Long range rifle scopes

[jtriron]

Last week I asked your favorite caliber,
Now what's your long range scope preference?
This can be a no limit on cost, or I prefer the most bang for your buck.

300 + yards

 

[shortround]

Leupold 45x45 30mm scope.

 

[1slow01Z71]

IMO the Vortex Viper PSTs are hard to beat in the bang for the buck crowd. The only thing twice as expensive scopes have on them is better glare reduction and a very slight edge in low light transmission. My 2.5-10 runs neck and neck with the 1500+ crowd. Ill be going with their 6-24 on my 300WM build.

 

[Dawico]

Can't go wrong with a Leupold.

 

[kusai]

In proper order,

1. US Optics
2. Night Force
3. Leupold.

 

[dee]

Love my Night Force tough and pretty good glass, got a MK4 Leupy that is very respectable and makes a darn good hunting scope thanks to the compact design. I've recently been drawn to the Bushnell HDMR seems to offer a lot for the price as does the new SWFA SS variable power scopes.

 

[matefrio]

Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 Police Marksman LP 34mm Riflescope

 

[dee]

Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 Police Marksman LP 34mm Riflescope

I would throw the Zeiss Hensoldt and Premeir Heritage in the same class as the S&B.

 

[grasshopperglock]

Last week I asked your favorite caliber,
Now what's your long range scope preference?
This can be a no limit on cost, or I prefer the most bang for your buck.

300 + yards

No limit on cost? I don't even have my fav. But I would just buy the most expensive NightForce.

 

[deemus]

I don't know anything about military type sniper scopes, which may be better. But the best scope I've ever looked through is a Swarovski scope my BIL has on his 300 Win Mag.

I think it is a 4-20 x 50 with AO. (not positive on that part) That is best hunting scope I've seen. It's amazing how much light that scope pulled in. I held it up and looked down the street, and saw a poodle in a chair, with little red bows in its ears. At 300 yds. Or so. People had a chair in the window, and the dog was standing in the chair looking over the top of the chair.

In my 40 years of hunting, I've looked through lots of scopes, but this was the best in regards to clarity, zoom, and light.

 

[grasshopperglock]

I don't know anything about military type sniper scopes, which may be better. But the best scope I've ever looked through is a Swarovski scope my ZbIL has on his 300 Win Mag.

I think it is a 4-20 x 50 with AO. (not positive on that part) That is best hunting scope I've seen. It's amazing how much light that scope pulled in. I held it up and looked down the street, and saw a poodle in a chair, with little red bows in its ears. At 300 yds. Or so. People had a chair in the window, and the dog was standing in the chair looking over the top of the chair.

In my 40 years of hunting, I've looked through lots of scopes, but this was the best in regards to clarity, zoom, and light.

Ever seen the Swarovski glass thingy store at the outlet mall in RR? Yeah.....they can make some glass alright. Their stuff is straight art.

 

[kusai]

Absolutely love the S&B but at that price I opt for US Optics because of their cool knobs and lighted reticle factor

Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 Police Marksman LP 34mm Riflescope

 

[Younggun]

I love my Vortex viper PST. Great price for a damn good scope, plus it has an MoA reticle so I didn't have to figure out how to use mil-dots.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Greg_TX]

I held it up and looked down the street, and saw a poodle in a chair, with little red bows in its ears. At 300 yds. Or so. People had a chair in the window, and the dog was standing in the chair looking over the top of the chair.

So what happened after you scattered the poodle?

 

[deemus]

So what happened after you scattered the poodle?

I felt such power, holding that puffy white furball in the crosshairs, but alas, I am an animal lover.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

NightForce. There are better optics out there, typically for considerably higher costs. There are also a lot of new offerings on the market, though I tend to think some of those are more closely comparable to a Leupold Mk4. The difference between a Mk4 and NightForce is night and day. I'd say they are the best mid-range optic when it comes to high quality optics. The few NightForce scopes I've shot with were a huge improvement in clarity, especially in low-light, in comparison to a Mk4. Take my words with a grain, as I don't do much with optics anymore, at least for the time being. In the past, I've just had my fair share of opportunities shooting with a significant variety of optics as well as mounting and sighting them in, and shooting at distance with a few of them (500-1k yds). Just like with guns, it's exactly like the sports car analogy. For half the price you might be able to get 80-90% of the performance. That's good enough for most people, but ask yourself if that's good enough for you? If so, great, you probably saved a lot of money. If not, that last 10-20% of performance is probably going to cost quite a bit more, and the performance difference may only be apparent to a really good shooter that understands those fine details that most people miss. Nothing wrong with either way.

 

[deemus]

Ever seen the Swarovski glass thingy store at the outlet mall in RR? Yeah.....they can make some glass alright. Their stuff is straight art.

Never been in there. Seen the stores at the outlet malls, but knowing how much my BIL paid for his scope ($2K) I didn't even bother going in. Out of my price range.

 

[dee]

NightForce. There are better optics out there, typically for considerably higher costs. There are also a lot of new offerings on the market, though I tend to think some of those are more closely comparable to a Leupold Mk4. The difference between a Mk4 and NightForce is night and day. I'd say they are the best mid-range optic when it comes to high quality optics. The few NightForce scopes I've shot with were a huge improvement in clarity, especially in low-light, in comparison to a Mk4. Take my words with a grain, as I don't do much with optics anymore, at least for the time being. In the past, I've just had my fair share of opportunities shooting with a significant variety of optics as well as mounting and sighting them in, and shooting at distance with a few of them (500-1k yds). Just like with guns, it's exactly like the sports car analogy. For half the price you might be able to get 80-90% of the performance. That's good enough for most people, but ask yourself if that's good enough for you? If so, great, you probably saved a lot of money. If not, that last 10-20% of performance is probably going to cost quite a bit more, and the performance difference may only be apparent to a really good shooter that understands those fine details that most people miss. Nothing wrong with either way.

I have one MK4 that is close to NF quality and is the only reason it is still around. I think NF glass has substantially improved in the last few years and if you really want to be impressed with them look through a F1 they are dang nice but well above the initial NF price also only available with 15x max magnification.

 

[LS1Nut]

I've owned a ton in this catagory.. I currently have a NF NXS 5.5-22, 8-32, a MK4 4.5-14, a Viper PST 6-24.. I just got rid of a NF F1.. (not a fan of FFP)---I have owned and Sold a Schmidt & Bender 5-25 PM2, US Optics T-Pal, Numerous NF NXS and Benchrest models, some Burris XTR's, and out of all of them, the best all around was of course the S&B, but at $3600$ or so it better be.. but I agree with Sig Fiend up above, for the money-to-value for the scope, You truly cab not beat the Nightforce NXS line of scopes...

 

[TheDan]

For half the price you might be able to get 80-90% of the performance. That's good enough for most people, but ask yourself if that's good enough for you? If so, great, you probably saved a lot of money. If not, that last 10-20% of performance is probably going to cost quite a bit more, and the performance difference may only be apparent to a really good shooter that understands those fine details that most people miss. Nothing wrong with either way.

Exactly... That's why my favorite scopes are Nikon. I like getting a lot for my money, and trying to get that last little bit of performance from a piece of equipment just results in diminishing returns.

If money was truly no object, I think that makes choosing a good scope easier. Also takes some of the fun out of it