Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Help with scope for Kimber .308

Help with scope for Kimber .308
Looking for opinions on scope options for a Kimber Mtn Ascent in .308.
Rifle will be used for deer, hogs and elk at up to 400 yards.
Priorities are in no order,
weight suited to application,
BDC or other method of holdover, ie CDS or RZ600
Medium weight crosshair,
40 mm objective, 1" tube, variable power =< 10,
ample eye relief,
overall optics quality per $$
Lets keep it at $500
I have narrowed this myself to a Zeiss HD5 2-10x42 RZ600
or Leupold VX-3 3.5-10X40 CDS with windplex reticle.
Any parallax problems encountered with either of these @ 400 yards?

Thanks, Kevin.

Kevin,

How important is weight to you?

I'm not getting any younger so, it will have an impact. This is a lightweight rifle and as such it wouldn't make too much sense to top it with a "heavy scope", why whatcha thinking?

Lots of Leupolds under your price ceiling. 2.5-8s are popular. Nothing wrong with plain old 3-9 VX-2 or the 3.5-10 you mentioned. Don't know which have the reticle you want.

Leupold FX-3 6x42 w/ LR reticle and an M1 elevation turrett. Order it from the custom shop and you can have the set the parallax to 400yds at the same time.

Bright, clear, reliable, simple.

David

^ This, but convince them to install the Windplex reticle instead!

2.5-8 or fixed 6 would get my vote

I personally am not a fan of fixed power optics. Each to there own lol. I would go with the vx-3. I have a vx-3 3.5-10x40 with the Boone and Crockett reticle on my kimber montana 308. I've taken whitetail with it out to just under 500yds. I am very happy with this set up. It's also still a very lightweight package. I also have vx-3 4.5-14x40 with the varmint hunter reticle on both my 223 and 243 montana's. I am very happy with those set ups as well.

I love the 6x42 Leupold on my Montanas. Tough combo to whoop. A VX-3 3.5-10 ain't far behind though.

I have a VX3 with B&C reticle 3.5-10 I really like. My next choice would be a VX2 3-9 LRD. I never could warm up to 2-7/2-8.

I like your VX-3 3.5-10x40 Windplex CDS.

But, I like turrets more than ranging reticles.

For hunting, I don't see parallax being a major issue out to 400 yds.

Splitting hairs on a target range, maybe, splitting hairs on a 400 yd. WT buck, probably not...

DF

dromsky,

While you're playing around with that .308 Kimber, check out this link.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/10399544/1

That scope is one I ended up with from a trade, not my first choice for a Kimber. Just wanted to say that up front after my above post...

Edited to say, Welcome to the Fire...

DF

Thanks for the welcome and response there DF. Read the linked posts and got a little homesick from the pics. Spent 3 years in Lafayette, used to hang out at a deer camp up by Monroe. Got 2 coonass daughters born there. Hurricane Andrew was enough to get me to move. But I sure miss the food, and the hunting!
Thanks again

If you could find a Kahles AH 3-9 with the TDS reticle, it would pretty nice for your application. Should be right around your stated price also.

Then you have experienced good food.

2.5-8 leupold is dang near made for the 84M. Or maybe its the other way around.

In any event, proportions are nearly perfect.

Lots of counterfeit Leupold out there so please be careful if you buy new... and LOTS of manufactures build to you price point (not necessarily good glass, but build to a price).

When I have a shooter that needs glass and asks me questions such as yours... I ask them to understand MPBR first (http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_trajectory_table.htm).

Then I explain the 3 "classes" of scopes I shoot (based on the caliber almost always).

Short, Med and Long

-----------------------------

Short examples:

https://www.all4shooters.com/en/specials/Trade-shows-2014/IWA-2014/optics/Minox-zp/

http://www.adorama.com/KHKLS10201.html?discontinued=t

http://www.opticsplanet.com/minox-za-5-hd-1-2-6x24-riflescope.html

(.300 Blackout, .458 Socom, 12 ga slugs, 9.3 x 62 Mauser etc.)

------------------------------

Med.

2-10 etc.

------------------------------

Long.

3-15

to 6-30 if target

------------------------------

Personally I do not like anything other than a plex or a #4 or #4a for hunting... and my bullseye shooting days are long past.

With a .308 your MPBR is 260-280 yards anyway. What I am saying is to practice shooting at all different ranges and learn drop as an instinct (not something you use a reticle to help you solve).

For me... fast target acquisition (i.e. scopes with an excellent "eye box") allows more time to "calculate" all the extraneous stuff happening and gain confidence in the shot.

I run http://www.opticsplanet.com/riflescopes-kahles-c15-6x42-4a.html and http://www.eurooptic.com/minox-za-5-hd-2-10x50-w-mino-plex-reticle.aspx on my .308s.

Man with that profile, you almost a Cajun yo self...

DF

Zeiss doesn't make a riflescope worth a fhuqk and CDS is a joke. Windplex is a joke,doubly so on SFP glass. You've got the cart wayyyyyyyyy in front of the horse.

A 308 Ascent with 155 Skinners at 2800fps and small change,is a decent way to fly. Add 6X MQ and you are there,less concessions and reaping the inherent advantage of ripe opportunity. Forget everything you "think" you "know" about glass.

Top to bottom: Hart 223AI 8",Brux 6BR 8",OEM 308 12",PN 7 Whizzum 9"




Mike Rock 223AI 7"



OEM SAAMI 243Win 10"



OEM SAAMI 223 9" and OEM 223AI 9"



Not all Montuckies(obviously)...top to bottom: 243AI Brux 8",22-250AI Krieger 7.7",aforementioned SAAMI OEM 223 9",22-250AI Lilja 8".



Now to see if you can take a fhuqking "hint".

Hint.......................

Nice glass.

I had a TDS and think it's one of the simplest and best of its kind.

But, with a SFP, American type variable set up, the reticle is accurate at only one power, usually the highest. One can calculate values at the other powers, but it's too complicated for practical use.

FFP may be an option if one really wants to go with the TDS.

I was hunting Pronghorns in NM several years ago, using a 6-18 Swaro with TDS (SFP). To use the reticle, I had to have the scope set on 18X. At 400 yds, sitting postion with extended Harris bipod (grass too tall for prone), it was a chore to hold the gun still.

I did kill the goat, but when I got home, I traded that scope for a turret model and have been a turret twister ever since. The power setting has no relationship to the turret setting and one can adjust power to suit the situation and still have the range covered.

My $.02.

DF