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ADJUSTABLE POWER: Hunting Scope Options

Nice looking scope, AK! I just handled a few Redfields at Gander. A 3-9x40 and a 4-12x50, both were very clear (indoors) and nice finish like you said. Fits a good'ole, small town, country boy's budget! Better then that crap Bushnell Banner stuff walmart sells.... never had ANY luck. 5 scopes and none held zero, if I could even get it to zero haha

I have someone sending me a 3-9 (H&R Take-Off) scope for free. Some nice rings for free too, I am hoping to get them mounted on my 500 until I get my H&R finished. Once I know what brand, I will put up a few pics and some sort of review
 
I go along with the Bushnell crowd for a decent optic at a reasonable price. However, I recently had the opportunity to look through a Leuopold VX-R Firedot scope and... HAD to have one. About a month later I found a very slightly use VX-R 2-7 X 33 on eBay, which now sits on my AR.

What I learned was... a precision scope DOES make a difference. As I sighted in my AR with the VX-R, it took me three sets of three shots. Each individual set only created one jagged hole, each! It was only at 25 yards (as is customary for AR sighting) but was most UN-customary for these old limbs and aging eyeballs! :shock:

So... I have learned that a quality optic does indeed affect one's POI.

My question for y'all is: for what ammo and to what distances can a 12 gauge make use of any scope?
 
Interesting read, just waiting for my 100ATR to come back from the G/S, it came as a plastic fantastic package (.270win) but it did not take long to decide to change out the stock, Boyd Prairie Hunter, Pepper Lam and to fit a suppressor (Gunworks Spartin, so light you do not realise it is on). Found the trigger was so bad it was dangerous in that it would stay where you took the pressure off as you tried to take up the 8 pound pull, sorted that out, next on the list is the scope, this gun will be my alpine rifle and as such will either be point and shoot at under 25 yards or Barnes 110 gr's out at hundreds of meters across the valley, had first thought of getting another Trijicon, as I have one on the .223 but are leaning towards something from Redfield to better compensate for the distance shooting, there is defiantly another Trijicon in my future for the .303 which is my main bush gun, will try for some pic's over the next couple of weeks after the 100 comes back and I sort out how to post them.
 
I Highly Recommend the New Weaver Kaspa Line of Scopes.
As a Low Cost Scope, These are an Excellent Buy.
I have a 2-7 X 32 on my Marlin .444 & Love it.
It has held up to Full Power Loads on this Hard Kicking Gun w/ Zero Problems.
Glass is Very Bright & Great Edge to Edge Clarity.
For the Money, These Are Very Well Made & Have Lots of Nice Features.
Turrets are Finger Adjustable & can be Reset to Zero.
Fast Focus Eyepiece is also Very Handy to Focus on Targets at Varying Ranges.
Liked my first one so much that I just Ordered 2 More.
A 3-12 X 50 for my Mossberg SSi-1 .223 Single Shot & a 3-9 X40 for my Marlin. .30-30
Can't wait to get back Home & Try 'em out.
UncleSarge58
 
I've had some cheap scopes and they do work ok. I really liked my cheapo centerpoint 4-14 x 40 ao. It worked. Held zero, adjusted well, parallax worked, blah blah. The glass wasn't very good at higher magnification and my eye had to be perfectly centered to get a good sight picture. I have a couple Nikon Buckmasters scopes and they're nice. Very good glass, great adjustments, smooth knobs. But now that Nikon doesn't make them anymore, the closest thing is the Prostaff 5 series.. and I don't think they're worth the price they demand now. I recently bought a Bushnell AR Optics 223 scope (note, it is too short, with too long of an eye relief to work well on a bolt action). It is amazingly clear. Awesome glass. I've looked through good Leupys and Nightforce scopes in bright and low light. This cheapy Bushnell made in China is, in my eye, every bit as clear and with as much "pop" in the image as those. I haven't yet saved up the $ yet to buy a DPMS 308, so I can't comment on the tracking and so forth. But the Bushnell site says the AR 3-12x40 scope (the one I bought for under 150$) has 50 MOA of adjustment and 3.7" eye relief. That's wrong. My scope has 122 moa (yes, 122!) and eye relief is 4.5-5.0". So far, I'm very impressed with it. Looking through it is markedly nicer than either my 4.5-14 or 6-18 Buckmasters scopes.
 
