seems like a great brand & a good option for me thank you.

bartman1967; Great idea on the you tube. I have been a show on t.v. called trigger time on wild t.v. & I got some great info there too. Thanks for all the other information as well including the names too look up. It seems to very recommended by most to spend as much as I can afford on a scope.
 
Stevebot-7 said:
Well, the first question is at what distances you plan to use it at.
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Nice write up.I deleted most of your post because people can read it above and it ties up A lot of space when I respond to two persons at the same time. lol . Like the OP I know zip about scopes and my scope I bought new mounted on the rifle sells for 40.00 on Ebay. Best in the garbage but using it on my .22 instead.

metalbender said:
The price range cuts out most higher quality glass. Vortex Diamondback 4-12ao would fit the bill nicely. Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12 AO with the doa reticle is also a decent choice. Have both, they work well. You'll get lots of recommendations from other's experiences. Just my two bits worth, good luck in your search.
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Intersesting you mention Bushnell Trophy xlt 4-12x40 with DOA reticle. As I said I know zip about scope and that is the one I bought. My reasons for that choice were, (1) I read a thread where someone had emailed Bushnell asking what the DOA was set for in terms of calibre and such. Apparently it is calibrated to a .270 win firing 130 grains. Uh, drum roll please ! That is the rifle I have. I then figured I'd have a 188.00 well balanced scope for up to 600 yards. I also downloaded strelok app on my android and it has a reticle that matches mine with precise yardage for each level. I have yet to really test it out as I was way off paper and shoulda brought a pallet sized sheet with me. I pulled the bolt and visually bore sighted it to 200 yards so in 8 days we will be at the lake to test it. Sorry for the hijack but thought the op might take this info into account depending on his rifle ballistics.
 
metalbender said:
The price range cuts out most higher quality glass. Vortex Diamondback 4-12ao would fit the bill nicely. Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12 AO with the doa reticle is also a decent choice. Have both, they work well. You'll get lots of reccomendations from other's experiences. Just my two bits worth, good luck in your search.
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I've been surprised at how well my Trophy xlt 4-12 is working! They are kind of a sleeper, but a good buy nonetheless.
 
Tons of options depending the the magnification, reticle type, and quality that you are looking for. I would definitely recommend doing some reading and then going to a store to physically look at a few scopes. Don't forget the scope rings / mounting hardware. Also, be aware that cheap scopes are cheap for a reason. They tend to fog up, not hold their "zero", break easily, and worst of all are dark and difficult to actually see through compared to a decent quality scope.

IMO, if you're new to optics and are looking for the best bang for your buck in a quality scope is the Sightron S2 / S2 Big Sky and the Vortex Viper series.
 
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