Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Lower power scopes

Okay question. When it comes to high-powered scopes such as 4.5-14 or 3x9 or 6x20 we have great scopes that track well and are reliable. Night force trijicon Maven tract etc.....if you were to choose a 2x7 for let's say a 350 legend or a 358 Winchester what scope would you choose the tracks perfectly and is reliable and clear? I feel that part of the market is not being represented well Am I wrong?

SWFA has a 1-4X

Hunting in the north-east, I like a low power scope, with a simple, easy to see reticle. Scarce as hen's teeth, the market is being driven by the long range crowd.

With very short eye relief, if that matters.

I agree. Just what the hell is wrong with a heavy duplex reticle? It is the most functional reticle for me.

The vx6‐HD is the only one I know of, but I am not looking at Chinese scopes. I may have to.

Don't think that stuff matters all that much for a low power field scope.

Have a Leupold VX-1 2-7x33mm, with the Wide Duplex Reticle, which is either mounted on a 77/357 of 9.3x62mm Ruger African.

No complaints.




GR

I guess I'm not the only one who sees an issue here. I would love to see a good durable repeatable 2x7 or 1 to 6 or even a two and a half to eight like the old leupies........ I just don't trust the new ones

That is exactly why a Leupold M8 4x28 long tube resides on my .338 Win Mag. The next step up for me on this rifle would be a NF Compact 2.5-10x32, but that would entail a 9 oz.+ weight penalty.

I have long confidence in these scopes, as I have used scores of them over the last 45 years with no failures.

X2, except mine is on a 300H&H.

Agree 100% I have three of the heavy duplex, wish more scopes were available with them. I think my next low power will be a Trijiicon, with the post reticle.

One of the scopes I liked was the Vortex HD LH 1.5-8x32 with the G4 reticle. Its a LOW made scope with pretty good glass and a great reticle. Discontinued of course

The high powered stuff goes on the varmint and out west rifles when there is more time to get on target. Here in the Midwest our deer at least where I hunt them, are at close range and in the woods. For my sitting rifle I haven't found anything that I think is better than a Zeiss 30mm 1.5-6x42 Diavari VM/V with the #8 reticle. For my walking around rifle I like the Leupold 1.5-5x20 with the Heavy Duplex. No, the Leupold isn't optically equivalent to the Zeiss, but there is no missing that Heavy Duplex in low light or heavy brush for a fast shot.

2-8x36 Grand Slam or a 1.5-6x42 SII…

There are lots of LPVO 1-6x scopes out there that work well at shorter distances and even at 300 yards. I took a Leupold VX-6 HD 1-6x24 with Firedot illumination to Africa last fall and it worked very well.

Nearly all these LPVO scopes are illuminated which works great in heavy cover and aiming at dark backgrounds. I also like my Vortex Razor HD 1-6x24 Gen2 E a lot although it's a bit heavier than the VX-6. I use it for action rifle and 3 gun competition but it would work well for hunting too. Both of these scopes have a good eye box and plenty of eye relief.

And Zeiss, Leica, Meopta etc. have similar models so there are lots of choices.

I don't see a lot of discussion about these scopes for hunting, but for use within 300 yards they seem like a good fit. Since most have a 24mm objective, they may not have the best low light performance, but at 4x you still have an exit pupil of 6 so that should be enough for most hunting.

Vx3i 2.5-8

Trijicon Credo HX 1-6

Do they still produce those

I used to use 2-7X and 2.5-8X scopes a lot. Anymore a 3-9X does most of what I need. When hunting I can't remember the last time I moved one off 3X. If I wanted something smaller I'd skip right over 2-7X and go to something with 1X or 1.5X on the lower end. Lots of 1-4X scopes, but I'd have no problem with a 1-6X

I have 3 (that I recall off the top of my head) 1-4 Leupolds, two of which (on my .50 inline ml and my Guide Gun) are the shotgun/muzzleloader version, coarse crosswires and parallax free at 75 yards. They’ve worked great, killing a lot of deer for years. I have 1 1/2 -5 Leupolds on my 1B .308 and my 1A 7x57. My .223 “hunting rifle” has a 1.75 -6. With the exceptions of a couple of 3 1/2 -10’s all my other hunting rifles have 2 1/2-8’s. One 4 1/2 - 14 and a fixed 16 on varmint rifles. Not a fan of or in need of big scopes for my purposes.

I’m not smart enough about all those G1’s and G7’s and stuff, nor do I invest enough time and money into shooting at long range to be able to kill stuff past about 400 yards (and that’s a stretch, so what I have works for me.

Pretty hard to beat a 1.5-6X42MM Schmidt & Bender Zenith with a 4 or 4A reticle . Used them for 35 years without a hiccup. Used the 1.5X power as much as the 6X power . Also nothing bad to say about the Leupold VX3 2.8-8X36, never had one of those fail either , although only had standard duplex reticle not the heavy reticles I prefer for lower power scopes.