Rifle Scopes Hunting Scope suggestions

[Tyler6.8]

Hello all,

I’m in the market for a new hunting scope for my longer range hunting rifle. Let me know what you guys would suggest for my use case and requirements.

Range: up to 600 yards on game. Occasional training out to 1000 on paper/steel to stay fresh. No competition use.
Reticle: prefer FFP but it MUST be useable on the low end. I prefer it to be useable without illumination if such a reticle exists. SFP would also be ok too as long as the reticle is not too large.
Turrets: prefer exposed elevation with a lock or higher quality ones that won’t turn if bumped. Prefer capped windage.
Magnification: no higher than 5x on the low end, but would prefer to be at 3 or 4.
Weight: weight isn’t a huge factor. Don’t plan on doing any serious mountain or sheep hunting with this, but if I had to put a number on it I would say below 32oz is preferred.
Price: trying to stay under $2000 for this one. Used is fine as well. Can stretch the budget a bit if the Goldilocks scope is a little more expensive.

Priority list:
1. Durability
2. Tracking/RTZ
3. Low light performance
4. Glass clarity/IQ
5. Useable reticle

 

[gr8fuldoug]

As a long standing supporting vendor here it's always our pleasure to assist the members here. Please feel free to give us a call, 516-217-1000, so we can assist you personally with different available options and special opportunities as well as discuss what would be best for you. .
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[BobinNC]

I think you just described one of the Vortex Razor HD LHT Twins. These are both SFP. But they do feature a useable low powered reticle, locking elevation turret, capped windage, light weight (19.1 oz), & HD Glass. You can get either of them in the $1200. range. I should note these are hunting scopes, not range orientated scopes masquerading as hunting scopes. Either the:

Razor® HD LHT™ 3-15x50 G4i BDC (MRAD) Reticle | 30mm Tube

or the:

Razor® HD LHT™ 3-15x42 HSR-5i (MRAD) Reticle | 30mm Tube

The hardest specification you list is a useable reticle at low power. That rules out almost all of the FFP flavors, as they are mostly pretty useless at low power, especially on the higher powered examples.

In short you have to give up something (FFP) to get a really useful reticle at low power, with or without illumination. You have to decide which is most important.

 

[M260]

Look at used March 4.5x28 can be found for 2200ish. Check out March's website to see all the reticles

 

[smokinbobf4]

I have quite a few nf nx8 4-32 in ffp and I love them. Elevation turret is not lockable but I have yet to have it spin and have hunted with them a lot. Windage is capped. I would say I don’t think the reticle is extremely usable until about 7 power. Maybe the 2.5-20 would be better for you but I have not used that one so can’t compare. People seem to like the glass and eye box more with the 4-32

 

[Darryle]

I would recommend a 30mm Tract, but they are not cool around here. I just installed two of the Toric 30mm FFP hunting scopes, have a couple dozen different ones.

Doug will hook you up if you call him.

 

[Rodney65]

Bushnell Elite LRHS2 4.5-18 with G2H reticle sounds perfect but I don't think they're in production anymore.

@Bushnell : Start making these again. Or at least offer the G2H reticle in other scopes.

 

[TonyAngel]

I'm down in south louisiana, so my needs probably don't match yours. For me, 150 yards is a long shot and I value a good bottom end on the magnification. Preferably a 2x. I've been running a Leupold Mark 4HD 2.5-10x and love it more every time I get behind it.

I've had it out to 600 on reduced ipsc targets with my 5.56 AR and it really is a joy to get behind. At 2.5x, I find the reticle very usable. At max, the tick marks are a little heavy on the TMR reticle, but the center aiming point is more than fine enough.

The elevation turret is really growing on me too. No pushing or pulling on knobs or anything. Click the button and dial. Turn back down to zero and the button clicks into place.

For a scope with no parallax adjustment, the clarity and depth of field is on the btter side of amazing. To top it all off, it isnt crazy expensive, it's light and not overly bulky. 30mm tube.

 

[waveslayer]

Honestly, save some more pennies. I finally splurged and picked up a ZCO. It checks off all the boxes, but over your price point.

I sold another scope to make up the difference, so now I use it on a dial shooter and my hunting rig. When the time comes to slay something I am very comfortable with my scope?

 

[jbuck88]

Have played with lots of options. Does size matter? I liked the Mk5 3.6-18x44 with the illuminated tmr. Was thick enough to used at the bottom end, but I didn't like the 35mm tube. The ATACR 4-16x42 is great, but again 34mm tube. I kept the ATACR 4-16x42 over the Mk5 3.6-18x44. I currently have the ATACR 4-16x42 on my 300wsm hunting rifle.

Also have a couple of the Vortex Razor LHT 3-15x42, and they are ok so far. I haven't used them enough to be comfortable with the durability yet. My youngest also seems to struggle with the eye box. Not a problem for my wife or older boys, but worth mentioning. The Vortex Razor LHT 3-15x42 is going to be a main stay on my wife's hunting rifle.

My favorite scope is the NXS 2.5-10x42, I have one on my main hunting rifle and just bought another one to go on my 12yo's rifle. I shoot mine out to 1000yds on steel and have shot deer at just over 500yds.

I am going to try out a nx8 4-32 but owned the NX8 2.5-20 and got rid of it because the reticle was just too thin at the bottom end.

 

[264win]

My experience pretty much mirrors jbuck88.
The NF 2.5-10 outperforms its specs.
The 4-16 x42 ATACR is stellar and what I have on my long range hunting rifle.
I’m planning to check out the mk4hd 2-10 and 4.5-18 soon as well.

 

[mi650]

Sounds like you need a Leica PRS with l4a reticle.

I might know where there's a like new one for sale on the post exchange.

 

[Genin]

Nightforce nx8 is my recommendation. Love mine on my hunting rig.