I am considering a Burris or a Nikon, both with BDC or similar reticules. The Burris Droptine looks good on paper. What would be a good, under $200 scope for an MVP/5.56/.223?
 
Stand, Drive and Track hunting Red Deer (Wapiti), Whitetail, Wild Boar, Badger, Fox, Scwewy Wabbits, Pheasants/Duck/Hare (12ga) mostly in hilly, wooded areas (over 600 mtrs) with some clearings/fields but also some hunting in mountainous regions for Mouflon and Chamois (distances up to 300 mtrs).

Bushnell Banner 3-9x40 on a Weatherby Vanguard 30.06
Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 (illuminated recticle) on a Mossberg 4x4 30.06
Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 on a Tika .308
NcStar Mark III 4-16x50 (Illuminated Rangefinder recticle) on a Erma Werke Lever Action 22SLR (Fun Gun)
'About to purchase' a Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 to place on a Blaser R93 .308
'Trying to decide' on something for my Remington 700 .270 win. Any thoughts?
 
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I am considering a Burris or a Nikon, both with BDC or similar reticules. The Burris Droptine looks good on paper. What would be a good, under $200 scope for an MVP/5.56/.223?
Better late then never I guess. I like the Burris Fullfield TAC30 Tactical Rifle Scope. Easy to use, relatively good glass. I bit more than $200, though.

Stand, Drive and Track hunting Red Deer (Wapiti), Whitetail, Wild Boar, Badger, Fox, Scwewy Wabbits, Pheasants/Duck/Hare (12ga) mostly in hilly, wooded areas (over 600 mtrs) with some clearings/fields but also some hunting in mountainous regions for Mouflon and Chamois (distances up to 300 mtrs).

Bushnell Banner 3-9x40 on a Weatherby Vanguard 30.06
Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 (illuminated recticle) on a Mossberg 4x4 30.06
Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 on a Tika .308
NcStar Mark III 4-16x50 (Illuminated Rangefinder recticle) on a Erma Werke Lever Action 22SLR (Fun Gun)
'About to purchase' a Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 to place on a Blaser R93 .308
'Trying to decide' on something for my Remington 700 .270 win. Any thoughts?
I'm looking at the Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP with the EBR-2C (MOA) reticle. Not available yet but have an order in for one. I liked the prior version but wanted a different reticle. Will have to wait until it comes in to see how I like the new reticle (hard to tell from a picture on a computer screen).
 
OhioArcher. I googled the Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP with the EBR-2C (MOA) reticle. Appears to be a really nice scope, great features (probably a bit more than my needs). What game did you hunt with the prior version? Any other thoughts? Thanks.
 
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I didn't purchase the earlier version although I looked thru it many times at gun shows and local LGS. Didn't care for the lack of vertical adjustment or maybe more the lack of use of the vertical portion of the reticle. Looked at the Mil-dot models but understand the MOA style better. This will be a step up from the 3-9x40's I've been using over the years...Bushnell, Redhead, Barska...

I'm looking to build a respectable long range gun. Initially the scope will go on a .243 but will move to another later on in the year (I hope).

The only thing I've hunted over the years are Whitetail.
 
I will be mounting a Leupold VX-1
3-9x50mm on my Patriot next week. I've "glassed" around the yard and house with it and so far my only issue is the 10 day waiting period on firearm purchases in CA, keeping this scope in its box and not on my rifle. 1471923790928-1188012362.jpg
 
This is the Steiner GS3, 4 - 20x50 hunting scope, which I actually bought as a target scope for my Savage 12, .223.

