Scope selection?s

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

slchvac

Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
22
Location
Intermountain West
I just bought a new Remington 700 adl in a 30-06. This is the most high power rifle I have ever owned. My only real concern is getting scoped it doesn't sound like alot of fun.

I am thinking about a Bushnell elite 3200 for this gun. How much eye relief do I need for the recoil on this gun? Should this even be a concern or am I just being a wimp?
 
I have not used the Bushnell but have heard good things about them. Don't know your budget, but I have used the Nikon Buckmaster at arouind $200 as well as the Nikon Prostaff for around $150 and think they are decent budget scopes and wouild not reccommend anything cheaper. I like Leupolds myself and find the VX-II versions at around $300 to be all the scope that I need. The VX-I can be had for around $200 and it as well as the Buckmaster are probably the best buys in my opinion. I lean toward the Leupold for 2 main reasons. They are generally a little lighter than comparable scopes and have more eye-relief than most other brands.
 
Last edited:
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that you won't find any modern scope that is less than 2 ". But some of that is going to depend on the power scope you buy. I think that generally, the higher the magnification setting (for example, 20x on a 6x-20x scope) the closer your eye will have to be, and conversely, the lower the power setting, the greater the eye relief. Still, I doubt that you'll find any good scope requiring less (or much less) than 2" at it's highest power.
There are many much more knowledgable shooters here than I.
 
bought a leopold var-x 11 on auction arms for under $200, its a 3x9 and works great on my Rem 700 and also bought one for my armilite AR-15.
 
an .06 does not kick as bad as you think, ; if your rifle allready comes with a thick recoil pad, say an inch or more thick, then no worries. If it is less than a half inch thick, then buy a slip on pad. The bushnell higher end series scopes are very good, so that would be an excellent choice.
 
How much eye relief do I need for the recoil on this gun?
Click to expand...
3" or more is fine. i wouldn't hunt down a scope by eye relief - just about any brand you commonly come across is going to be sufficient. i personally like 3.5 - 4" of eye relief, but that's personal preference and not necessity.

Should this even be a concern or am I just being a wimp?
Click to expand...

no it shouldn't be a concern, and you're not being a wimp - just un-knowing. don't sweat it... if a bushnell 3200 turns your crank, it'll do just fine.

the 700 adl's did not come w/ very good recoil pads. fortunately for you, beginning when remington discontinued the adl series, they brought out the r-3 pad - which is a re-branded sims pad. this is an excellent pad, will fit your gun w/ minimal fuss, and makes the gun dramatically more comfy to shoot. it will be a well-spent $35.
 
Bought a 700 BDL 30-06 over 25 years ago, mounted a Leupold VariXII 3X9 with Leupold rings/mounts. That combo has worked on dozens of big game for me. If I was to do it over I would choose the same again. I do have the same set up in 270 with Weaver mounts/rings that will shoot under MOA with Leupold scope also, I prefer the looks of Leupold mounts/rings better.

I prefer a hard smooth butt pad on my hunting guns, not near as likely to hang up or get caught in heavy clothing when you need that gun to your shoulder. If a pad is needed at the range a pair of leather gloves folded between shoulder and butt pad work for me or a slip on pad. In the field when you pull the trigger at a critter your not going to feel the recoil anyway.
 
Don't worry about sufficient eye relief with the 3200 series..........they've plenty of it and'l work well on your rifle.

I have two '06s with 3200's (actually one is an older B&L version), one's an old M/70 with a 3-9X50 the other a carbine length BAR with the 4-12 AO. I also have a .338 BAR with the firefly version of the 3-9X50 and all three are easily used from either a bench setup or in the field with no issue as to eye relief. Never had an issue with zero shift or fogging either....that rainguard coating is a real plus on the newer versions

By the way, I set all three up with Leupolds QDs and get a precise return to zero when dis and re mounting.

Those Bushnells are a very good piece of glass that you'd have to spend quite a few more bucks to duplicate in other brands.
 
Listen to colo. Don't think of a rifle as something you put a scope on. Think of a scope as something you hang a rifle on.

You should be budgeting more like $350 or more. You really do get what you pay for in optics. You won't believe the difference.

Save money until you can afford the better glass. Really. The amount of light transmitted by, the clarity of, and the freedom from distortion of good glass has to be seen to be appreciated.

I know this isn't fun advice to get, and maybe you can't act on it now--the money might not be there. Still, consider something like the Nikon Monarch, even if it means waiting a while to get it. I promise the wait will be worth it.
 
I've got a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40 on a Weatherby Vanguard in 7mm Remington Magnum. Eye relief is about 3.3", if I remember the specs correctly, and is just fine.

The rifle and scope combo has been excellent. The scope holds zero, is repeatable, clear, and tough. Proven by hours of climbing around the canyons and ravines in the Bankhead National Forest and Skyline WMA, both in N. Alabama. It's taken some good knocks, both in the wild, and riding in the back of my pickup while traveling some pretty rough logging and NF roads; it still sends the bullet where the crosshair points.

The great thing about the Elite series is their proprietary Rain Guard. It flat out works as advertised! Any water that hits the exterior lens surfaces are immediately dispersed, giving a clear view when peering through the scope. It's a lot like Rain-X on your car's windshield.
 
As far as actual need, a fixed four-power will work as well as anything. I used Weaver K4s for years before my billfold let me move "up" to a Leupold 3x9. Even then, I killed more deer with it set on 3X than anything else--including one 350-yard one-shot kill.

Higher magnification = more precision on paper, of course, or on smaller varmints at longer ranges.
 
