Rifle Scopes Long Range Hunting Scope, what would you order?

[FjallJager]

I am trying to find a 5-25x56 (or similar) rifle scope for hunting.

What would you order, for under $4000?

 

[sam4886]

Rifle Scopes - Tips For Asking Advice About Rifle Scopes

wjm308 XFirst Sergeant Rating: 3.6/5 this site 2349 posts this site Tips For Asking Advice About Rifle Scopes 09/02/2016 Last edited 01/05/2017 by wjm308 (11 votes) Not that this would be a "rule" but more a "guideline" for members when they'd like to ask about what scope is best, I thought...

www.snipershide.com

Without any other boxes to check for a wish list I'd go mark 5 HD. Or tangent. Or any other alpha level glass.

 

[CSTactical]

I am trying to find a 5-25x56 (or similar) rifle scope for hunting.

What would you order, for under $4000?

Feel free to call us at 916-670-1103 and we can go over some options and help you pick the correct optic for you

 

[Birddog6424]

With that budget, its a very large selection..

 

[Glassaholic]

I am trying to find a 5-25x56 (or similar) rifle scope for hunting.

What would you order, for under $4000?

You leave a lot of questions unanswered, the Hide is mostly about FFP scopes and dynamic shooting. There are many of us who use these scopes as crossover - meaning they are used for both hunting and ringing steel/competition.

For a dedicated hunting rig I prefer lighter scopes. I also prefer scopes that have wide FOV throughout but especially at the bottom. Check out Vortex AMG 6-24x50, excellent FOV with great glass and features for the price. If you can go a bit heavier and would like better and brighter glass you’ll be hard pressed to find better than the Minox ZP5 5-25x56. If you’d like even better FOV in a nice compact package the new March 4.5-28x52 is outstanding.

If weight is of no concern then ZCO and Tangent Theta can enter the conversation along with others.

You don’t have to spend $4k for a great scope, but knowing your requirements will help narrow things down.

 

[toader]

TT Long Range Hunter

 

[FjallJager]

C554 ATACR - 5-25x56 - ZeroStop™ - .1 Mil-Radian - DigIllum™ - PTL - Mil-R™

I am thinking about this.

2nd focal, MIL Scale, MIL-R reticle.

Or this:

C546 ATACR - 5-25x56 F1 - ZeroStop™ - .1 Mil-Radian - DigIllum™ - PTL - Mil-R™

First focal version of the same optic.

Compared Vortex Razor and the ATACR locally at Cabelas and Sportsmans and they don't compare at all the Nightforce blows it out of the water.

Or this because I have a coupon:

LEICA PRS 5-30X56I​

I am also trying to figure out if I want to go back to a Christmas Tree reticle or not.

For those that have tried to get their kids into shooting, what reticle has worked best?

 

[FjallJager]

Price wise these 3 are very close in price for me.

I also can get a Swarovski X5 for about $2200.

 

[freedom71]

Check out the March F 3-24x52. It's FFP, has great glass, and light at 23 oz. Ilya really likes this scope. Street price is around $2600 for non-illuminated model.

 

[ULTRAEDGE]

X5i Swarovski is a great long range hunting scope with excellent low light performance.

 

[Glassaholic]

C554 ATACR - 5-25x56 - ZeroStop™ - .1 Mil-Radian - DigIllum™ - PTL - Mil-R™

I am thinking about this.

2nd focal, MIL Scale, MIL-R reticle.

Or this:

C546 ATACR - 5-25x56 F1 - ZeroStop™ - .1 Mil-Radian - DigIllum™ - PTL - Mil-R™

First focal version of the same optic.

Compared Vortex Razor and the ATACR locally at Cabelas and Sportsmans and they don't compare at all the Nightforce blows it out of the water.

Or this because I have a coupon:

LEICA PRS 5-30X56I​

I am also trying to figure out if I want to go back to a Christmas Tree reticle or not.

For those that have tried to get their kids into shooting, what reticle has worked best?

Take a long hard look at the ATACR's FOV at the bottom end, then compare that to the Leica and you will see a huge difference between 5x on both, if you think you'll be using the bottom for scanning, the wider FOV is definitely going to benefit you.

 

[FjallJager]

Leica is 27 feet at the bottom and the Nightforce is 18.7 that is huge!

 

[Denys]

Leica is 27 feet at the bottom and the Nightforce is 18.7 that is huge!