 

[ggmanning]

March 1.5-15 dual plane reticle SFP/FFP. Great glass, usable reticle high or low hunting, illuminated, locking turrets, plenty of mag for 1000 steel shooting. Super short and light. Used one all last season.....love it for a combo hunting/steel scope. 4.5-28 is excellent as well but no dual plane reticle.

 

[Secant]

Depending on how much you are willing to increase your budget, this is the hunting scope for me

Otherwise, in no particular order:
used Nightforce 4-16x42 ATACR
used Leupold 3.6-18 Mk5
used Minox 3-15 ZP5
used Kahles k525i

 

[Qpski]

How about a Sightron S-TAC ?
The leupold vx5hd is also a great option.

 

[FuhQ]

Kahles, Zeiss, Swarovski, (used) ZCO…Is the direction you should be looking.

 

[WB300]

I'll 2nd the above for NF 2.5-10 NXS and 4-16 ATACR in both FFP and SFP.

Check out Trijicon Credo and tenmile as well. They aren't snipery, but mine haven't let me down in a hunting situation.

 

[ChrisAU]

Hunting is the reason I shoot. I have or have had ZCOs, Kahles, Zeiss LRPs, Steiner T6Xi's etc etc on comp guns. I don't let money limit me on what I put on primary use rifles, whether that is hunting or competition. That said, my two primary hunting rifles wear Maven RS 1.2 2.5-15x44's. FFP/MIL with an excellent hunting reticle. Taken close shots in basically full dark conditions without the illumination on at 2.5x and also taken deer out to 500ish with them. Literally not another scope out there at the moment that checks as many boxes as it does for a hunting rifle. And yeah, I'm one of the RS kool-aid drinkers who won't risk his once a year 10-14 day trip in the backcountry with a Leupold or Swarovski that has to be re-zeroed if you look at it wrong...

 

[MikeMiller]

No brainer for me. Been using these for many field applications for a few years and love them

Razor HD LHT 4.5-22x50 FFP

Please Select Reticle | 30mm Tube

vortexoptics.com

 

[smcfarland]

Very similar use case to your criteria, and I went with the Zeiss LRP S3 4-25. Very happy with it so far. Especially for the price through Expert Voice. Turret doesn’t lock but has a zero stop. Windage isn’t capped. Reticle on low power is usable with illumination on.

 

[jbuck88]

Hunting is the reason I shoot. I have or have had ZCOs, Kahles, Zeiss LRPs, Steiner T6Xi's etc etc on comp guns. I don't let money limit me on what I put on primary use rifles, whether that is hunting or competition. That said, my two primary hunting rifles wear Maven RS 1.2 2.5-15x44's. FFP/MIL with an excellent hunting reticle. Taken close shots in basically full dark conditions without the illumination on at 2.5x and also taken deer out to 500ish with them. Literally not another scope out there at the moment that checks as many boxes as it does for a hunting rifle. And yeah, I'm one of the RS kool-aid drinkers who won't risk his once a year 10-14 day trip in the backcountry with a Leupold or Swarovski that has to be re-zeroed if you look at it wrong...

I've read a bunch of positive things on the Maven. I might have to try one. That's good to hear about the reticle being usable without illumination.

 

[davsco]

The hardest specification you list is a useable reticle at low power. That rules out almost all of the FFP flavors, as they are mostly pretty useless at low power, especially on the higher powered examples.

in my limited experience, illuminated ffp reticles def offset (at least partially) the difficulty to see them at low powers. i prefer holding over vs dialing, so ffp being accurate at any X is a draw for me. agree the higher the magnification goes, the less you can use the reticle at lower powers so my hunting scopes (the nf 2.5-20 and vortex's ref'd above) max out at 16-20x.

 

[jbuck88]

The downside to handicapping yourself with needing illumination to be able to use the scope, is betting the farm on a battery not dying or electronics not crapping out.

I've successfully used my NX8 2.5-20 twice to kill elk, where I would have gotten skunked if it didn't work. After the first time it made me uneasy, and sold the scope after the second time. Just not comfortable betting that much on it always working. But to each their own.

 

[jbuck88]

The biggest problem for me with FFP scopes is most manufacturers think we need enough reticle to hold in 100mph of cross wind. They intentionally make the reticle thin out to 10+ mils. I like the Nightforce Mil-r which has 5 mils of hold off then thick posts to help you find them in lower light situations. It also looks like the Maven talked about above also has 5mil hold offs. Which is plenty BTW.

 

[wind gypsy]

Maven rs1.2.

Mag range, function, a reticle that’s actual decent at low power, reasonable price.

I’d happily trade my LRTS and LRHS2 for another but haven’t quite justified the upcharge. It’s like an improved version with better reticle and mag range for hunting.

 

[gopherslayer]

The biggest problem for me with FFP scopes is most manufacturers think we need enough reticle to hold in 100mph of cross wind. They intentionally make the reticle thin out to 10+ mils. I like the Nightforce Mil-r which has 5 mils of hold off then thick posts to help you find them in lower light situations. It also looks like the Maven talked about above also has 5mil hold offs. Which is plenty BTW.

This why I haven’t gotten rid of my XTRIIs with the G2B reticle and my SWFAs with Mil-Quad. 5 mil reticles and you can see them in low light. My XTRIIs are illuminated but I’ve never used it.

 

[skytrooper67]

No one recommended a leupold so I will. I have a VX6HD 3x18x50 Illuminated mounted on a 300 win mag. The 18x works great for 500+ yrds. the 3x works great up close. The parallax focus is very accurate corresponding to the indents. Very good in low light even at 12x. I can kill anything as far as the eye can see with this set up. Price tag isnt bad at $1600. American made with lifetime warranty. JMHO SFC Rob