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

[morgaj1]

War Eagle!

WDE!

 

[Hard rock]

I was a gun and scope sales man back when redfield was the go to scope and leopold just came out with the gold ring series I would get my butt chewed out by my boss GlennSlade for pushing Leopold over Redfield the mark up was more profitable for selling Redfield noe Leopold is the big name scope in my opinion a lot of what your paying for so I have moved on too Meopta a lot of scope for the money

 

[Goldengun]

Pretty much what GG said.
If ur gonna range and dial ur optic then having a turret where u can just dial a specific amount of mils or moa is great.
If ur not shooting comp or not shooting varying distances in one set then u could go with an optic with normal wind age and elevation that requires u to unscrew the cap and dial.
Another question is are u going to be shooting 1,2,3,400 yards or will u be shooting between a hundred and a thousand?
What firearm are u mounting it on ?

Answering these questions will help u better choose.

U can find cheap optics with regular or tac turrets but the vast majority of better glass will have turrets u can dial and they'll also have a zero stop.

Anyway, GG answered ur question, I just thought I'd join in

Yeah, I pretty much know all that, just don't swim in long range circles enough I guess to keep up with the jargon. Wasn't sure exactly what he meant by "Tactical Hunting"! It's just a scope with adjustable turrets to me, I guess I'm a tactical hunter and didn't know it. Thought there might be some top secret technical capacity or something in the scope that made it tactical!

 

[whirlwindjml]

Vortex hs T $600 been reliable on my 300 Rum 10 years?

Vortex Hs LR great functioning scope. $500

SFWA 10x fixed $350 on my lapua 8 years and works great. I have 3 of these now.

Yes its doable. You just dont get the low light enhancement of the better glass. My Leo HD binoculars can see the targets a few minuts longer than all my old scopes.

 

[davidu]

It is interesting to me that we all of a sudden need this premier glass. Don't get me wrong I like it but I don't ever remember having trouble shooting or seeing deer with the Leupold VX 3s I was running on everything I had in the 90s. Still running them on two of my rifles and they have never failed in 25 yrs of use. One is a 3.5-10 euro model with a 30mm tube and Amber duplex (no need for illumination) works like a dream on a 270 and the other a 3.5-10 with a heavy German no.1 reticle mounted on a 375 H&H. The glass is excellent and hasnever caused me any issues. The Mark 4s and Mark 5 I have are even better but none of them see in the dark and the Mark 5 might get you 5-10 minutes maybe 15 if your lucky of extra shooting light. They are all good scopes. Everyone of them will get you to a 1000 yards but for ethical hunting purposes I cannot imagine many situation where you would need more. The glass is important but not everything. Other features and rugged durability matter just as much in a hunting optic. I would give up a little glass quality for a scope that would take a beating and still function properly. Buy a quality scope from a proven manufacturer/OEM and you will be happy. If you have your mind set on a specific brand you want be happy with anything else. Confidence means a lot and if you are not confident in your equipment it will let you down when it counts most.

Prime example: Had this fella come in our shop years ago set on a Matthew bow. Nothing else would do! Trouble was he did not have $1250 to invest in a bow and did not want to wait till he did. He was looking to spend about $550. You could not buy an FX set up for that much less the Q2 he wanted. We had a few used Matthews that were in his price range but he did not want them. We ended up selling him a Diamond Undertaker. MSRP on that bow if memory serves me right was $309. This was before Bowtech bought them out. At that time they were a small company out of Louisana that had their own line of bows but manufactured the cams for some of the biggest name brands out there at the time. This particular bow I am talking about basically mimicked a Matthews FX, power flex limb, aluminum riser, winners choice strings, etc. and quiet as a mouse. Super forgiving bow and for the times fast! Anyway the guy bought the bow and he hated it! It wasn't a Matthews Q2! He had zero confidence in the bow. He said it was loud and hard to shoot. By the way did I tell you he had never owned a bow before this. He missed more deer with that bow or at least he said he did. So finally he saved up the money came back and we traded him for what he wanted, a new Matthews Q2. Man with that Bow he became a deer killing machine, probably had nothing to do with the lessons we gave him or his confidence level in the bow. My point is this: I took that bow we traded him and hunted with it the following year. I have killed a lot of deer with a bow but I have only watched one get shot twice and not know he was dead on contact and it was with that Bow. That thing was so quiet I shot this deer through the heart twice at about 15 yards and all he did was jump about 10 feet each time as if something stung him. I watch him sit down in front of me and then lay down, twitch his ear about twice and it was lights out. He never knew he was shot. By the way at the time I was a pro staffer for Matthews and got two free bows a year from the shop to shoot tournaments with. I will tell you that little Diamond was a Diamond in the rough.

If you are convinced only a certain piece of equipment will do then by all means buy it. You want be happy with anything else. Remember this though, all the big named companies started some where and there are some really good companies out there building really good products if your willing to look and learn. That said I really like Leupold!

