Opinions on scope for $500-600

I am in almost the same situation as you. I am currently trying to decide what scope to put on a Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .308. Like you this will be my main hunting rifle and I will be hunting mainly on the praires. Just thought I would share the research I have done.

These are the scopes I have been looking at:

Vortex Viper HS 2.5-10x44

Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10x44

Sightron SII Big Sky 2-9x42

Leupold VX-3 2.4-8x36

Leupold VX-2 3-9x40

Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40

Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44


Anyways, just thought I would share that. I have not decided either, feel free to PM if you want to discuss the options further.

Cheers

Tyler
 
Could some of you Zeiss owners please explain the Z-plex as i am unaware of what this is and what it does,

Cheeseburger, where are the Vortex and sightron scopes made.

It appears that no one here would choose the VX-R over the Zeiss. Intersting, It's nice to get good honest opinions from people who have actually used these products, Makes me change my mind more and more, but hopefully in the end i get something great!

Thanks for the help thus far guys,

Adrian
 
Unsure of where Sightron's stuff is made, Vortex PST is made in Japan I believe, some one correct me if I'm wrong. Vortex's lower grade lines are made in the Phillipines. At least my Vortex Diamondback that is on my .22 is.

Yeah I've changed my mind a whole pile of times already. Starting to lean towards Zeiss's 3.5-10x44. Has just that little bit extra magnification and with it being a 44mm objective has a larger field of view than a 3-9x40. If I was going to be hunting more in BC, where I am from I would be looking at the Vx-3 2.5-8x36 or a fixed 4x.
 
karolko said:
Could some of you Zeiss owners please explain the Z-plex as i am unaware of what this is and what it does,

Cheeseburger, where are the Vortex and sightron scopes made.

It appears that no one here would choose the VX-R over the Zeiss. Intersting, It's nice to get good honest opinions from people who have actually used these products, Makes me change my mind more and more, but hopefully in the end i get something great!

Thanks for the help thus far guys,

Adrian
Click to expand...

The Z-Plex is just a regular duplex style reticle, with the outer reticle being a bit thicker than most.
zplex.jpg


Sightron's are made in Japan.
 
I just picked up a Conquest 3.5-10 x 44 with the Rapid Z 600 reticle for under 600.00 I narrowed it down to this and the Vortex Viper HS 4-14x50. I spent allot of time going between the two until the retailer said he would drop the Ziess down to less then the Vortex.
The Rapid Z is an amazing reticle. I give credit to the Vortex though as it was not an easy decision and I spent close to an hour going between the two. The Zeiss is allot brighter then the Vortex, but the In the end for the same or less the Zeiss was a no brainer.

With the Rapid Z reticle you log onto the Zeiss web site, input your bullet data and it tells you where the hold over lines zero. For my 7 WSM it is bang on with a 200 yard zero, then 300, 400, 500, 600 yards all within a yard or two with 162,and 154 grain bullets.
 
Meopta and Zeiss both get their glass from Schott.

This list mentioned above is good, but I'd cross a couple of options off:

These are the scopes I have been looking at:

Vortex Viper HS 2.5-10x44

Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10x44

Sightron SII Big Sky 2-9x42

Leupold VX-3 2.4-8x36

Leupold VX-2 3-9x40 - delete

Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40

Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44 - delete
 
Jordan,everybodies eyes are different.So cross them off your list not others.I would have thought you would have understood that, by this time!What works for one,not for another.You stroked off your list what the Battle River fellow thought was the best,after time.
 
CheeseBurger said:
Reasoning?
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the VX2 3-9x40 can't keep up with the other options, and the 3.5-10 Conquest doesn't offer any real advantage over the 3-9x40, but certainly has some disadvantages.

gtrussell,

While it's true that everybody's eyes are different, facts are facts. Your eyes and my eyes would probably agree that an entry-level Tasco is optically inferior to a Zeiss Diavari, right? This is despite any minor differences between your vision and my vision. The VX2 3-9x40 simply isn't in the same league as the other options on the list. It's not a terrible choice, and isn't a whole lot worse than the other scopes listed, but if a guy is looking for the best scope on that list, not many guys would argue that the VX2 3-9x40 is it.
 
bearkilr said:
That's because Zeiss owns Schott. The difference is that Meopta does the coatings for the Conquest line in the Czech Republic and the higher end Zeiss lenses are prepped and coated in Germany, usually Oberkochen.
Click to expand...

Yessir! Now we're talking :D I was just trying to fish out the rest of the story behind Meopta and Zeiss. The truth is that Meopta doesn't make the glass for Zeiss, they just take Zeiss' glass, apply coatings to it, and return it.
 
Jordan Smith said:
Yessir! Now we're talking :D I was just trying to fish out the rest of the story behind Meopta and Zeiss. The truth is that Meopta doesn't make the glass for Zeiss, they just take Zeiss' glass, apply coatings to it, and return it.
Click to expand...
AFAIK, the tube and erector assembly are the only things made for the Conquests by Zeiss. Parts are then assembled in the US.
Though Schott is owned by Zeiss(Schott was one of Zeiss Jena's original founders), it's a separate factory which makes glass of all sorts. My kitchen range top is made by Schott for example.
The main differences in optics clarity is through coatings.
 
gtrussell said:
The Zeiss was a no brainer,and it took you an hour?
Click to expand...

Yes it did, I was trying to see if the Zeiss at 799.00 was worth that much more then the Vortex at 540.00. After an hour of looking through the two at all powers, the store had emptied a bit and the retailer said " I can get you the Zeiss for 550.00 " at that point it became a no brainer.

Even at that I was still considering the Vortex as I was looking for a varmint scope in a higher power range and not to 3-10 range. When the price consideration came into effect I got a new hunting scope for my 7WSM and moved my old scope to the varmint rig.
 
luftmech said:
Yes it did, I was trying to see if the Zeiss at 799.00 was worth that much more then the Vortex at 540.00. After an hour of looking through the two at all powers, the store had emptied a bit and the retailer said " I can get you the Zeiss for 550.00 " at that point it became a no brainer.
Click to expand...
You looked through both for an hour? :eek:
I'm surprised the salesman didn't give it to you for free to get you outta there.
 
bearkilr said:
AFAIK, the tube and erector assembly are the only things made for the Conquests by Zeiss. Parts are then assembled in the US.
Though Schott is owned by Zeiss(Schott was one of Zeiss Jena's original founders), it's a separate factory which makes glass of all sorts. My kitchen range top is made by Schott for example.
The main differences in optics clarity is through coatings.
Click to expand...

Yessir, that's my understanding, as well.
 
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