I've never had a scope with an illuminated reticle. My old eyes might benefit from one now.
What is a good entry point that isn't junk. For elk hunting and general shooting on my .308 Howa 1500.

I saw this one but it is a bit more magnification than I want on the bottom end.

Crossfire II 6-18x44mm AO V-Brite Illuminated Reticle $269.99

What do ya think?
Thanks

I'd look at the Leupold VXR line.

Ditto.

Suburban Hunter, while I'm a huge fan of Vortex's Razor line, I'd steer clear of their lower end stuff. Just my opinion.

Take a look at Konus Riflescopes. We searched a long time for a quality entry level line of scopes and I think you'll agree that these are worth looking at

I bought a couple of the Konus 1.5-6 scopes from CL and like them a lot. One is on my coyote hunting AR and the other on a custom Rem 600 in 6x45mm both have been on about three months now and work great.

I believe the VX-R is an excellent scope, I have a 2-7. Unfortunately they have been discontinued for a while now. I’d run from the Crossfire. Never held a Konus. I’d look at a VX-Freedom with IR.

The Hawke Vantage IR line is worth looking at. Here is one:
https://us.hawkeoptics.com/vantage-ir-3-9x40-mil-dot-ir.html

Burris. Check around. Natchez seems to run sales. Ask Doug here at camera land.

Burris had the E1 3x9 with a Illuminated dot. They are a screaming deal. I wish Doug could get some of those I would be speed dialing him for a couple more.
GreggH

The best thing to improve the view would be superior optics rather than a red diode lighttube in the center of the reticle. I think that well-made red-dot reticles do add some value, but if the optics are poor, adding a red-dot will not improve the outcome as much as better optics.

"Illuminated reticle" can mean different things. It used to mean there was a light source that would reflect off the reticle itself, making the whole reticle brighter and higher contrast to a dark background in low light. Nowadays, it is more likely to be system with a battery-powered light-emitting diode (LED) and a thin fiber optic tube terminating in the center of the reticle so that when it's on there is a red or green dot of light in the center of the reticle (the rest of the reticle is dark). Reflex red-dot systems simply reflect the LED off a piece of coated glass, but these are more common on non-magnified optics like pistol and carbine sights.

While a red dot can possibly result in faster sight acquisition, target acquisition still depends on the ability to see the target and red dots do nothing to aid in this except that they don't require focusing on the sights, which is common of all optical sights. If target acquisition is not an issue at all -- such as when targets are at very close range -- then red dots can be a great help. These are the situations where the target is very easy to find, but your sights are relatively not. I have a red dot on my hand gun.

With a magnified rifle optic, it is usually the distant target that is harder to find than the reticle. The worse the optics are, the harder the target is to see. Under some lighting conditions, it could be difficult to see the reticle. If the target is very dark and there is no contrast to the reticle, it can be hard to see. Few targets are truly dark. If they were, white reticles would be common. One of the reasons targets can appear dark is because the optic is not transmitting enough light to make a bright image. A larger objective will brighten what reflections off the target are present and increase the contrast to the reticle. Coated lenses will transmit more of the light gathered by the objective through the optic. Lenses that have less distortion and aberration will make the image more clear and the target easier to see.

Adding a red LED to a scope appears to be quite profitable for scope makers. Producing high quality optics is very costly to them.

In low light situations, I lose the reticle before I lose the target.

Same thing I run into. I've asked here before and gotten basically 2 different suggestions. Heavy duplex reticle or illuminated duplex/dot. Keeping an eye out for a vxr 3x9

If the target isn't bright enough, the reticle is lost because you won't see it on a black background. Instead of making the reticle brighter, make the target brighter and you will see the darkest reticle. I would not go to a heavy reticle. I would go with a brighter scope, which is usually a larger objective and higher quality optics that pass more light.

Western-
No disrespect, but do you hunt at night? I don’t think you and I share the same experience.

Leupold M8 HD is way more usable than FX-3 Standard Duplex 6x42s as darkness falls. Anti-illunination folks are not the ones to take advice from

VX-Rs are excellent reticles. Hawk has some. Burris works for sure.


Much prefer just a lit dot verse anything else I've tried. .


Give us a power and price range and more specifics.

I recently bought a Burris Fullfield IV 3x12 from Cameraland. Very clear optics, accurate adjustments and an adjustable brightness center point in the reticle. Haven’t hunted yet but so far am very happy with it.

Are these Fullfield IVs part of the Burris China sellout?


Hmmm.... If they are! Here's an email for them.

[email protected]



How much are those and country of origin?


3-9 ff2s are getting hard to find
https://www.amazon.com/Burris-Fullfield-3-9x40mm-Matte-Black/dp/B08DYGRGB7


$300 for the 3-12x6mm
https://www.sportsmans.com/hunting-...llfield-iv-3-12x56-rifle-scope/p/1625549

Backorder deal
https://www.eurooptic.com/Burris-Fullfield-IV-3-12x42mm-Ballistic-E3-Riflescope-200490.aspx

Good post.

