I just purchased a 270 Weatherby Vanguars S2 sporter and am looking for some advice on a 3-9x40 scope. I was looking at the Bushnell Elite, Leupold VX-1, and Nikkon Prostaff. I like the rain guard feature of the Bushnell Elite. What advice do you all have.
You're all over the place on quality. The discontinued Bushnell Elite
4200 and Nikon Monarch and Burris Signature Select are about on par with a Leupold VX-2 while the the Bushnell Elite 3200 is a 1/2 step down. The VX-1 is a step down from the VX-2 and is more on the level of a Bushnell Legend, Nikon Buckmaster, Burris Fullfield II, or Weaver Classic V. The ProStaff yet is another step down. Chuck Hawks has a
scope rating system that I think is pretty good and will help you compare apples to apples.
You should be able to pick up a
Burris Fullfield II, Bushnell Legend,
Nikon Buckmaster, in 3-9x or a
Weaver V10 2-10x38 for around $160-220. All of those are pretty similar and very decent scopes. For the $160 sale price I think I'd snag the normally $180 Weaver V10.
BTW I'm not a brand fanboy - I own Bushnell Elite 4200 (2), Bushnell Elite 3200 (1), Nikon Monarch (3), Leupold VX-1 (1), Burris Signature Select and XTR (1 of each), Weaver T series (1) and Weaver Classic V & K series (6). I have others but those are the ones in my collection that I really like. I just call them as I see them.
Edit: I just found a better deal on a Weaver V10 on sale for
$150 . The difference is the reticle. Note - the rebate shown on the page does not seem to apply to this scope.