They say what makes it a great hunting scope is that it has special lens coatings designed to increase the contrast of game against the background. It looks great on their website but I have no idea how well it works in practice and I'm not a hunter so I will probably never find out.

20170129_014228.jpg Rings are steel Leupolds 30mm with windage base rear.
Screenshot_20170127-095038.jpg

I put it on a long .223 target rifle, but the reticle is actually calibrated for a 22-250. The reticle is very fine. It looks much better than this web pic of it.
Screenshot_20170129-005054.jpg
Since I'm not actually hunting with it (only shooting on the fixed target range) I don't have to worry about the holdovers being off a little.

This scope normally list for almost $1,200 but I bought it at Sportsman's Warehouse as a display model for $799. Amazingly, the Savage it sits on lists for almost $1,200 but I bought it at Valley Rod & Gun in Clovis for $799 as well! I think that fact alone should have told me that this was a match made in heaven.

As for the "hunting optimized" lens coatings, I didn't notice anything too unusual on the target range. The reticle looked much better in the daylight that it did in the store.

What I did notice (and what you can't really tell in the store under fluorescent lights) is that this scope has terrific glass. I own 3 Leupolds, and a Vortex Diamondback HP, plus other cheapies like Tasco, Simmons, & Bushnel.

I compared it to Leupold, Vortex, Nikon, Swarovski, and Nightforce scopes in the store. What can I say... in the store they all looked terrific to me. It makes my Tasco scope look like a milk bottle.

I guarantee you will like the glass, and particularly if you can pick it up for $400 under the list price. I think it compared well to the Nightforce scopes at twice the price ($1500-$2000+!)

It has knobby quarter MOA tactical style turrets, underneath removable caps. The click-feel is good and while I didn't do a repeatability test they seemed to me very accurate. I didn't test the Zero-reset feature, but it has them.

I didn't have to play with the knobs that much because my boresighting was amazingly close. My second shot was on the paper at 50 yards, and I don't have a laser. All I did was look down the bore with my naked eye at an orange dot on the garage wall. 15 feet max. LOL I was so happy.

The zoom is very tight though. I thought it on the verge of too-tight, but it works well. It feels like a tight o-ring. Maybe it will loosen up.

The side focus seemed right on, but I didn't get to really test this on my first outing past 100 yards, as I only shot at the short range today.

I was very pleased to shoot this at 100 yards. 6 shots.
20170129_022813.jpg
This is the best shooting I have ever done in my life. And believe me it ain't because I have good eyes. My eyeglasses cost more than a Leupold VX-1, because that's the thinnest possible plastic $$$ they could use. 20170129_023447.jpg
It's a matter of three things:
Good ammunition which I loaded from scratch, a great gun which this Savage 12 low profile varminter is indeed, and a really terrific 20x scope!

Steiner is a German company and they make the glass in Germany but the scopes themselves are built in Colorado, USA. The warranty is forever (or until they go out of business) and follows the scope, not the owner. It covers everything except purposeful abuse.
 
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It's a great lookin scope and a great deal too!

What is the height of the rings you're using?
 
"Tall", but I don't know the actual dimension.

I had the Leupold medium rings on there with the Tasco 50 mm 1 inch tube scope. But switching, to 50x30mm tube I had to have taller rings.

Or what I should say is that 30 millimeter tall rings are about the same height as the 1 inch medium rings.
 
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A few more pictures of the Steiner.
I found it very difficult to get a photograph of the reticle and I never did get a good one.

20170129_100656.jpg

20170129_100535.jpg

20170129_100221.jpg

There was a young Rifleman next to me at the range, and he was shooting a nice Savage 22-250. As I mentioned, the Steiner scope has the 22-250 reticle. He might have been just a little jealous. Fortunately for me he had a crummy scope, because this young soldier with perfect vision and a hot rifle did not out shoot me.

He was shooting Factory ammo, and he was hip to that fact, but otherwise even with the crappy scope he should have outshot me.

