rifle scopes

[mclaggan123]

I am buying a remington madel 700 cdl sf in 30-06 caliber. I will be mainly using this to hunt white tail and other similar deer. i was looking at the leupold VX-III 3.5x10x40 in stainless. i was wondering if anyone here has used the leupold VX-III and what they thaught of it. if anyone has any other reccomendations or thaughts let me know. thanks in advance.

[Eatem Alive]

I have a Bushnell Elite 3200 3x9 and I love it. Great clarity and good in low light. Leupold is an Excellent scope, but in my opinion, you are paying for a lot of name.

[MoeMag]

I have a Nikon 4.5-14x40 Buckmasters Mildot sitting on top of my 700 SPS 30-06... really nice scope. nice gun.

but I have never heard anything but good about leupold. A tad $$$ compared to others... but ya get what you pay for.

[mclaggan123]

i also looked at the nikon titanium. i liked the nikon but it wasnt fully multicoated and thats what im looking for. i also like the full lifetime warranty with the leupold. the nikon only offered the full warranty with the tube not the lenses. nikon makes good scopes but i had experiance with leupold and thaught id look at them again. so how do you like your 700 sps? i like the stainless fluted 700 that i baught.

[93civiccpe]

Leupold's are excellent optics for the price and their lifetime warranty keeps me coming back. I have a vx-III on one of my 700's and it has treated me well. Dropped a deer at 430 yards with it a year ago.

If you are on a budget, then the new bushnell elite 4200 series has excellent glass and coatings for a much more affordable price.

[mclaggan123]

I'm not on a budget but for $500 the vx-III seemed like a good scope. I mainly wanna keep under $700.

[MoeMag]

i also looked at the nikon titanium. i liked the nikon but it wasnt fully multicoated and thats what im looking for. i also like the full lifetime warranty with the leupold. the nikon only offered the full warranty with the tube not the lenses. nikon makes good scopes but i had experiance with leupold and thaught id look at them again. so how do you like your 700 sps? i like the stainless fluted 700 that i baught.

Honestly... I don’t. It’s about my least favorite gun of the collection. It’s not really what I was looking for in a casual target rifle. It doesn’t have a great MOA, and I really wish I had gotten a heavy 700P in 308 instead. It would have been worth the extra.
But that being said, it was the only gun out of 3 that didn’t jam on an elk hunt last December. As far as hunting rifle its light, no thrills, and accurate enough, but I’m not into hunting. So that leaves me with a gun I keep threatening to sell, but I know I would regret if I ever got invited on a hunt again.

Im going to get that 700P eventually... but there are a lot of other things on the list before that.

M1A
model 94 lever action
a 3" 10 pound parrot rifle. Seriously.

[kruger]

The Leopold scopes are really good. You cant go wrong with thim, but, as stated before, they are a little pricey. I have a coupla' Louy's, and I like them. But, you should seriously look at the Bushnells. The 3200 and the 4200 have a Rainguard coating on them, and they actually work. All my guns are working guns, only have two that are Safe Queens. And, pratically speaking, you are going to be hunting in the rain at some point and the scope coating are something that you will want. Also, depending on where and how you hunt, do you really need the 10x power? I have found that for my hunting style, a 4 power is all that I ever use, and I have some hight powered scopes mounted. If you hunt beanfields or in the mountains, the the higher power will serve you well, but if you hunt in the woods, then the higher power is really a bit of overkill. My .2 cents worth.

[93civiccpe]

^^ Agreed, although I think the 3.5-10x scope is perfect for either type of hunting. When in the woods just keep it dialed down to 3.5x and you are fine. My rifle has a 6.5-20x50 scope on it, and it's painful to try to take short shots with. But fortunately where I hunt I am shooting down in to valleys / lower lying areas where my shortest shots are typically around 200 yards.

MoeMag, I understand the feeling about the 700 sps. Definitely get a 700P in .308. That's my main rifle for hunting / long range shooting. One thing I would suggest though is to get the 700P LTR variant. The LTR (light tactical rifle) variant has a shorter barrel (20 inches versus 26) and a different twist rate that keeps it's accuracy and sub-MOA ability right there with the fullsize 700P. The nice thing about it is the stock is still a free floated H&S precision but it's thinner & lighter. You can actually take standing shots with it, whereas the full sized 700P is way too heavy to take a good shot standing in my opinion. None-the-less, you are on the right track. 700P's are awesome rifles, and I've become a huge fan of the .308 cartridge. Just use 150 grain for medium game, 168 grain for target and or game, and 173 for the longer range shots.

[mclaggan123]

I do alot of hunting in the woods and in the mountains and some in open range. Thats why i wanted a variable scope. The other leupold i have is a 3-9x but the newer models only came in 3.5-10x. The leupold that i have works great in the rain, snow and other weather so i thaught i would look at the newer models. I will have to look at the bushnells and see what i like better. The only reason i went with the 30-06 is because ive used one since i was a kid with my dad and have never had any problems dropping the game im going after with the first shot. Thanks again for the info.