I don't believe Leupolds or any other particular brand of scope is being dismissed as substandard.
I've already gone through my spiel as to my opinion which scope could meet the OP's needs stated in their original post.
I have a 15-20 year old Leupold vx3 on a Tikka 30-06 right now. It's perfect for that rifle's purpose.
But I sure don't see it taking me out to 1000yds as stated above.
Again, I am a fan of Leupolds, but overstating the abilities of any piece of equipment sort of looses the persuasion factor. No disrespect.

 

[Paladin300]

I don't believe Leupolds or any other particular brand of scope is being dismissed as substandard.
I've already gone through my spiel as to my opinion which scope could meet the OP's needs stated in their original post.
I have a 15-20 year old Leupold vx3 on a Tikka 30-06 right now. It's perfect for that rifle's purpose.
But I sure don't see it taking me out to 1000yds as stated above.
Again, I am a fan of Leupolds, but overstating the abilities of any piece of equipment sort of looses the persuasion factor. No disrespect.

David, no offence taken. However, to clarify my point, I was not saying that those particular scopes would be ideal for going to a grand but the glass quality was sufficient. I personally have never shot either one of those scopes beyond 400, if memory serves me correct. I do however, have an early Mark 4 3.5-10 identical to the ones the military once deployed and with the same glass that is in the early VX 3s. That scope has been beyond a grand on at least two occasions. It sits on top of a Tikka and has no problem hitting steal silhouettes that far out. It is the scope I learned to mil on and shoot long range. The glass is of good enough quality to shoot through mirage and dope wind. The turrets were moa so that was the biggest issue with the early Mark 4's and the long range vx 3's. As far as ability they are shooting a grand at camp Perry all day every dayy and twice on Sunday with open sights. As long as you know how to dope your gun I would submit that any scope of decent quality would get you to a grand. In all honesty it is not that far for a good shooter with a modern rifles and good fundamentals of marksmanship. The turrets and ffp along with a good ballistics app just make it a lot easier.

 

[Goldengun]

It is interesting to me that we all of a sudden need this premier glass. Don't get me wrong I like it but I don't ever remember having trouble shooting or seeing deer with the Leupold VX 3s I was running on everything I had in the 90s. Still running them on two of my rifles and they have never failed in 25 yrs of use. One is a 3.5-10 euro model with a 30mm tube and Amber duplex (no need for illumination) works like a dream on a 270 and the other a 3.5-10 with a heavy German no.1 reticle mounted on a 375 H&H. The glass is excellent and hasnever caused me any issues. The Mark 4s and Mark 5 I have are even better but none of them see in the dark and the Mark 5 might get you 5-10 minutes maybe 15 if your lucky of extra shooting light. They are all good scopes. Everyone of them will get you to a 1000 yards but for ethical hunting purposes I cannot imagine many situation where you would need more. The glass is important but not everything. Other features and rugged durability matter just as much in a hunting optic. I would give up a little glass quality for a scope that would take a beating and still function properly. Buy a quality scope from a proven manufacturer/OEM and you will be happy. If you have your mind set on a specific brand you want be happy with anything else. Confidence means a lot and if you are not confident in your equipment it will let you down when it counts most.

Prime example: Had this fella come in our shop years ago set on a Matthew bow. Nothing else would do! Trouble was he did not have $1250 to invest in a bow and did not want to wait till he did. He was looking to spend about $550. You could not buy an FX set up for that much less the Q2 he wanted. We had a few used Matthews that were in his price range but he did not want them. We ended up selling him a Diamond Undertaker. MSRP on that bow if memory serves me right was $309. This was before Bowtech bought them out. At that time they were a small company out of Louisana that had their own line of bows but manufactured the cams for some of the biggest name brands out there at the time. This particular bow I am talking about basically mimicked a Matthews FX, power flex limb, aluminum riser, winners choice strings, etc. and quiet as a mouse. Super forgiving bow and for the times fast! Anyway the guy bought the bow and he hated it! It wasn't a Matthews Q2! He had zero confidence in the bow. He said it was loud and hard to shoot. By the way did I tell you he had never owned a bow before this. He missed more deer with that bow or at least he said he did. So finally he saved up the money came back and we traded him for what he wanted, a new Matthews Q2. Man with that Bow he became a deer killing machine, probably had nothing to do with the lessons we gave him or his confidence level in the bow. My point is this: I took that bow we traded him and hunted with it the following year. I have killed a lot of deer with a bow but I have only watched one get shot twice and not know he was dead on contact and it was with that Bow. That thing was so quiet I shot this deer through the heart twice at about 15 yards and all he did was jump about 10 feet each time as if something stung him. I watch him sit down in front of me and then lay down, twitch his ear about twice and it was lights out. He never knew he was shot. By the way at the time I was a pro staffer for Matthews and got two free bows a year from the shop to shoot tournaments with. I will tell you that little Diamond was a Diamond in the rough.

