New rifle scope recommendations - 300WM

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J_Impact

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I recently picked up a new CZ 550 in 300 Win Mag for hunting and I'm looking for recommendations on what kind of scope to put on it.

I've been running a 2-7x32 Burris on my current 308 hunting rifle and I feel like I'm always left wanting to see farther. I feel for me it's a great scope for anything under 300m but I'd like to feel comfortable shooting to the 500/600m distance.

I was originally thinking about a Nikon 2.5-10x40mm BDC but now I'm thinking something in the 14-16 magnification range. On my 308 I played the buy one upgrade down the road game but with this rifle I'd like to buy once and be happy with my purchase. I'd like to find something that will fill my shooting distance desire to make an ethical kill (if that situation ever happens) and be robust and compact enough to pack in the bush. I'm not looking for something overly fancy with 56mm and a $3g price tag.
 
Burris XTR 2 4-20x50. Got one on my 300 Win Mag. The 50mm objective sure works great in low light and the illuminated reticle sure helps as well. I'm using the G2B Mil-Dot Reticle on mine. They're priced in the $1500.00-$1600.00+ range depending on the magnification. They are also a FFP Scope.
 
Leupold VX5 HD 3-15 x 44mm. That'll take care of the risk of out-growing your scope anytime soon. Mine is a CDS with Windplex version and I had Korth add a locking ZL2 wind turret to it. With two locking CDS turrets, zero stop, side focus, fast focus and superior glass its got about everything you could want in a hunting scope. There are any number of reticle choices, just remember that you need a plan for landing those 5-600 yard shots.

For less scope for less money look at the VX3i SF in 4.5-14 x 40. Either find a reticle you can work with (cough, cough, B&C) or go CDS and windplex. Dials don't lock, just so you know.

I've found through experience that scopes in the 14-15 power range without an AO aren't much of a plan. If you're going for simplicity, drop back to 3.5-10 in a VX3i and put a B&C in it. There aren't a lot of real world hunting situations that won't handle.
 
Dogleg said:
Leupold VX5 HD 3-15 x 44mm. That'll take care of the risk of out-growing your scope anytime soon. Mine is a CDS with Windplex version and I had Korth add a locking ZL2 wind turret to it. With two locking CDS turrets, zero stop, side focus, fast focus and superior glass its got about everything you could want in a hunting scope. There are any number of reticle choices, just remember that you need a plan for landing those 5-600 yard shots.
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I'll second the new VX-HD scopes from Leupold. I ran the VX-6HD 3-18x44 on my hunting rifles for the end of last season. I now have two of them. The VX-5HD is just as good a scope for a bit less money. With the VX-5 you miss out on some features like a bit of top end (15 vs 18), the ZL windage knob, the throw lever, the alumina covers, the in reticle level and depending on the model the FireDot. If you have no use for those features then the VX-5 is a better buy over the VX-6.
 
Personally is would choose a scope where 16x or 18x is absolute highest power. Over 20 power is sort of a dislike of mine unless just target shooting but even then I don’t like it that high. 4.5-14, 3-18. 3-15 etc... gets my vote with as good glass quality as possible. I owned a zeiss v6 3-18 zmoa for a bit. What a nice scope. The reticle was a tad thick for my uses so I let it go but almost regret that choice. The glass quality was very very very good and so nice to look through compared to other scopes I’ve tried.
 
Dogleg said:
I've found through experience that scopes in the 14-15 power range without an AO aren't much of a plan. If you're going for simplicity, drop back to 3.5-10 in a VX3i and put a B&C in it. There aren't a lot of real world hunting situations that won't handle.
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I was wondering about that. I've never really been horny to deal with AO on a a hunting rifle and I've never been convinced that I wanted to deal with more than 10x due to the usual limitations on the bottom end. Sure, we have mitigated that with the expanded zoom ranges of newer scopes but when you can walk out of Prophet River with a 3.5-10x for a little over $500 it makes it hard to try to argue yourself into $1400-$2000 for a VX5 or VX6. I'm sure they're a bit better, but three to four times? I need to play around with one before I fully make up my mind but in the meantime, what I don't know won't hurt me...much.
 
Thanks for all the info and advice!

I'm definitely gonna have to do some more research and get out with a buddy that's got a 2.5-10 and see if I'm happy with that level of magnification.

Reading on online the VX6-HD makes it sound like Leupold did an awesome job creating it. Hard pill to swallow though when comparing prices between the VX3i, VX5 and VX6 but obviously that price increases for a reason. I'll need to swing by one of my local shops and check them out.

With the B&C reticle does the power selector ring lock in place once you've got your distances/ammo figured out? Or am I reading that completely wrong?
 
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