Long range scope suggestions / $800 to $1,200 budget

Ziess Conquest 6,5-20x50 A/O with #43 (mil-dot) reticle is in your price range. Excellent glass. Crisp image even on 20x. 1/8 clicks w/adjustable knobs. 3 1/2" eye relief, 1" tube.

I have one mounted on my 338-378 brevix. Easy to adjust and good in low light conditions too. Designed as a hunter, but excellent for target.
 
I just wanted to chime in because I was just in this position-

I bought a Remington 700 SPS Tac "AAC-SD" .308 Tactical/'Sniper' rifle... and i had saved enough to pick almost any reasonable scope I wanted. The Leupold Mark 4's were a little too much for me to be honest, but below that, I had the run.

I settled on most likely a Leupold VX3 (the highest end VX3's, a 4.5-14x50mm Illuminated Boone and Crockett Reticle was the most likely candidate) or a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x50mm Rapid Z 800/1000 reticle.. Both were about $1000 give or take.

I wound up comparing the Leupold to a Nikon Monarch side by side at a local gun shop... and let me tell you: I came home and bought a Nikon Monarch 5-20x44mm BDC reticle Side Focus .... at HALF THE PRICE of the other two, *and* i think I might have got a better scope.

The Leupold VX3 was awesome, amazing quality. I was very impressed. Then I tried the Nikon Monarch. And I was like, Is it just me or is it, at the very least same??? And the Monarch was about $500 or so, the VX3 was about $1000. Minimum. The nicer VX3L's (with the wierd recessed bottom for fitting over a barrel) were like $1300... and again, I was not sure I was getting a better scope, at close to triple the price now.



The Nikon Monarch I got is The Truth. I am EXTREMELY impressed. Leupold has been trading on its name for a LONG TIME now, and Zeiss is certainly the flashiest of the 3, but pound for pound there is no doubt in my mind I Did the best I could have.
 
For tht price range, the Bushnell Tactical Elite HDMR,Leupold,Mk4, Zeiss, and others. If at all possible add a few hundred and get a NightForce. I am not a huge NF fan but they are great scopes. My own personal pick at that price range would be the Bushnell, I own a couple of them (the Elite & and the HDMR) now and they have quickly became my "goto" scope. I have the Tactical Elite on a 50bmg, and it has stood everything she throws at it.
 
Leupold has been trading on its name for a LONG TIME now
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Reason #1 I don't own one. Over priced. But you should be honest and disclose that your Nikon had to be shipped back. I haven't had any problems with my Monarchs though and they have served me well.
 
Yeah but I'm pretty sure it was physically damaged / opened box when I got it, if I did not include that in the message you are attempting to insert into this, I had suspected the package I got shipped to me was previously opened and or damaged to begin with, but I saw no actual *marks* on the scope and shoot, I admit fully, I was so excited I overlooked my initial trepidation.

Having had trouble zeroing it, I took it to Dick's where I had bought it (bought it online, they don't carry what they call "top tier" scopes in the stores, and when he noticed it was way off too, he IMMEDIATELY OFFERED to have it returned and a new one sent to me, And I said, you know I did think it was an open or damaged box I got, they said "you should not have even taken a chance, send it right back, $600 is way too much not to be perfect."

So in my humble opinion that had nothing to do with Nikon. *AND* even if i had kept it, Nikon has a full lifetime warranty ... 'NO TIME LIMIT APPLIES, NO CARD IS NECESSARY, EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT THE ORIGINAL OWNER..."



sO i am COMPLETELY comfortable with my new Nikon Monarch *AND* the two Nikon ProStaffs 4-12x40mm 's I have on two .22LR's I have. Could not be happier.
 
Scopes

This summer I watched a 600yd benchrest match at a local range.These guys have both heavy and light rifles and shoot at 1000yds as well.One guy had 36x Weavers on both of his rifles but everyone else had scopes of 40x or more.Most were some form of a Nightforce.
 
