Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Scope for Youth Rifle

He's Right you know!

Meopta Optika5 is under $400. Great glass. I’ve bought 2 from CL. Great price on a great scope.

I know it’s more $ than the Burris FF ii. But I’ve owned both. It’s worth the price difference imo.

I also have bought 3 Optika6 scopes. I really like the quality of those scopes. But I think they’d be heavy for your application.

I will readily admit the blue ring is ugly and ill conceived. But a Butler Creek cap cured that for me.

Happy hunting!!! That Tikka .243 should be lights out!

You ever hear of a Burris FFII 3-9x40 with ballistic plex reticle? Good place to start.

The Sig Sauer Whiskey 3 series is a decent, basic scope for the price. Good eye relief on it too. My son has one on a 45-70 and has stood up to its recoil without an issue. Way underrated IMO. Designed in the USA but assembled in the Philippines.

Encourage her to live right with a non-Chinese optic. 👀

I have been looking at the Sightron S1 G2, 3-9x40. It has 4.1" eye relief on the low end.

A 2-7 or 2.5-8 is a very good choice for a lot of applications including this one. I have 5 total of those two scopes.

Maven rs2

How’s the eye relief on Mavin?

We hunt mainly woods so putting a red dot on my daughters rifle.

I just bought a Ruger American compact 243 for my grandson for his first year hunting. He's small and I wanted to keep it as compact as possible so put a 1-4x20 LPV on it. I like the idea of fixed power for a beginner - I set this one on 4x and it will stay there...

A used Weaver Grand Slam 3-12x42.

With really young kids, I like the 2.5x Leupold for developing habits and learning about head positioning. When they get that down and need a bit more magnification, it is really hard to go wrong with a 2-7 or 3-9 Leupold (or Redfield Revolution version). Good eye-relief and lightweight.

Kiddo #2 with a youth 260 and 2.5x Leupold in Talley X-low mounts (stock pack added to fit her little face). I think she was 8 or so here.





Kiddo #1 a few years before, with her first deer at age 7. She'd just moved up from the 2.5x to a 3-9 Leupold, set at 5x.

JPro, great picture. Love to see the kids with their first Deer.

Thanks. It was a great experience for sure. Looks like there will be some off days in her college schedule this year for use to make a few hunts and remember those early times in the woods.

I started mine with a Leupold 2.5-8x36 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1023058413?pid=881269, next choice would be the 2x7 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1023057879?pid=673923

Another meopta vote, 2-10.
I think tract has response 2.5-10 just under 400.
Talley rings.
He’s only going to get bigger and this way he will have something to grow into and be set for long time.

I guess it depends on the youth involved. When I was 12, I had no qualms about using a 3-9x40. That is the most versatile power range ever invented. Its been that way forever. The one I started out on was an old Simmons though. Just about anything these days is better than that. I don't know how much field time the youngster is going to have, but if the op can get out and let them use the scope for small game hunting that would be a huge bonus. It may not be feasible, as it seems people don't shoot nearly as much as I used to when I was a kid. In the field every day, hunting jackrabbits or lizards. It really didn't matter. You learn real quick how to use a variable powered scope..

I had a 2x7 Leupold on my kids first rifle, same scope on the grandkids, got two more coming up use it. I moved them up to 3.5x10 when they got older. That old 2x7 has fine crosshairs.

Another vote for the Meopta Optika5 2-10x42 or 3-15x44. For both SFP scopes, I'd also choose the ZPlus reticle. Dial in drops for some long-range fun. Get some varmint bullets and air it out once deer season ends. Using Strelok Pro you can dial in all your ballistic data for very accurate shots. When my son was young, he didn't have any of my bad habits and picked up using a bullet drop marks quickly. He'd just ask me for a range and bang. Fun times ahead.