Rifle Scopes Need help picking a scope for a VEPR Hunter .308

[DaveInGA]

Need help picking a good scope for a Vepr Hunter .308 semi-auto rifle. i'm wanting a Mil/Mil FFP scope, not too big/heavy and hopefully under $500.00, as I have several scopes/optics to buy, including AR's. General use for the rifle/scope combination will likely be 100-600 yards, with some forays out to as far as the rifle can hold a decent group.

About me:

1. Experienced rifleman with iron sights. Shot Highpower with typical scores between 400-450 (mostly around 425) across the course my last year before my eyes got old and dry. Used to estimating range, wind and mirage.

2. Experienced reloader, both for hunting and competition. Fully equipped for both jacketed and cast lead bullets. Experienced lead caster as well.

Due to the problem with my aging eyes, I'm moving all of my rifles capable of doing so to optics. Red dots for shorter range rifles, scopes for longer range rifles. Where possible, I'd like to have BUIS for the optics, even though I cannot get the front sight in focus any more. I can still shoot minute of small pie plate with irons at 100.

Here's what I know about the rifle I'm wanting to scope:

1. It has a very heavy barrel in 1 in 12 to 1 in 12.7 twist from what I've been able to find out. The rifle is also heavy, around 8-10 pounds unloaded.

2. It is hard on brass like most AK/RPK type firearms, but I have a lot of berdan primed .308 brass cased West German surplus running 147 grain BTHP. I am also going to load some older recycled machine gun brass I have for it and load that with some Privi Partisan 168 grain BTHP bullets I bought years ago. I doubt I'll load anything heavier with the twist the rifle has unless someone here knows something about the barrel I don't know.

3. It has a typical side rail for mounting scopes and comes with a scope mount that has a Weaver rail.

4. It does not have a typical AK style trigger, instead, it comes with a remove-able trigger pack that can be tuned and has some adjustment. I have the skill/background to tune and re-harden the trigger parts. I can also glass bed the stock and target crown the barrel to squeeze a little more accuracy out. (I'm an armorer and best friend is gunsmith, we're fully equipped with tools/machinery.)

5. Depending on the ammo it's fed, pictures of groups posted on the various forums show this rifle capable of somewhere between 1-3" at 100 yards. Not particularly fantastic, but reasonable for a DMR type rifle.

Thank you for your help,

Dave

 

[*greenhorn*]

vortex FFP you pick the power the 16 power is a little higher that your $$ but worth it. if not that a FFP in falcon menace

 

[Crosshair]

Man, I'd say spend the extra $100 and get the ss 3-9. Or keep an eye out for a used one... Plus resale value will be way better. The falcon is quite a bit heavier, Almost 8 ozs! keep and eye on the weight for a hunting rig. Just my 2 cents.

 

[DaveInGA]

Man, I'd say spend the extra $100 and get the ss 3-9. Or keep an eye out for a used one... Plus resale value will be way better. The falcon is quite a bit heavier, Almost 8 ozs! keep and eye on the weight for a hunting rig. Just my 2 cents.

Hunter is the model, but not what I'm planning to use the rifle for. But weight is definitely a consideration, since the rifle is heavy already.

 

[42769vette]

Im going to be honest, asking for mil/mil, ffp, not big and bulky is asking to much for a 500 dollar budget. Either lose some features, or expand your budget

 

[priler]

imo,your biggest concern is,how high do you want the scope off the mount. how much do you enjoy or hate using a cheek/comb riser. iirc,those come with a molot low profile. your going to have to judge for yourself how big of an objective bell are you willing to go with before you start using taller rings.

i'm not sure on the hunter but i know that on other rifles within that family(very close cousins) you can easily go over on OB bell size and have problems hitting the rear sight. on the hunter there might be a little more wiggle room for mounting and getting over the rear iron,i'm not sure. so basically your trying to get a useful magnification for the caliber but trying to stay as small as possible on the OB bell. unless of course your willing to mount that sucker really high,i don't think i'd like that at all.

the other issue is your budget,otherwise i'd say to mount a IOR 2-12x36 w/.308 BDC and keep it mounted low,..or maybe a 3-18x42.

take a look at the weaver super slam 3-15x42 w/EBX reticle or maybe a vortex viper HS tactical 5-15x44. there're also several fixed mag scopes with relatively small OB. do you need illumination?

for me,this would be a very personal choice and i'd have a hard time listening to anyones advise because i'd need to take very careful measurements,know the outside diameter and not go high,i would prefer it as low as possible.

i would love one of those in 54R.

 

[DaveInGA]

priler,

Some questions/responses in your text, hopefully it'll show up.

