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Swarovski Z5 3.5-18X44 or Leupold VX5 HD 3-15X44

you don't read more because engraved turrets and sfp suck for guys that hunt different elevations and temps. And not much worse for LR than a duplex reticle.....
the engraved turrets no Bueno !!! but never had a problem hunting and shooting up too and past 3000 yards with SFP optics in fact they are nicer for me due too the reticle being finer
 
Between those two…I like the Luepy.

I prefer the Vortex LHT over it, just slightly. The March suggestion is a solid one too.

Good luck!
 
I have four Z5's, three of which are 3.5 - 18. I think they are wonderful scopes at a great price point. I have found the BT is good to about 625 - 700 with 200 yard zero, depending on caliber. I will mention, if I was only shooting a max of 400, I would choose the BRH.
 
I am a hunter, I don't shoot game over 800 yards due to the terrain we hunt. I have used the Leupold but sold the dial versions and went back to the B&C reticle versions.
My primary hunting scope is the Swaro Z5 3.5x18 with the BRX reticle, rifle zeroed at 290 yards, 3.5" high at 100. Gives me point and shoot to 400 yards. Rarely does game in this area give you time to dial anything and the vast majority of shots are under 400 yards. At ranges over 400 you may get time to use a range finder but most often you still have to be able to eyeball it and shoot. If I was shooting long range targets and wanted to dial I would be using a Nighforce or something similar.
 
I have had both. Both were very clear. I now use the Leupold VX5 due to the heavier crosswire - this is a function of my older eyes. The Swaro crosswire was a bit too fine for my eyes. Either should make a fine scope for your stated hunting conditions.
 
New to the forum simply to respond to this aging post.

This post popped up when I searched Google for a comparison of the two scopes that the original poster asked about. Eager to learn a thing or two about a scope I thought I'd like to purchase I read each of your posts. I hunt at relatively short ranges but figured if it's good enough for people who take long range seriously it must be good enough for me.

I read and read but kept circling back to the fantastically sage advice of huntsman22.

Following in the footsteps of other internet legends such as mrwhiskers69 and Gandalfsmustache this well-known member has given so much more than the solicited advice. A simple compare/contrast and recommendation is like giving a man a fish. No, no, no. Mr. huntsman22 could not stand idly by as fools rushed in to feed this man a fish (socialists just handin' out the freebies amiright).

Instead Mr. huntsman22 led the OP, and everyone else, to draw their own conclusions from the breadcrumbs of brilliance he left in the forest.

"Oh you like that scope huh? Well it's crap. I've definitely owned superior scopes. If you take your thousand yard groundhog snippering seriously you'd obviously choose a real scope."

So I have deduced that you and I and anyone who expects to be able to hit the broad side of a barn at greater than 20 paces needs to…

  1. Secure a new old stock German float glass furnace.
  2. Get in with the international sand cartel to get some artisanal, hand sorted, medium-fine, virgin sand.
  3. Sheet out some pure glass to hand grind to scanning-electron-microscope-dead-on-balls-accurate curvature.
  4. Smelt some Unobtainium/aircraft grade aluminum alloy to billets.
  5. CNC that bad boy to nano-spec tolerances into a scope-shaped tube.
  6. Kidnap the James Webb lead engineer from JPL to hand cut the internal watch-works from Vibranium.
  7. NASA the whole assembly to the ISS and use the vacuum of space to purge the thing of gas.
  8. Hand paint the assembled scope in Vanta Black so as not to spook any game.
  9. Buy top of the line NcSTAR rings and bases and Loctite the hell out of the whole shebang to a Chipmunk .22.
Now after the 3/4 billion dollar investment you can step up to the line with the big boys… like Mr. huntsman22. No off the shelf nonsense for this guy. No sir.

Leupold, Zeiss, Swarovski…
Rolls Royce, Lambo, Bugatti…
Hendrix, Yo-Yo Ma, Beethoven…

Psh-sh-sh. Double psh-sh-sh.
Amateurs. Dilettantes. Pretenders.

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Thank you Mr. huntsman22 for not dumbing it down. Thank you for giving the gift of imagination and passing knowledge like a prune smoothie. I, personally, will be forever grateful.

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