High-end IER Scopes?

[Wes Janson]

I've lately been trying to find an ideal scout rifle optic, and it seems to me that the handgun/scout scope market is nearly non-existent. Ideally, I'd like to find a variable-power optic that gives a decent range of magnification, from 2 or 3x up to 6 or 7, for shooting at distances of 5 to 500 yards. The catch is, the only thing going right now seems to be Leupold's VX-III 2.5-8x32mm, for approximately $450. There's a few other cheaper options from other manufacturers (Burris, Simmons, etc), but why isn't there so little choice in terms of durable, decent quality handgun glass? The Leupold seems like the way to go, but they only offer it in two models with an extremely limited selection of custom shop modifications. Is this such a small market that it's just not economical to mess with, or do they simply figure that low power optics mounted to stockless weapons don't require that much quality? Or am I looking for something that simply won't work out in practice?

 

[Browning]

This is what most people use.

http://www.swfa.com/p-3642-leupold-25x28-fx-ii-scout-scope.aspx

http://www.swfa.com/c-628-burris-scout-scopes.aspx

Leopold and Burris, they're pretty good.

They aren't Zeiss or anything that'll be $8-900 apiece, but they're about middle of the road as far as quality goes. Those are the only good Scout Scopes that I know of and it's what most people use. For Scout use you don't really need a variable scope that high, but if you want one you're stuck paying about what you said ($400 to $500).

 

[Pedro77]

Take caution using a handgun scope for a scout rifle. I found out the hard way. Most handgun scopes' parallax is permanently set at 50 yards, which means that at greater distances, if there is any variation in your cheek weld, your point of impact will vary greatly. Scopes that work best for scout rifles are defined specifically as IER scopes and have parallax set out further. As said before, Leupold and Burris both have decent IER scopes.
A handgun scope will work, it is just something to consider before dropping the cash.


Good Luck,
Pedro

 

[First Shirt]

My Ruger M-77 "pseudo-scout" (it's a 30-06 w/ 22" bbl) carries a Burris 2.75 pistol scope, and it works very well. I don't think (operative word) that the scout concept is well-suited to a variable, or high power (above about 4X) scope. And honestly, if I need more than 3X to see the target, I probably don't need to be shooting at it anyway.

This is just my opinion, and worth about what you paid for it.

JWB

 

[ClarkEMyers]

You're right it doesn't exist.

I've always assumed that the higher powers with the variable would conflict with the both eyes open Scout concept as the eye relief becomes more critical and the image sizes diverge - but we all know what assume does.

For my own purposes on my true Scout - Steyr - I have one in .308 with lever QD mounts on the rail so I can substitute a standard eye relief scope variable or fixed in the field if I want to - mostly for bench load testing and never yet in the field.

I've got a Steyr Dragoon with fixed mounts figuring all the ruggedness I can get is none too much and shots will never be that long.