Scope for Sako85 .338lm to hunt brown bear

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Sep 15, 2016
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Whuch scope to use with Sako 85 Long Range .338lm to hunt brown bear for which the Burris Terminator 3 laserscope is not always suitable as the bear hunting mostly happens in demanding light conditions very early in the morning.

Does anybody has experience about
American Technologies Network, Corp. (ATN)
5th Gen X-Sight 5 Ultra HD 4K+ Smart Day and Night Scope ?

Which requirements for the rifle scope are
the most important when hunting big game
such as brown bear in demanding environments
using the riffle such as Sako 85 Long Range
.338lm ?
 
I hunted bear on Kodiak several times using 338's, 375's and even 416's just because. All rifles had 2-7x32 or 2.5-8x32 scopes of good quality for the time.
Would I change that today? Hell no, if you shoot a bear and have to get in the thick stuff to recover it, I wouldn't want a scope with a higher bottom magnification. 2-2.5 is perfect, it may not be great for low light, but the field of view is huge.
Oh, when I hunted with my buddy, not once did we take our scopes above 3x magnification at any time. Every shot we took, the excitement was over within seconds, follow ups were done, but in reality not needed.Now, does this sort of spot and stalk hunting require changing magnification within the time frame presented?
I honestly don't think there is time for twisting mag rings and such.
I like the KISS principal…

Cheers.
 
Have had a few different sako 85 models. No experience with 338LM....

Not being a smart arse, but more than one of my 85,s have not exactly been 100 reliable with regards to ejecting spent cases 2x 7mm rem mag plus 300win mag. Ejected spent cases would hit 30mm scope windage turret and "sometimes" land back in breech.. This was with one piece sako optilock mounts.....

Buggered if Id be chasing brown bear with an 85model....
 
I too use a 3 x 9 Leupold. Your shots should be relatively close anyway. So, you can deliver effective follow up shots if they are needed. It's generally pretty easy to stalk close enough for your initial shot. You don't need a long range type scope to kill brown bears.
 
If I was spending the money that it cost for an outfitted grizzly/brown bear hunt, I'd spare no expense on an indestructible and brutally reliable scope. A low magnification Nightforce would be one of the first scopes that I'd consider. I'm sure there are a few others that fit that description.
 
Most important? 100% durability/reliability.
thanks for your advice!
durability/reliability are definetely
impartant for many reasons such
- bear hunting is often team hunting
(other fellows are counting on you)
- long distance travel required to hunting areas
(money invested to a good scope well spent)
- once you get the chance to shoot a bear
also your scope should be your trusted device
 
Environments in brown bear hunting
where there may exist visibility
for extreme long range hunting
include:

marsh (wide ones),
fell terrain in arctic zone,
reindeer husbandry area

Notes:
2024 brown bear allowed to hunt only
in reindeer husbandry areas in Finland
due to the changed legistlation,
60 bears shot Oct 1,2024 / 7 bears left
 

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