Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Dangerous Game scope

I got this for sale...


Very clear and 2 power is great for short range

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...taoptika5-2-10x42-pa-z-plus#Post19204204

Odds are I'll never hunt dangerous game but when I acquired my Ruger #1H in .375 H&H I stuck an old Weaver K3 with post and crosshair on the gun. I've used it on a few elk hunts and never felt that old scope to be a problem. I believe most dangerous game will be shot at relatively close range so 2 or 3 power should be more than enough. Personally, while they work quite well these days I think I wouls shy away from any kind of variable scope as well. It's just another place where Murphy might decide to join in on the fun.
PJ

So, the leupold is a wonderful scope, I have the vx5hd 1-5 duplex firedot and it is 15 oz, awesome fov, glass and eye box and the illuminated reticle is great, it shuts off with inactivity and shakes awake and can go plenty bright or you just leave it on a useful brightness. Perfection would be if you could get a German #4 with firedot so that if the battery died you had the scope off instead of on auto...the heavy German reticle doesn't require an illuminated reticle to work fast even low light with those heavy posts.

And...I have the Trijicon Accupoint 1-6x German #4 green dot...which has no battery, the illuminated part of reticle really starts to come into it's own at lower light and then well past dark it's very bright but still has some through brightest part of day, no matter as the heavy posts are there for speed situations. I would bet the the fibre optic has more than enough ambient light magnification to get you 30 minutes before or after sunset. I have a dead 3-9x duplex and I'll never send it in because the fibre optic on it powers the dot to about 45 minutes before/after sunrise/sunset. The trijicon is just over 19 ounces though and chunkier turrets and more tactical envelope.

So there's your trade offs. I'm not sure I'll sell my leupold yet, but the trijicon is on my new do all set up and defence is in mind for g-bears in camp etc. If the trijicon could have the bit less weight and smoother sleeker envelope that would be about perfect...more like the 1-4 accupoint which I also have but the fov and eye box plus glass are a different level and right up neck and neck with the leupold so the 1-4 won't ride on my premier personal horse. Sounds like trijicons can take a beating so that could be in part because they are overbuilt tanks for the tactical work trijicon builds them for. So maybe the extra 1/4 lb could be considered a pro rather than a con.

Leupold...German #4 fire dot please. Also bring back heavy duplex in some non illuminated 1" lpvo's you have like the fixed 2.5 etc. Trijicon...a zero stop locking exposed elevation turret for dialling would be nice...leupold cds-zl are the best going for hunters...copy that please. Oh and leupold...offer green dot's too please. lol...can these scopes just produce a child perhaps?

The VX6HD 1-6 has a heavier duplex than the VX5HD 1-5.

I wish heavy duplexes were optional on other models.

Nothing ‘dangerous’, but I have shot a lot of fast moving stuff up close with an accupoint 1-4 and green triangle. It’s worked well to past 250, also. I have a couple of 1-4 Leupolds, a heavy duplex and a German #1. That German #1 is as fast as the accupoint, just no illum and in a lighter package. My intended M70 9.3x62 build will likely wear an accupoint 1-6. I love heavy, simple reticle for most hunting, and have never had any issues with groups or shots inside 300 with them on 1-4 scopes. The accupoint is brighter (to me) than the leupold 1-4, but I haven’t tried the latest leupold stuff past VX3, either.

Very punny!

my 375 H&H wears a Leupold VX6HD 1x6 in Talley QDs. Its been on 2 different 375s, survived hundreds of rounds of range and practice sessions, survived countless baggage handlers, weather extremes of Africa & Alaska, and its accounted for multiple cape buffalo, leopard, and brown bear without any issue. Ive also used it for a pile of plains game out to 300+ yards. Close or far its been an excellent scope. Its still on the gun today and remains my go to dangerous game set up.

Interesting, good to know, lots more dollars to find out. I’ll have a look one day to see difference, probably wouldn’t still be enough to drag me off my Trijicon German but it would help.

Great post, in the right section too lol. Hope a couple of the regulars here don’t come along and try to tell you what a crap scope you have and that it couldn’t possibly do what you did.

Solid choice.

I have two Leupold VX6 1-6. They survived hundreds of rounds from my 375 and 404J, and a trip to Africa.

I now have a Trijicon Accupoint 1-4 on my 416 Remington and one of the VX6's resides on my "African" 338-06.

I had a Trijicon Accuppint 1-6, but could not get over the wart on the rear of the scope.

It would seem to me that the best dangerous game scope would be low power fixed scope. I have on my 30-06, close as I get to dangerous game cartridge, a fixed power 2 3/4x Redfield Widefield. Throw the rifle up and the target is right there! Have been using this scope on a couple different rifles since I got it new about 1972. If the shot is at dangerous game, I would assume the shooter is not taking a really long first shot at big game. That would risk a wound and maybe going into brush to find a wounded dangerous animal, not something I would care to do. And using that scope out to something over 200 yds I have found 2 3/4x is more than adequate for shooting. But the real advantage is on the closer shots where you need to be on the game quickly. Take your 3-9x scope or even 2-7 power scope in fact most any variable scope and forget to turn the power down and you could find yourself at a bid disadvantage. I recall hunting deer with my old 25-06 and it's 3-9x scope. Found the deer fairly close but had had the scope up on 9x and forgot to turn it down. Sight picture looked good but what I couldn't see in the scope was the sage bush between me and the deer and at the shot the deer simply ran off. Couldn't believe it! Walked toward where the deer was and noticed that sage bush and a limb freshly broken off! If I had been on 3x that limb would have shown up in the scope. If I had had my old 308 with that 2 3/4x scope on it, I would have seen that bush and would have made the shot. So, take the deer out of it and imagine a wounded Grizzly at around 20 yds coming at you and you hitting that bush,,,,, not good!