I shot a Remmie 700 with a bushnell 4X scope for years in NW Colo. deer and elk. However, I just purchased a .22-250 Tikka for a truck gun, and put a Leopold VX-I 3-9 variable on it. Oh wow, what a difference. Now I wish I had that old -06 back so I could put the Leopold on it. Seems it was just over 200 at Sportsmans Warehouse. Great optics for the price. YMMV.
 
Art, Agreed.

Can you still find fixed magnification scopes with decent optics? The market seems to demand variable magnification, everyone thinking that more magification is better, and the optics makers seem to have met that demand by making anything decent in variable magnification. Last time I went shopping for optics, all of the fixed power optics I found--readily available, anyhow--was in super-cheap .22 scopes. But I don't do super-cheap scopes anymore. Hence the variable 4x12 scope on my .22. I didn't want the x12. I just wanted the good optics. It never gets dialed up past x4, but there ya go.
 
Last edited:
a 700$ rifle with a 150$ scope is a 150$ gun, but 300$gun with a 700$scope is a 700$gun, dont go cheep...
Click to expand...

It's amazing anyone was able to shoot and hit anything, before the marketing department of a scope company came up with that crap. I'm sure they moved on from there to "spend 2-3 months salary on an engagement ring". Any quality scope will work fine, and it doesn't have to cost as much as your gun. By the above illogical theory, I should be able to put a Nightforce on an SKS, and have a $1700 gun to shoot F-Class. And I'm still waiting to hear a story how a guy with a Schmidt and Bender beat his buddy with a 3200 to a shot at dawn. It's easy to find a reliable, repeatable, dependable scope with clear optics for a lot less than you have in your rifle. Especially if all you're doing is hunting.
 
You can definitely find cheap yet serviceable scopes. The Super Sniper is a perfect example of this and I've heard good things about the Mueller Tactical series. I'm running a Burris on my AI AW so I'm kinda of the opposite, spending far more on the rifle than the gun :D
 
Can you still find fixed magnification scopes with decent optics?
Click to expand...

dunno what you consider to be decent optics but leupold makes several versions, i think the 6x42 is better than 'decent'. the 6x36 is another i like. cabela's has several offerings in their alaskan guide line, and i just picked up a couple leupold 4x's at a gun show last weekend.

i am pretty sure burris makes some fixed power, but again, don't know if they qualify as 'decent' or not...
 
I like my Mueller 8X25 X 44 mil-dot. Glass is very clear, I can see .22 holes at 200 yards in good light, have parralax adjustment, and ajustable eye piece. The eye relief is 3" and I never blacken my eye on the rem mag so your safe with 3". The scope is $180 and have never seen a bad review for mueller. You might not need that much magnification but I find it nice with distance shots and the mil-dot is helpful once you get used to it for ranging and holdovers. The Bushnell elite gets good reviews from the reading I've done.
 
I prefeer a 4X over a 6X because of the field-of-vie issue. Even 4X can be a bit much if you get into hogs at five yards. :)

On my hunting rifles, I sight in and then never adjust the scope after that. I use holdover if it's a long shot. Because of that, I don't worry about repeatability of the adjustments--which is a cost factor.

I've always had good results with the old steel-tube Weavers, although later stuff is okay. I've bought a few at gunshows. I look backwards through the scope to check for chips on a lens, and compare the brightness with other scopes on the table. Never had any regrets.

I don't hear of problems from any of the mid-price brands when fixed power is discussed. The internal stuff is a lot easier to manufacture with decent quality at an affordable price, so most fixed-power scopes handle recoil okay.

As near as I can tell...

:), Art
 
It's amazing anyone was able to shoot and hit anything, before the marketing department of a scope company came up with that crap. I'm sure they moved on from there to "spend 2-3 months salary on an engagement ring". Any quality scope will work fine, and it doesn't have to cost as much as your gun. By the above illogical theory, I should be able to put a Nightforce on an SKS, and have a $1700 gun to shoot F-Class. And I'm still waiting to hear a story how a guy with a Schmidt and Bender beat his buddy with a 3200 to a shot at dawn. It's easy to find a reliable, repeatable, dependable scope with clear optics for a lot less than you have in your rifle. Especially if all you're doing is hunting.
Click to expand...

+1. I've got rifles with scopes by Leupold, Springfield Armory and Bushnell and I've also got some with scopes by BSA, Tasco and Leapers and even some real oddball Russian optics. I actually once lined them all up together side by side at dusk and compared them for clarity and light gathering ability and except for a Crosman scope, (which was a genuine POS), there wasn't much difference when you compared similar sized objectives and similar magnification. I judged them by focusing on distant objects, (like signs), and seeing if I could make out the finer details of them and by and large the BSA's and Tasco's did it just as well as the Leupold's and Springfield Armory.

One thing I have noticed however is that cheap scopes tend to be more affected by glare, (try shooting them in the direction of the sun and they light up like light bulbs), and on very cheap scopes the reticles tend to be about 3 times as thick as they should be. I bought a couple of those $20 Leapers Bugbuster scopes to put on some Chinese CO2 guns and the reticles can actually obscure the target sometimes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

B
  • Locked
Another Scout Scope question...
Replies
0
Views
439
bullockcm
B
R
  • Locked
Low Power Variable Rifle Scope
Replies
6
Views
839
jmr40
jmr40
M
  • Locked
Bushnell Elite confusion
Replies
15
Views
2K
usmc1371
U
M
  • Locked
recoil vs scope
Replies
12
Views
665
memphislee
M
C
  • Locked
Help me decide between these scopes...
Replies
6
Views
877
SwampWolf
S
Back
Top