One Perfect Scope!

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gunnercody

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Ok, so I'm kind of new to optics; I guess I'm looking for the 'one perfect scope'!

There are so many elements to consider, and I have a bunch of questions that doubtless you experienced guys have a lot of opinions on - maybe you can help me out.

Reticles - I like the idea of some range-finding markings. Is that smart, or does it just get in the way?
There are mil-dots, there are little circles, there are lines of different lengths - which works best? (And please don't just tell me that whatever works for me is best!)

I also like the idea of illuminated reticles. Does that help, or is it not that great? I assume it's better for low-light conditions; but most manufacturers say their scopes are somehow designed to 'gather maximum light' anyway.

How about magnification? Most hunting scopes are 3-9x, but I see some like 4-14x or 6-25x. Increased magnification reduces the field of view, right? The smaller the field of view, the harder it is to locate your target, right? I would like to be able to target out to 500 yards, but then is 100 yards more difficult to acquire (at 6x)?

Nikon has an online app to calculate bullet drop and then apply it to the markings on their scopes. Cool, but what about Cabela's caliber-specific scopes - it's already built in. Does anyone have experience with these? What kind of reticle picture do they have?

What about (perhaps counterfeit) Zeiss scopes on eBay? Good price, but are they cheap in more ways than one? Or other Chinese generic scopes? How much quality difference is there for a couple hundred dollars less?

Good newbie thread, right? Weigh in, promote your favourites, tell me what you think!
 
What part of the country do live and hunt in?
What type of rifle do you plan to hunt with?
Open country with long sight lines and shots or thick bush and short shots?
 
I am somewhat reluctant to shoot game so late in the day that it may be difficult to recover. I think if I need an illuminated reticle to make the shot, that's a sign that it's too late to be shooting.

6x is not too much for shooting 100 yards in open country. In woods a deer that you saw with the naked eye might be hard to find in your scope's view at lower magnification. 3-9x is enough for 99% of the shots 99% of us will ever take, though you might like to have more magnification. Yes, it reduces the field of view, all else being equal, and that's one of the reasons for a larger objective lens (another is it can "gather" more light, though the main reason is because to most people a bigger number sounds better even if for some reason it actually isn't, so they are more likely to buy it.)

The "law of diminishing returns" applies very much to optics. At the cheapest level, a small increase in cost can get a big jump in quality. When you get to higher levels of quality, making the thing a little better starts to cost more and more for smaller and smaller increments of improvement.

People will say things like "you get what you pay for", which isn't as clever as it sounds. You pay what you pay, and you get what you get, and if you don't do the product research those two things may be not very closely connected.

You can't make good optics without good materials, good tools, and good skills, and all of those things cost more than poor materials, tools, and skills, but just throwing more money at it doesn't mean you won't be paying the price of good stuff and getting the poor stuff for it.
 
i'm happy with mid priced hunting optics $400 to $800. I prefer 2x7, 2.5 x8 up to 3x9. also a fan of fixed 6x too. high power scopes are too large and heavy for carrying I like lighter weight more compact optics on hunting rifles. never needed high magnification for hunting, most animals are quite a large target. I find cheap optics rarely worth the effort and premium optics out of my price range. when you own 20 or so rifles scoping them with nightforce optics would break my bank. if I was only to scope one or two rifles I would looking at higher priced optic.
 
For me, the perfect scope is one that retains zero, has accurate adjustments and is rugged...military grade.

For hunting in my area 6X seems ideal, deer at 50 feet, moose to 400+ yards.

The 'glass' needs to be good enough to see a clear image of the target.

To that end I have settled on SWFA 6x's in mil-quad and moa-quad.
 
my hunting experience with game (in Eastern Canada) is: ‘its there, its there, its there ....... aaand its gone!’ so my bias is towards light weight scopes that dont imbalance the rifle when I am trying to get on target quickly ... and dont impede me when moving. If you shoot from a stand or a box then this isnt too important. And if you have good eyes (still) ... then dont underestimate good iron sights for a lot of ‘Eastern’ hunting (my eyes arent like they used to be but I still prefer to have irons on my rifles). One of the nicest scopes I purchased years ago (when they were reasonably priced) was an Austrian manufactured ‘AL’ series 1” tubed Swarovski fixed 4x. In detachable mounts its a ‘go to’ optic for me. The other option if you are typicially dealing with longer distances is a fixed 6x. The fixed 6x,42 is also very good in lower light and the aluminum tubed versions from Zeiss are not too bad re: rifle balance etc.
I find that the bigger variables mount high and weigh more and make rifles seem a little ‘top heavy’ and more unwieldy. my 2
 
I basically use two choices for hunting, A fixed 6x [6x42] or the excellent 3.5-10x40 B&C Leupold.
For a dedicated varmint rifle, I like a bit more power on the top end [14x up to 20X]
Forget the illuminated reticule. I cannot recall a hunting situation where I wished I had one.
I am also not a lover of great big objective lenses. 40-44mm is usually plenty to gather sufficient light.
Enjoy! Dave.
 
