Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Smaller Low-Light Set and Forget

Looking for a smaller set and forget scope that is good in low light. Thinking of the 3-9x40 Trijicon, 2-10x40 Vortex HD LH, or Leica ER5 2-10x50 ballistic reticle. Thoughts on which would be best considering reticles as well.

I really like 6x42's for low light and set/forget. Reticle can play as much of a part on making a low light shot as the glass. Leupold 6x42's with a heavy duplex and S&B 6x42 A4 are both great in low light. I've not tried them, but S&B's 7x50 and 8x56 would probably be excellent.

I’d get in on the $1999 S & B.

Ditto on the Leupold 6X42 with their Heavy Duplex. If your eyes are up to it, i.e. you haven't lost your night vision, they work at night, not just during low light conditions. BTW, so does the Leupold FX2, 4X. Especially with the German #1 reticle.

I'd look for one of the 1.5-6x40mm scopes out there. For me while the 6x42 is the darling of the campfire I just can't deal with the with the 17' FOV when I can get the same performance as the 6x42 and still have up to a 60'+ FOV for close in work. For most of my coyote hunting the scope never leaves 1.5x, but is nice to have the 6x option.

I’ve run a couple hundred rounds through rifles with a Vortex 1.5x-8x32 HD LH. Love the glass and the G4 BDC reticle. My favorite reticle so far. Many last light comparisons with a Nightforce 3-10 SHV and I can shoot just a bit later with the Vortex. Primarily against darker backgrounds or in the woods. Against a light colored field background it would be awash. Basically a superior reticle makes up for equal or slightly less light gathering by the glass. Eye box is a little picky, but not terrible. I can not recommend it for dialing. I had a time or two early on where I dialed and the input didn’t take effect until after the next shot. Although, now that I’ve used it a bit and done some dialing it’s been accurate and repeatable. On one occasion I shot a couple groups dialing 11 MOA between shots and it was excellent. I have some ammo loaded up to do a box test on the 6.5 it’s now mounted on. Just for my own piece of mind as I have no intent, or need, of dialing once it’s set for hunting. I’ve had no issue with it holding zero on a light 338 FED and a 6.5 Creedmoor. At only a little over 13oz it’s reasonably light too. Long term reliability of the Vortex? I don’t know. My trail and error in finding a lighter scope with decent glass was started by a Leupold that failed and followed by two Meoptas that my 338 FED killed. The SHV and an SWFA 6x and 3-9 have done well so far, but they are certainly not light.

The 2-10x40 HD LH is a touch bigger and heavier, but it is better in low light, owing to a larger objective. I have yet to spend some time cranking the turrets, but it stays zeroed and is exceedingly good optically. Mine also has the G4 BDC reticle.

ILya