Mid-range scope shopping

[GTS Dean]

I'm looking to spend in the ballpark of $500 + mounts on a dual-purpose scope. It will be swapped between 2 or 3 rifles while working up hunting loads at the range and eventually take up residence on one. Field use will be white tail, muleys, hogs and coyotes at 100-400 yards. Closer than that, I go for pistols. Calibers are .270 Win and 7mm Mag with decent to good barrels. I don't need or want big knobs stiking out the sides to get broken. I'm not into the longer/cooler/more gadgets thing. I need very good low light performance. Is adjustable objective worth the $? How about parallax adj? There's not usually time on a game shot to be fumbling with gadgets.

I am currently looking at 40mm 4-10x and 4.5-14x in Nikon and Leupold (III). I might be happy with a 3x9, but range duty favors a bit more magnification.

Thanks in advance...

 

[taliv]

consider one of the leupold VX-L scopes with the divot in the objective lens that lets you mount a larger bell lower than normal. That will give you the low-light you want.

e.g.

(actually, all the examples I found were $700 and up, but I could have sworn there were some in the $500 range. hmm...)

 

[lipadj46]

You could buy the Leupold above and pay about $250 more for the hype and that goofy looking objective that may or may not hold a proper seal over the years or buy A Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 for $450 and never look back. I would take better glass over +1x more magnification any day. The 3.3-10x44 Conquest steps up to $750 and again is an outstanding scope for the money. Also check out the Sightron SII Big Sky 3-12x42 for $500 those will also be better than the Leupolds. Another really nice scope is the Bushnell 6-24x50 Elite 4200 Tactical scope for $569 that is a good one you may want to check out it has target knobs and side focus and better glass the the VX-III. All of these scopes will have as good or better low light performance of the Leupold VX-L or VX-III with the same warranty. Zeiss and Sightron easily have as good of CS as Leupold and Bushnell is not that far behind especially with the Elite 4200s and above.

 

[GTS Dean]

From what I've been reading online, and your recommendation, I'm inclined to buy the SII 3-12x40. I've got some Zeiss camera lenses, but they just aren't in my scope budget right now. Thanks!

 

[hossdaniels]

Sightron SII big sky is a great scope for the money. I just bought one in 3.5-10x50, but the duplex recticle is a little thin for hunting in dark woods IMO. The big sky's also have a rainguard type coating. For hunting, I'd go with a zeiss conquest 3-9x40 ($420 here http://theopticzone.com/detail.aspx?ID=1925. 3-9x40 is all you need, and the dark z-plex recticle makes all the difference in low light.

 

[lipadj46]

If you do want a Leupold the VX-III's are on closeout now so you should be able to find a good deal on one of them. They have good glass and the sale prices knocks them down to where their major competitor's prices are at.

For really nice glass on a budget check out these 2 deals:

http://www.swfa.com/c-2119-nikon-team-primos-riflescopes.aspx
http://www.swfa.com/pc-7280-185-bushnell-3-9x40-elite-4200-rifle-scope.aspx

I own the Bushnell and I just got the Team Primos for my father's Ruger Hawkeye 30.06. The Team Primos is a Monarch UCC with BDC reticle. Just for comparison sake these 2 scopes have glass that is considered to be a bit superior to the VX-III line. The Bushnell has the Rainguard coating which is good and the Nikon has a little more eye relief.

 

[homers]

Bruno Shooting Supply has the Bushnell 4200 3-9x-40 for $238.

Cabelas has some decent prices on the discontinued VX-III's

 

[GTS Dean]

After checking out Cabela's, I dropped the hammer on the Leupold VX-III 4.5-14x40 with adjustable objective. If not for that option and a couple of $ less than the best internet deal I found for the Sightron, I would have ordered the SII.

Thanks for the recommendations and great hyperlinks folks!

 

[homers]

Let us know how you like it after you shoot with it for a while.

 

[lipadj46]

Bruno Shooting Supply has the Bushnell 4200 3-9x-40 for $238.

That is an awesome deal. They were on sale at a few places for $240 back in August and I bought mine then.

Also to the OP congrats on a good scope, enjoy.

 

[GTS Dean]

First update on the new scope:

I mounted the 4.5-14x40 VX-III A.O. on my 7 Mag and did some side-by-side comparisons yesterday evening from sunset to twilight. The other scopes were a Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14x40mm side focus tactical on one son’s .308 and a 3-9x50mm VX-II on the other son’s .270. Multiple observations were done at equal power adjustments at 100-500 yards.

The Nikon has good optical quality, but the sight picture is only about 60% of the comparable VX-III. There’s a BIG black circle around a small picture. The FOV specs don’t show that much difference, but it is huge in the real world. The image crispness seemed about on par the VX-III, but the big black ring made everything appear much darker.

The VX-II definitely has a much brighter image, as one would expect with 10mm more objective diameter. However, the difference in glass and coatings between the VX-II and VX-III are pretty amazing. The III is very sharp with lots of contrast, while the II is a bit diffuse and washed out. The VX-II also requires more accurate cheek placement for eye relief. Part of the clarity difference is probably due to the adjustable objective lens on the III. At 500 yards and matching power levels, the II and III did not have noticeably different FOVs.

Hopefully, I’ll have some benchrest comparisons after this weekend.

 

[lipadj46]

There’s a BIG black circle around a small picture.

Either your scope is defective or you have it mounted too close or far forward. Also your scope may not be properly adjusted for parallax.

 

[GTS Dean]

Like I said, it's my son's rifle and he bought the scope he wanted. But, I will take your advice and do some investigating.

 

[afish4570]

How do Burris products compare to these...

I have a couple 3x9x40's and they seem ok......Had mine for 8yrs or so....afish4570