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

Depends on what I am hunting.....for a general deer killin' scope, most anything will work.

For coyotes, I want a 30mm tube, illuminated FFP reticle with hashmarks or a tree that match the turret. Good Glass,excellent tracking, and all of that doe $500.00.....yeah, I know its a pipe dream. I think the LRTSi and LRHSi are about as close as I am going to get, I just cant make myself pull the trigger just yet.

I'm good with that. I would prefer capped windage, correction in mils on the horizontal, along with a lockable zero stopped elevation turret... preferably 3-15x42.

You’re simply not going to find a stoutly constructed scope that has accurate repeatable turret adjustments AND superb glass in any scopes but the Hensoldts according to form’s assessment of present day rifle scopes. If you were willing to settle for good glass then a Nightforce NXS would fit the bill, or one of several upper end Bushnells. The other scopes that have superb glass apparently fall short in the first two requirements. I don’t worry about the weight of my rifle, though many on here seem almost obsessed with knocking a few ounces off wherever they can. They’re all better hunters than me which is OK, I don’t view it as a competition anyway.

To clarify-


The Nightforce ATACR F1 and BEAST scopes have world class “glass” and work perfectly.

Sounds like a great reason not to fart around with turrets on a simple hunting rifle to me.

How about simple basic adjustments that track perfectly accurately and reliably? That would make setting and forgetting easier to do and confidently count on.

I haven’t read all the responses but I would divide rifle/scope application into at least two groups arbitrarily — 0-500 yds and 500-1000 yds — just to separate short to med-range from mostly long-range use. You could further divide by varmint-predator use as opposed to big game use. You could obviously carry specialization a long way.

For example, for a dedicated elk rifle in the mountains where weight is also crucial (for me) and where I would not push it beyond 500 yds, I could pick the Leupold VX2 6X LRD. That is if it’s absolutely reliable in holding zero which is apparently now debatable.

I like to think I choose the right item for my intended/imagined application where not all options or features available are needed or even desired.

I just havent had any problems obtaining zero with the zeiss and Leupold scopes I have used.

I haven't either,but it's more a matter of eventually getting there than just shooting and adjusting the appropriate number of clicks. I didn't even know how bad they were until I used a scope that adjusted properly.

I haven’t looked through a Nightforce ATACR F1 or the Nightforce Beast. I have owned and used 3 Nightforce NXS scopes. The glass in the NXS is fine and would work for any shooting condition I would be in. I have heard about the ATACR F1 & BEAST glass and would really really love to buy one to mount on one of my rifles. Form, your endorsement is the gold standard for me, and validates the chatter I’ve heard.

S&B it will be , most likely a Klassic

Yep.

Just picked up a 3.5-15 F1 MLR 2.0 thats begging to be put on another Tikka.