It is truly hideous.

I'd go with a fixed power scope.

I have hunted with a number of PHs, and while some prefer low-powered fixed scopes, some do not. The PH on my first safari in 1993 didn't like to see buffalo hunters show up with a low-power scope on their rifle, because in dim light (which is often the case, especially in thick cover) they sometimes couldn't see the buffalo well enough to place their shot well. One who'd been a safari shortly before mine had a 2-1/2x on his rifle, and couldn't tell which end was which on the buffalo he shot: Instead of placing his shot through the shoulders, he shot it through the "rear shoulders"--the hips. Yes, they eventually got the buffalo down, but the PH had to finish it off--and he had a 4x scope on his backp-up buffalo rifle, a 375 H&H, which he preferred.

Also, the most experienced buffalo PH I've hunted with, the now-retired Kevin Thomas, used a 4x Zeiss on his buffalo back-up rifle, also a .375 H&H, for the same reason. Kevin was born and raised in what was then Rhodesia, and continued to guide some there even after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe--and Kevin had moved to South Africa. He preferred more magnification in the thick jesse-bush, again because he could see more detail. And as he noted in his excellent book, There's Something About Buffalo, he often had to use his .375 to finish off buffalo wounded by clients who used much more powerful rifles--and either lower-powered scopes or iron sights.

Hmmm... perhaps some low-powered fixed scopes have improved since whenever? dunno.

I've been using a FX-II 2.5x20mm with a wide duplex on the 9.3mm for my latest (relatively) low-cost fun of hunting Cape Buffalo cows.
Can't say my old eyes are having any issues looking through the glass and distinguishing between the south end and the nothing-but-trouble end of a Cape Buffalo.

My last hunt we were on hands and knees working through some seriously thick bush about 1 hour before dusk. When I rose up on one knee to take a peek through the glass, there she was at 35 feet looking straight at me.

Festivities commenced.

an older Nikon 1-4 sits on my 458 win mag. Its got the really heavy German I think, crosshairs. Bottom and sides are super thick. Middles and top are fine.

I have yet to have an issue with it. Its been used on lots of things from javelina on up.

its main use is my backup for brown bears that clients muff. I read up a lot. Would have spent whatever needed but the old Nikon got a lot of love on big guns.

I have no reason to change it. Works easily as far as I can figure drop on the gun which is this side of 400 yards. Worked well in a dark tunnel this last fall with a bear in the alders at 25 feet or so... Its worked on plenty between 100 and 200ish yards before they got to the alders.

I’ve never shot a buffalo at more than 40 yards so put me in the low-powered variable camp. On my first bull, having some magnification was key in terms of picking through the thick brush and finding the correct aiming point.

More recently I’ve hunted with an iron-sighted double which, though somewhat limiting, is far more fun.

On my last trip I was unexpectedly charged by a bull elephant that had a festering wound in his tusk socket and an infected shoulder that we pulled buckshot out of. He was going to kill the next human that he smelled and we happened to be it. He came silently and with his head down. My double did exactly what it was designed to do. I was very thankful that I didn’t find myself with a fixed 4x or similar.

My 9.3x62 wears a 2-10 Leupold VX5 with the fire dot reticle. It is a good scope for timber and open country hunting.

I think the leupold is hard to beat in that price range.

That caliber is not that heavy kicking so any quality scope should hold up. I would be more worried about the magnification range and size/profile of the scope you want. Anything between 1 and 5 power would be best for your intended purpose.

Trijicon is not tritium reliant. As long as there is any ambiant light, your reticle will glow without any tritium. Your reticle will still function as a normal black reticle, if the fiber optics were to fail. Yes, even on that triangle reticle (which is an awesome reticle by the way) the full triangle still shows up as solid sharp black with the fiber optics covered up.

That Monarch African is a surprise secret people discovered. It turns out that scope is one of the most recoil resistant scopes ever made. People were even putting them on the 50 calibers and larger.

The other main standby for people was the Leupold 1.5-5 straight tube.

I would imagine a lit reticle would just make for fast target acquisition are darker skinned dangerous game, as long as the aiming point doesn't disappear if your light goes out. Just make sure you don't choose a thin, fine reticle that disappears when your are walking and aiming at the same time. Stick with more solid, easy to see reticles.

The previous gen Vortex Viper 1-4 PST straight tube had and awesome reticle, that would still fully show up black if you battery failed. This particular scope is 30mm and a bit heavy, but would be fine on a 9.3