I am pretty happy with my hunting rifle scopes at the moment. All hunting starts out with scopes on minimum power and get turned up if needed and there is time. I've shot about 25 deer in my life and most were with the scope on 2x, 3x, 4x or 4.5x. Only a couple I had zoomed right in when I shot. I shoot more Whitetail than mulies though.

Savage .223 Vortex Viper 4-16 x 44 HS LR
Savage .243 Weaver Kaspa 3-9 x 40
H&R 1871 .44 Mag Imported 3-9 x 40 that is clear enough and works fine
Tikka T3 6.5x55 Burris Droptine 4.5-14 x 42
BSA featherweight 30-06 Nice factory 100,200, 300 flip up leaf sights that work very well.
Sako AV .375 H&H Bausch and Lomb Elite 3000 2-7 x 32

Might be looking for an ultra light 4, 6 or 2-7x for the BSA. One day one will pop up.
 
This would be much easier if you told us what type of shooting you plan to be doing with it, what caliber rifle you plan to put it on, what ranges you anticipate shooting, what your budget is, etc.

Reticles, it all depends on what you're doing. Hunting in the bush with a low power 3-9 can be easily done with a duplex reticle or even a red dot. Shooting a 6.5 Creedmoor at 1000 yards might require some ranging/holdover marks.

Illumination, not really needed on a hunting or target scope unless you hunt right to the last of legal light and even then it isn't really needed. It is nice though when it's getting dim and your reticle starts to disappear into the background.

Turrets, Exposed tall turrets for long range target shooting, covered turrets for hunting is probably the best but I have hunted with exposed turrets, you just have to remember to take a quick look at them when you get off the quad or take the rifle off your back after hiking for a while just in case they got bumped.

DON'T EVER BUY A CHINESE KNOCK-OFF SCOPE!!! They are junk and you may as well just wipe your ass with the money and flush it down the toilet because you'll be disappointed with what a pice of crap you wasted your money on and you'll replace it shortly after.

Honestly in my opinion there are very few scopes for under $500 that are worth spending money on. I know that sounds weird but once you see the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff you'll understand. Try looking trough a cheap scope at something 1000 meters away then look at the same thing through a $1000+ scope and it instantly becomes clear (literally) where your money is going.
 
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Hey, so I've gotten back to read your posts, & thx a lot for your advices!

cr5:
"DON'T EVER BUY A CHINESE KNOCK-OFF SCOPE!!!" thanks

nomad 68
"don't need to check for fleas beforehand lol." lol for sure!

legiOn
haha - yeah, I have more than 1 now too. (& more than 1 scope!)

chappy
" I find cheap optics rarely worth the effort and premium optics out of my price range." -exactly
- & good point about carry weight of bigger scopes!

Eagleye
- illuminated doesn't really matter
-hm, some comments for fixed 6x

TheTooner
-thx for detailed opinions
-3-9x is good for 99%
-was wondering about 50mm vs 40mm
"At the cheapest level, a small increase in cost can get a big jump in quality."
-that's what I'm looking for!

twosmokinspades
"Ideal solution for precision shooting, tactical engagements and long range hunting."
- sounds just right - I'll be looking at it


& thx, unstableryan, NVShooter, AP, BCBRAD, kc34

I was kind of hoping for 1 scope that would be good for medium-range plus some long-range if necessary, with capability for low light too. I thought maybe the different reticles might make longer range shots easier to approximate. I see most targets are pretty close anyway, and light weight maneuverability is important, as well of course as good quality.
 
What's the perfect car? How many Christmas trees can you haul in a Honda Civic? Does it make any sense to commute in your Winnebago?

See where I'm going with this?
 
I agree with Eagle - no need for a large objective - you have to mount the scope a little higher and it's slightly more unwieldily. It's more of a marketing strategy than anything. A 40 to 44 mm is objective is plenty.

I think you have to decide whether you want to do target shooting with a little hunting thrown in or primarily hunting with a little target shooting. Myself I like a little hunting but use the rifle (Tikka SS 6.5X55) primarily for shooting paper at longer distances so a new 4.5X14X50 Zeiss Conquest was available at a decent price so that's what I use and I'm happy with the choice. For primarily hunting with a little target work probably something in the range of 2.5X10 would be optimum.

The choice of reticle is up to the shooter's preference. I personally don't like a cluttered reticle preferring just the basic duplex. I find there's frequently more than enough time to adjust external target knobs working off a range card even for the hunting senario.

The advice not to buy cheap (or second hand) is sound. Many veteran shooters feel you should spend at least as much on the scope as you do on the rifle. A good scope is a confidence builder but don't forget the mounts - that's important too.
 
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