Reliable tactical hunting scope under $1500, impossible or not?

[Deleted member 48126]

John your experienced based input please.
The Bushnell Elite Tactical scopes you own and use are FFP. I have very great concerns about being able to see the cross hairs of a FFP scope at minimal power in low light hunting situations as they are quite small at lowest power and have been avoiding buying one based on my having looked thorough several felt the cross hairs would more than likely be to small to see clearly to aim and make a precise shot but never actually used one.
Have you while actually hunting looked through your Bushnell Elites while set at 3x or 4.5x during minimal legal hunting light conditions and were 100% confident you would have had no issues making a good clean shot on a deer or other big game animal?

just turn the illumination on.

 

[Send it 284]

Or turn the zoom up..
I went ffp a few years ago and its not an issue unless your vision is poor.
If you're hunting timber then you dont even need a long range scope, that's the only case where I'd use a sfp scope

 

[Hondo64d]

John your experienced based input please.
The Bushnell Elite Tactical scopes you own and use are FFP. I have very great concerns about being able to see the cross hairs of a FFP scope at minimal power in low light hunting situations as they are quite small at lowest power and have been avoiding buying one based on my having looked thorough several felt the cross hairs would more than likely be to small to see clearly to aim and make a precise shot but never actually used one.
Have you while actually hunting looked through your Bushnell Elites while set at 3x or 4.5x during minimal legal hunting light conditions and were 100% confident you would have had no issues making a good clean shot on a deer or other big game animal?

The illuminated ones are much better than the non illuminated in the conditions you describe. Not just because of the illumination, but because the reticle in the illuminated models is thicker. That being said, I hunt in fairly open terrain against relatively light backgrounds and seeing the reticle without the illum on has never been an issue. If I were hunting in low light in dark timber, I would simply turn the illum on.

Bushnell got their illum right, with the brightest setting being daylight visible and the lowest setting being visible but never washing out the target, even in near total darkness.

John

 

[skookum]

Check out the Ziess V4. Lots of good reviews on them and they do a similar torture test as Nightforce. Also, the SHV is in that price range. Having personally owned a Huskemaw, I wouldn't recommend them. It tracked well but the glass was junk and their .33 MOA clicks were just rebranded 1/10 mil.

 

[Mike Matteson]

Most of my rifles are with 2 x 8 Leupold deplex for hunting. I use the deplex for my elevation hold. Knowing or I set up targets that are sized for deer, and elk chest measurements. Set out the targets at difference and correct measured distances, run my scopes to 8 power elevate the vertical cross hair to hold on the animal. It's a lot easier now with range finders, but back in the day when we didn't have them I also used them to range my animal out to 500yds. using my vertical and horizonal line in my scope to elevate my rifle to what distance I needed to shot for that distance. It was very effective. On I am having a rifle being built for me, that I am going to place 3 x 15 x 50 Nightforce Scope on it. Going out to about 700+ yards for the shots that I am figuring on needing.

 

[ButterBean]

Bushnell DMRII ~ 850
Bushnell LRHS / LRTS ~850
SWFA HD 5-20x50 ~1100-1500
SWFA 3-15x42 ~ 699
Arken ~ 500 (I have no experience with this scope only read great reviews)
Athlon Cronus ~1300
Burris XTR II ~ 900
NF SHV F1 ill ~ 1400

We are in the time of the greatest development in scopes, scope optimization, and price that we have ever seen. Compare an NXS and it's features to any given ~750 scope on the market today. The ~750 scope and its features will blow it out of the water.

