sorry to solicit yet more advice, but I've not yet bought a "turret" scope. I've happily used simple 4-12x40 Redfields on 308's for elk thus far.

but now that I'm building a purpose-built rifle, I need a scope to match.

my back wall will be 500 yards.

my current LR scope specs (and reasoning for each) are:

top magnification around 20-25x (more than that seems unnecessary at 500)
30mm tube (better light transmission, a little more rigid)
FFP reticle (so I dont have to worry about magnifcation setting)
MIL-adjustments (reportedly easier to use than MOA, but I've no experience w/either)

if I'm getting off track, please advise.

thus far I've seen a few scopes that meet all those specs and still <$1k, which is my "target" (see what I did there) budget.

you don't need 20-25 for 500.......

This. A 10-12x on the top end would be plenty for that range imho.

Dave

A LRHS2 from GAP would work well.

10x fixed.

This goes against every one of your criteria but would be ideal for your needs


3-15 Tract

except budget, it would fit nicely

What is the actual purpose of the rifle? Edk

elk rifle from 300-500 yards.

most of my elk hunting areas are short range (<300 yards) but there are also several spots where opportunities are considerably longer.

Very simply put, your question is written with a lack of experience that wouldn't suit much of the criteria you are listing.

Forget the 30mm, it doesn't transmit any more light than a 1 inch tube. You also don't need more room in the erector under 500 yards.
Mil dots are not for the neophite
FFP is still another feature that is suited to a more experienced shooter

Look for a Swarovski Z-5 3.5-18X44 BT 4w and you will have found Utopia. It will do all you are looking for and you won't be sorry.

Swfa 6x42 or 3-9x42. Perfect for 500 yard hunting rifles.

LRHS2, as has been said previously.

20x is going to be way too much of a good thing at 500 yards for a few reasons, smaller field of view makes it tougher to get back on target after coming off recoil, especially if the target moved, and it will really magnify your breath and body movement.

Plenty of used Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10’s and 3-12’s available that will fit your requirements.

500 yards I'd happily SS 6x milquad for $300. Along with Seekins or Arc M10 rings.

I own all of the SWFAs mentioned herein and the Bushnells. In my opinion, you would be hard pressed to do better than a Bushnell LRHS or LRTS. I like and use the SWFAs and Bushnells; but, if I were searching for that "just one" for your identified purposes, it would be the LRHS/LRTS.

Yep. I'd look for a used LRTSi 3-12x. The reticle is bold enough to be useful at mid-power and 12x is enough for 500yds. I'm glad I got one when they were being made.

I bought a used Night Force 3-10X42 SHV, it tracks well and has all the magnification I need. I wished it had a zero stop, but like the capped windage.

I shoot an 8” gong with 3-9 out to 600. Granted the gong pretty much disappears with the heavy duplex. But I do it.
I swing out to 800+ with my 3-12 but I’m not a consistent hitter that far..
3-12 maybe 3-15 max is all you need. Especially if you plan on hunting with it.

Elk are big and provide a pretty good contrast for your crosshairs. I’d have no problem, whatsoever, placing shots at 500 with a fixed 6x, or a variable in the 2-7x to 3-10x range.

While I believe there is no such thing as too much scope- what you really need for your purposes is pretty simple compared to somebody who is trying to spot bullet holes on paper at extended ranges. For game as most have said above a top end of around 12-14 power would be more than enough and both the Bushnells and SWFA scopes, along with many others in this range are more than adequate for your uses. The longest two shots I've ever made on elk were 515 yards and 600 yards and the 2.5 -10 B&L Elite 4000 I had mounted on my 338 WM was more than enough scope for aiming and placing the shot on both.
I carry a 4.5 -14 on my new elk rifle just to use to identify points as spike only tags seem to be the only tags we seem to be able to draw any more... if that is a consideration a slight bump in power may be in order but a 20 power scope on a hunting rifle is often a nuisance when shooting shorter distances or moving through the woods...

It might seems trivial - but do make sure, that reticle and adjustments match. Be it MOA/MOA or MRAD/MRAD(my preference).
A MOA reticle and MRAD -turrets or vice versa is unnecessaryly complicated - but has been offered.

10x MRAD SWFA Mil-Quod or a 3-12x44 Bushnell LRHS MRAD would be my choices (I do have both).

You don’t have to dial for 300 yds, and on elk, barely for 400. Beyond that, I would say yes. If this is elk-specific, I agree, you really don’t need more than10x at the top. Ok, 10x, 12x, or 15x top.

Might ask what is your platform, weight, and chambering. Just my opinion, but if your back wall is 500, you could do well without a special build and a quality scope with a good ballistic reticle.

