Lit Reticles

[Dinosaur1]

Here in Mi. we're limited to rimfire after dark. I' thinking of a scope with lit reticle for my .22 mag. All the ones I have looked thru so far have way too bright with thick reticles. Think Simmons or Bushnell class for price. I've had great luck with these two brands on my .22s with little or no parallax. Willing to try others tho. I'm sure between us we've tried everything. Let's hear some experience, war stories, etc..

 

[jakk280rem]

Unfortunately, everything that makes a scope work well for hunting in twilight also makes it expensive. Adding an illuminated reticle into the mix just makes it larger, heavier and more expensive. The Europeans hunt a great deal after sunset and pioneered things like large diameter tubes and big objectives both of which are designed to collect and transmit light to the eye.

That being said, economy of scale and modern manufacturing methods have brought prices down across the board. Here are some makes I would look at. The all represent the best bang for the buck in scopes today.

Meopta
Minox
Valdada
Vortex
Burris

For instance, just to get you started: 4x magnification range, 56mm objective, 30mm tube and a heavy duplex reticle with a singe 1.5 moa lit aiming point in the center all for under $300.http://swfa.com/Vortex-3-12x56-Crossfire-II-Hog-Hunter-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P67751.aspx

 

[Mike C2]

I'm a fan of the Leupold Firedot. It adds little to the bulk of the scope. With that said, I have a relative cheap Bushnell Trophy 1-4 in a 30mm tube that has an illuminated dot. I paid $119 for the scope and for the price it's a heck of a nice optic.

Stadia lines are not too heavy and the dot not overpowering. It is adjustable in brightness and not bright enough in broad daylight, but that's not why I purchased it.

 

[OpticsPlanet]

I'm with Mike C2 on the Leupold firedot reticle.

I've also had good experiences with illuminated reticles in the Vortex products.

So many Illuminated reticles are so bright as to be useless on higher settings, unless you're shooting on the surface of the sun. I, too would welcome more settings on the lower end, instead of so many high brightness settings.

It's funny, on a red dot, I like my dot brighter than most folks, and with an illuminated reticle in a magnified optic,
I like it dimmer than most.

Mark H.

 

[GooseGestapo]

I've got an AcademySports 1-4x with ring-dot reticle. It's mounted on my ar15, and what I use to investigate what goes "bump" in the dark!

It has both red and green illumated reticle, and adjustable brightness levels. It's the only cheap illumated reticle scope I've been able to warm up to. $79.

 

[IndianaBoy]

If you add an illuminated reticle, you are probably in a situation where you will have to have a light to see your target. If you add a bright enough light, you will probably be able to see a non illuminated reticle.


Unless you are prepared to make the jump to night vision, you are probably best served by a very bright white light. Like a surefire.

 

[jmr40]

Illuminated retcles or red dots for that matter make it easier to see the sight. The same light inside the tube makes it much harder to see the target in poor light. At the very least they cancel each other out and in my experience you can shoot better in low light without them.

An external light source is in my opinion much better.