JakeC
Well-Known Member
I've got a fixed 12 target scope that I absolutely adore. It's just a 300 dollar swfa but I'd keep it under my pillow if my girl let me. That said, it's just not the scope for getting back into hunting in Utah. Long range shots are possible, but 12x is not enough FOV under 300. Plus those tall unlocked turrets are just begging to screw up in a thicket. So I'm trying to get a jump on things and get my optics to practice with now as I do load development for the new gun I've got.
My thoughts right now are that I'm not sure how to prioritize features for hunting out at range. How do you balance glass, parallax, dialing vs hash marks, and zoom? RIght now I'm having a hard time checking the boxes at any price, let along keeping it in the budget. It's really hard to get around the puzzle of first vs 2nd focal plane for hunting. Below 15 there are no ffp hunting scopes, and dialing a 15 out to 3-5 in low light, exactly when you need the lowest settings, is useless. Similarly a sfp is a rigmarole to dial/hold. I'm thinking practice and notes on a sfp is the way to go. I know a 150 yard shot is the most likely thing in the juniper hills but I've got no problem with the morality of a canyon shot and want to be able to take it if it's the right thing.
The best deal I've seen yet is a Razor 2-10 HD light hunter for 400. No adjustable objective and capped turrets but a decent ranging reticle and great great glass. I like Leupolds for a lot of reason but my gut and experience just tells me not to trust their dialing at this price point, and their reticles are trash for holding wind. (I had a tri-moa reticle. I sold it for a shotgun.) I like the burris' I've handled and their reticles a lot but have no idea how they dial. I do not like most of the vortex scopes I've looked at because they were the opposite of the razor LH, the glass was cheap and dusty looking and the money was in the features.
Anyway, I'm new to western hunting and am just looking for recommendations or thoughts. My gut is telling me that at the ranges I'll be ready to shoot (600 and under unless more supplies hit the market) this year I should give up parallax adjustment for glass quality, give up dialing for well-designed reticles, and keep the max power under 14. Maybe I'm missing something but it seems like my price bracket is right where the pinch between fads and hunting makes you really have to sort the beach sand from the pepper. But I thought that when I had 200 dollars too.
My thoughts right now are that I'm not sure how to prioritize features for hunting out at range. How do you balance glass, parallax, dialing vs hash marks, and zoom? RIght now I'm having a hard time checking the boxes at any price, let along keeping it in the budget. It's really hard to get around the puzzle of first vs 2nd focal plane for hunting. Below 15 there are no ffp hunting scopes, and dialing a 15 out to 3-5 in low light, exactly when you need the lowest settings, is useless. Similarly a sfp is a rigmarole to dial/hold. I'm thinking practice and notes on a sfp is the way to go. I know a 150 yard shot is the most likely thing in the juniper hills but I've got no problem with the morality of a canyon shot and want to be able to take it if it's the right thing.
The best deal I've seen yet is a Razor 2-10 HD light hunter for 400. No adjustable objective and capped turrets but a decent ranging reticle and great great glass. I like Leupolds for a lot of reason but my gut and experience just tells me not to trust their dialing at this price point, and their reticles are trash for holding wind. (I had a tri-moa reticle. I sold it for a shotgun.) I like the burris' I've handled and their reticles a lot but have no idea how they dial. I do not like most of the vortex scopes I've looked at because they were the opposite of the razor LH, the glass was cheap and dusty looking and the money was in the features.
Anyway, I'm new to western hunting and am just looking for recommendations or thoughts. My gut is telling me that at the ranges I'll be ready to shoot (600 and under unless more supplies hit the market) this year I should give up parallax adjustment for glass quality, give up dialing for well-designed reticles, and keep the max power under 14. Maybe I'm missing something but it seems like my price bracket is right where the pinch between fads and hunting makes you really have to sort the beach sand from the pepper. But I thought that when I had 200 dollars too.
