Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics If you had $300 to buy a riflescope . . . .

I have never seen the need for such power for shooting big game at extended distences inasmuch as you can see a deer or Antelope very well indeed at up to 1000 yards with a 3X Leupold..

It seems that todays hunters think magnification makes one a good shot. The longest shots I have made in my extended hunting career have been with scopes of 2.5 to 4X..One thing that is seldom mentioned is that high power is hard to hold even with a rest as it will bounce the cross hairs with the beat of your heart, you have problems in incliment weather with high power, you have problems with change of impact when you move the power up or down, especially with higher powers, they are intended for slow precise shooting under very controlled conditions IMO..I can hold a 4X dead solid on a deer at 1000 yards, I have trouble with a 16X and one tends to grab the trigger as the cross hairs float by and thats a miss or a wounded deer...

I think for any big game hunting a 2x7 or 3 x 9 is all one needs. I also would not feel shorter with a fixed 4 or 6 for that matter..I put more emphasis on trigger pull than any thing else for long range shooting.

If you have $300, you have $369 <grin>. Demo 3-9 Conquest from Doug.

If $300 really is it, used 3-9 Conquest.

Nikon Team Primos that can be had for $199 is a steal if you like the BDC reticle that it has. Rebadged UCC Monarch.

I'd rather see what's going on (heartbeat, wind moving the shooter, etc) than be under the false impression that I was "solid", so I can't agree there.

That said, you are spot on with the trigger pull stuff.

I don't recall the topic being about YOU.

The OP was very specific in his needs and price point. Of course some somehow still can screww that up.

Enrique, there's a vx III 2.5-8 in the classifieds for $275 that sounds like a winner to me.

Enrique, what are you shooting with this rifle?

I never felt the need for anything more than a 3-9 until I went prairie dog shooting. Being as you are talking a 300 mag I suspect they are not on the menu...??

Under $300 scopes that have served me well - A 2-7x33 Vari-X II, my favorite deer scope. Bushnell 3200 3-9. Burris FFII 3-9 w/ B-Plex - I'd like to play with this scope some more. And the biggest surprise of all - an Aetec 3.8-12x44 that I bought simply because I "needed" a scope that day and that was all that was on the shelf at the local store. I put that scope through a fall that should have ruined any mechanical device ever made and it only shifted down and left a 1/2 inch, and that because stuff bent. I still have nightmares featuring the sound that rifle made hitting the frozen ground - scope first. That model has long been discontinued and I'd have never dreamed of buying that brand under normal circumstances. I think it just goes to show that there is some decent functional equipment to be had for a couple a hundred bucks.

Everyone shoots different and at different things, but in the original post he mentions shooting 600-700 yards.

I know for a fact there are those out there that can shoot better than myself with a 4x or 6x, than I can using whatever I have at my disposal. But for the most part at that range I personally want a little more magnification.

Thanks 338win. I'll have to look at that. Rick shot a mule deer with me using a 2.5-8 Leupy at 400 yards.
I have always been a fan of the 3-9. My longest shot was 517 yards on a 75 pound coues with a 3-9x40 Tasco world class. So that 2.5-8 if its still up might be what I need.

At joe788,

I will be shooting mostly deer with this rifle. If I am so lucky to draw an elk tag then I would use it for elk. But Mostly Coues or Mule Deer. Most of my shots are under 500 yards, however I want to practice enough with my rifle and learn it good enough to take 600 maybe 700 yard shots if I need to. Coues are tough to hunt, and sometimes you have to be able to shoot a little longer range. I limit myself until I get enough practice and confidence to take long shots. So for now 500 maybe even 400 will be my max. Later on bring on 700.

Well guys it seems I have to go to the shop and compare scope. I have seem the same few scopes come up. Leupy (of course), used or demo Zeiss, Bushnell, Burris and Vortex. So I guess I'll look thru some new ones at the store, come back and see what Doug can do for me.
Thanks for all the input and help.

Kique

Enrique,

I shoot Leupold 2.5-8's out to 650 yards all the time (at targets). They are "enough". It's also a nice trim, light scope.

That said on anything other than a featherweight I've converted over to Conquests. I know it's endlessly debatable, and endlessly debated, but IMHO they are damn fine scopes, and when you factor in the cost (very reasonable) and the tracking (excellent) and the out-of-box utility (the turret they come with stock is a great low-profile turret, and will get you out to 700 yards easily) then suddenly they are looking DAMN good at $369!

The 3-9 has 4" eye relief through the whole range. Picture that. You crank the scope up to "9", and you still have a full sight picture with your head in exactly the same spot it was at 3x. I can work with the Leupold "vanishing eye relief"; but to NOT have it happen, is pretty cool.

I know there are a scads of scopes out there that are good that I've never tried- Bushnell, Nikon, Burris spring to mind (I have owned several Burris), but from what I know and use the 3-9 Conquest really stands out as a perfect convergance of price and performance.

You steered me right with the Minox 13x56; I hope I'm returning the favor here!

Does that #20 Z plex come with turrets? If not can u buy some for it?