Have a look at the Leupold VX5 3-15 with CDS and fire dot. I went through a number of scopes - SFP and FFP - prior to this one. They all worked fine, but I wanted/needed a good adjustable illuminated reticle. Some of the scope I tried had illumination, but the illumination wasn’t user friendly. The fire dot seemed to be just the ticket, and the CDS dial can be customized for your rifle and load. So I bought one and got the custom turret (first one is free). I checked the dial out by shooting out to 400 yards and the scope was right on. Since then I’ve used the CDS and fire dot to a max distance of 400 yards on a hog in failing light. So far, I have to say that it’s my favorite scope ever. The only minor issue is that it’s the only rifle I hunt with now.

30 mm tube, if that matters, and the cost was under $1000.

Rifle is a Savage BVSS 112 - used to be a 25-06, but I rebarrelled it for this purpose. it's heavy as hell (was a great prairie dog gun), but that makes it very easy to shoot well.

Well, you didn’t mention what it’s or is to be chambered in, but regardless, you want to add nearly two pounds of scope, rings and bases to an already very heavy rifle? Is it to be another 308?

I guess my next question would be where do you elk hunt that you get mostly mostly under 300 yd shots but want a 10+ lb rifle? If it’s private land where you can take a lay-down stand, maybe. But anything other than that and we have very different views of what makes a portable elk rifle.

I have no problem with the 308 itself.

sorry. it's now a 280AI.

so just to be clear, on my elk hunt this year I found a couple spots that offer longer shot opportunities, and surprisingly, neither are ridiculous hikes from the road. both are <1/2 mile from the truck, all walking on fairly flat terrain. for this application, a heavy rifle isnt a bad thing.

my "normal" elk rifle is a Savage LWH in 308, with 4-12 glass. I used it to shoot this years cow at ~35 yards on public land/national forest. in my lifetime, I've shot 3 elk now. 35, 19 and 35 yards each.

SWFA 3X9 Mil

This season I upgraded the scopes on my elk rifles. I had Leupold VX6 2-12s with the lit long range duplex. I was good to 500 with this setup using the dots. I sold the Leupolds (most went for >$1000 on ebay) and bought the Vortex Razor LHT mil/mil illuminated 3-15 from Scott at Liberty Optics for $750 shipped. I think these are very tough to beat for the money. Excellent glass, tracking is spot on, durable, locking turrets with good clicks, and a nice illuminated non-cluttered reticle.

Well, I’m no expert and there are many here who’ve taken more elk than I, but in contrast to your experience, of ten bulls I’ve taken, all were after hours and miles of walking/riding in the mountains. Three cows were closer.

Perhaps unusual here, my bulls averaged over 400 yds. I’m not here to dissuade anybody for building an elk rifle but it seems to me, your “normal” elk rifle would much more versatile than “ol heavy” because I expect your average distance is going to be far north of where it is now if you keep after these wonderful animals. And it will most likely be hiking much longer distances.

Just me, but, if anything, I would consider your lightweight Savage with a good ballistic reticle scope. My opinion again, but don’t marry your lightweight rifle to a 30 mm heavyweight scope which you will get with about any “dialing scope” due to the necessary internals. Keep the top at 10 or 12x.

I took a rutting whitetail at 500 yds with a Zeiss and their proprietary reticle. Dialing will be more precise but significantly at 500 yds and on but I have used Zeiss, Swarovski, Leopold, and Bushnell ballistic reticles and they all work with proper understanding.

Get two; put one on each rifle and you have a set-up for a quarter mile off the rode, and that hunt where you end up 5 miles in and up.

Good hunting.

Hell, at 500 yards throw a Burris FFII with a ballistic plex on there.

But if you want to get tricky, Nightforce SHV.

^^^^
This

John

Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x.

Answers usually come on first page. Didn't read the rest.

Hand me over a Burris Veracity and let's kill some elk.

I'm of mind that you can't hit what you can't see. For your budget and desire to have more magnification, I can recommend the Nikon X1000 6-24x 50mm, 30mms tube if you can still find one. This is excellent glass for the money, generally under $750, and has illuminated reticle which is nice for shady targets. If you don't need more than 6x great, but you've got the magnification if you want it. I own four of them and have been very pleased with them.

BINGO!!!

I would point out that if you are dialing for distance, FFP is of little (no?) consequence. I don’t personally want my reticle to change with power settings, like it does with FFP, though others don’t mind. I would scratch that one from the requirement list.

A Zeiss V4 4-16x50 with their #93 illuminated reticle can be had from RHR for $799 and they are really nice units. The turret design is fantastic- best I’ve used or even just checked out; it’s killer. The scope is Jap built from the same folks building the NF SHV’s. The #93 is a simple reticle (not an xmas tree, avoid those) that that presents to my eye as a duplex give or take, but will still provide windage hashes for holding off. The illumination is slick. Optically superb.

