Which Scope for Precision Rifle?

[Mikul]

I'm going to pick up a precision rifle early next year and am putting the parts together now. The rifle is mostly for the 400-600 yard range and is based on the less-is-more principle. It's small and light and I don't want the scope to detract from that. If I do my part with handloads and careful shooting, the rifle MAY be capable of 1/4 MOA. Caliber is .308. Mounts will be Badger.

I have been very happy with my Leupold Vari-X I scope and am seriously considering the Vari-X III 4.5-14x50mm Adj. Obj. Illuminated Mil-Dot reticle. The non-illuminated reticle is tempting because it drops 6oz off of the weight. I am tempted by the illuminated reticle because when shooting with iron sights after dark, I completely lost the target and front post, but even my little Vari-X I doesn't seem to have that problem. Perhaps the aperture dropped my available light too far.

I have looked through Leupolds and Zeiss and Swarovski scopes, and see minimal difference between them. The Schmidt and Bender scopes are much nicer, but far too pricey.

I'd like something as bulletproof as possible from the scope.

 

[bogie]

Who is building the rifle? What do they say?

Leupold works for me...

 

[Zak Smith]

I recently bought the Leupold 4.5-14X M1 (30mm tube), with mildot. It's an impressive scope and I'm very happy with it. One advantage over the 3.5-10X M1's is that it's a bit shorter in length. I've heard that the Leupold illumination module uses up batteries rather quickly, and that feature is not guaranteed for life, so I passed. You can rig up a backlight system to illuminate the black reticle if you want to.

At those distances, you really want M1 target knobs.

I've also heard a rumor tha Leupold has completely revamped their "Tactical" scope series and the changes will be announced in late Dec.


-z

 

[hksw]

14X seems a bit low to me for 600 yds.

 

[Zak Smith]

Well, what's "precision" ? With the cross-hairs at the center of Leupold's mildot at 14X I can get a good sight picture at a 0.45MOA dot on a white background, or about 1" at 220 yards.

So at 600 yards, you should be able to make out a 2.5-3" dot alright. If there's more "context" of the target visible, it'll be even easier to repeat the sight picture.

-z

 

[uglymofo]

Bigtime Nightforce fan, but if I stepped down, it'd be for a Burris Black Diamond. Warranty is lifetime, service is at least as good as Leupold, optics are better. Yes, I've had to use the warranty before (handgun scope on a 454 Casull....hmm); stellar marks.

 

[308win]

Have you considered the Sightrons? Don't offer the illumination feature but their products are good quality (although Japanese optics). They are good people to buy from and very customer centric. You can get the 4x16x42 for $330 and the 6X24X42 for less than $380.

Sightron Tactical Mildot

Opps, my mistake; they now offer an illuminated mildot model

Illuminated Mildot

 

[TX65]

Leupold Mark 4 16X. As tough as a scope as Leupold makes, tons of elevation. I found one at a gun show for $900.00 NIB.

If you want tons of magnification, Premier Reticles will sell you one at 32 X for $1,200 or $1,300.

 

[dakotasin]

leupold vari-x3 4.5-14 or 6.5-20.

since you won't be picking the rifle up for awhile, i'd advise you to wait until after the first of the year when leupold rolls out their new vx-3 line. but, if you have to have it now, go vari-x3 (i'd do 6.5-20, but that's just me).

 

[only1asterisk]

I'd say nightforce too, but they are far from lightweight. Leuplod and Burris make scopes that will serve. They guys at www.premierreticles.com are great and have forgotten more about the subject than I will ever know.


David

 

[MOAMike]

HKSW said:

14X seems a bit low to me for 600 yds.

My Leupold 3.5x10x40 LE Tactical Mildot works fine as frog hair for me at that distance and beyond. My sighter targets at 600yds are clay pigeons laying on the backstop. I can hit 'em all day long.

10x is plenty, 14x is nice, much higher in a tactical rifle you run the risk of your sight picture being constantly in motion because of extreme magnification, wind, breathing, muscle twitching, etc. Not saying it's TOO much, but sometimes less is more, especially on movers........

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Jick42]

You cant go wrong with the Leupold 4.5x14x50 M1. 14 power is more than sufficient at 600 yards, and clearity is next to none, until you get up to the Schmidt & Bender like you said. For the money www.swfa.com has them for $769.99. Thats a good deal.

 

[hksw]

...you run the risk of your sight picture being constantly in motion because of extreme magnification, wind, breathing, muscle twitching, etc. Not saying it's TOO much, but sometimes less is more, especially on movers........

Very good point.

 

[cola8d8]

I have a Zeiss conquest 6.5-20X50 on a .300 RUM. I would buy another... I think you would really like the (big) target knobs it has at those ranges. Not too expensive either, I think mine was $765

 

[artherd]

I absolutely adore my Shepherd. The reticles compensated for bullet drop at distance gradiations are second to none.

If I had to step down, it'd probally be to a Nightforce

 

[Zak Smith]

Leupold 4.5-14X M1

Leupold 4.5-14X M1 on my JP CTR-02.

-z

 

[duckfoot]

Might want to take a look at IOR Valdada Optics. With that said! Normally you get what you pay for with optics.

 

[MOAMike]

Here's a couple of pics of my Leupold 3.5x10x40 LE Tactical Mildot with Tenebrex ARD on my Sako TRG21 longrange thunderstick.......






Cheers,
Mike

 

[Mikul]

Okay, Zak, what is a JP CTR-02?

The magazine says AR-15, but the upper sure doesn't.

 

[Zak Smith]

The CTR-02 is JP Enterprises' race-ready match AR-15 designed for 3Gun or IPSC-type competition. The upper looks different because it has no forward assist.

Here's a link to JP's CTR-02 page.
Here's the thread I posted a week ago about it.

-z

 

[hillbilly]

Mine wears a Leupold 6.5-20 with the Gen 2 Midot reticle.

She's a verrrrrry nice..............................

hillbilly

 

[Gewehr98]

Lots of good glass out there, you don't have to overwhelm the gun, either.

Sightron S-II 4-16x42 MilDot, Remington 700PSS:




The Weaver V-16 series isn't anything to sneeze at, either:



Another V-16 on my 1000-yard rifle:



And a Leupold VariX-III 3.5-10x40 Law Enforcement model on my Colt Competition HBAR:

 

[Buckskinner]

An illuminating thought:

I've heard that a gun school teaches a technique for illuminating the reticle by adding a tiny cyalume light stick to the end of your objective bell. Probably have to play with that one a bit. I'd be worried about being seen from that end...

I've got a Burris Signature 8-32x40. Its a real sweetheart...The downside is Premier Reticle only works on Leupold...

Have you checked into Horus scopes? They've got a cool website...

 

[mpthole]

Lots of good info already presented here. I'll chime in with my .02 ...

For the distances you're talking about, 10x is really enough IMO. Heck, I've done shooting out to 1500 with my scope set at 10x on my .50 cal and still hit the target. Another option instead of the illuminated reticle is a "luminous" reticle. The scope in the picture below is a Leupold M1 fixed 10x with "luminous" posts installed on a mil-dot reticle (by Premier Reticles). I've done some night shooting out to 300 yards with it where they ONLY light was a chem light hung around the target. Using the luminous reticle it was easy to center the light stick in the glowing posts.

(Hope I explained that ok... its been a long day at work)

Here's the pic:

 

[hksw]

mpthole, are those colors molded into the A4 or did you paint it?