Great input and thank you.
Based on the three you gents have mentioned. If I were to add weight, warranty, and customer service as a reuirement. Would it narrow it down any further?

How is the customer service these days?

I would rather have a scope that doesn't need service

.and I have had more than one of the high-priced Euro-scopes go bad. Thinking they never do is a mistake.

BTW, where did I mention Leupold?

My opinion is that if the "best scope money can buy" is defined as the one(s) with the best image clarity, regardless as to the tradeoffs you must make to get it, then you and I are far apart of what makes "the best scope that money can buy for my hunting needs." E

Yeah, just tested a Z3 3-9x and rated it the best lightweight (12 oz.) 3-9x I have ever tried. Very fine optics and the adjustments were right on, with one exception that took a shot to bounce into place.

I am doing some optics evaluation stuff for TEXAS SPORTING JOURNAL, a very nice magazine, and the review just appeared there.

BTW, where did I mention Leupold?

Since I listened to Mule Deer and quit tightening the rings farmers tight I've had no further problems with the magnification ring.

Some VX-II scopes I've checked out were pretty tight.

I have owned Zeiss,Swarovski,Kahles,Leupold,Nightforce,Bushnell,and Weaver,and my hunting scopes now wear 1" Kahles Helia CT scopes.They are clear,bright,reliable,compact,and the weight is reasonable.With 42mm objectives,they can also be mounted low enough for a proper cheek position on the stock.

Stubble, what made you go away from the Swarovski AV 3-10's? You used to swear by them...

My opinion is that if the "best scope money can buy" is defined as the one(s) with the best image clarity, regardless as to the tradeoffs you must make to get it, then you and I are far apart of what makes "the best scope that money can buy for my hunting needs." E

Because I don't spend hours looking through a rifle scope image charity is not the most important attribute to me. It's important just not number one. For me, ruggedness and reliability are the two things I want above all else. After that would come clarity and weight.

Stubblejumper, you are in part correct. What I sacrifice by being a fixed power advocate is the versatiliy of the VX's., but I gain some ruggedness.

Because I don't spend hours looking through a rifle scope image charity is not the most important attribute to me. It's important just not number one. For me, ruggedness and reliability are the two things I want above all else. After that would come clarity and weight. So what's the best brand? Haven't a clue, but Leupold's fixed LR 6x works for me where I hunt.

Well I'm sure I'll get some flak for the open ended question but I figured there was no better place on the net to ask it!

The question:
I have a Sako Finnlight 300 WSM with Opti Locks that�s a real tack driver! I currently have a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44 Stainless on top of it. I like it but the clarity isn't what I'd consider "perfect". What's the best scope in your opinion regardless of price? I figured I paid a premium for this rig might as well for the gusto and get a top of the line scope too.

Well I'm sure I'll get some flak for the open ended question but I figured there was no better place on the net to ask it!

The question:
I have a Sako Finnlight 300 WSM with Opti Locks that�s a real tack driver! I currently have a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44 Stainless on top of it. I like it but the clarity isn't what I'd consider "perfect". What's the best scope in your opinion regardless of price? I figured I paid a premium for this rig might as well for the gusto and get a top of the line scope too.

No doubt that Swaro makes great scopes, but after having owned many Swaro's, Kahles, S&B, 4200's and Leupy's, I still say go Zeiss Victory Diavari 3x12x56.
This advice comes from actual field use of each. Not from speculation or guessing.

Well I'm sure I'll get some flak for the open ended question but I figured there was no better place on the net to ask it!

The question:
I have a Sako Finnlight 300 WSM with Opti Locks that�s a real tack driver! I currently have a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44 Stainless on top of it. I like it but the clarity isn't what I'd consider "perfect". What's the best scope in your opinion regardless of price? I figured I paid a premium for this rig might as well for the gusto and get a top of the line scope too.

A scope for any normal NA hunting with a 56mm objective is totally silly. Why not mount a suitcase handle on your rifle and be done with it?

IMO the best variable for the least money that does not make a hunting rifle into a club, is the 2.5-8x36, number 2 would be the Leupold European 3-9 with a German #4.

I think the best all-around scope is the zeiss 2.5-10x42. 15 oz, bright, sturdy, 3.5" eye relief

So does zeiss & swarovski....leupold set the bar on customer service but others have caught up

I think the best all-around scope is the zeiss 2.5-10x42. 15 oz, bright, sturdy, 3.5" eye relief

I think the best all-around scope is the zeiss 2.5-10x42. 15 oz, bright, sturdy, 3.5" eye relief

Better yet is the same scope with 50 mm objective and illuminated # 4 reticle. For a little weight increase you will own the night.

At 2.5X you have an exit pupil of 16mm, or 9mm more than your eye can use IF you're young and your pupils still dilate to 7mm. After 40, most folks pupils won't dilate much past 5mm. There is the issue that Erimicus brings up, and that is the more magnification you can use the more useful your scope is at night. In that case a 50mm Objective may be a little better, but not that much.