If you go this route don’t get tempted by the 44mm version. Get the 50mm. I have both and can speak to that with some authority.

I highly doubt anyone is looking for advice from a dumbass liberal that can't balance himself on a ladder or open a box of bullets.....

Jeff,

To the contrary, the point of an FFP reticle is that the subtensions don't change with changes in magnification. This is extremely useful for feedback and measuring the angular subtension of various things, even when dialing elevation (and I would actually suggest that it's particularly helpful when dialing elevation).

Hey Jordan! Long time. Your kids must be getting BIG!

Yeah, I know how FFP’s work and what their advantages and disadvantages are. I think the OP would be well-served by a SFP scope; or at least shouldn’t rule one out for their stated purposes. Also, if they do decide to stick with FFP in their spec, they should handle one and mess with changing the X’s and make sure a reticle that changes like that suits them. I personally don’t like it. Very distracting.

A lot of folks have done a lot of very good shootin’ with SFP scopes.

ETA: I just re-read the OP. I hope he realizes that if you are dialing for elevation, you do not need to worry what magnification a SFP is set to. That’s only an issue if you are using a holdover reticle for your elevation... in that case, the scope has to be set to full power. If you dial, it doesn’t matter what power the scope is set to.

There’s an exception I’ll mention just because Jordan is a sharp guy and will point it out. It’s pretty much irrelevant to the OP but in the spirit of technical accuracy here it is. The exception to the above is the windage hash marks that I mentioned in the SFP Zeiss 4-16x50 with the #93 reticle. For those to be correct the scope does need to be at full power. With the OP using it for hunting, at 500 max, I contend that’s a non-issue... but there it is.

They are getting big, indeed, Jeff! How's things with you?

I know you know how FFP reticles work, but I thought it needed to be pointed out that while the absolute linear dimensions of FFP reticles vary with mag changes, the relative dimensions (i.e., the angular subtensions) remain constant, which is exactly their primary benefit. I would also point out that holding corrections for drop and wind drift are only two of the uses in which FFP reticles are advantageous. They are also very handy for measuring angular corrections when a previous shot is not on the intended POI (whether your own shot, or when spotting for another shooter), leading moving targets, estimating distance using the reticle, estimating target size, etc. In all of these scenarios the constant angular subtensions mean that you don't have to worry about he magnification setting; a good thing, since I'm often not on max magnification when using the marks on my reticle. I would argue that these are handy features even for 500 yard shooting and in.

Of course good work can be done and has been done with SFP reticles. But FFP reticles give more flexibility and make it easier to do that work in a variety of scenarios.

On the cheap - I’d go SWFA 6x MQ. An all around’er that cover elk bases to 500.
Simple to use. Good eye relief. Quick and intuitive.

For a little more $$ I’d choose (and did x2) the SWFA 3x9 MQ.

I’ve been using the Zeiss HD5 3-15x50 with a Z800 reticle it matches my trajectory on the 300 Weatherby perfectly all the way to 800. We practice that far getting ready. Longest shot so far 550 yards 3 shots shared the same exit hole no thinking or dialing is good for me to 600 yards in any normal conditions. The V4 should be almost as easy to set up in the 4-16x50 with a couple of reticle choices with lots better glass.

If you get the V4 4-16x50mm, and intend to dial, go with the #93 reticle IME. If you intend to hold over I guess one of the xmas tree reticles but I hate those things for general purpose huntin’. The #93 presents very cleanly to my eye as a crosshair BUT has the windage hashes if I want them for holding off.

Forget the FFP, SFP is better 95% off the time for this application. I wouldn't go over 18-20 power as your field of view will do compromised you will struggle to find the elk in scope and lose it at shot.

You can go to 500 yards with just a hold over style reticle but turrets will certainty work. .
There are so many great options for this that it boils down to what your budget is and what feels good to you. 30mm scope is a great call as many of the good scopes for this application are of the 30mm variety.

A good quality 3-15 will work. A 4-20 will work great too. When you get to 20x magnification you will want a better quality scope or this no point in having all that magnification

I also agree that SFP is probably a better option here. I know I prefer it for hunting. Find something 12 to 16 on the higher end and three or four on the lower end, with a reticle you like.

Good choice, simple and the reticle is uncluttered for close shots. There's no way to screw up by using the wrong line and the fire dot is nice in low light or deep woods.

I’ve taken dozens of elk, with most at 350-400yds. Elk are large so I sighted in for 350yds, which gave a point blank range of about 435yds using a 340wby. When ranges were longer, I simply held higher. For this kind of hunting, a 3.5x10 SFP was perfect (these were vari-x-III scopes). For what you are doing, I think a Tract 3x15 with a duplex reticle would be perfect. IMO, these ranges don’t require dialing or putting up with a hard to see FFP reticle at close range. Great thing about the Tracts is the tracking is outstanding if you decide you want to play the game.

