Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 460 Weatherby Scope suggestions

OK, I have my new Leupold dual dovetail rings and bases. Now I am interested in scope recommendations. I put a Burris 1.5 x 4 on it now. I am not a Burris fan. I want 1 x 4 or something similar in gloss, 1" or 30mm. I want something that can handle the recoil of this gun.

The Leupold 1.5x5 is the obvious choice.

I have the Leupold, a 2 3/4 IER Burris and a Pentax Lightseeker 1x IER. Since I have no intention of ever firing my rifle from the prone position while in the field, I'm limited to shooting from sticks or from the sitting position. At ranges out to 50 yards, the 1x has been surprisingly good. The 2 3/4 is a pleasure to use for target shooting, but the superior field of view of the 1x is nice at very short ranges. When I make it back to Africa, I'll take both the 1x and the 2 3/4x; I suppose the question is whether you want an aiming rifle or a pointing rifle.

Agreed!.....The 1.5-5x20 Leupold VX3 in either the 1" or 30mm tube depending on your ring size, is a great choice.

Great reticle choices in either illuminated or non-illuminated and is a smaller more compact scope. No problem with the 460`s recoil, is as durable as they come, very fast to the target with excellent FOVs, very good eye reliefs, along with Leupold`s excellent customer service.

Gots one on my 375 and has all the magnification you`ll need for a 460 Wby.

How about a Lyman 48 peep sight? Take the center disc out. Every bit as accurate as anything and very quick.
I have this setup on my 416 Rigby and the gun points like fitted shotgun.

My .460 has open sights which I have not used and has been scoped with a range of scopes over the years. The current scope is a Tasco Titan (30mm tube in Leupold rings and bases)that was given to me to destroy back in 1995 to see how robust it was.

That rifle has flown around 30,000 miles and taken over 1,000 rounds of full and moderate loads without ever needing resighting.

Other scopes I have tried are 2-7 Leupold (my choice on a new set up as the power range is more balanced to the trajectory capability, that being equal to the .30/06), a 4 x Weaver, 1.5-5 Leupold, and 3-9 Leupold.

The 1.5-5 as stated is the classic choice, but I would prefer the 2-7 for the aforementioned reasons.

JW

Because of the recoil I would opt for a Leupold 2.5X compact, it can take more recoil than any scope that I have used and that includes most of them...Most 460 are closet queens and folks are happy with whateve scope they purchased on them, but if you shoot a lot then the 2.5x compact would be the only scope that I would trust completely...Most scopes will come apart within 250 to 300 rounds on the really big bores.

Dependability on a big bore Dangerous Game Rifle is first and foremost, and I doubt that you will ever shoot at a DG game animal beyond 200 yards with the .460 Wby..

I will never forget the day a whole crew showed up at the shop to buy this Texacan a .460 Weatherby and wanted me to put a 3-10 Leupold scope on it and sighted it in for him. What was rally funny was when this 110 pounder showed up to pick up his rifle. Shooting that rifle was a real eye opener to me, I would hope to heaven yours does not have one of those crappy California abortions stocks on it. I would stay with open sight on it, rather than go through the pain of sighting a scope in.

A 1-4x Leupold shotgun (heavy duplex) scope would work pretty well. I have one on a 416 RM. Although the 2.5x Leupold Ultralight is light enough that inertia is unlikely to tear it apart during recoil, it's very short and hard to mount on long actions without extension rings. On DG rifles, I prefer to have the loading/ejection port uncluttered with scope rings, YMMV.

OK, so why not a Burris fan? These (Burris Posi Locks in particular) are all I use on my big rifles. Have a couple of 1.75-5 Signature safari's and a couple of Eurodiamond 2-10's. Clear optics and TOUGH as nails. These are what I would reccomend here. In my view, non better than these for the application mentioned.

I'd ask Ray to tell us how he tested various scopes on really hard kickers.
He tried all of the smaller, fixed magnification scopes. Fixed magnification scopes are well known among really knowledgable custom makers for lasting longer than any variable made by anyone. He couldn't find anything from makers like Swarovski and S&B that hold up any longer than his old 3X Leupolds. Then, when Leupold got tried of repairing his old 3X scopes, they sent him a 2.5X Compact, which has since been up graded with fully multicoated optics to the Ultralight.
He found it went at least 3X as long as anything else. E

Part with serious $'s and buy a good 1.5x4x25mm as the recoil destroys scopes my friends Loopy died after 300 rounds.
And he is only running it at 2269fps 116gns Short Cut think that is what he said I was trying to get away from the concussion (we cronied it 3 days ago)
The 112gn loads were going 2168fps, he is a guide back up gun for clients hunting Asian Water Buff in the N T Aus.
The 460 has to much penetration so is trying to slow them up to get expansion, the Min for the 500gn is 2100fps
A long shot is 50 metres, the average @25/30 metres it is not Recoil whilst sharp is nothing like a Factory round not bad to shoot with the 116gn load.
Any loads suggested I will pass on to him as he is pretty savy with the "Teeth Rattler" I held my mouth closed once firing it can still taste the enamel!!

I am trying to keep my Weatherby in traditional appearance with a gloss finish scope, otherwise I would have a 1 x 4 Nightforce with covered turrets.
To answer Safariman's question the Burris does not have the clarity or the light gathering ability I am looking for. I have close friends connected with Pat Beckett at Burris in Greeley, Co.
I have tried the Binos, I was not happy. I have had 6 or 7 Burris Signature series scopes. I have sold all but one and I have that gun/scope combo for sale.
I will probably end up with a Leupold 1 x 5 Vari X-3.

They work for me on big kickers. They have worked on many .375 H&H's here in Alaska for may decades. I still like open sights that are made of steel better than any scope. It's not possible with the 1.5-5 (which is only a little over 4 power) to be over magnified at close range. I had that happen to me on a sheep hunt with a 2-8 vari X me time. Of course that was BB(before I carried binos) and only a 27X spotting scope. It is never good to use a rifle scope in place of good binos.

I have a 2.5-8 VX3 on my 460. I don't care for gloss scopes as they are harder to anchor in the rings. I will see how this scope does with 2500fps 500gr loads and a few 2600 450gr loads. My goal was to shoot 2450fps like a Dakota but it was just a hair over. This will be my moose gun this year.

Load 115gn of 760 or any of the 4350's and you will hit 2500fps even with the 500 grainers.

JW

I have several Leupold 2 x 7 power scopes on my model 70 Winchesters and they have held up just fine to the recoil of those rifles. A couple of them recoil to the tune of 75-lbs felt recoil to 86-lbs felt recoil. They have over 400 rounds down the barrels with no scope problems or zero problems.