According to the article a couple months ago in American Hunter the best is Schmidt and Bender 2.5-10x56. The author raved about this scope, and called it the Riflescope of riflescopes".

...I own too many scopes...

BMT: stop making sense. This is the optics forum, fer Pete's sake!

Whatever the best scope is, I'll mount it too far back...

Leupold....pay any more,spent too much
Pay any less,well that's what you will get.....

Leupold....pay any more,spent too much - but you got a better scope if you bought a Zeiss/S&B/Swarovski
Pay any less,well that's what you will get. -more money in your pocket and a better scope if you bought a Zeiss Conquest or Elite 4200....

If you are using that Sako for Hunting and ever expect to use it in severe conditions then you are MUCH better off with a Leupold 3.5x10!

Buried with in the words "Best Scope Money Can buy" is the word application. It's all through this thread with guys discussing what is best, for their use. And, they are right, for their application.
No way would I use a S&B 4x36 at a centerfire benchrest match. Nor would I use a March scope on a Cape Buffalo hunt in Africa.
I had an interesting experience last week shooting a Rem 722 in 222 at the range. I installed a Swarovski PF 6x42 scope on the rifle as it was one HOT shooter, delivering benchrest quality groups from a 55 year old sporter. I was using a 20x scope for that testing. When shooting groups at 100 yards, I actually saw 22 caliber bullet holes in the target with a 6x scope. Never before have I seen 22 bullet holes in a target 100 yards away using any other fixed 6x, or variable scope set at 6x. I was blow away.
Answer: HIGH quality optics.

That is impressive DMB. What I've noticed is that scopes that do that also have pretty small eye boxes (although I've never even seen the one you're talking about, so I really don't have a f'n clue if the eyebox is small). So, as someone else has said, it's a matter of picking trade offs. E

Iflyguns: If you are using that Sako for Hunting and ever expect to use it in severe conditions then you are MUCH better off with a Leupold 3.5x10!
I have been using these scopes for a LONG time and have as yet to encounter ANY problem or shortcoming with any of them.
Someone may have already pointed out that - nothing is perfect, but in my extensive experience the Leupolds come real close.
And they come in the silver matte finish also.
No "flak" - just fact!
Buy reliability - buy American - buy LEUPOLD!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have always been a huge, huge Leupold advocate. They were always my benchmark for quality, innovation and U.S. workmanship. I own an awful lot of their product and continue to use it regularly.

However. . . . In the last few years, I have seen a change in the way Leupold does business and delivers product to the market. As they have grown, they have embraced many less than admirable traits that seem to define too many parts of American businesses. While their pricing has been steadily increasing at a faster rate than inflation, their quality has dropped. They are still capable of producing a sharp, repeatable optic but not as dependably.

My biggest aggravation with Leupold is the fact that less than 5% of their product line that can be legally stamped "Made in U.S.A." and I'm not even sure that those few are !!! What started out with a few of their Wind River imports has blown into an all out effort to prostitute their name brand for a dollar.

I just received 18 RX-4 range finders, 18 Tactical 10x50 Patrol Binoculars and 18 Mk 4 LR/T 4.5-14x50mm TMR Illum. scopes for a package deal I have to ship. This is pretty much suppossed to be their better gear. Guess what? Range finders "Made In CHINA". Binoculars "Made In China". Scopes have no country of origin marked on the packaging, instructions or product. Call back from Leupold informs me that the scopes are assembled in Oregon but so many of the parts and sub-assemblies are made over-seas (mostly China except for some of their lenses)that they do not qualify for the Made in USA stamp!

I can assure you that sourcing their components and products from China has dropped their costs very, very dramatically while they have continued to raise market prices. You know, honestly, it isn't even the price/profit thing that burns me. It is the fact that they chose to move their sourcing and manufacturing (I do consider "manufacturing" and "assembly" two different beasts in this instance) out of the country and specifically China. Why couldn't they keep most of their production here and just up their pricing 10%? Jesus, I could drop my selling price and triple my profit on freakin Pod-Loc kits if I used components from outside the U.S., but I refuse to go there. Guess that is why I still drive a 10 year old truck.

While they may still have satisfactory product performance and at least attempt innovative ideas occaisionally, I believe that they are straying from their roots, pumping a ton of money into foreign factories and putting yet another hole in the bottom of the lifeboat that retains at least a small fraction of our ability to domestically support our police and military logistics in the event of any serious conflict. I remain firmly convinced that we shall sorely curse the day that we wake up and realize that we need to raise our military to a task only to find out we have cut off our own legs. I aim this statement not only at Leupold but other textile, steel, electronics and molding industries based in the U.S. You don't just start that [bleep] back up inside the U.S. borders overnight.