Yeah, the stock turret it comes with! It totally works, Enrique. Let me see if I can explain it.

Imagine a little turret with hash marks on only about 2/3 of it, 12 MOA worth. It's a finger-turn turret. Once you zero the rifle, you lift the turret up, turn it so that the "zero" hash mark is lined up with the little mark on the scope body, and set it back down. Now, all your hash marks are in the direction you'll be turning the turret to go "up" so it's instantly obvious which way to turn it, which is nice.

Contrast this with the stock Leupold turret. On that one, you zero the rifle, then you slide a little brass ring to line up with the "0" on the turret itself, which could be ANYWHERE. It could be on the other side of the turret from you. And if you did have a reference mark on the front of the scope body, which you do not, it would lined up completely randomly with the turret hash marks- useless.

This might sound like a trivial difference but it's the difference between a completely usable, actually very cool, low profile turret, and one that isn't usable unless you are willing to count clicks, and be completely lost if you forgot how many clicks you'd clicked.

Here's a picture of the Conquest stock turret. If you want a bigger turret, they are only $50 plus $15 shipping from Zeiss. I thought I was gonna go with the bigger turret (I have one on a Zeiss target scope) but the little stock turret works so well, I have not seen a reason to spend the money!

Here's a pic. I've been messing with making my own little "CDS" style custom turrets out of the stock Conquest turret; that's what the white label is on top of it. That's a whole other story. Very, very slick and you can do it yourself for practically no money.

See how the hash marks are all lined up on the right side of the turret? That's the direction you turn it. It has a "thick" hash mark at 6 MOA which makes it easy to tell when you are there, so if you are dialing say 7 MOA, just spin it to 6, then 4 more clicks...

I did make the reference "dot" on the scope body bigger with a speck of white paint.

Anyway it works and works very well.

So that little turret is standard on the $369 scope Doug has? Are those hash marks good if you sight in at 300 yards rather than yards? That scope in the pic, is that a 3-9x40? Which reticle do you shoot.
I never considered Zeiss since I thought they were out of my price range, but at $369 I can do that!

Kique

Yeah, that's the stock turret ("Hunter").

At whatever range you sight it in, you just then lift the turret, and set it back down so that the hash marks line up with the mark on the scope body, like in my picture. So yes, regardless of what range you sight it in at, it would look like in my picture. It's really hard to explain properly, I'm not doing a good job here, but it's super easy.

That is a 3-9x with the regular reticle... uh.. I think that's a #20.

Let me really confuse you here.

Let's say I wanted to run the rifle in that picture zeroed at 300 yards.

It is currently zeroed at 100 yards, but with the sticker I put on it (which is calibrated for the load I'm shooting) all I'd have to do to get a 300-yd zero is click it up to where the little "3" on my sticker, lines up with the hash mark on the scope.

Without the sticker, I would just reference a drop chart and click up however many MOA it was (3.75 MOA in this case).

But my point is- my rifle is nominally zeroed at 100 yards, but I can just click it easily to a 300-yard zero. This is essence of using a turret, really. I mean, I could also click it to a 500-yard "zero", right? That's what clicking it up DOES.

So you COULD zero the rifle at 300 yards, then lift the turret and set it down so that your zero mark "starts" at 300 yards; nothing wrong with that. Or, you could zero the rifle at 100 yards, and click up to a 300-yard zero easily.

I do the latter for two reasons. First, because it's easier for me to find a 100-yard spot to quickly check zero if I want to. Second, because for woods hunting, I much prefer a 100-yard zero, and my rifles get in the woods a lot (yours might not, in Arizona and all).

I hope I haven't just confused things. Short answer- yes, you can easily run a 300-yard zero, and click up from there, if that's what you want to do.

Nope not at all. I am smart about bins, but stupid when it comes to rifle scopes since I don't get behind one very often. I sit behind bins a lot!
The info you shared makes perfect sense, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. makes perfect sense. Thanks!

I am exploring the idea of printing up more professional versions of my little stickers. It would be pretty easy. But for now, I just used a dime to cut a circle out of white electrical tape, then used my drop charts to put a little "3" or "4" or "5" (for how many hundreds of yards) at the appropriate number of clicks, with an ultrafine Sharpie. It's waterproof and oh so easy. I do wonder if the adhesive will let the sticker move if it gets really hot though.

This is essentially what the "custom" turrets, calibrated for a load, give you. So to shoot at 600 yards, I spin the turret to line up with the number "6" on my sticker. Slick as snot and super fast.

Now, the little stock turret isn't the one to use for high-volume target shooting. It's not as easy to turn as a big turret for obvious reasons. It'll make your finger tips sore after a couple hours of dickin' with it. But that's not what you are using it for here, and if it is, you are $65 away from a nice bigger turret from Zeiss!

For $300 I would look at the Bushnell 3-9x40 4200 or the Weaver 3-10x40 Grand Slam.

Enrique, if your willing to go the extra 69.00 for the Conquest, you will not regret it!!

+1

That would be my choice for $300 new. But I'd probably look for a good used VX3 in 2.5X8 or 3.5X10 for about the same money.


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