Rifle Scopes Lightweight scopes for hunting? Any FFP?

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j741

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Minuteman
    • Sep 10, 2017
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    #1
    Are there any good lightweight FFP scopes suitable for hunting, assuming it's hiking around and not just sitting in a blind. I have a 6.9lb rifle for hunting and figure using my nearly 31oz PST II seems a bit much. My eyes aren't that great so looking for at least 15x on the top end magnification. I've gotten used to FFP for holdover and ranging so would prefer to keep all my scopes same in that sense. But I am open to SFP if what I want isn't reasonably possible in FFP. Was hoping to find something in the <18oz range and under $1500 (Could raise that to $2k if necessary).

    If going SFP, I did find the 16.5 oz Vortex Razor HD LH 3-15x42 (on sale too) but was curious about other options.
     
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    #4
    I had the same dilemma for my LW mountain rifle.

    For me repeatability and light weight were priorities.

    I just could not find that in a suitable FFP, so I went with the 2.5-10x32 NF NXS MLR (SFP of course), but my reasoning was under 400 yards FFP is not required - on big game - just a known required holdover, one and done.

    Longer shots @ 10X FOV vs detail is a fairly good compromise and I can easily do quick holdovers @ 500-700 or if time is on my side I can back off to 6 to 8X and dial the little NXS.

    Also, not having to mess with parallax for hunting scenarios is a plus. I have found 1/2 moa accuracy easy out to 800 w/o an issue.

    Just an idea, it has worked very well for me for the last 3 seasons.
     
    #9
    j741 said:
    I was also just now looking at the Viper HS-LR. 6-24x50, FFP, and 21oz. at $899 seems a pretty good option.
    Click to expand...

    This is not a bad scope at all. Mine was pressed into service as a varmint scope. Spending looong days behind this scope was never a problem. Liked the weight and the capped windage knob. Good enough glass for prairie dogs for sure.
     
    #11
    March 3-24-42 would fit your bill nicely, they are a little heavier (22oz) but have amazing glass, also about the only Mil option in this category. They can be found used for 1700-1800. I also have the Vortex HD hunter and must say, for the price it has super glass. I am a fan of my VX3i for the price and weight but I like the vortex reticle and glass better. Although the turrets are not nearly as nice.
    Good luck with the search.
     
    #14
    j741 said:
    I was also just now looking at the Viper HS-LR. 6-24x50, FFP, and 21oz. at $899 seems a pretty good option.
    Click to expand...
    When you can pick up a Jap made LRHS for about the same price as "filapeno" junk it's not even a question. The only Pst even worth looking at is the Gen 2 and the LRHS and DMR line stomp it. 2 best light weight hunting scopes in ffp and featured are the LRHS and the March 3-24x52. The March is actually smaller and lighter go figure. Just need to decide on budget $1k or 2.5k. I wouldn't even consider sfp for hunting unless you are talking <200 yard shots exclusively.
     
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    #15
    Primus said:
    When you can pick up a Jap made LRHS for about the same price as "filapeno" junk it's not even a question. The only Pst even worth looking at is the Gen 2 and the LRHS and DMR line stomp it. 2 best light weight hunting scopes in ffp and featured are the LRHS and the March 3-24x52. The March is actually smaller and lighter go figure. Just need to decide on budget $1k or 2.5k. I wouldn't even consider sfp for hunting unless you are talking <200 yard shots exclusively.
    Click to expand...

    Strong opinions there :)

    The prices I see on the LRHS are around $1399 and not the $899 range of the Viper HS-LR. Are you referring to used prices being similar?

    I can spend up to $2.5k if it makes sense for my goals. But if I'm not seeing a big benefit from $900 -> $1500 -> $2k I'll just spend what it takes to address my needs. The March at $3299 is way out of the budget.

    The Leupold Mark 6 3-18x44 is interesting at 23oz. I'm going to look in to that some more.

    I'm not going to be taking shots past 500 yards, likely more in the <350 range for a bit as I'm still new to this. Not willing to risk a bad hit at longer distances.
     
