Rifle Scopes Leupy Mk4, USO ST10 best glass under $1000

[Swift]

I always have trouble when choosing an optic. So many options, sizes, reticles, features, etc. Going along with my "buy once, cry once" method, I've been reading up on some of the "top tier" brands. I would love to have a Nightforce but it would be hard to justify that kinda cost. So I started looking deeper into these high end brands. The Leupold Mk4 LRT 4.5-14 with a mil-dot can be had for around $870 and a barebones USO ST10 can be had for under $1000 (only featured I'd add is the EREK knob anyways).

I know there's a gaggle of threads about "Best scope under $1000" but I'm not really looking for that. I was just curious if other "five star" brands are making budget minded optics? Budget minded in this case being around $1000 +/-

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Re: Leupy Mk4, USO ST10 best glass under $1000

Of those two I would take the USO every time. I would much rather have quality optics and internals over variable power and 10X is just about perfect magnification for all around use.

Vortex PST would be worth looking into as well. I would also suggest looking at the FS section here, older (IMO better) MK4's come up often. Keep an eye out for the Premire modified Loopys too.

 

[Swift]

Re: Leupy Mk4, USO ST10 best glass under $1000

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Anchor Zero Six</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Of those two I would take the USO every time. I would much rather have quality optics and internals over variable power and 10X is just about perfect magnification for all around use.

Vortex PST would be worth looking into as well. I would also suggest looking at the FS section here, older (IMO better) MK4's come up often. Keep an eye out for the Premire modified Loopys too. </div></div>

Premiere modified leupolds? I'm not familiar. Learn me. I also feel like there's a lot of under-the-radar brands that make good glass in that range. Vortex and Sightron for sure. Then there's the 5 star brands that make good products but aren't as mainstream like Valdada.

I'm not quite ready to take the plunge into high end optics but I do have a sizable tax refund coming that would allow me to comfortably join the club. Who knows.

 

[Redmanss]

Re: Leupy Mk4, USO ST10 best glass under $1000

For under $1k and only considering new optics, I would actually take a SWFA SS 10x HD over the USO ST10 simply for the adjustable parallax. Maybe someone knows something I don't, but I don't believe you can get a new ERGO ST10 for under $1k. Fixed parallax does OK (I know from my Unertl experience), but the adjustable just does better across the entire field.

If that budget ceiling isn't absolute, I wouldn't hesitate to get an ST-10 with the ERGO objective and call it a day, especially since it has the ability to later be modified.

 

[YN*Dotte]

Re: Leupy Mk4, USO ST10 best glass under $1000

I just went through the same dilema not a week ago lol. You can find a used ST10 with an EREK knob and ERGO for a damn good price here in the for sale section, if it isnt everything you want it to be, you can have it back to USO later and get it modified if you want.

Also those ST10's are built like damn tanks! Almost indistructable I would say.