Also note how much heavier are those scopes with illuminated reticles.

No, I did not consider the original question to be about night hunting. None of my advice was applicable to hunting at night, but rather at dawn or dusk in low light or in any daylight situation. To be sure, I am not anti-illumination. I am anti-entry-level optics. In my opinion, illumination cannot solve the problems presented by poor optics.

^^^^However it's an entry level question and a nice little lit dot is phucqking wonderfully useful for exactly what the OP seeks, hence his question on the matter. Imagine a black bear at dusk, one can plainly see it in detail but the reticle is lost. A dot serves well. We're not talking $60 Chinky optics.

In the dark woods of Maine and NH, 100 yards is a very long shot. Most are under 50. I know I prefer an illuminated or or heavy duplex, with a wide field of view. It seems with the current long range craze, the scope makers have forgotten the the deep woods hunters. I have a couple of Triigicons that a like a lot, and some heavy duplex Leupolds. I would like to see more offerings from scope makers like these.

I do a lot of coyote hunting, mostly called coyotes and I like calling in the thick stuff. It is amazing how easy it is to keep a lit dot on a coyote moving through the brush. My second favorite non-illuminated reticle is a German #1 that is in y Meopta 1.5-6 scope.

Take a look at the #7185 Konus Optics KONUSPRO M-30 1.5-6x44 - Circle-dot illuminated

This model will deliver an impeccable and rewarding performance on countless types of hunt and even in the faintest light conditions. they are especially suitable for shooting at close and medium distance or aiming at fast moving targets.
SPECS
- FLIP-UP COVERS INCLUDED
- ENGRAVED RETICLE WITH DUAL ILLUMINATION (RED-BLUE)
- FINGER ADJUSTABLE TACTICAL TURRETS 1/2 MOA
- WATERPROOF,SHOCKPROOF, FOGPROOF
- OPTICAL COATING: FULLY-MULTI-COATED
- LOCKING FAST FOCUS OCULAR
- 30MM TUBE DIAMETER

TECHNICAL DETAILS:
MagnificatiOn x ø Objective: 1.5-6x44
Reticle: Circle-dot illuminated
Field of view at 100m/yds: 30.6m/100 ft at 1x • 7.6m/25ft at 4x
Weight: 500gr / 17.6oz
Length: 294mm / 11.6”
Eye Relief: 101mm / 3.9”
Click value mm@100m in@100yds: 1/2MOA - 14mm.
Adjusting range m@100m in@100yds: 2.7m / 110”
Mounting length mm/ inches: 150mm 5.9”

I love the Burris E-1 with German 3P#4 illumination reticle, both in their 3x9 and their 1.5-6

Another one I really like is the Hawke Endurance, either in 3x9 or 2x7 with illum reticle--REALLY budget priced but excellent eye relief and easy to use.

Lastly I like the SIG Whiskey 3 3x9 with illum .

The Burris 3x9 and the SIG 3x9 are getting hard to find. though.

I have, and use them all for night hunting of predators and pigs.










And for non-night hunting-low light situations, this Hawke 2x7 worked just fine....

The Hawke's are a lot of bang for the buck. Black pigs n bears n moose convince me of the need

Thanks all! Great discussion that helped tremendously.
I got a deal from a member on a Hawke Vantage IR 3-9x40 AO with which to get my feet wet.
May upgrade it later on but maybe not.

Thanks

Doug,

Any idea of the reticle dimensions on this one?

thanks,


Okie John

I was in the same situation about a week or two ago. I had some interest in the German Precision Optics PASSION 3X 3-9x40i, reticle – German#4 illuminated, but couldn't find any first hand experiences or reviews while researching. I finally just gave up and ordered another boring old reliable VX3i 2.5-8X36.

It’s not an either or, you can have both. There are numerous offerings with an illuminated German #4. I really like mine.

Making the target brighter doesn’t help as much if trying to shoot an animal with dark/black fur, especially in low light. An IR does. Glass being equal it’s easier to see an IR against a dark background than a standard black non-IR reticle.

Excellent.

Radical

SWFA 1-4 is hard to beat for a 100 yard gun.
I've got one on my woods lever action 357.
Even though irons would get it done, it's much easier to see the IR at night when I'm popping varmints under the moonlight.
Plus, using the mil reticle is fun for long-range 38 shenanigans.

Stupendous!

FYI the Burris Fullfield IVs are Chinamutherfuukers. Phucqk Burris! At least Hawke didn’t hide it.

Preach!

This model comes with an illuminated Circle/Dot reticle.

The dimension of the illuminated dot is 1/4 MOA.

The diameter of the illuminated circle is 28 MOA