Another "Which scope" Thread

I just ordered a new Ruger Hawkeye Standard in 243 and it should be arriving shortly. The original Ruger M77 in 243 was the first gun that I killed a deer with as a kick and my dad ended up selling that gun and I thought it would be neat to have another one like it. I'm sure it will just have a plain vanilla walnut stock and probably won't have the high polish bluing that the original red pad M77s had, but it will at least remind me of my first deer rifle and I think that's really what I'm after.

So this will not be my primary hunting rifle, but if I did end up using it, it would be for whitetails under 200 yards. I'm thinking about two different Leupolds right now. I can get the VX Freedom 4-12x40 for $181 or I can get another VX3i 3.5-10x40 for $274. I really like the current VX3i that I have, but just don't know if I will be happy with the 10x. I always liked a 4-12x for whatever reason.

FL-NC said:

I like Vortex for the quality and guarantee- not to mention the gov't discounts.

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I'm not opposed to Vortex, I have one on a Howa right now. But I think with a walnut stock rifle, I would like to stick with a more traditional look and Leupold, to me, goes really well with a walnut stock rifle.

LoonWulf said:

You maybe surprised at the finish....and by that i mean ive seen everything from flat matte and plain wood, to nicely figured wood, and shiney bluing, on the new hawkeyes. My .300 had a really nice stock, a well polished, but not fantastic bluing. Another friends 7mm had fantastic bluing and a crappy...well plain... stock so we swapped.
Most of what ive seen were pretty matte with ok, to nice wood.


anyway....

Ill vote Vx-f on this one if you really appreciate the extra power. Id rather have the vx-3i, but i havent seen much difference between 10 and 12, and would rather have the slightly better glass, and much better turrets.

I guess it also begs the question. How much time you plan of spending with the gun, and looking thru the glass?
less then favor tips in direction of the vx-f
more and id probably look at a 4.5-14 or vx-3i

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It's really just going to be a "back up" rifle and more for nostalgia purposes. It won't be seeing much use.

LoonWulf said:

Im not a leupold guy, but that basic package just screams american "HUNTING" rifle to me. Id probably even go with a leupold classic base and rings lol.

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Definitely! I think the Ruger comes with medium factory rings and I was planning on buying Leupold brand low rings to drop the height of the scope since it would be a 40mm.

LoonWulf said:

I think the rugers are high actually.....id id forgotten leupy offered direct replacement rings. I had a low set for my Mini, and they were really nice, especially since ruger seems to keep putting stocks with low combs/set up for non existent opens on guns, and giving you high rings lol.

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If that's the case, I will definitely be ordering the Leupold low rings then. I just thought a set of Leupold branded rings would look sharp with a Leupold scope on a walnut rifle.

I had a set of Leupold Ruger high rings for another M77 I had in the past that I had a 50mm scope on and the Leupold rings were very nice.