"imo,your biggest concern is,how high do you want the scope off the mount. how much do you enjoy or hate using a cheek/comb riser. iirc,those come with a molot low profile. your going to have to judge for yourself how big of an objective bell are you willing to go with before you start using taller rings."

I've got both the Vepr Super and the Vepr Hunter, both in .308. The Super's side rail is very high and it came with a standard Molot made AK scope mount. It seems almost too high to mount a scope and get any kind of a cheek weld on the stock. The Hunter model has a side rail that is located about where you'd see an SKS side rail located and came with the Molot made SKS scope mount. On the Hunter, the Weaver rail does sit pretty low, so to get a decent check weld and get the bell down close, I made need to try out different rings, take measurements AND end up selecting a scope with smaller objective. If the newest Vortex PST was out, I'd probably go with it and it's smaller bell. So yes, it's a consideration I'm not sure how i'm going to deal with.

"i'm not sure on the hunter but i know that on other rifles within that family(very close cousins) you can easily go over on OB bell size and have problems hitting the rear sight. on the hunter there might be a little more wiggle room for mounting and getting over the rear iron,i'm not sure. so basically your trying to get a useful magnification for the caliber but trying to stay as small as possible on the OB bell. unless of course your willing to mount that sucker really high,i don't think i'd like that at all."

I'd prefer to mount it lower if possible.

"the other issue is your budget,otherwise i'd say to mount a IOR 2-12x36 w/.308 BDC and keep it mounted low,..or maybe a 3-18x42."

What does the IOR typically run cost wise? The budget is limited due to the fact I'm buying several optics in the near future, but ultimately, I prefer to buy once and cry once if I can't get what I need in a lower end scope.

"take a look at the weaver super slam 3-15x42 w/EBX reticle or maybe a vortex viper HS tactical 5-15x44. there're also several fixed mag scopes with relatively small OB. do you need illumination?"

I'd like illumination, but know of no reason I truly need it.

"for me,this would be a very personal choice and i'd have a hard time listening to anyones advise because i'd need to take very careful measurements,know the outside diameter and not go high,i would prefer it as low as possible."

I think this is sound advice. Look like I may be waiting for the newest Vortex PST to come out.

"i would love one of those in 54R."

I would have preferred one of these two in the old Russian cartridge, because I have cases of Mosin Nagant ammo in every weight bullet they manufactured it in. I'm sure one of these would should some of that stuff real well. But .308 was the only caliber they had in the 21.7" barrel. I didn't want a 54R, as slow and low pressure as it is, trying to develop velocity in some of the shorter barrels they are currently offering it in. Whoever ordered them got things backwards. They should have offered the high pressure .308W in the shorter barrels and offered the low pressure 54R in the longer barrels. But as usual, they screwed things up. On the plus side, I'm reasonably sure the .308 is developing a good level of velocity in that length barrel. Not sure I'd want it any longer in a gas gun that's more set up to be a DMR type rifle.

 

[K-tech]

For around what your looking at spending Id say a Russian surplus PO 3.5X21. Vortex PST 2.5-10 FFP would be good but is a little more than what youre looking at spending.

 

[priler]

mount scopes and rings you have now and start taking careful measurements. remember that 1" scopes sit a few millimeters down compared to 30mm. also remember to take scope flex into account. you can also join other forums more dedicated and ask what others use on the hunter. call companies of whatever scope your considering,talk to someone who knows for sure and get the actual outer OB bell diameter,don't rely on vendors for this.


i didn't mention the vortex pst 2.5-10x32 because it is above the budget you set but yes,that one should definately be on your radar. another with about 3mm larger OB bell(one side,plus 3mm on the other side) is the weaver tactical 2-10x36. there's also scopes dedicated for low mounting issues like the burris timberline 4.5-14x32,relatively inexpensive too although imo the FOV is small and so is the EP,not sure about the quality either and not many features. leupold has the VX-3L which has a crescent shape on the bottom for low mounting but iirc the smallest is 50mm which iirc corresponds to about a 42mm which may still be too big. the smallest OB(lens,not bell) for scope beyond 10x mag is usually 40mm.


there's no doubt 10x mag should get the job done. it is a mag that has been used in the field by professionals in harms way at very long distances(but i'm thinking,on small targets mind you,you may possibly desire more mag).



as far as the 54R i'll just say this,..."quantity has a quality of its own",lol.



good luck,it'd be interesting knowing what you went with and how it worked out.

 

[20nickels]

Swfa 1-4 or 6 on upcoming RS regulate AKS mount. That's going on my 5.45 anyway.