Gun Scopes

Starting a thread to find out what people use for scopes for there guns. I like using Leupold and have used some Nikon scopes. I personally like the Leupold alot better. But I recently was talking to Marine sniper and he was telling me that there are just as good of scopes for less money than Leupold.

So what scopes do you guys use?

 

I have a dedicated long-range Leupold Mk4. But I've consistently been impressed with Trijicon Glass. Heard that Vortex makes good kit too.

 

Did he recommend particular brand names or was did he snort and say NCStar?

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I don't know dick about guns or scopes, but I'm pretty handy with the old Google Machine:

According to the Interwebz, good optics should cost as much as the bolt gun they're mounted on.

Also according to the Blogotubes:

Expensive scopes: Leupold. Zeiss. Vortex. Swarovski.

Super ninja scopes: Trijicon. Nightforce. US Optics.

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Pretty sure a Nikon or a Redfield would be fine for 99% of what most people do.

Proper mounting of a scope is apparently a science. And not a torque contest.

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Also:

I don't know why more weapons don't come with spotting rifles like the SMAW.

 

i dont know crap about scopes. But the remington 700 30-06 I inherited from my father has a leupold 3x9 scope. Seems to work pretty well. The Ruger .44 carbine I inherited from my mother has a very basic scope, dont even remember the name. But my S&W m&p .40 for work does have trijicon sights installed. My s&w m&p ar-15 also for work has both trijicon peep sights, and an aimpoint sight with no magnification. I love that thing for target acquisition. Even my work shotgun, an old remington wingmaster has a peep rear and a trijicon front post. I love my job. the crown vic, not so much.

 

Ok,

I doubt you need to break the bank on a scope, and snipers have very specialized optics requirements that most shooters simply don't have.
What do you want your scope to do?

Leupold, for instance, makes a wide variety of scopes for different purposes and at all different price points. If you have an actual need for a high-quality tactical scope you can easily spend upwards of 4,000 dollars.

If you just want a basic hunting scope you should be able to find a good one for about 300-400 dollars, provided you look for one that is simple... Fixed power, no tactical gizmos, etc.

If you want a 'tactical' scope you are looking at a minimum of about 800 dollars for anything that is worth having. Cheaper than that and you will have problems with repeat ability, durability, etc.



Generally speaking you will see a far greater increase in practical accuracy by purchasing a better scope over a better rifle. Most rifles are very good these days; even the cheaper bolt guns are usually capable of less than 2 inches at a hundred meters. So even if you spent 10,000 dollars on the most accurate rifle of all time, you won't gain more than an extra 2" of accuracy, so diminishing returns happens at a fairly low price point for most shooters. A scope, however, is a big wildcard. The cheaper ones won't hold a zero very well, so you will never really know where that round is going to go. Also cheaper glass makes it more difficult to see the target, adds distortion and limits your ability to see/shoot in low light (dawn/dusk while hunting). Parallax issues can also give you grief, with cheap scopes being less forgiving with sight alignment errors than better ones. Also, cheaper scopes will have problems with accuracy when the power is adjusted... I.e. you may hit what you aim at on 10 power, but if you dial down to 3 power your round will hit somewhere else. All this stuff adds up to a lot of uncertainty.


I can give you better advice after I know what you need a scope for... What type of gun, what is it being used for, what ranges, etc.

But absent that information I can still give you some basic recommendations:

For a 'cheap' scope that will still perform very well:

Go with a fixed power scope. They have less moving pieces, so the overall quality will be higher for any given price point over a variable power. This is a big deal if you are only looking to spend a couple hundred dollars. Match the power to your purpose. If you are a deer hunter in North Carolina whose max range is going to be 200 meters, you don't need a 20 power scope... It will be like looking through a soda straw and it will be hard to scan/etc. Better a nice 6 power, etc. A 10 or 15 power scope is pretty decent for shooting at the rifle range and hunting at intermediate ranges (out to about 800 meters).

Only buy from a reputable brand. You can get good, relatively inexpensive scopes from Leupold, Bushnell, Nikon. Stay away from Tasco, etc.

Remember that you are going for raw functionality rather than tacticool... You don't need tactical elevation/windage turrets unless you actually plan on dialing on dope to make shots out past 400 meters. Ditto for a fancy recticle... A Horus reticle will cost about 400 dollars more than regular crosshairs and are 100% worth it if you are a sniper or an extreme long range hunter, otherwise you can put that 400 extra dollars into something else.

Buy good scope rings... A great scope on a great rifle will still underperform if you have crappy rings that allow the scope to slide around.



If you want to shoot long ranges and/or need true precision, you need a scope with adjustable parallax. Most hunters do not need this feature though.

 

Agreed


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I paid $22.50 for the rifle and $24 for the scope.