scopes

[hunter18]

I need to know wat a good scope is that wont take to much cash. It dosent matter the brand to me right now i have some way off brand one but its a couple years old and wonte stay sited in.   

[rookie]

The last scope that i bought for my Ruger 300 win mag was a leupold 4 by 12 by 40 it is the most expensive scope i have ever bought but I love the thing. It depends on what you are going to do with the gun but after my first leupold I will stick with them good quality for descent price.

[RookguideBMW]

Leupold rifleman if you want a good reliable scope.  It is around $200.  They guarentee all there scopes for life.  I have one on my 30.06 that is 15 yrs old!!! Just got it back from being reconditioned.  Great scope.  Cant go wrong with a good leupold.

[KILLERBEE]

you cant go wrong with leupold, there warrenty is awsome!

[ellsbury]

I started  putting Weaver straight powered 6x on my rifles. They are cheaper than Leupold (which I do think are the best) and they hold the cross hairs great.

[rubyvalleyboy]

Time for me to chime in, it all depends on what you are going to do with the rifle.  If you are going to shoot tin cans and nothing else, then it doesnt matter what, or how much it cost.  Bottom line if you are going to use the rifle for hunting, spend as much as you can afford.   You shoot only as good as you scope will let  you..  I am sure there are plenty of stories out there about the tasco $49.99 scope lasting for three generations and never falling apart, but most of them are either lying or only get used once every generation.  I am not brand loyal, i have leupold, burris, sightron, bushnell, but most of them have a specific puropse.  My first 22 cal  rifle i ever owned has a bushnell 3-9 scope on it, pretty much a piece of garbage, but it works fiine for shooting the skunks out of my garbage.  The last 22 cal i bought has a Burris Black Diamond 6-24.  far from garbage, but not the top of the line either.  It was the best i could afford for the new 22-250 i got to shoot dogs at 600yds.

After all this rambling, i guess i am trying to say that you get what you pay for.  If you spend the extra money, you wont be disappointed.  Most of the big scope makers have some decent scopes ranging from $150-$250,  that will come with great warrenties. Do your research, and really think about what you are going to use it for and then purchase accordingly.  A little word of advice, if you can find a friend or a friend of a friend who has a Federal Firearms license, FFL, and they are willing to buy for you,  you will save about 30% of the cost on a new scope.  Like my dad always told me, it is not what you know it is who  you know.

[royaltine]

A scope is something you'll keep forever.  Even if you sell the gun, I have usually kept the scope that was on it.  GET A GOOD ONE>!  If it ever came down to missing a big buck cuz of a 200$ savings in scopes, you'd be kicking your self.

[KinggeorgeIII]

My choice for a good, all-around scope for the money, good reputation for repair, and optics for the price would be a Leupold VX-II, 3x9 in either 40 or 50mm. Unless you have lots of time to fiddle-fart around and focus with paralax, I prefer the fixed paralax version. They sell for around $300.00. You can find new and used ones on EBay. Natchez Shooters Supply is a good place to look also.

I have Leopolds on every one of my rifle and Contender barrels and have never had a problem or missed an animal yet.

I have put these scopes though all kinds of weather, and one of my rifles took a pretty good fall.After a pretty good whack, it maintained zero and did not lose the nitrogen inside. I sent it back to Leupold to have it checked, and they sent it back fully reconditioned at no charge.

Can't beat the quality or reputation, and they are made in the USA.

[Buffalo]

you cant go wrong with leupold, there warrenty is awsome!

I concur.
Buff

[Hunting Cowboy]

Leupold is hard to beat. I have three 3-9X40 Vari-X II, and a 4-12X40 Vari-X I. Love then all! very durable and reliable. I hope to one day afford a Vari-X III Leupold 4.5-14.
HC

[dubl_t]

Leupold, Burris, Sightron, (your favorite here), are all good scopes.  What is true though, is "most" new scopes (even Bushnells) are better than old diehards due to progress made in manufacturing, optics and materials.
For a good deal though, look for a "certain" scope put out by Browning.  It was actually a Bushnell Banner for alot less.

[Steve]

I've got to go along with everyone else on this.  Leupold II is a great scope!  I own three of them in 3X9 plus a six power on my wife's 270.

I started out with 4 power Red Field scopes back in the 60's.  They worked okay, but I did have one fog up from rain.  Another was ruined when the gun fell over in the house and the bell was bent down.  Another one had a chunck of something floating around inside the scope.  So, maybe these scopes weren't the best, but I still shot a lot of game with them.

Many hunters bought the old Weaver K-4 scopes back in the old days.  I never liked those little fine crosshairs, and the scope seemed kind of blurry to start with.  The Weaver scopes of today are probably far better than they once were.

You get more or less what you pay for.  Optics don't hold their value as well as the rifle you put it on, but I don't like cheap scopes.

I bought a cheap tasco scope a while back in 6 power.  It worked fairly well.  Once it changed point of impact from bouncing around in my jeep all day. 

Another bad thing about this tasco scope was that you had to have your eye really close to the scope to see clearly.  A magnum rifle would probably give you a cut on your forehead if you tried shooting it like that.  That's what I like about Leupold.  You can shoot one with plenty of clearance between your eye and scope.

Leupold are super clear even for my blurry eyes.  You can see well at sun up and sun down.  A cheap scope won't give you that.

I'd save your money till you can afford a better scope.  It is money well spent.  You don't have to spend that much either.  I've bought a couple of used 3x9 Leupold II's on ebay.  I figure if something is wrong with them, they should be under warranty.  Both of those scopes were perfect though. 

I just hate to hunt with a rifle or scope that doesn't measure up when you need them.  I think there are some other good brands out there too.  I've always been such a big fan of Leupold that I haven't used much else.....

[deweymn]

I will also vouch for Leupold as I have a 3.5-10 x 40 VX-3 with the B& C reticle.  I spent $560 on it in the fall of 2007.  That fall I saw a deer in very low light, but when I put the scope up I had no problem finding her in the scope.  Plus like everyone else said their warranty is awesome.