Help! Scope Minefield

[Chuck]

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse/r ... _stype=GNU

Plenty info here, seems a good buy.

[pe4king]

Being a bit of an optics whore, I have tried all sorts in my time, I love S&B PM2's but during recent kit rationalisation I have looked at others also, the vortex vipers are fantastic scopes for the money and they are sometimes found on the forums for around £500 I would say if you see one snap it up quick.
Bushnell elites are very good the 6-24 models are good, we have one on our new club rifle and in the past I had one on my AR15, at the moment I have a 3-21 elite DMR on my .260 it is cracking and I can't fault it at all but slightly over your budget.
Now for budget scopes look at the MTC viper they do an 8-32 and a I think 6-25 tactical turrets all the bells and whistles andgood for the money around £300.
And don't discount the Hawke sidewinders of the same power range, my boy has one on his .308 and it works a treat picked it up second hand for £200

[Christel]

Look through as many scopes as you can, the reticle varies.

[Dombo63]

You could also look at the Falcon range. I have one of these, or its equivalent from 6 years ago:

http://www.uttings.co.uk/p102739-falcon ... VJalvACCHM

Fitted to a 20 MOA rail atop a 26" barrelled Remington 700 in .308 it is good out to 1,000 yards. They come in either MOA or MilRad flavours

[ukrifleman]

+1 for Hawke scopes, I have a 3-9x40 Hawke Frontier with mil-dot reticule on my K31, it does unspeakable things to fig 11's at 800 yards.
ukrifleman.

[Countryman]

There is a big difference between 800 and 1000 yards. Even factory ammo will get you to about 900 yards but the drop off at that point is significant and the bullets tend to start to rubble as they go transonic.

[pb86]

Basically - if you are looking to shoot out to 1000 yds with any kind of competency you'll appreciate at least 32 power. Most scopes these days are 'zoom' so look for an 8-32.

Up to £500 will only get you Chinese in this mag range - there are lots of £125 Chinese scopes with £500 price-tags - beware. You don't always get what you pay for!

If you can stretch to Japanese optics then Sightron offer exceptional scopes at reasonable cost with great after-sales.

Check out http://www.foxfirearmsuk.com for £125 Chinese 8-32 scopes and Aimfield Sports for Sightron.

As BamBam says - don't pay for illuminated reticles if you only shoot in daylight.

Are the Fox Firearms scopes any good? Almost seem too good for that price?

Do they come with a warranty?

[pb86]

In that price range I'd keep an eye out for someone selling a quality second hand scope. I recently picked up a Nightforce NXS for around £600 S/H. You occasionally see older fixed power Schmidt Benders on Guntrader too. Depends if you want shiney new but lesser quality or top notch s/h stuff. If you do go new, Vortex are good, I've got a 1-4 PST, the light gathering and crispness of image are excellent.

If you can hang on, wait until the shooting show in February and look through lots of different scopes. You'll see the quality differences when you look at them side by side.

I am planning on going to the shooting show so that is a good piece of advice! Do vendors tend to have show offers etc?

[pb86]

You could also look at the Falcon range. I have one of these, or its equivalent from 6 years ago:

http://www.uttings.co.uk/p102739-falcon ... VJalvACCHM

Fitted to a 20 MOA rail atop a 26" barrelled Remington 700 in .308 it is good out to 1,000 yards. They come in either MOA or MilRad flavours

Whats the difference between MOA and MilRad? I assume MOA is minute of angle which I am used to working in for elevation and windage.

[majordisorder]

Do vendors tend to have show offers etc?

This one will