Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only help with choosing a scope

Hi all, I am now the owner of a CZ safari classic in .416 rigby. I would like to either fit it with a variable scope in the 1.5-5 range or with a red dot sight. At the moment I have at home a bausch and lomb 1.5 - 6 which came of another rifle I brought. Will this scope stand up to the recoil of the .416? What about red dot sights? Has anybody had experience with them of big rifles and is there any particular brand thats better than others when it comes to absorbing recoil
Thanks for your help
Steve

Steve, Your B&L is a tough scope and should hold up on a 416 as well as any variable scope. I have used one on a light weight 375 as a loaner for five years and it has held up great.
Probably the toughest scope is the Leupold 2 1/2 compact but they barely fit on the long CZ action. They do work though for most folks. If you can find an older 3X Leupold they are also very tough and long enough to fit correctly.

hi 458 thanks for your help, I will try the B&L before I rush off to buy another scope
Thanks
Steve

Well i don't know what is avalable down south there. And the B/L should work. And i know you want a veri. But if it should not work, you might try a burris fixed 4X compact. I used them on my 411Hawk and 35 whalen. I tried a veri redfield with no luck. The burris wears like iron, With plenty of eye releaf.

A friend of mine told me for a 416 (and he had one) you need a tough scope, but even moreso, you need eye relief in the 5" range. "They do come back" were his words to me.

hi 358mt, I was mainly after a vari so I could set it on a real low power for shooting deer in heavy cover, but then I have two 3-9's on my other deer rifles so as far as I can tell there is no difference between a vari on 3x and a fixed 4. Maybe somthing to look into if the B&L dont work out
Your freind is right the .416 does come back a little, not earth shattering but enough to make you sit up and take notice!
Steve

My .416 Taylor wears a Leupold vari-x III 1.75X6 with the heavy cross hairs. Tons of eye relief and great optics.I have a turkey scope on my Rigby that I had laying around but am thinking seriously of using this same scope on it except in silver. I have given some thought to using the standard duplex on the Rigby. reflex264

Hi reflex, thanks for the info. I have mounted the B&L scope and I will load up some more ammo today and see how it goes
Steve

If it takes a poop, I would replace it with a 1.5-5x Leupold. That's what lives on my Rigby. I love those scopes.

Steve,
Steer clear of the 2.5x Leupold ... its the most recoil tolerant scope out there, but a really tight fit on a CZ (had one on my 458Lott CZ550) and its really hard to spy Sambar at anything over 75m with a bit of mist about at dawn. Been there ... done that! Its too much of a compromise on an "all-rounder". A superb scope with lots of eye-relief (if you place it far enough forward ... learnt another lesson there!) and built tough is the regular plain-jane 4x Leupold ... saves you a few hundred over the 1.5-5x (of which I know two that shat themselves within 20 rounds on big bangers) and its not that hard to shoot fast and accurate with. Mine's currently sitting on a 470Capstick that weighs under 4kg and lapping up the punishment (unlike my body!)... but I keep getting slippage with the Leupold rings! A mate runs a Leupold VXII 2-7x on his 416Rigby and reckons its perfect for spotlighting through to scrub work on foot. Whatever you get make sure it has a good warranty because if you start hopping up loads to 416Wby levels (you wont with Bertram brass) the scope will fail eventually. If your the kind of bloke with access to spotlight roos you'll know we can put more rounds through a rifle in a week than many overseas shooters here shoot in a year. So with our big bangers ... we tend to be a bit tougher on scopes and other accessories.
Cheers...
Con

Hi con it now wears a B&L 1.5 - 6 and its standing up so far, have put 28 shots through the rifle, and now have worked up to a load of Re 22 and a 340 grain woodleigh which gives 2800 fps with no presure signs in bertram cases, though thats plenty hot enough for me even if I could go hotter.
We do have a 1000 acre farm and often we get cull permits for the roo's so they might wanna be careful in future, bound to shoot flat and hit hard that load!
Steve

What the world really needs right now is a larger variety of quality fixed power scopes in the 2.5-4x range, that can be easily mounted on big rifles without the necessity of silly extension rings,and crap like that..

Saw an older(long) 4X Leup in fair shape yesterday; think I'll go back and buy it....

I have a Swarovski 1.25-4X24 on my Rigby. After 200+ shots continues to hold zero. A world class scope in every way. Good hunting.

Thanks guys. I have now got a B&L 1.5-6 on it seems to be OK
But I know where there is a Leupold VXII 2-7 for sale cheap, would that be a betters scope for me?
thanks
Steve

I just bought a 416 Rigby today{be in next week} have any of you tried a Weaver 2.5x? I may take it off my 375H&H and put a 4x on it.

Will the Weaver be good scope on the 416 Rigby?

Before I put a Weaver 2.5x20 K2 on my daughters .243 I mounted it on my .300,which with scope weighed in at 7lb.9ozs. I do this with all new scopes I get just to see what happens. Sighted it in and let a few friends shoot it which totaled maybe 12 rnds. or so. Scope did just fine. I would sure hope your Rigby weighs abit more than mine in which case I believe the scope would work out fine.Good luck.

til later

I bought a CZ 550 American Safari which should weigh over 10 lbs with scope.

This Weaver 2.5x held up to a 375 H&H, 40 or more rounds.

Thank you for your input it's appericeted!

AussieSteve, your question jogged my memory and caused me to look through some old back issues of magazines I kept. I remembered an article (Scoping Big Bores) in a limited run magazine entitled "Big Bore Rifles", published by Guns & Ammo in the mid-90's. I was surprised to see it was written my our own Mule Deer. It may be on the internet, if not let me know via PM and I will photocopy it for you. It had some great advice on selecting mounts and scopes for Big Bores. Also had a good discussion on determining the waterproofness of scopes (could be dated now due to changes in the past 13 years). Odessa

PS I tried to see if the article I have was on the internet, it wasn't but for those interested the info may be included in this book, Optics for the Hunter by John Barsness, at this site; http://www.rowlandward.com/catalog/6f3feb16-3462-4c15-bb7f-bda5446acb0b.aspx

I use only Burris Posi Locks on my heavy kickers including my CZ 416Rigby. Toughest scope going if you include rough use in the field along with the other challenges presented a proper safari rifle. Gonna take that big boomer to Africa someday? We have two spots left on this years 24hrcf Buff and Ele hunt combo at $14950.00 each. If you get African Hunter magazine or can get a back issue easily there you may find my article on customizing the CZ550 for dangerous game use to be of some interest. Mail is a bit of a pill to Aussieland but if you are interested I could maybe try to scan a copy and e-mail it to you in PDF or Word doc format. Let me know.

I have a 1.75-6x Leupold with the old premier reticle No. 4. I can't think of a thing I would change on it.