What scope is best?

[Arkansas Paul]

During daylight I couldn't tell a difference between the clarity of the Simmons, a cheap Tasco I've tried, or the Leupold.

Wow. That's not been my experience at all. Don't get me wrong, I know that the Rifleman isn't the scope the upper end Leupolds are, but it's head and shoulders above any Simmons or Tasco I've ever tried.
I absolutely despise Simmons. It seems like everyone I've ever tried, it took forever to find the picture when you pulled the gun up. Maybe the eye relief was off, I dunno.
I will say if I had to do it again, I would buy a Nikon 3x9x40 over the Rifleman.
And I want to try the Burris Fullfield II as well.
I don't doubt for a second that there are better $200 scopes out there than the Rifleman. I fell into the brand name trap. I admit it. I haven't had a problem with it though.

 

[slowr1der]

Yeah I'm not sure if I just got lucky with the cheap scopes I've had or just got unlucky with the Leupolds or what. I thought the 3x9x40 I got maybe just had some issue and that's why I couldn't tell a difference. However, after getting the 2x7x33 VX-I it wasn't any better. Eye relief for me seemed similar on both. I had a couple buddies look through the 3x9x40 VX-I and compare it to a cheap Tasco. 2 of them liked the Tasco better. Myself I didn't see a difference.
I then tried the Burris and was surprised. I was expecting it to be good but when I held it up side by side with the Leupold in broad day light I was surprised as were my buddies. It seemed much more vivid and just brighter in general. It's super clear during the day time and in low light situations there is no comparison. After using the Leupold in this price range I wasn't expecting anything great from this price range of scopes but it really did surprise me. It makes both the VX-I and the cheap Simmons and Tasco's look pretty crappy to me. That's not saying the cheaper scopes wouldn't work fine and aren't clear enough to hunt with or shoot cans with though. There are others in the price range of the Burris that are great too. The Vortex Diamondback has been getting spectacular reviews in that price range as well as the Nikon Team Primos. The Burris was also $20 cheaper than the Leupold VX-I for the same size and it came with a free Garmin eTrex GPS. Amazon has had the Bushnell Elite 4200 for a great price too. It's a little more but not that much. It seems to be a great choice too. There are some great choices in that price range and if you can afford a $200-250 scope I think you should purchase one. After trying them I just don't think any of the Leupolds in that price range are the answer.

The Simmons and Tasco's aren't on the same level but they are also $30-50. So if that's all you have to spend I'd way rather have a Simmons or Tasco over a set of open sights.

 

[pat86323]

if you are looking for optics at a decent price i would seriously consider looking at cameralandny.com I have now bought a pair of binos and 2 scopes from them and am quite impressed with their customer service and their pricing. I actually just bought a pentax gameseeker 4-12x40 and for the really cheap scopes i think they have the best optics and a good rugged feel. I cant say anything for long term ruggedness but i put 200 rounds through my weatherby vanguard in 223 and it held zero very well and im happy with it for the money.

 

[Rokman]

Out of your choices, I would go with Nikon or Leupold.

 

[stars1]

In my opinion, Nikon is the best one.

 

[greyling22]

$50 range: I've had good luck with tasco world class' but the simmons optics seem better. I hear pretty good things about centerpoint (walmart) too.

sub $150 I'd look at the prostaff, redfield, sightron s1, burris timberline. maybe vortex crossfire, I've never looked through one. bushnell banners seem to be the best sub $100 scope.

$150-200 vortex diamondback, burris fullfield 2, bushnell elite 3200 etc.

I put a medium nice 3-9x40 scope on a 10/22 shooting federal bulk ammo for a while. I took it back off because the gun and ammo wouldn't do what the scope kept trying to tempt me to do. beyond that, a .22 isn't a hunting rifle, you don't need dusk and dark capabilities, or absolute reliability "when the shot counts" on safari. I'd get a cheap scope. probably a simmons.

 

[recurry]

Hey Spike,

You may want to check out the Redfield Revolution line that Leupold just came out with. I just picked one up yesterday and sighted it in this afternoon. At $149.00 + Leupold's lifetime warranty, I really don't think you can go wrong with one of these. It's built like a tank, has finger-adjustable turrets and the optics are stellar. In fact, I just sold a Leupold Rifleman 3-9x50 so I could buy this instead and the Redfield in 40mm is easily comparable to that 50mm Rifleman. I also cannot see any real difference between the Redfield and a Leupold VX-1 that I have mounted on a different rifle - they seem optically the same and the Redfield has the nice turrets on it.

I'm not sure why they're selling these so cheap right now, but I think they may be using this as a loss leader against the cheap import models that are coming in from China - selling the Redfields at such a low price gets people to put their first foot in the Leupold door instead of the Bushnell door...