Quality optics $200 - $275?

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Find a good used vari-x II 3x9 on ebay. I really like the eye relief of the Leupolds vs the Nikons that I own. Both are good glass I just prefer the Leupolds. I have bought several used Leupolds on ebay and each has been in great condition and a bargain to boot.


Sorry I missed the mil-dot part of your post. Buy the Buckmaster it'll work great. I have one on a .308 LTR and it works. It's a little short on the light gathering as you lose daylight but for general shooting you'll like it.
 
I have 2 barskas, and have bought another, i returned it, it was not functional.
Also , it is like a Tasco varmint series knockoff; a little rougher on the beauty and finishing of the parts, and product overall. I would bet then, that this is also a tasco/supersniper knockoff. Not to say it won't be good, it may; I would not have 2 if they didn't work. but then again , they are on rimfires.
I would trust the supersniper first.

BSA is 2nd worst hi mag scopes ever made; worst in NcStar. Leapers may be one step above
the others. NcStar is 100percent made in china. I don't know if all the parts of a Leapers is made in China, but they are deff assembled there. I have yet to come across some decent Chinese glass.
 
ya, after reading in depth reviews about all three scopes i decided to scrap all of them and start from scratch. i like my bsa, but the clarity sux!. it looks sweet, it works, and holds a zero. I have had a few problems with it being knocked off a couple times, but i only paid 100 for it. there seems to be a fine line between spending 200 and 300 dollars. for 200 you get a piece of ****, and for 300 you get a quality scope. the problem is i don't want to spend 300 for a scope. The problem is trying to buy a scope online. If i was in the store and could hold and look through it, i would know if it was a good scope, but only all you get is a picture and a brief description that usually is by the manufacturer so its bias. grrr. this is frustrating.
 
I have a couple of Nikon buckmasters/Monarchs and I've been very impressed with them. I would take a Nikon Buckmaster or Monarch over something like a Leupold. But for my long range gun, I have a Zeiss Conquest 6.5-20x50, which is one notch better than the Best Nikons, and probably as good of a glass that I would ever need.

I honestly don't think that you can go wrong with Nikon Buckmaster at that price range.
 
Super Sniper line from www.SWFA.com

I'll have to go along with the others who mentioned them already. I have the SS10X42M on my LTR and love it.

The scopes are all fixed power and come in 10X, 16X and 20X with mil dot reticles and target turrets that can be rezero'd.

At $24 more than your initial price guidelines I think they are a viable option and I don't think you would be disappointed at all. Like someone else mentioned, read some of the reviews on the SWFA website.
 
(QUOTE) "there seems to be a fine line between spending 200 and 300 dollars. for 200 you get a piece of ****, "

Not necessarily, that Elite 3200 10x mil-dot scope i recommended above isn't a piece of ****.
 
Just picked up a used rifle with a Sightron SII 3X9 on it, they are 2 to 3 hundred depending on where you buy. So far I like it real well plus it is made in Japan not China or who knows where Asia. Shop Japanese or made right here in the USA. US made can be found and remember Leupold is warrantied forever no matter who or when it was bought.
 
I said screw it, I'm spending some good money on a scope for my rifle. I just remembered that soon i will be getting a $600 check from good ol' uncle Sam so i decided to get the Nikon Buckmaster 6x18x40 with the BDC reticle. the cheapest I've found it so far is $359 at cabella's and midwayusa.com. Its pretty much exactly what i want with every option i want, and at a good price. Its more than i originally wanted to spend, but it has all the right options. It comes with target turrets that you can replace the caps with, a sunshade, and the awesome BDC reticle. plus its a nikon so i know the glass will be clear. i would rather have a scope with a little more magnification, but 18x will work fine.
 
I happen to love my mueller 8X25 X 44mm with mil-dot-accurate at 10X and doubled at 20X. http://www.eabco.com/cgi-bin/shopper.exe?preadd=action&key=029-T852544
$ 170 delivered, has held zero very well on my .223 (2500 rounds) and 7mm rem mag (200 rounds), is parralax adjustable, the turrets are very precision clicks (1/8 moa-I'd rather have 1/4) and the reticule covers about 1/4" at any distance your looking at. I can make out .223 holes at 200 yards and although the clarity lessens above 18X (a little greyer?) it is still excellent.
 
I have a Barska 4-16x50 AO Varmint model on my 7mm-08 and it's been great... Hasn't lost it's zero, and I've put easily 200 rounds through the gun since I got this scope. Clarity is quite good for the price. I've also got a 4x on one of my 22's and a BSA walmart special on the other 22... The Barska's clarity is better than the BSA... but for plinkers... they both do well...
 
Forget this BSA, NCstar stuff. Do not damage your eye sight by looking through those kaleidoscopes.


Get the Buckmaster recommended above. It isn't high end, but for a low/medium range scope, it's very good. Nikon tends to have better optical quality dollar for dollar in that price range than other brands.


I'm not an optics snob, but you do have to spend a little to get something decent. You don't have to spend $1,500 on a Swarofsky. But these Chinese-made junkers for around $75-$120 are useless and being that they have blurry optics that can never focus well nor project light with any decent resolution, possibly harmful as your eyeball is always trying to correct for it. My eyes get tired when using a crappy scope. That doesn't happen with a good scope. I don't use crappy scopes anymore. I'm willing to bet that 90% of the die-hard advocates of these coke-bottle optics have never spent more than 5 consecutive minutes behind a scope of the Buckmaster level (let alone something like a Zeiss etc...). If they did, they'd stop recommending them.


Think about it.
 
jpwilly gave you the right answer in post #2.

Nikon

Spend almost that on the 3 scopes you linked to and you will be disappointed.
 
i know, the buckmaster is by far better then all those other ones, but i couldn't find one for the price i wanted to spend until i looked around a little on ebay. The scopes msrp is like $450 and i got mine for $270. You guys really need to look around on ebay at the scopes i was looking at. they are the lowest priced scopes that i've ever been able to find online. The seller was poor fish. Hes got all kinds of Nikon's discounted. the Leupold's seemed to be about reg. price but I'm not sure how much they run usually anyway. I'd say thats a pretty dang good price. the whole reason i wanted different scope is because my eyes would be strained and took a while to adjust back after i had looked through the scope for a while. It took alot of looking around to find the right one, but i found it and i cant wait till it comes. i love how they give you the option to switch the caps with target knobs and there is a sunshade included as well. I'm really anxious to look through the BDC reticle. I figured what the heck, i never use my mildot for anything other then hold over anyway, and if the reticle doesn't work for my loads, then i still can adjust the elevation with the target knobs. I've had plenty of time to look through Nikon's, Leupold's, and Burris scopes when i worked at Dicks Sporting Goods a couple years back and i always liked the Nikon's.
 
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