Another help me pick a scope thread...ugggh

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

I'm setting up my first long range rifle and don't know which scope to choose. I really want to buy something I'm happy with and not look back and wonder if I could've done better...buy once, cry once, I guess. But I also want to be judicious with my money. I'll spend it, but there has to be value there in return.

The gun I will be setting up is a Remington Sendero chambered in 338 RUM. The primary use for this gun will be hunting for elk hunting out to 1000 yards. However, I also would like to use the gun to ring steel out to a mile. Finally, I'd like to be able to move this scope to my varmint rifle(Remington .222 or ar-15 in 6.8 spc II) for night hunting, so illumination is necessary.

So for pure hunting purposes, it seems Swarovski and Zeiss are top of the line. For the long range target crowd it appears Nightforce, March, and Vortex are Popular. Finally, all my varmint hunting buddies are enamored with Trijicon.

So I need y'all to help me combine all these categories into the one best do all scope. I'm not above buying used either, so I anyone has suggestions there, I'm listening.

 

[Toolhand]

That's tough. I'm not sure there is one do it allscope. My favorite long range hunting scope is a Swarovski x5I. The glass is amazing and I prefer SFP for hunting. By adding illumination I'm assuming u mean a green light or red light which can be done pretty easily with any scope especially with an AR style rail. The X5i would work well for this also bc of its light gathering capabilities. We started night hunting with the predator lights but have since went to thermal and it has been a game changer.

 

[scottyboy]

Swarovski X5 is pretty hard to beat. yes I know it's a steep price tag, but if you don't mind second hand scopes you can find some good deals.

Otherwise the Nightforce is always a viable option.

Bushnells have proven reliable (not the ones you can get at Walmart)

SWFA I've heard only good things about, but have never held or used one so only going off what I have heard from people that are much wiser than I am.


I'm sure there are many many others, I have personally had bad experiences with Vortex and Leupold when it comes to dialing, RTZ etc but I'm often told I'm the only one who has problems with these brands

 

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

For clarification, for illumination, I meant an illuminated reticle. I also use thermal at night, but a few guys I hunt with are old school and don't like the thermal.

Are the swaros available with dialable turrets? If so, how many moa of elevation do they have?

 

[Broken arrow]

Nightforce Beast

 

[Toolhand]

The swaro is illuminated and the illumination is adjustable. It has 82 MOA of elevation adjustment. Yes the elevation turret is a dialing turret with a zero stop and a rotation indicator.

 

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

So 82 moa gives me 41 up and 41 down. That, coupled with a 20 moa base gives me 61 moa of elevation. That is plenty for hunting but will be a little light for elr shooting.

 

[Broken arrow]

You'll lose some sighting the scope in

 

[Toolhand]

I agree with the little light on ELR shooting with 82 MOA. That's why a do it all scope is so hard. I think the nightforce beast is an amazing scope. I also love my RZR HD gen 2 that I run on my target/PRS rifle but they are both tanks and add a lot of weight to a hunting rifle.

 

[Broken arrow]

I agree with the little light on ELR shooting with 82 MOA. That's why a do it all scope is so hard. I think the nightforce beast is an amazing scope. I also love my RZR HD gen 2 that I run on my target/PRS rifle but they are both tanks and add a lot of weight to a hunting rifle.

True

 

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

The rifle weighs 8.5 lbs naked. A 2.5 pound scope gets me to 11 pounds. Probably not a bad weight for a 338 RUM, but in the mountains, weight is weight. Toolhand, there's a razor hd gen 1 for sale I'm eyeing in the classifieds. How do they compare to that gen 2? The gen 1 is a lot lighter. I really like that gen 2, but it's right at three pounds.

 

[Broken arrow]

My 300 grain Sierras loaded 3000th's off the lands barely fit in my Savage FCP magazine but the do fit with perhaps 1/8" to spare. Even so, the rounds in the magazine will suffer damaged tips under recoil.

 

[Toolhand]

With the 338 55 MOA of adjustment should get u in the neighborhood of 1500 yards.
The gen 1 is a good scope. It tracks true and the glass is definitely not bad. Also has 120 moa of adjustment if I'm not mistaken. I never personally ran 1 but know a lot of guys that did and they liked it a lot. That being said they have all upgraded to the gen 2 as it is a better scope in basically every way except for the weight.

 

[Jjeffhunter]

I have a Nightforce 4-16x50 atacr and a 4-16x42f1 on my hunting rifles they are very hard to beat!