Affordable adjustable scope?

Hi. I am working on piecing together a .300 win mag rifle and am curious on scopes.

For starters - I know someone that has done/does precision shooting and they have gravitated towards Schmidt and Bender for scopes. The current equivalents around the range his is are many thousands of dollars. I realize in the realm of "optics" price shoots up exponentially with quality. That is where I want to dig, though.

Ultimately what I am after is a reasonable scope that I can zero to my rifle at a set range then use elevation and windage turrets to compensate for both as conditions change. What I don't want is a set of turrets to zero the scope only. I want my set/starting point on the turrets zeroed to where I sight in my rifle, not the adjustments TO sight in the rifle. I've seen reticles that have scales in both directions that supposedly allow for some type of reference without needing to adjust the scope. That's not the direction I want to go - I want to be able to precisely and repeatably adjust the scope without loosing my sighted in position.

The range I am after is usually 100-300yds, but I'd like to be able to eventually get out to double that at 600yds. I'm not overly concerned with close-in range as that isn't what I'm going after with the rifle, but I don't want a large fixed magnification that restricts field of view much - adjustable zoom would be great (3-20, 5-25, something like that).

Are there any "entry level", if you can call them that, scopes/brands of scopes any of you would recommend? What are you using?

In my opinion, Leupold is probably the best "entry level" scope brand. But they also make the higher end stuff. I would probably start out with a VX-3 4.5-14 or something along those lines. You can also get a turret set up for different yardages, so you do not have to do calculations when in the field. The only downfall is no windage turret.

Nightforce riflescopes! Tough as nails, repeatable, buy once, cry once. Can't go wrong.

To answer your question you might consider Burris Signature HD 3-15 44mm with the Plex reticle, ~$500 or the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14x40mm with B&C reticle for ~$700

Some additional things to consider:

1) Zeroed at 200 yards most moderate velocity (2650-2800) cartridges will have ~8 inches of drop at 300 yards. Not much of a need to dial clicks. Given a deer's belly to back is about 16 inches.
2) Higher velocity, say 2850-3000 and the drop is now only ~ 7 inches.
3) Out to about ~500 yards with a 2850-3000 fps cartridge and a decent BC, most reticle systems with hash marks (reference points) will do the trick.

To achieve "precisely and repeatably adjust the scope without loosing my sighted in position" is very difficult at an entry level price point. It is not unusual for entry level "dial adjustable" scopes to have a 10%-15% error rate when you are dialing 20 plus licks; e.g., 30 may have the effect of being ~25-35 clicks.

My concern is you may find yourself spending $500 on a scope that you will only really need and/or use its dial capabilities when you are shooting say 300 to 600 yards and then you will find its accuracy and consistency lacking and/or frustrating because when your shots don't impact as planned you will be trying to decide was it: a) scope dial inaccuracies, b) shooter error, c) range or wind measurement error, or d) some combination of all a, b, and c.

My personal experience is that I can consistently hit targets out to 525 yards by using scopes with reticles that have hashmarks (reference points) and I have found that is a more practical method than dialing even though my scope has dial capabilities. I use the Leupold mentioned above with the B&C reticle and rarely dial any clicks and just use the hashmarks.

Good luck with your quest.

Sightron or Nightforce. I have both and they are known for their accurate tracking. My Nightforce is their entry model SHV and it's zero stop is a little suspect but it has very good glass. Sightrons are the S3 models and they have what I would consider to be the best glass for the money out there. Both have very good customer service.
The nightforce is a 5x20x56. The Sightron is 8 x 32 x 56. For what you want the 6 x 24 x 50 would work well. I personally like the extra magnification.

So I agree with two of the above. As someone who every year takes people looking for exactly what you want to the goal line. I can say I totally disagree with the leupold comment. They are not for me. Vortex is a best entry level scope out as far as cost to scope in the low end.
I also agree with nightforce. The shv model is very tough to beat for the price. That being said. I have been a huge fan of the Burris 3-15 as mentioned above. Have several people now that will never push beyond the 500-600 yard range with most in the under 300 camp.

That scope is great probably the best overall bang for your buck scope I've dealt with in a while.

FlyFishn1 said:

Hi. I am working on piecing together a .300 win mag rifle and am curious on scopes.

For starters - I know someone that has done/does precision shooting and they have gravitated towards Schmidt and Bender for scopes. The current equivalents around the range his is are many thousands of dollars. I realize in the realm of "optics" price shoots up exponentially with quality. That is where I want to dig, though.

Ultimately what I am after is a reasonable scope that I can zero to my rifle at a set range then use elevation and windage turrets to compensate for both as conditions change. What I don't want is a set of turrets to zero the scope only. I want my set/starting point on the turrets zeroed to where I sight in my rifle, not the adjustments TO sight in the rifle. I've seen reticles that have scales in both directions that supposedly allow for some type of reference without needing to adjust the scope. That's not the direction I want to go - I want to be able to precisely and repeatably adjust the scope without loosing my sighted in position.

The range I am after is usually 100-300yds, but I'd like to be able to eventually get out to double that at 600yds. I'm not overly concerned with close-in range as that isn't what I'm going after with the rifle, but I don't want a large fixed magnification that restricts field of view much - adjustable zoom would be great (3-20, 5-25, something like that).

Are there any "entry level", if you can call them that, scopes/brands of scopes any of you would recommend? What are you using?

Click to expand...

What is your "actual" budget?

I've always heard good things about Vortex but their glass, eye box, and my eyes just don't work well together

Thanks for the thoughts so far. Ill detail more later.

As for "actual" budget - I don't have a number right now, but $5000 for a scope is a bit steep. I want to see the options. If I have to go to $1500 o so thats the way it goes. Hopefully less.

You can get quite a bit of scope for $1500. I bought a Bushnell Match Pro for a .22 LR. For the $300 I spent I'm very impressed by this optic. I also have an Athlon Midas Tac on a 6.5 Grendel that is impressive for the less than $600 I spent on it. Neither is as impressive as the $3000 Vortex Razor AMG that I have on my 28 Nosler though. That being said there are a lot of options available to you. Then next riflescope I might be buying is the Zeiss LRP S3, with discounts they come in around $1800, not too bad. Aside from that I've been looking at the Leupold Mark 5, and Nightforce ATACR, EOTech, Vortex Razor Gen II, the list gets long and very inclusive if we want to spend $2k.

SWFA and or NF/SHV

Here I come with my suggestions....

Lance at least give him time to get the second mortgage started

I have a Bushnel Match Pro, Athlon BTR, Burris XTR III. I started using them on my PRS, NRL, and NRL22 rifles. Becuase they were what the other competitors were shooting and they were dependable/affordable. All will do what you want without breaking the bank. I liked them so much I started buying more for my hunting rifles. I like the Match Pro for hunting as both turrets lock by pressing them down. You don't have To worry about them getting moved when handling or carrying. It also has a pop up indicator to show when you are on the 2nd revolution of your elevation turret. If you've ever thought you were on zero and ended up shooting 10mils over the target you'll know what I mean. None of these scope cost over 1200. The match pro is around $750