Best optic for a .308 for $200 or less?

[kc]

Shooting out long range is a sport I enjoy, but from all the years I have learned you spend money on a unproven Scope you are stuck with it. If you are thinking of shooting long range don't
waste you money, get a good Scope its like marrage you cant realy divorce your Scope.
You are stuck with it. You can buy a Scope that is great and you can buy one that makes you want to scream. If you have never shot out to over 300 yards or even 500 yards you need to practice. Some people think, I got the right rifle to do the job, but when the time comes you will need to know how to adjust yourself for the situation. its not as east as you think, there are
many shooters who go out and blast hell out of the season and gut shoot the Deer they were thinking as a great shot. please don't make any mistakes the anti-hunter see a wounded Deer
as cannon foder for there cause. If you have never learned to adjust your scope for a long shot I will tell you an 800 yard shot is a hell of a long way, even for me and my 7MAG.
I am being honest remember never sight your rifle in with a hot or a worm barrel if you
have a place to shoot 500 yards do it. if you cant hit a 6 inch metal disck every shot than you are not ready for any 800 yard shot. I am always hammering a 6 inch plate at 500 yards
but I still have never had a shot in my State over 75 yards, the only place I have had shots like this was in Arkansas on Hogs.

 

[nateisw]

Best value in that kind of price range is probably a Bushnell Elite 3200 or 4200. They have a limited lifetime warranty and an unconditional one year warranty. I've never looked through a Vortex scope, but lots of people like them and say that they're a good value.
Save up your money for a little while and buy a decent scope the first time. If you buy a $200 scope now only to upgrade to a $500 scope in six months, you will have spent $700 in all.
If you absolutely must buy a cheap scope, buy the best Simmons scope you can afford. Quality is hit or miss, but I have looked through $99 Simmons scopes that looked as clear as my Bushnell Elite 4200 and held zero on a 7mm rem mag. Adjustments weren't precise or repeatable on the Simmons, but once it was zeroed, it wouldn't budge.
Just my opinion. Hope you're happy with whatever you end up buying.

 

[Ace762]

Shooting out long range is a sport I enjoy, but from all the years I have learned you spend money on a unproven Scope you are stuck with it. If you are thinking of shooting long range don't
waste you money, get a good Scope its like marrage you cant realy divorce your Scope.
You are stuck with it. You can buy a Scope that is great and you can buy one that makes you want to scream. If you have never shot out to over 300 yards or even 500 yards you need to practice. Some people think, I got the right rifle to do the job, but when the time comes you will need to know how to adjust yourself for the situation. its not as east as you think, there are
many shooters who go out and blast hell out of the season and gut shoot the Deer they were thinking as a great shot. please don't make any mistakes the anti-hunter see a wounded Deer
as cannon foder for there cause. If you have never learned to adjust your scope for a long shot I will tell you an 800 yard shot is a hell of a long way, even for me and my 7MAG.
I am being honest remember never sight your rifle in with a hot or a worm barrel if you
have a place to shoot 500 yards do it. if you cant hit a 6 inch metal disck every shot than you are not ready for any 800 yard shot. I am always hammering a 6 inch plate at 500 yards
but I still have never had a shot in my State over 75 yards, the only place I have had shots like this was in Arkansas on Hogs.

The longest I will take a shot on a deer is out to 500 yards, I may be slightly inexperienced with long range shooting but I can still hit out to about there hitting a 6-8" plate consistently. The only time I would shoot past that is when just shooting targets, so since the primary use for the rifle/scope is going to be for hunting I really don't need it to be a great scope for 800 yards shooting, that's just something that I would like to have. And oh yes, I know that the anti hunting groups use pour shots that only wound the animal as their fodder, I actually have a few friends that are anti hunters and have to hear about how I'm a terrible person for hunting all the time. All the same though, I've also you could say "converted" a few of them. Thanks for the feed back by the way.

 

[LouBoyd]

There is less uncertainty in point of aim caused by the difference in performance of a $200 scope and a $2000 scope than the uncertainty that most shooters leave uncorrected from their inabilty to estimate downrange wind. For a shooter on a budget the price difference would be better spent practicing shooting in wind. Practicing with the $2000 scope is even more important if it's to be used to the limits of it's capability.

Spending more on equipment doesn't make anyone a good shooter. It may allow them to become a better shooter.

 

[Nimrod1203]

Mueller APT for $169. Have one on my .22 and the turrets are very repeatable and the optics are very clear for the money. mil-dot reticle. for the $$ the best scope under $250.
Nimrod

 

[sapper524]

For $300 on a centerfire 30 cal, fixed power would be the only options imo. A variable scope for $300 is pretty much junk. I know some say spending $1000 or more on optics is just plain silly .... well I disagree. On a budget, then you have to make sacrifices. A few years ago the Falcons, WOTACs, etc were all the rage. You get all these features for $500 ... man this is great. A couple hundred rounds later ... you have a paperweight ***. Im not trying to rain on your parade ... just calling it as I see it. If $300 is all you really can swing then a fixed 10x or 6x would be my recommendation. For that budget your going to make some sacrifices ... FOV or Magnification .... well the PRIMARY application of the rifle will decide that for you.

I say you save up a couple hundred more and get into a decent scope that will last you and won't need replaced. PST 2.5-10 / SS 3-9 FFP / Trijicon 3-9 / something of quality. Some think im nuts ... but on a centerfire rifle ... if you don't spend around $700 (variable power scopes) your pretty much tossing money in the trash.

 

[trebark]

+1 for the bushnell at $200, if you get up to about $300 you have the swfa ss 10x42 with parallax adjustment. other than those two fixed power scopes keep saving and waiting.

Two great options here. I have personally had two of the Bushnell 3200 10x40's. the first one started out on a 308

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f53/my-308-1k-rifle-evolution-continues-43510/

It's a nice scope. but if you can save a bit more and get the SuperSniper with the parallax adjustment, that would be better.

FYI - both have mil-dot reticles.