458winshooter--Weaver T-36 has been a long standing scope in the bench rest field. They are a very good scope and track very well. Only issue you might have is in shooting shorter distances. At 36 power only it is a task sometimes to find a target at 300 yards. Nightforce are awesome scopes,they have a tendency to put a big dent in your wallet:D. I would love to have a Nightforce on my bench rifle. One of the guy's I shoot with has 7 Bench Rifles,all 7 have Nightforce scopes on them. I did look very close at the T-36,but decided to go with a Sightron instead. Have been very happy with it.

I did just do some research on Mueller scopes. The reviews came in very well for a lower priced scope. I decided to try one in the 8-32 x 44 flavor on my 22-250. I must say i am impressed so far with it. I did the box test with it and my 5th shot was with in 1/2 inch of the first,not bad for a 250.00 scope.
At 32 power eye relief was still very easy and sight picture was more than ok for my 51 yr old eyes. In fact i liked it so much for that price that i am going to get one more for my 308.
 
I did just do some research on Mueller scopes. The reviews came in very well for a lower priced scope. I decided to try one in the 8-32 x 44 flavor on my 22-250. I must say i am impressed so far with it. I did the box test with it and my 5th shot was with in 1/2 inch of the first,not bad for a 250.00 scope.
At 32 power eye relief was still very easy and sight picture was more than ok for my 51 yr old eyes. In fact i liked it so much for that price that i am going to get one more for my 308.
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Same experience here with Mueller. I picked up an old Stevens short action this last year and decided to build a 223 coyote gun/plinker on it. It was a budget build from the onset and I decided I'd try a budget optic to keep the theme. So I picked up a Mueller APT off hearing so many good things about it, and it's impressed me quite a bit for a less than $200 optic. Mine also runs the box well, returns to zero, and the glass stays good and clear all the way to full power. My only complaint thus far is the turrets are a tad mushy, but other than that it's an optic I wouldn't hesitate to purchase again if I was looking for budget glass. :D
 
scsov509 said:
Mil/Mil is awesome if you like shooting a mildot, because having your adjustments match your reticle just makes exponentially more sense. It's especially nice for dialing up adjustments and calling your own shots because you don't have to do any math to make adjustments that you see through your reticle, you just watch what you see and adjust accordingly. I held off getting away from MOA adjustments for a long time, but after I made the switch I really wished I'd made it sooner.
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I couldn't agree more. If you really want the latest, best setup for playing sniper. Mil/Mil is the way to go. Especially for on the fly range correction with no spotter. If you have a spotter, often instructions like, 2 mils up, one mil right, etc will allow for quit hits, with out adjusting the turrets.
 
Just so I understand correctly . A mil-mil scope has a mil-dot reticle and the windage and elevation are in mils as well . If one mil is 3.37 MOA what would one click be on the scope be . one click = 1/4 mil or .84 MOA ?

I stated before I like the mil-dot reticle with moa wind & elev adjustments cus it's what I know . I think Im starting to worm up to the this Vortex viper MOA reticle http://www.vortexoptics.com/uploads/web_manual_rfl_viper-pst_r-624f1-a2.pdf This seems to be much easier to calculate . I've always liked working with the inches calculations . My targets are rarely exactly 1 or 2 meters high . When I break it down in to inches I can range a target thats 4' high or 5' high using the 27.77 calculation better . so I was thinking the MOA to MOA reticle with all measurements being in inches would be easier ?

any thoughts ?
 
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I was thinking the MOA to MOA reticle with all measurements being in inches would be easier? Any thoughts?
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I think the ideal setup in any reticle is having the subtensions and adjustments match, especially if you're wanting to dial adjustments rather than hold them. What that does again is make it so that you can call your own shots and then dial up adjustments according to what you see in the scope. So if you see a shot impact 2 MOA off the mark through your reticle, then you dial 2 MOA on your turret to adjust and fire away. Same with a Mil/Mil reticle: You miss by 2 mils then you dial 2 mils and fire again. If the subtensions match the turrets then it's just quick and easy, which is what I want when I'm shooting at distance.

So if MOA is what you like, then an MOA/MOA reticle is the way to go, and that's precisely why you're seeing more reticles now like the aforementioned Vortex that uses MOA subtensions with MOA adjustments. If you feel best with MOA then you'd love the MOA/MOA setup, and I think you'd be pleased with the quality of Vortex glass as well. :D
 
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