The Leica website says the FOV measurement is at 100 meters, not 100 yards. They then convert their 8.2 meters to 9 yards (really is 26.9 feet.)

The champion in FOV for 5X is the March 5-42X56 HM WA with an FOV of 8.73 meters at 100 meters. That's 26.19 feet at 100 yards. If you do the Leica trick, that's 28.6 feet to the Leica's claim of 26.9 feet, almost 2 feet more (1.7 to be exact.)

 

[FjallJager]

I have never even seen a March, I first heard about them 15 years ago.

I know Nightforce well, and Leica is a known brand. I don't even know someone who has a March.

 

[Glassaholic]

I have never even seen a March, I first heard about them 15 years ago.

I know Nightforce well, and Leica is a known brand. I don't even know someone who has a March.

Understood, but just because you don't know anyone with a March doesn't mean they are not an excellent scope. They are a boutique manufacturer in Japan which has a huge following in the benchrest and F-class world, but they are not the marketing juggernaut like Nightforce, Vortex and others.

Leica is a "known brand" but has only been making scopes for a short period. Minox is another manufacture that has been around for years (I always knew them for their spy cameras) but like Leica has only recently gotten into rifle scopes.

Leica is 27 feet at the bottom and the Nightforce is 18.7 that is huge!

That is not correct on the Leica but it is still a big difference as the Leica is using a wide angle eyepiece without any tunneling. When you do the conversion of meters @100m to feet at 100yrds you get the following:

• Nightforce ATACR 5-25 = 18.7' @100y at 5x
• Leica PRS = 24.6' @ 100y at 5x
• Tangent Theta/Minox ZP5 5-25 = 22.8' @ 100y at 5x
• March 5-42x56 = 26.2' @ 100y at 5x
• March 4.5-28x52 = 29.1' @ 100y at 4.5x

For reference, anytime you see mfr specs listing meters for FOV, just convert the meter value to feet and divide by 1.093 to get feet at 100yds. So Leica lists the PRS at 8.2m at 100m, 8.2m = 26.9' / 1.093 = 24.6' @ 100y

 

[Rocky59]

You don’t have to spend $4k for a great scope, but knowing your requirements will help narrow things down.
Rightly said @Glassaholic
The ATACR - 5-25x56 F1 - ZeroStop will fill in all the Gaps for less.

 

[Glassaholic]

Have to be 5-25? I say zco 4-20 with mpct1 reticle.

One of the best!

 

[300NIMP]

ZCO 4-20. Have 4 of them and 2 ZCo 5-27x. Don’t think you can beat the 4-20 for size, clarity, and durability.
For me 20x is max I would use for hunting 99/100 times.

 

[JakeM]

Schmidt and bender Exos?

 

[FjallJager]

I thought I was moving back overseas, and then the dude in the position extended and they let him and rescinded my offer. I know we are moving somewhere in the 10 months, but a dude has to keep shooting.

So I sold the majority of my optics, guns and everything else. Kept all my reloading shizzle, knowing it would be the hardest to replace. So i am thankfully sitting on powders and primers. I actually only have one rifle again. For the first time in probably 20 years. a Nucleus with a 6.5 CM barrel in a Manners T-5A (favorite stock). Going to build it two bigger brothers in 300 PRC and 7mm Blaser (I have the brass) with a Proof barrel later if we end up staying).

I had a Meopta 6-24x56 ZD, a Meopta 3-18 Optika 5, Swarovski Z6i 2-12x50, Swarovski AV 4-12, and a Leupold 8-25 VXIII 30mm FFP scope.

So now I have cash, and figure five really good rifles, and five really good scopes, are better than having 20 average scopes on 20 rifles.

I also have military discounts, and I am going to use them. That is why a lot of these companies are lost on me.

So my interest is in Leupold, Maven, Nightforce, Vortex (only Japanese made lines), Leica and Zeiss. I also have a distributor buddy for Kahles/Swarovski (but the discount isn't super great).

 

[Moose]

I just love the ZC-4X20 and also run it with the MPCT-1 reticle for hunting.

 

[Moose]

The TT 315M is also outstanding but only 15 power.

 

[browning442]

Nightforce NX8 second focal mil-cf2d is what I use on my hunting rifle, 4-32 on mine but 2.5-20 is more compact

Can get the demo models for like $1650 ish

 

[Diver160651]

I thought I was moving back overseas, and then the dude in the position extended and they let him and rescinded my offer. I know we are moving somewhere in the 10 months, but a dude has to keep shooting.