X-2

 

[davidu]

To the OP, I've gone through the same process of deciding on which scopes to purchase over the last 3 years. The problem making recommendations is there are personal preferences that can dictate your final choice. What is important to me may not mean a rats rear to you.
I hesitate to even suggest a few scopes. But you asked a question about scope reliability during a hunt that took years to acquire points and price.
Dialing tactical scopes changes everything. As many folks here I have owned multiple BDC type zero and forget scopes over the years. For me, Leupold was the king.
My optic preferences/choices changed after suffering an acute attack of PD hunting addiction.
I've purchased a Leupold vx5hd, Vortex Viper PSTgen2, three Zeiss v6's and two NF ATACR's all SFP MOA.
The Vortex was the only one I sent back. Vortex said I put the tube in a bind @15in/lb using blue Loctite.
Each scope has a particular job based on rifle caliber and distance to target. They suffer no abuse from gun case to bench. None of them are on heavy recoiling rifles

The Zeiss v6's 5-30x are lightweight and have excellent glass.They are SFP only. Their reticle is a tad thick for shooting PD's past 800 yards, but would be fine for large game hunting. They all track well on tall target tests. I've not tested their durability by beating on them.
IMHO, the Zeiss v6 would be my choice.

 

[73driver]

I recently had a like dilemma. I decided I needed to upgrade my NRL22 match rifle scope from the Vortex Diamond Back Tactical. I considered the Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25, the Nightforce NX8 2.5-20 and the Tract Toric 30mm 4-20X50 FFP scopes. I went with the Tract scope and it came in at $1300 direct from TRACT. The RimX 22lr it is mounted on does not recoil much but does require dialing up and down several turns every match. Right now I am planing to put it on my hunting rifle. Enclosed it a target at 100 yards that would have been easier to shoot with more than 20X, but it gave me a clear crisp picture on a cloudy morning.

 

[FrogFire7]

I've admittedly only used (and own) up to the vortex HS-LR quality scopes. They run around $1k now, and are OK. Higher quality scopes definitely have better glass (and probably turrets). I don't do nearly as much long range shooting as many here, but haven't had a problem. They have been functional for me, but that said, there are way better scopes out there too.

If I were you, I'd look in your price range for used optics here in the classifieds. You can get a scope with a retail price far above your budget. That being said...

A scope is a mechanical tool, made by people. ANY scope CAN fail. Look at ones with a good track record of not having to be serviced.

Glass is something I also struggled with for a long time in decision making. It's a very high dollar item, and often you cant handle them before purchase (at least that was the case for me). Eventually you just have to make a decision , find a good deal, and put the scope through its paces. Wring it out and get completely comfortable with it.

Best of luck in your endeavors!!

 

[Gone Ballistic]

When I look for a scope or anything else the first thing I check out is service ability. I want to be assured that if I incur any problems with the product I have a service department that will take excellent care of me. Good glass on a scope is very important and I want ample light during dim hours to be able to shoot my target. I want a scope that won't fog up in cold weather and I want smooth adjustments in the focusing. It also must be waterproof and built strong so the reticle doesn't lose adjustment. The final thing is that it will track perfectly as possible. Once I narrow down the scopes I find that meet this criteria it becomes a matter of price, weight and preference.

 

[Hand Skills]

+1 for LRTS.

I was one of those guys who scoffed at Bushnell. Even after reading rave revirws I still wrote the LRHS/LRTS off - how good can they be for under $1k..?

I ordered one on a closeout a couple of years ago just to see what the fuss was about, and continue to be impressed by it today.

Recently an LRHS2 was announced, boasting upgraded 'ED Prime' optics. I'm looking forward to the release.

 

[ButterBean]

Bushnell is all I use at the present time EWIW

 

[Paladin300]

Athlon Cronus gen2, Ares ETR, Midas TAC. I have all three as well as several Luepolds (Mark 4, Mark 5). The Athlon Ares ETR maybe the best scope for the money out there. You should be able to pick one up for less than $1200. They are great guys call them and talk to them.

 

[Paladin300]

Athlon Cronus gen2, Ares ETR, Midas TAC. I have all three as well as several Luepolds (Mark 4, Mark 5). The Athlon Ares ETR maybe the best scope for the money out there. You should be able to pick one up for less than $1200. They are great guys call them and talk to them.