    #16
    OP, word of caution, stay away from the Mark 6 3-18x44 (it's issues have been well documented on this site and elsewhere), if you'd really like Leupold I'd recommend looking into the new Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44 as it appears to have resolved a lot of the Mark 6's issues (but we'll have to wait and see). Also, given your budget, I'd highly recommend the Vortex AMG. You might not have considered it being a 6-24 but it has a generous FOV at 6x (20.4' @ 100 yards) which is my limit for a big game scope. I hunt elk mostly and my limit is based on whether or not the critter can fit inside the FOV of the scope at bottom magnification at 50 yards and most elk can easily fit inside the 10' FOV of the AMG, smaller critters even better. If the game is closer than 50 yards I don't really worry about it, that's why I carry a big knife with me :). I would also highly recommend the Bushnell ET LRTSi 4.5-18x44, not as good as the AMG but for about 1/2 the price its performance can't be beat. I also own a Vortex PST II 5-25x50 and while not as good as the LRTSi (and obviously the AMG) it is a great scope for the price, the diopter was more finicky than other scopes but once I got it dialed in properly I was really impressed. My only other thought is to look for a used Premier LT 3-15x50 and even the used Tangent Theta TT315M (the clone of the Premier LT) have gone for under $2500 in the classifieds, you will never look through better glass than Premier/TT in this magnification range. I know you'd like to stay under 18oz but you're just not going to find that in a FFP scope greater than 15x. Also, Tangent Theta just came out with their hunting oriented scope, the TT315H (see this thread - https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/tangent-theta-h-series.6868797/) but not sure how much it will be or how much weight savings it will have over the TT315M.
     
    #17
    j741 said:
    Strong opinions there :)

    The prices I see on the LRHS are around $1399 and not the $899 range of the Viper HS-LR. Are you referring to used prices being similar?

    I can spend up to $2.5k if it makes sense for my goals. But if I'm not seeing a big benefit from $900 -> $1500 -> $2k I'll just spend what it takes to address my needs. The March at $3299 is way out of the budget.

    The Leupold Mark 6 3-18x44 is interesting at 23oz. I'm going to look in to that some more.

    I'm not going to be taking shots past 500 yards, likely more in the <350 range for a bit as I'm still new to this. Not willing to risk a bad hit at longer distances.
    Click to expand...

    If you look on the net you can find dealers who will sell you the LRHS closer to the $1K mark. They sell on ebay from $700-1000 all the time. In fact, I sold one a few months ago for $775.

    For your purposes, the LRHS would be my choice. If you don't need to make longer shots the 3-12 is more than adequate within 500 yards. The reticle is tits, good eye box and perfect tracking. The only reason I sold mine was to fund a more expensive optic I got for a steal plus I wanted to upgrade from the 3/12 to 4/18 with illum I plan to buy 2 of the 4-18 illuminated this year for hunting builds.

    If you mil/leo you can get pretty good discounts on most optics FYI.

    Good Luck buddy.
     
    #18
    wjm308 said:
    OP, word of caution, stay away from the Mark 6 3-18x44 (it's issues have been well documented on this site and elsewhere), if you'd really like Leupold I'd recommend looking into the new Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44 as it appears to have resolved a lot of the Mark 6's issues (but we'll have to wait and see). Also, given your budget, I'd highly recommend the Vortex AMG. You might not have considered it being a 6-24 but it has a generous FOV at 6x (20.4' @ 100 yards) which is my limit for a big game scope. I hunt elk mostly and my limit is based on whether or not the critter can fit inside the FOV of the scope at bottom magnification at 50 yards and most elk can easily fit inside the 10' FOV of the AMG, smaller critters even better. If the game is closer than 50 yards I don't really worry about it, that's why I carry a big knife with me :). I would also highly recommend the Bushnell ET LRTSi 4.5-18x44, not as good as the AMG but for about 1/2 the price its performance can't be beat. I also own a Vortex PST II 5-25x50 and while not as good as the LRTSi (and obviously the AMG) it is a great scope for the price, the diopter was more finicky than other scopes but once I got it dialed in properly I was really impressed. My only other thought is to look for a used Premier LT 3-15x50 and even the used Tangent Theta TT315M (the clone of the Premier LT) have gone for under $2500 in the classifieds, you will never look through better glass than Premier/TT in this magnification range. I know you'd like to stay under 18oz but you're just not going to find that in a FFP scope greater than 15x. Also, Tangent Theta just came out with their hunting oriented scope, the TT315H (see this thread - https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/tangent-theta-h-series.6868797/) but not sure how much it will be or how much weight savings it will have over the TT315M.
    Click to expand...

    while this was true with the M5B2 turrets the newer M5C2 turrets do not show the same issues. it has great glass and i think the 3-18 range is perfect for hunting, you still have great FOV for those closer shots and can zoom in there to reach out for the farther ones at 18x. i also picked mine up brand new on ebay for $1750. i think the main selling point for me though is it is1/2 the weight of most other scopes. a few more scopes just for to give the OP more ideas, athlon has gotten pretty good reviews on their higher end models and the bushy HDMR gen 2 is a great scope but may be too heavy. there are always trade offs, the only light weight "tactical" scopes i was able to find where the march's and the mark 6's
     
    #19
    I'm running NF ATACR 4-16x42 on several of my hunting rifles. Though the scope isn't a "lite weight" the scope has a low profile, flawless turets, and great glass.
    In SFP i run NF 3.5-15x50's
     
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