As most have said skip the First Focal Plane reticles.

Keep the top end mag below 20X and 15X is a sweet spot.

The Leupold 3-15x44 with a wind plex and CDS checks all the boxs includinge price point while delivering best in class performance.

But what do I know about killin elk?

Sightron makes a 3-16 with duplex reticle that might be a good choice for medium ranges. I've not used one but reviews are positive and say it's adjustments are repeatable.

This has been my experience as well. I have 2 VX5 3-15's and a VX6 3-18. They are on a 270, 280ai, and 300 wsm. I have only killed 2 Elk, A nice Bull at 250 yd and a cow. So I am certainly no expert when it comes to Elk hunting, but I have killed my share of deer. I also enjoy long range shooting and these scopes work well for me. You may not need the 18 power on the top end, but it sure makes it nice for identification purposes at distance.

3x15 vx5 with windplex reticle.

I absolutely agree. I stretch mine out to 800 yds a lot and don't feel underscoped. The clarity of the scope makes it perform better than expected

Same scope I have on a couple of my hunting rigs. Good friend used it for elk this year.
His longest shot was beyond 500 yards, but the scope works great.

20x is ridiculous, if the elk takes a step or you need a follow up you will never find it

If you need to count points 14,15, 16(maybe to much)

Brown and down 10-12 max is all you need

6x is all you "need", but if you have to count points/etc higher mag can come in quite handy.

Exactly this^^^ Good post. I would use a simple Burris FFII 3-9x40 with a ballistic plex reticle and have ho issues at all. The op did say he would use this rifle for close shots too. No need for a FFP or wasting time dialing if shots are only 500 either. Just practice with a set up that has a ballistic plex type reticle and know your limits. I was shooting with a guy yesterday that wanted to use his elk hunting rifle in a long range varmint silhouette match. He was shooting off of his pack, the rifle was a Remington 700 and he was using a Vortex 4-16x50 with a ballistic reticle of some sort. He managed to hit the 600 yard target once. Said he had shot a bull with the rifle last year that was 500 yards away, so it can be done with a simple set up like that. However, he needs a chit ton of practice, which was apparent yesterday: I don't think he shoots the rifle much and relies on factory ammo. He possessed 3 big downfalls, that I could see, if you want to attempt shooting and taking big game animals at longer distance. As much as I don't like Vortex, the scope was not one of them. JMHO..

The Hilarious FF2's are steaming piles of fhuqking schit,that can't/won't track/repeat/hold zero. Hint.

Bless your hearts for trying though.

Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!...................

This is the problem where I hunt. Point restrictions and muleys with ridiculous two point racks and not even a nub that would make three points and legal.

Otherwise, I have to carry a spotter as well.

If I can find them in my 10X binos, and confirm through the rifle scope, then the shot is just a trigger pull away.

Bino, spotter, scope is a lot of movement.

Looking to buy my first real dialing scope as well, for hunting coyotes and antelope out to 500-600 yards and banging steel to 1000. So far leaning toward the LRHS-2. Seems to be the most bang for the buck, with a solid reputation.

My question is, how does it do in very low light? Is the G2H reticle still usable?

Any other recommendations for a $1K scope that will dial reliably and also perform well in very low light in open country?

I don't have the LRHS2, but the unlit G2H in the LRHS 3-12x is just fine in low light, and certainly still usable, unless you're in the jungle.

The more I shoot with my lrhs2, the more I like it.

Belated concurrence. An excellent scope for the purpose at hand.

LOL.

still good advice

I've found this scope to be the best compromise: Leupold VX-5HD Rifle Scope 30mm Tube 3-15x 44mm CDS-ZL2 Side Focus Matte

This one has turned out to be a pretty solid scope.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...ic-uhd-hunting-scope-review#Post17363385

John

I put a little Bushnell Sportview 4 X on my 10/22 back in 1990. Maybe sighted it in five times since. Excellent little scope. I wonder if they still make it.

My favorite scope for this application is the simpleton VX3 3.5-10x40, standard duplex, with the custom shop M1 elevation.

I have it on 3 rifles and don't find it lacking.

Truth be told, I haven't looked at other offerings.

I just wish the custom shop would open back up. I'd send in a couple more.

I recommend a Sightron SIII 8-32x 56mm. Great clarity, repeatable turrets, and extraordinary value. You will use the added magnification, trust me. I own 4 of these as well as 3 SV 10-59x 60mm. Sightron scopes are too botch and kick ass over a Night Force, Vortex, or even Schmidt & Bender.