Hunting & Fishing I'm no hunter but I need advice on a scope for hunting

[unrepentant]

I wanna buy a scope for a friend. It'll be used to hunt boar, deer, and bear (bear weights are <125 lb.) at a distance of no greater than 150 yards. No night hunting is allowed where he lives. The budget is $800. I've narrowed the scope choices down to these three:

Nikon Monarch III 1-4x20 (with #4 German reticle)
Nikon Monarch III 2-8x32 (with Nikoplex reticle)

Trijicon TR24 Accupoint 1-4x20 (with green triangle)

1) Which scope would you choose?

2) Why?

Thank you very much for your advice.

 

[Punisher29073]

I would go for the 2-8x Monarch. I have used a few of the monarchs and have been happy with all of them. I like the higher magnification but I have horrible vision and am color blind so I compensate with magnification.

Ryan

 

[Grumulkin]

Of the choices you give I'd also go with the 2-8X Nikon. I would prefer a used Leupold Mark 4 though which I could probably get for about the same price.

 

[kraigWY]

Little over kill for mid size game to 150 yards. A simple 2.5 to 4 X fixed scope would be quite handy.

Hard to beat the Weaver K-4 for hunting unless you just want to spend big bucks.

 

[skinney_7]

The accupoint triangle post sucks ass... I've looked through it, and my buddy has one on his coyote rig, not good... sure if you got a charging lion, or black death on your ass and you NEED rapid acquisition...

May I suggest looking into the Vortex line, great glass, great quality, awesome options, unconditional LT warranty...

 

[lead ƒarmer]

Most of my rifles are set up for hunting. Only two are range maidens. Of the ones you listed, the 2-8x32. More magnification and the larger objective would definitely be nice to have.

 

[Graywolf.260]

For half that budget, I would get a Zeiss conquest 3-9x40.

 

[Southbreeze]

If you're looking at triji - they also offer a german #4 ret in either yellow or green dot. I have one of each and for lowlight hunting they're great. Great glass and you don't have to worry about the battery running out.

Breeze

I just got a second hand red triangle 2-10x56 that I haven't mounted yet.....so I can't comment yet.

 

[coWSMasher]

I agree the trijicon triangle thing sucks i love trijicon glass but make sure you get a standard cross hair with dot or a mil-dot with dot. I would recommend a 2.5-10 rather than 1-4 but that being said i run a 6-24 in those same conditions.

 

[peak98]

Of the choices you have listed, I'd go with the Nikon 2x8x32. I agree the Graywolf.260 though, I would seriously consider the Zeiss Conquest 3x9x40 as it has outstanding glass for the cost.

 

[threetrees]

get a used 6x42 swaro habicht. got one for my brothers first rifle for 200 euros. he used it two months ago for full-moon boar-hunting in germany and it was easily up to the job at midnight

 

[judgedelta]

For $800, I'd go with an upper end hunting Leupold. A little extra magnification is handy when you need do a little quick scoring on a buck or on a doe to make sure that it's not a button head. I look at more deer with my scope than binoculars since here where the cover is usually pretty thick, there's not a lot of time to be switching from binos to scope... Since in Mississippi, there is a mega-thousand dollar fine for shooting a bear, it pays to make sure that the boar you're looking at at 100yards is of the pig variety.

 

[dogmessiah]

Unless your buddy shits money, I personally think there is absolutely no need to spend $800 for a hunting scope. For those distances, I would either go with the suggestion of Kraig and get a fixed 4x, or get something along the lines of a 2-7 or a 3-9. For hunting you really do not need much magnification unless you are trying to score bucks. As you go to lower magnification the glass quality matters less than by comparison to high magnification. Also he isn't going to be dialing so repeatable clicks are not very important for his use. The three critical factors for a hunting scope that won't be used past 150 yards are ability to see in low light, ability to see the crosshares in lowlight, and that POI does not change when you change magnification. As long as you stay away from the complete crap scopes you shouldn't have much problem with POI changing when changing magnification. Honestly you should be able to score a buck at 150 yards with 7-9 power just fine.
I would not go over a 40mm objective. For a max power of 9 it just isn't needed, and keeping a scope trim and light weight is nice on a hunting rifle.

You can get a 2-7x33 viper from cameraland for $200. I have two of them and regularly shoot jack rabbits well past 150 yards, it is probably what I would reccomend. There are lots of other good options out there as well, I don't think I would go more expensive than the mentioned 3-9x40 conquest even if I had a very large bank account.

 

[Name Enough]

Of the choices you have listed, I'd go with the Nikon 2x8x32. I agree the Graywolf.260 though, I would seriously consider the Zeiss Conquest 3x9x40 as it has outstanding glass for the cost.

I own three Zeiss Scope and can highly recommend them. Very good light tranmisssion at dusk and very clear glass. I do not own 3 of any other scope makers scopes.