The usual newbie scope dilemma...
 

Hey folks,

Just got my first centre fire rifle in 6.5 CM and I am shopping for a scope. My present experience is shooting my .22 with a 2x7x35ish scope.

I am looking for something that will be good for the hunting season, but also fun for me to try shooting paper at ranges farther than I would hunt (600 yards ball park).

Price range $400-$600. Was thinking 4x16x45. Not sure about considering parallax, like the idea of ballistic turrets, but wondering if in my price range this would be a tradeoff for quality in other areas?

I have a Cabelas gift certificate and am watching the sales on Nikon, Vortex, Leopold. Have looking for a deal on the Vortex Strike Eagle, but not sure if it is a quality unit.

Any opinions appreciated.

Matt

Hi matt,

The old saying of you pay for what you get( quality ),is very true when buying a good quality scope/glass..a 4x16x45 is a good choice..too much magnification can be a bad thing though..a good guide is x1 magnification for every 100yds..so in your case a scope with x6 would do the job..all the brand names you mention make good quality glass..do not waste your money on scopes with the store brand names..what you paid for your rifle is at least what you should spend on a scope..i have vortex glass on my rifles..223 , 308, 338..good quality and excellent warranty..if things do go wrong.
Have a good look around..stores, websites ..and make sure you get good quality rail and rings for the scope too..


Good luck

Phil.:test:

3-9x40 will be happy viewing of deer out to 400 meters. More than that will be unnecessary weight and the higher magnification you go, the less light gets passed through to your eye.

Thanks, the reputation of the vortex warranty is making their scopes pretty attractive. I am generally careful with stuff, but will be hiking in to do all my shooting and will like bump it around quite a bit.

Can't afford quite what my rifle cost... but I did go cheaper on the rifle to be able to pour more into the scope.

Those Burris fullfields are pretty decent scopes. 3x9x40 would be a great choice in your price range.
Get a ballistic reticle. Then go to a range that is set up for the distance you want to shoot and figure out what dot goes for what distance.

I would zero for 200 then go from there.

No doubt in my mind that parallax adjustment is necessary. For hunting I would look for a Leupold VX 2 4 -12 X 40 AO .... likely will need to look used as they are a discontinued line. They were about $500 new. Leupold warranty gives confidence. And most Leupolds are pretty light.

Thanks, seems to be a consensus to go for something at a lower magnification than what I was thinking.

What weight would you guys place on parallax? I definitely will not be shooting at game from any real distance, but thought it may be nice for target shooting?

Was also thinking of an MOA or Mildot reticle, so I could learn to figure out range - I like messing with technical stuff. Is this something guys are doing hunting or would it be more trouble than it was worth?

Matt

Thanks for your thoughts on parallax!

I am keeping an eye out for used, but I am a bit hesitant buying gun stuff used as I am green. That being said, pretty much everything other than gun stuff I buy off kijiji.

Most scopes below 10X do not have AO’s because parallax is set at either 100 or 150 yds. It is pretty easy to see the effect of parallax by simply moving your eye position (just 1/2” side-to-side or up/down and see the reticle change positions on the target) at 200 and then 300M. This will probably not result in missing a large target (like a deer’s vitals) but for target practice, it makes a difference.
Leupold is very good with their “lifetime” warranty so it removes a lot of worry when buying used. There are likely other brands that provide good warranty, but most Leupold stuff does not need to leave the province.
I personally steer clear of the mildots/hash marks because I find them too “busy” (distracting) on hunting scopes for distances under 300M. Most rifles zeroed at 200M will only be about 3” high at 100M and maybe 8 - 12” low at 300M where a crosshair held on the backbone puts a bullet in the boiler room.
EDIT/ADD::: Every hunter sets their own standard. I practice lots to 300M and if rested, I would have no hesitation taking game to that distance. Much beyond that, I would simply pass on the shot. I suspect there are a lot of hunters like myself....who after hunting over 50 years can say that probably 90% of all the animals harvested were taken under 150M.

Nikon is a very good bang for the buck and for $500 you will get an excellent scope.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ni...FRA1fwod7rEBQw

I have a few Vortex viper hst scopes. I found the glass to be better than a Leupold V3. For out to 600 yards they work well.

Cabelas Covenant are great scopes in that price range. Parallax will become important out at 600 yards.

Glass is such a subjective topic. I suggest going into Cabelas and looking through a few models in the price range you're interested in ,let your eye tell you what it likes .Then watch for it to go on sale.
Having said that ,can't go wrong with a Leupold ,but Nikon's are a very good value for the money ,Pro Staff 5or7 ,Monarch 3 ,even better.
Some thing in the 4-12 or 4-16x42 range should suffice for what you have in mind.

I am going to try and get there this weekend. It seems that there are happy owners from all the brands. When choosing a rifle I have placed weight on how it felt, with the optics I am getting a bit hung up on the specs.

Thanks all!

Matt

That helps put a bunch in perspective, thanks!

Matt

There is a Leupold Vx3 4x14x44 with B and C reticle on here or CGN for 600 Just about as perfect a hunting scope as you can ask for and a good deal. Sight the 6.5 dead on at 300 yards and you can hold on hair from 0 to 375 yards. With the B and C you are good to well over 700 yards.

the new vx5hd line up from leupold is the way to go for that imo, the 2-10x42 duplex (without illumination) cds zlm...simple, non-parallax, no batteries, dead simple but dial as far as you want, they will give you one matching turret onces you send them drop data

or the 3-15x44 if you want parallax adjust

If I was in your position, that is, not a lot of experience with scopes and trying to wade through the bells and whistles, and even flim flam and snake oil, I would buy a good quality but basic scope.