So I sold the majority of my optics, guns and everything else. Kept all my reloading shizzle, knowing it would be the hardest to replace. So i am thankfully sitting on powders and primers. I actually only have one rifle again. For the first time in probably 20 years. a Nucleus with a 6.5 CM barrel in a Manners T-5A (favorite stock). Going to build it two bigger brothers in 300 PRC and 7mm Blaser (I have the brass) with a Proof barrel later if we end up staying).

I had a Meopta 6-24x56 ZD, a Meopta 3-18 Optika 5, Swarovski Z6i 2-12x50, Swarovski AV 4-12, and a Leupold 8-25 VXIII 30mm FFP scope.

So now I have cash, and figure five really good rifles, and five really good scopes, are better than having 20 average scopes on 20 rifles.

I also have military discounts, and I am going to use them. That is why a lot of these companies are lost on me.

So my interest is in Leupold, Maven, Nightforce, Vortex (only Japanese made lines), Leica and Zeiss. I also have a distributor buddy for Kahles/Swarovski (but the discount isn't super great).

As a hunter, who shoots long-range in our hunt unit because of the way the topography often forces us; as well as a competitor who has owned much of the top tear glass including a ZCO. The ZCO and some of the other top their glass; are not on either my long-range hunting magnums or other hunting guns.

I see a lot of votes for the ZCO and I love mine, but the feature set comes as an overall weight package that defeats what I am trying to accomplish on a hunting rifle that I will not only need to carry but need to add a tripod, glass and still pack out the animal. I am not hunting varmints, other mammals that one might leave where they lay or steel. I can't count how many times I seriously thought about leaving thousands of $$ of gear on the pack out as the meat can't be left; ounces matter to me. Counting ounces, I still end up with a full features system; my magnum is 9lbs with, mag in, full arca rail, a huge Ti brake, exposed turrets, and a usable FFP scope with illumination (MK5 3-18).

I ran 5-25s but came back to 3-15x/3-18x. A 3-18 and your hunting rifle is wicked well past 1,000 yards on a mammal and usually will have the field-of-view on the low end to work when you're surprised by something a hair closer.

Make a priority list unique to you, mine was something like this:

Quality​

FFP​

Illumination or in the daylight you may struggle in shadows on min power (you need this not only for low light but to quickly see and acquire targets an min power- it helps the scope work like a duplex as you just don't need wind holds on min power close range targets)​

Reticle​

FOV​

Locking elevation​

Capped or locking windage​

Low weight <= 26oz​

Good Glass​

forgiving eye box​

cost​

Top of the list for me was

TT 315M​

MK5 3-18​

March 3-24​

​

The only one that you'd get a Mil discount on would be the MK5. The march I didn't like the reticle or eye-box, but it was the lightest by 2oz. When I worked through my list, the MK5 being 1/2 the cost of the TT allowed me to buy several, so that's the way I went.

​

The entire point is to really take the time to think about our entire system and how it fits with your personal picture. Hope this helps provide food for thought.


PS - I've seen (or heard) more fucked up long-range shots in the last three Elk seasons, with guys using SFP scopes on partial zoom, than I can count. It's sad and inexcusable to cheap out, not practice, not know your gear, then start firing away from long range like the current trend. Remember a lot of the hunting is done at first or last light and the sun angles often require that we're off max power to reduce the lens flare effects. This flat-out fucks up SPF holds.

I am NOT against people who only want to stalk (heck I have a bow) or those like me who do make long-range kills, but if your taking long-range shots under adrenaline inspired, often tired from a hike, where sun angles can create lens flare, and or accurate wind and elevation holds are required, use an FFP.

 

[Glassaholic]

^^^ Good stuff right there!

 

[CSTactical]

The Leupold MK5 3.6-18 is a very good option for our lightweight builds

 

[Big Ern]

I run a SB 5-20 ultra short on my hunting rig. Great, compact scope, but a little on the heavy side. Worth the weight penalty.

NF Atacr 4-16 F1 is another option
March 3-24

 

[Brisket]

Another vote for a MK5 3-18. Weight matters if you're hunting somewhere steep, and I don't think I've ever used more than about 12x for a shot when hunting.