If you are convinced only a certain piece of equipment will do then by all means buy it. You want be happy with anything else. Remember this though, all the big named companies started some where and there are some really good companies out there building really good products if your willing to look and learn. That said I really like Leupold!

You guys are all high end technical , I'm still running my vari-x II 3x9x40 on my 300wsm! I know it's not LR scope but I never notice when I look through it at game.l But I know I'm over do for a new Leupold. Of course then I'll have to shoot something way out there to justify the purchase!

 

[longgun505]

As a former Alaskan guide I've seen a gamut of things when it comes to optics; everything from a $4,000 custom rifle with a Tasco, to guys that paid $20,000 for a 21 day bear hunt that show up with binoculars that were purchased off an infomercial. Good glass isn't cheap, and cheap glass isn't good. It pays to buy the best glass you can afford, and when pondering binoculars, keep in mind you only kill with your rifle, but you hunt with your eyes, you'll be looking through those binoculars way more than through a scope so they should both be of equal quality. As longgun stated when it come time to get one repaired, the Leopold warranty is tough to beat. Due to hard use I have had several fail but they were repaired, and in one case replaced by Leupold at no cost to me.

Can I get an Amen!

 

[Goldengun]

Can I get an Amen!

You'll never kill anything with a rifle, unless you beat it to death! But, I'm sure that's not what you meant. The bullet is the only thing that ever touches an animal. That's priority #1 for me. But I agree with you about glass.

 

[ButterBean]

Vortex hs T $600 been reliable on my 300 Rum 10 years?

Vortex Hs LR great functioning scope. $500

SFWA 10x fixed $350 on my lapua 8 years and works great. I have 3 of these now.

Yes its doable. You just dont get the low light enhancement of the better glass. My Leo HD binoculars can see the targets a few minuts longer than all my old scopes.

I wasn't gonna bring the Straight 10X SWFA up but I'm glad you did, I'll agree super high dollar glass is great if you can afford it and at one time I could and I have been behind a bunch of them, as of now I'm shooting Bushnell on everything I have as I have consolidated my Reticles and I always have an SWFA on hand, I don't "Abuse" anything but my equipment is used for what it's indented for, It gets banged around, it's got mud on it, it rides where ever it lands and has been dropped on more than one occasion and I have yet to have any optic problems, as I said by all means if you can afford it get what you want but don't waste money just for a name

 

[longgun505]

You'll never kill anything with a rifle, unless you beat it to death! But, I'm sure that's not what you meant. The bullet is the only thing that ever touches an animal. That's priority #1 for me. But I agree with you about glass.

Agreed! Of the three forms of functional ballistics, internal, external, and terminal, only the latter reduces the target. The first two are simply a delivery function. 'Cartridges are just travel luggage for projectiles.'

 

[Rifleman97]

I wasn't gonna bring the Straight 10X SWFA up but I'm glad you did, I'll agree super high dollar glass is great if you can afford it and at one time I could and I have been behind a bunch of them, as of now I'm shooting Bushnell on everything I have as I have consolidated my Reticles and I always have an SWFA on hand, I don't "Abuse" anything but my equipment is used for what it's indented for, It gets banged around, it's got mud on it, it rides where ever it lands and has been dropped on more than one occasion and I have yet to have any optic problems, as I said by all means if you can afford it get what you want but don't waste money just for a name

Do you have any of the bushnell LRTS scopes you can tell me about? I've got one in my cart on cameraland NY for $750 but I've been stopping myself because I don't have any experience with bushnell and it seems a bit too good to be true

https://cameralandny.com/shop/bushn...363b-0138-8be7-00163ecd2826?variation=2153237

that's the link to the one I've been looking at

 

[ButterBean]

Do you have any of the bushnell LRTS scopes you can tell me about? I've got one in my cart on cameraland NY for $750 but I've been stopping myself because I don't have any experience with bushnell and it seems a bit too good to be true

https://cameralandny.com/shop/bushn...363b-0138-8be7-00163ecd2826?variation=2153237

that's the link to the one I've been looking at

Do not hesitate and get it before its gone, Doug has the greatest price on everything out there, it's not to good to be true

 

[Bullmark]

I don't cut corners on glass.....but I do still realize value and there are some really nice, well built scopes out there for less than S&B, USO, etc.
One suggestion that doesn't get as much recognition is German Precision Optics (GPO). The Co was founded by an ex Zeiss engineer and exec. There stuff is really clear and bright....they use Schott glass and multi coat.
I've tested a couple different models of their hunting scopes and was impressed. They use the illum German #4 reticle, which I love and prefer in a hunting scope.
The biggest difference b/t the GPO and my S&B Exos was the sharpness of the red dot....and it's wasn't all that noticeable.
If I had more rifles I would def buy one and use it with confidence. Alas, I only have two nice rifles at the moment and use the Exos and a Z8i.....and I'm not replacing them.
Look at GPO. They are a quality run company and the owner/founder will respond to emails himself.