Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What do you want in a hunting scope?

All this talk of upstarts and "boutique" manufacturers has me wondering how similar our wants are.

This would be my ideal all around hunting scope:

2-10x40(ish)
-FFP
-MQ reticle turned upside down, etched
-Mil adjustments
-Zero stop
-Capped windage
-10 mil/rev low profile elev. turret
-Glass equal to at least Conquest/Meopro
-accurate and repeatable tracking/rtz
- ~4" constant eye relief
-16 oz, up to 20 if it has to be
- at least 15 mils of travel
-$1000-ish

I would sacrifice the 5x mag range to keep weight down if necessary. 2.5-10 or even 3-9 will do.

I hear people complain about FFP in hunting scopes. I was worried about it too before I purchased a SWFA 3-9. That reticle works like an upside down #4 at low power. By 5x, you can use the hash marks and at 9x it still does not cover too much of the target. FFP reticles can work just fine if well designed.

If this scope was made and guaranteed, I would buy one. How many others would though? What is your ideal?

I'd take all of those features, but adding illumination wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

I would like a SWFA SS 3-9 with a smaller elevation turret with locking feature and zero stop,and capped windage. I like the MQ reticle just fine but I would like a tritium dot for low power low light. Tritium won't add weight.

- a simple 3-15x40 (3.5-10 or 4-16),
- duplex reticle with two holdover hash marks.
- don't care if mil/moa, or how many per rev, don't dial for hunting, with two holdover hash marks, can cover out well beyond my comfortable shooting range
- holds zero.
- capped turrets
- good eye relief ~3.5"-4"
- Conquest-like glass
- affordable (<$500)

A Leupold 2x7, 2.5x8, and 3x9 that functions properly and holds zero.

Wow! I'm behind the curve! My 'serious' hunting rifles have Leupold VX2s 3x9x40...cause when it comes to big game I like my scopes like my pocket camera...."point and shoot" I leave the high $$$ spending to the binoculars which get used a thousand times more than the scope.

Turrets, dotz, and stuff to fiddle with go on the varmint scopes...

I'll have a Meopro 2-10x40 with their #4 but in the size of a vx3 3.5-10x40 for $500

I want a Henry buck in mine................

Something with a great eye box, good eye relief, about 1.5 to 6 or 8 power. 32 or 36mm objective.
Tough as nails yet still less than 13 ounces.

Oh and as low as you can physically go with capped adjustments.

For my hunting use that varies from thick wooded mountain sides to open fields that require dialing or hold off in low light:

Reliable/robust
Perfect tracking and return to zero
Good glass
Zero stopped elevation dial, capped windage (MOA or MIL, makes no difference to me)
I prefer 2FP for my use but 1FP can work......fixed power simplifies
Prefer a fixed 6x but 2-10+/- is fine. 42mm objective.
A bold glass etched hunting reticle - narrow thin inner plex is fine as long as the spacing between outer bars isn't wide, leave it narrow enough to bracket, no need for more than 6 MOA on either side at 100 yards. Windage marks are nice. Make the outer bars heavy enough to be seen in low light and quick to find in thick stuff. Illumination on the inner is great if done right but not required if the outer bars are bold and close.
With a max power of 10 I prefer no parallax if it's not on a rimfire.
Good eye relief/easy to get behind
20 oz or less

I've used two scopes this season that are really close.

2-10x42 Tract Toric. I really don't have a complaint on this one....it was outstanding this season. Going to keep dialing with it through the year to verify it's reliability....hopefully it will continue.

2.5-10x42 NSX. If the NSX had a better hunting reticle and wasn't as finicky regarding parallax it would be a perfect fit.

Edited to add pic/subtensions of a very workable reticle. Not overly heavy but bold enough to see with good duplex spacing. The inner plex could be thinner to help at longer range, especially if it was illuminated on the inner section only like the NSX IHR. I wouldn't mind the outer plex being .5 MOA heavier but no lighter for my use.

I want a Swaro Z3 that holds zero

One that works like my Leupolds, guess I’ll buy another Leupold

I've tried to like and buy a SWFA. Most of the folks here who've forgotten more than I'll never know about scopes and hunting recommend them. I worked with mils most of my life in the Navy, but those reticles are all but worthless to me for the type of hunting I've ever done which for all practical purposes is dawn or dusk. I'm familiar enough with all my rifles & calibers I hunt with to feel perfectly comfortable on game out to say 350-400 yards and this I can do with a decent scope. I do have a knob twister, a Leupold (sorry) custom CDS turret on one of my Browning 300 Win Mags that works as advertised, although I must say all the know twisting I've done is not much, but it does work for me out to 400 (farthest I've tested). I really like the B&C, LRD, (or similar concepts) on scopes, all I do is calibrate the lines to the caliber's drop and go from there. For extreme low light hunting, I like illuminated reticles and do have a couple. As for power, I prefer a variable, I think the highest magnification I have is 14X on a 22-250. I just can't warm up to fixed X scopes, but I do have one, a 6X with LRD which again works well.

I agree 100%. On my 375 Ruger, it's topped with a Leupold VarX-III 2.5x 8. It has the old friction adjustments----set it & forget it. On my 30/06, my everything rifle, it's topped with a Leupold 6x. It's 2" high @100yards again set it & forget it. Those are my only hunting rifles. Bob

I think you are describing a SWFA 3-9x42. Just need add the shim zero stops from Tim Kulin, then add Boxer style red cap on Windage. Then you’ll have a:

3-9 power range
Zero stop
Capped Windage
19 oz scope
FFP
WAY more than 15 MILs of travel
Plenty good glass
Super tracking and mechanics and RTZ
And if you buy them on the sales that are once or twice a year you can buy two of these setups
For less than $1k

Only thing it would lack out of your list is low pro 10 mil turret.

That is the scope that will be going on my wife’s Kimber 308 if they do a tax day sale.

This

My Leica ERi I’ve been playing with checks all the boxes for me.

I have one and it does come close. While I don't have a big issue with the eye relief, it is not constant. I have capped my windage turret and I have figured a way to zero stop. I would really like to see the reticle flipped upside down. I was surprised by how good the glass is. The elevation turret is still tall. If they would do a low profile zero stop elevation turret and factory capped windage, I would definitely be willing to pay more for it. I'd even let the other stuff (eye relief, 10 mil/rev, upside down reticle, and weight) slide.

FWIW, for the vast majority of my hunting, a set and forget scope set up works just fine. This thread is about ideals though and sometimes I want the ability to dial. I'm not a fan of BDC reticles. I've used them and they work ok but it doesn't compare to dialling and having hash marks on the horizontal for wind holds.

Leupold already offers what I like in a scope. I've never had any issues with my Leupold scopes.

I only like a heavy or regular duplex. No mil dot or lighted reticle for me.