If we had had more time I would have had him shoot my gun to give me a better appreciation for what it can do in the hands of one who is not so old and nearsighted.

Lucky for me this is one sport where old farts can still do quite well. ;)
 
This is the Steiner GS3, 4 - 20x50 hunting scope, which I actually bought as a target scope for my Savage 12, .223.

They say what makes it a great hunting scope is that it has special lens coatings designed to increase the contrast of game against the background. It looks great on their website but I have no idea how well it works in practice and I'm not a hunter so I will probably never find out.

View attachment 14263 Rings are steel Leupolds 30mm with windage base rear.
View attachment 14264

I put it on a long .223 target rifle, but the reticle is actually calibrated for a 22-250. The reticle is very fine. It looks much better than this web pic of it.
View attachment 14261
Since I'm not actually hunting with it (only shooting on the fixed target range) I don't have to worry about the holdovers being off a little.

This scope normally list for almost $1,200 but I bought it at Sportsman's Warehouse as a display model for $799. Amazingly, the Savage it sits on lists for almost $1,200 but I bought it at Valley Rod & Gun in Clovis for $799 as well! I think that fact alone should have told me that this was a match made in heaven.

As for the "hunting optimized" lens coatings, I didn't notice anything too unusual on the target range. The reticle looked much better in the daylight that it did in the store.

What I did notice (and what you can't really tell in the store under fluorescent lights) is that this scope has terrific glass. I own 3 Leupolds, and a Vortex Diamondback HP, plus other cheapies like Tasco, Simmons, & Bushnel.

I compared it to Leupold, Vortex, Nikon, Swarovski, and Nightforce scopes in the store. What can I say... in the store they all looked terrific to me. It makes my Tasco scope look like a milk bottle.

I guarantee you will like the glass, and particularly if you can pick it up for $400 under the list price. I think it compared well to the Nightforce scopes at twice the price ($1500-$2000+!)

It has knobby quarter MOA tactical style turrets, underneath removable caps. The click-feel is good and while I didn't do a repeatability test they seemed to me very accurate. I didn't test the Zero-reset feature, but it has them.

I didn't have to play with the knobs that much because my boresighting was amazingly close. My second shot was on the paper at 50 yards, and I don't have a laser. All I did was look down the bore with my naked eye at an orange dot on the garage wall. 15 feet max. LOL I was so happy.

The zoom is very tight though. I thought it on the verge of too-tight, but it works well. It feels like a tight o-ring. Maybe it will loosen up.

The side focus seemed right on, but I didn't get to really test this on my first outing past 100 yards, as I only shot at the short range today.

I was very pleased to shoot this at 100 yards. 5 shots.
View attachment 14265
This is the best shooting I have ever done in my life. And believe me it ain't because I have good eyes. My eyeglasses cost more than a Leupold VX-1, because that's the thinnest possible plastic $$$ they could use. View attachment 14266
It's a matter of three things:
Good ammunition which I loaded from scratch, a great gun which this Savage 12 low profile varminter is indeed, and a really terrific 20x scope!

Steiner is a German company and they make the glass in Germany but the scopes themselves are built in Colorado, USA. The warranty is forever (or until they go out of business) and follows the scope, not the owner. It covers everything except purposeful abuse.
Thanks for the insight. That's a really nice reticle, I'll bet that scope could work some magic sitting on a hunting rifle :D
 
I can't fault it as a target scope. My only complaint so far is that I have not been able to buy a sunshade for it.

Steiner sells them for its military models but not for its hunting models. They say the military style 50mm model will not fit this one.
 
I edited my previous post where I showed the target with five shots.
I accidentally shot that 6 times.

One of those six shots was supposed to be part of a previous pattern that I didn't post because it only had 4 Shots.

So far I have not been able to pattern this rifle at 200 yards. This is awful because I want to do this so bad.

I've really got "it" bad for this rig.
 
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