In your price range you can buy a Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10×40 with a basic duplex reticle, and for just a bit more, with a CDS elavation turret for dialling in bullet drop.

Parallax adjustment is sometimes more of a distraction than anything, and I would not consider it neccesary until you get into the 12x power range, and I think that's the common wisdom as well.

Fancy reticles work, sure, but ther are many configurations and it's easy to be always chasing the perfect reticle, which means buying and selling scopes anyways.

From experience, a Leupold VX-3 is extremely easy to sell for close to new price, partly because their warranty quality is so well known so there's less percieved risk in buying one second hand, and partly because they are an incredibly popular scope.

Mty advice, buy something simple, use until you reallise what it's limitations are for you and the tasks you give it, if any. If it turns out that you really want quick holdover ability from a ballistic reticle, or maybe an exposed elevation turret, or better glass, more magnification, better field of view, etc. the Leupold is easy to sell, and you will know what you want so you don't have to ask a bunch of know-it-all internet strangers. ;-)

At least, when you go to ask internet strangers you will have a much better idea of exactly what your needs are and can seek feedback on how different scopes can provide for those needs.

Hope that makes sense, it's probably the cheapest and best way imho.

Also, use the Cabelas gift card for ammo, their scope prices are way too high on many items. I believe that they have Swarovski and Leupod scopes $100-$200 higher than current minimum advertised pricing, P&D enterprises has better pricing by far, but don't post individual scope prices online, so Cabelas won't even match them.

i missed the budget part, yup forget the parallax models in your search, if you get that's fine but for hunting primary and 10x or less top end just unnecessary weight and complexity

used leupolds way i would go! i'm diehard leupold though, can't imagine running anything else

i got a vx5hd 2-10x42 duplex cds zlm for just over 1k and it's a damn nice scope, buy once cry once but it'll go to 1000 if i want, true weight is 19 oz but adds enough features and ability to skip using 20 moa rails and you get 20 moa per revolution and two revolutions with zero lock and 2nd revolution indicator...the new school base scope imo (ideal for matching capability to a 6.5 CM or any of the new 6.5's getting set up to potential)

Or buy your hunting tags there and use your gift cards. Cabelas is only a deal when they are on sale. Check out canadian gunnutz website too. A large number of online dealers consistently advertising their sale events on the mainpage.

Makes sense, Cabelas seems to have a bit of a Canadian Tire thing going on with some products where they go on sale all the time and you never buy at full price unless you are up against the wall. Will check out P&D. As you guys have stated, really not tied to Cabelas for the scopw as there is no end of stuff like tags or reloading supplies, and rings that I need to buy.

If you're heading to Cabela's check out Nikon's BLACK x1000 4-16x50 MOA reticle scope. Under $500 now. This scope has excellent glass and if you want to dial out your distance the clicks are crisp and precise. I have 2 of these on my 6.5 CM rifles. Love em. They came out 18 months ago and if you want to spend some more $ you can get the illuminated model. I have it on one and have yet to use it. I do have illumination on my BLACK FORCE1000 1-4 pig gun that I use all the time, but a different style of hunting. You can even go to Nikon's Spot On Program and dial in your rifle,scope, and ammo and use the holdover feature too. Definitely worth taking a look at.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...37.37%20PM.png

Definitely. Have been scanning their dealer forums for deals!

Did that just go on sale? Might be a bit big... but price is quite reduced.

Yup, this set up what I went with on my 6-284.... From -40 to +30, snow, rain etc and no issues at all for 10 plus years now.

I just entered the name and got 4 retailer's selling at that price. I always call and talk to a person and ask if they can do any better, don't ask, don't get!

Nikon black x1000 4-16

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...52.10%20AM.png

Nikon's prostaff 7 line is good value, same with the meopta and minox scopes.

The strike eagle may be a great choice too. If you find yourself hunting more bush, you may want to go with smaller mag range, or starting at 2.5 or 3 mag.

If you are hunting from blinds or at open ranges more, a min 4 power is alright, but I wouldn't go with a minimum of 6 power (like 6-24) for a hunting rifle.

Many prefer the lighter and more nimble 40 or 44mm objective lenses, I like 50's and 56's for first and last light shooting in poor conditions.

Cody, I agree 100% on the PROSTAFF 7 line. As someone who does some freelance work with Nikon, I shoot a lot and use just about everything scope they make. Sadly I buy them just in case you were thinking Nikon gives me whatever I want just to say good things about them. Believe me, if I can't tell you the truth about how a scope can help you I won't say a thing. Nikon's PROSTAFF 7 line have 30mm tubes, something to consider, just like the BLACK Series of scopes so those 1-inch rings won't cut it. Right now the 7's are under a Nikon Sponsored Promo for $80 off which is a great deal. Just in case you were not aware ....

I'll add, in case you go to Cabelas, do not let them sell you a Vortex scope in ypur price range. Vortex does make very nice scopes, but they start at the Razor line, even their Viper line gets very high warranty returns and the diamondback and crossfire lines are chinese made junk that sells on brand name alone.

And yes, I did own a diamondback.....might've been made in Indonesia, but definitely one of the most disapointing scopes I've owned.