I will continue to use my original Leupold products but I shall migrate away from giving their company blanket support. I will, instead continue to give more and more support to companies that take risks, accept slightly lower margins and consciously make the effort to strengthen our own economy and workforce. As you purchase your gear or spec out the equipment for your agency bids, please consider more than F.O.V. and click value.

I would seriously love to debate the execs at Leupold in front of their Board about some of this.

DISCLAIMER: I know that some out there will have personal budgets at home that restrict your choices to imports and I totally respect that. A non-US product is better than no product at all in some cases.

DISCLAIMER #2: Yeah, that was more than a second. Sorry.
TC

Leupold was the pinnacle of tactical rifle scopes.....in 1989. Not much has been improved over the last 20 years, except the prices have gotten higher; and therein lies the problem with Leupold.

Great Customer service, Great Custom shop, and operational features that were the cutting edge 20 years ago.

Wish they would get a clue. Used to love their stuff. But the world has moved on, and Leupold has stood rigidly still.

That is not bashing Leupold, it's a realization that previously well thought of US company, is on the decline. There is no good reason for this to be so. Insipid management, resting on it's past laurels, are dooming a fine (MK4) product line to an also-ran, laughing stock status.

The only rational that prevents Leupold from fully competing with S&B, USO, Premier Hertiage, Nightforce, IOR, Vortex, Sightron, Falcon and even SWFA's Super Sniper lines, is that they (Leupold) chose not to do so. So they peddle the exact same products as they did in 1999, but change the packaging, and increase the price.

If Leupold choses not the compete and provide me as a shooter with a product that is competitive, both functionally and price wise, with the competition; then I chose not to buy their product.

But as a company who at one time lead the world in production and design of tactical scopes, Leupold's fall has been profound and stunning.

Maybe there is more money to be made for Leupold, by peddling DogShit Optics from China, and selling it as America's finest. But count me off of that bandwagon.
Bob

Second, face it, it�s a better scope in every way than the loopy 6x42.

dj,

It's not conventional wisdom, it's medical fact. I've read it in many places where big objectives were being discussed, and I've seen Barsness reference it. However, I also asked my eye surgeon. He confirmed what I had read. I'm out on the edge of the curve with you; my pupils dilate to 8mm in a dim/darkened room. That's the reason I was speaking with a surgeon. Before they would do my Refractive Laser surgery I had to have prosthetic lenses put in both eyes. The prosthetic lenses have an anti-reflective coating. Additionally, the prosthetic lenses improved my vision to augment the laser surgery.

So, generally speaking, when a person's eyes are young their pupils can dilate to around 7mm. By age 40, in general, a person's pupils cannot dilate much past 5mm.

PS - I do have good night vision, but I've never gotten a group together and tested how I compare to a group. In a group of 10 men, ages 45 - 55, I'm sure some of them, in fact, most of the them, should have average night vision with a pupil dilation of 4~5mm.

Magnum,

Powerful posting, and right on, as are all of your posts.
I'm questioning now if my pupils will even open up to 5mm. I doubt it. So, I've been using 5mm to size all of my optics in the last few years. I know I can't use anything higher than 5mm.
Hang in there.
Don

...................... It is enjoyable watching folks 'talk' that I ain't seen post anything dead, ever.

My $.02...

Top Three, in no particular order.
--Zeiss Victory Divari;
--Schmidt & Bender Zenith;
--Swarovski Z6;

All three will do you well.

Ditto. Now if you ask me what is the best VALUE, the choice would be Leupold without question. jorge

VALUE.....zeiss conquest

[bleep] Leupolds used last week, I'm expecting more dead [bleep] this coming week with more [bleep] Leupolds. It is enjoyable watching folks 'talk' that I ain't seen post anything dead, ever.

You boys carry on.

Let's try to find a firearm that a Leupold won't work on?

For me a good scope is a european scope. Never ever have they failed......

but does Swaro,S&B and Zeiss make scopes for shotguns,.22's the #1 BR scope and Scouts or any tubes under 20 ozs?

Best bar none--Zeiss Diavari
Best Value--Zeiss Conquest or Bushnell Elite 4200

but does Swaro,S&B and Zeiss make scopes for shotguns,.22's the #1 BR scope and Scouts or any tubes under 20 ozs?

For hunting, any of the Zeiss, Swaro and S&B in the 2.5/3-10/12 in 50mm could be the best scope money can buy. The Zeiss has the best optics per oz. At any oz, the S&B has the best optics (best resolution, worse flare) but it�s the heaviest(but very well build). If I have to choose between the two, I would be so confused I would probably pick the Swaro(best balance in optics/oz and build/oz). If you want better optics than the above mentioned �best scopes�, chose any of the above in 56mm. If all of the above scopes are too heavy, chose any of the above in 42mm. For best in optics/$ and build/$, Zeiss Conquest. Aic