Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Selecting a scope for a .375H&H for Kodiak brown bear hunt.

3X Leupold!

Vern: Ha! Spot on!

Hard to do better in the real world, long run...

Been thinking hard about that one for one of my .375's.

IMO, a scope for brown bear is not as much about magnification as it is about fit. The 3X can be mounted much lower than scopes with larger objective lenses and the long tube allows for a pile of eye relief adjusting.

I want my scoped rifle to fit like my shotguns...no lifting the head off the stock or moving my head closer/further to get a full image immediately.

Anything other than a properly mounted low-to-medium power fixed Leupold would be a hinderance.

I have to say the 1-4 Vortex Viper I have run for the last three brown bears I have had to (gotten to) shoot was not a compromise. There are lots of ways to overthink stuff and there are plenty of scopes that will not be a problem.

Someone had to PM what an idiot posted earlier about a 6x42 Leupold being enough to get yourself eaten or some such... Why anyone listens to those that have clearly never been there is beyond me.

The 6x42 Leupie would be a very long way from my last choice...

It's funny when you consider that the person that suggested the 6X42 has killed a brown bear with a rifle using one. The guy that suggested it would get you "done" hasn't provided proof that I've seen as to actually shooting anything...

Did you see Camera Land's deal on the Zeiss duralyt 1.2-5X36? I have one on the way and have heard good things about them. Heck of a deal...

The "guy" has been on a successful brown bear hunt, in 1979, on Hinchinbrook Island AK, where the woods are thick as hell. That same "guy" owns a goddam shooting timer as well. Same "guy" has attended Randy Cain's Practical Rifle Course with others shooting a variety scopes against the timer at close range. Same "guy" has done a building entry or two with live ammo. Fast close-quarter shooting ain't something new.

Your proclaimed accomplishments say one thing, the "wisdom" in your posts say another..........

Just to show that I've BTDT here's a pic of a 24 year old bruin, though he only measured 8.5 feet. The rifle is wearing a 6X42 in case you can't tell. That's only the 3rd brown bear with that combo, but it's probably not its last.......

Never said it couldn't be done. Hell, I've known guys who've skydived with no altimeter, drunk, a LOT. They are still here with us.

I don't know where you hunt. Down on the peninsula it looks to be a LOT more open, though I sure it can be thick in places. I'm told Kodiak is the same way. So, if you see bear before bear sees you, you put it in the boiler room, game over. Now if schidt goes south and you have to make that one in a million shot at a beast with 20times your strength that can crush your skull it a split second, if you or anyone else thinks a fixed 6x is optimal for that shot, you really should [bleep] refrain from offering folks optics advice for dangerous game rifles, I don't care how many goddam bears you've shot.

So how many Kodiak browns did that "guy" kill?

Never had stuff go south, but some people call it luck I suppose. As for close quarters bear hunting, just so you'll know, I've BTDT with the same setup. You've no clue and yet you keep going on and on. Maybe if you write it in all CAPS you'll begin to believe what you're saying. Tell you what, you can print out the pic I posted and tell people you were there and that you saved my life due to all of your training and my mismatched equipment. That'd be as true as most anything else you say.......

You got a pic of that Hinchinbrook bruin and yourself that you can post? I, for one, would love to see it.........

On scope selection: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hunting.spottinggame

I will be using a well proven Leupold 1.5-5X when I go in 2016.

^^^This^^^

That's what's mounted on my old Sako Battu in .375 H&H Magnum. Mine also has the heavy duplex reticle. My second choice would be a straight 4 Power Leupold. JMO

Golly, i wonder what that's like!?


WTH does this have to do with the question asked here?


BTW, when was the last time you looked through a Loop 6X42?

Or better yet, used one?

It ain't what you think it is.

I feel like I'm playin' cards with my brother's kids.

I use the Leupold 3-9x33 compact on my 375h&h. My 416 rigby I use a Leupold 2-7x33 I wanted a lot of eye relief.