Need some help and advice choosing a scope

[yodasheet]

Hey guys!

 

You all seem like very knowledgeable folks so I thought I would consult in your experience to help me with making my purchase

 

I’ve set myself a budget of $300 for my first rifle scope and am still not sure which one to get.

 

I’ve been reading some reviews on this site (https://tangotactics.com/) and am considering the Leupold 114933 VX-HOG Rifle Scope or the Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn

 

Does anyone here actually own either of these?

 

What are your experiences?

Edited December 8, 2016 by yodasheet

[Adkhunter1590]

Go with Leupold or Vortex. I personally don't trust Nikon or bushnell products. Never had any good luck with either one, nor has really anyone I know.

Leupold is my usual go to for any type of optic. But I recently picked up a Vortex crossfire II 4-12x44 and have been really impressed with it. I have been hearing a lot of good things about Vortex the last couple of years and I can now say I agree with the positive claims. And their warranty is pretty much the best your ever going to get. Regardless of how you break something they will fix it or give you a brand new one. I suggest looking into the crossfire series or diamondback series Vortex scopes.

[turkeyfeathers]

Have a Bushnell Banner on my slug gun.  Not real hip on it. 

Hace a Bushnell Elite 3200 3x9x40 on my ML and LOVE it. It has the rainguard technology so it won't fog up. It's crystal clear and have had it for 15 years or so. 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/657824/bushnell-elite-3200-rifle-scope-3-9x-40mm-multi-x-reticle-matte

Guys are going to say Leopold but I have no experience with them. 

[airedale]

Those two scopes are on different ends of the spectrum, the 1X4 Leupold Hog model is a light weight compact lower powered scope with a large eye relief and field of view geared more toward a fast handling rifle used in close quarters-thick cover and shorter ranges for the most part.

The Bushnell 4X12 is a much bigger scope, probably with much less eye relief-field of view and substantially heavier but a lot more power. More of an open country scope for me that I would be using in my area for mostly varmint hunting.

As far as brands I am a Leupold user for the most part and on my real serious rifles it is the only scope for me. I have owned several Bushnell scopes down through the years and still have a couple,  the ones I have used  all did a good job for me. I have a Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn camo model mounted on a Thompson Center Encore 223 barrel, I have not used it enough to give an honest long term evaluation but so for it has performed well.

Al

Edited December 8, 2016 by airedale

[Lawdwaz]

Come on guys, this is spam. 

Dont feed the trolls.......

[yodasheet]

On 08/12/2016 at 6:20 PM, Lawdwaz said:

Come on guys, this is spam. 

Dont feed the trolls.......

I'm honestly not trying to spam this forum. You guys have provided with with lots of help so thank you very much for that. Choosing a scope does not seem to be an easy decision like choosing my rifle so thats partly why I have come here to get your opinions. 

After what you guys have said I am strongly considering the VX1 its not fog proof like some of the others but it does seem to have a lifetime warranty which is a great bonus. I was considering getting the ATN X-SIGHT II originally which is how i found the website I linked in my first post however it seems like its over kill for what I really need and the VX1 or VX-HOG might suit my needs better. 

[wildcat junkie]

9 hours ago, yodasheet said:

I'm honestly not trying to spam this forum. You guys have provided with with lots of help so thank you very much for that. Choosing a scope does not seem to be an easy decision like choosing my rifle so thats partly why I have come here to get your opinions. 

After what you guys have said I am strongly considering the VX1 its not fog proof like some of the others but it does seem to have a lifetime warranty which is a great bonus. I was considering getting the ATN X-SIGHT II originally which is how i found the website I linked in my first post however it seems like its over kill for what I really need and the VX1 or VX-HOG might suit my needs better. 

Since when is a Leupold VX-1 not fog proof?

 

For $300 you can get a VX-2 3-9 X 40 shipped from any of a number of vendors.

 

IMO, the Leupold 3-9X40 is the benchmark for affordable value & versatility, and unlike the Vortex scopes in that price range, it's made in America..

[Core]

Yeah I think even the cheap  Simmons scopes won't fog up (at least they claim not to). Fog proof is an essential for any scope

[yodasheet]

15 hours ago, wildcat junkie said:

Since when is a Leupold VX-1 not fog proof?

 

For $300 you can get a VX-2 3-9 X 40 shipped from any of a number of vendors.

 

IMO, the Leupold 3-9X40 is the benchmark for affordable value & versatility, and unlike the Vortex scopes in that price range, it's made in America..

Looking around on leupold's website they don not mention anything about the VX1 being fogproof but they do mention it for a number of their other scopes. 

Can you confirm that it is in fact fogproof? 

[airedale]

From the very start of their existence Leupold's reputation and claim to fame was built on their scope line being fog proof and recoil proof and guaranteed as such for life. All the scopes in their lineup are covered by that guarantee including the Vari X 1.

From the Horse's mouth.

"All Leupold scopes are designed, machined and assembled in America. Each comes with a Golden Ring Lifetime Guarantee, which means if for any reason it fails to do what it's supposed to do, we'll either fix it or replace it to make it right. Guaranteed."

Al

Edited December 13, 2016 by airedale

[yodasheet]

23 hours ago, airedale said:

From the very start of their existence Leupold's reputation and claim to fame was built on their scope line being fog proof and recoil proof and guaranteed as such for life. All the scopes in their lineup are covered by that guarantee including the Vari X 1.

From the Horse's mouth.

"All Leupold scopes are designed, machined and assembled in America. Each comes with a Golden Ring Lifetime Guarantee, which means if for any reason it fails to do what it's supposed to do, we'll either fix it or replace it to make it right. Guaranteed."

Al

Thanks, I'm fully aware of their lifetime guarantee but I did not find anything on their website this specific scope being fogproof, do you have any sources for that as I'm not finding anything. 

Also what are your thoughts on the Redfield Revolution 3-9x40mm I've been told its a very good and better than the VX1 by a friend. 

[Adkhunter1590]

Redfield scopes are made by Leupold. They come with the same warranty and quality but you'll find redfield scopes to be priced better.

And I'm pretty sure just about every decent scope these days is fog proof. That was a technology advancement many years ago that used to be reserved for higher end scopes. But these days it's found on just about every scope out there

[Elmo]

I still have a Redfield Revolution 4-12 available for sale.

 

[BizCT]

Leupold. You won't miss


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[silentdog]

I think there are 2 different fog proofing aspects that were discussed in the posts.  Traditionally a scope manufacturer purges the scope of air & water vapor with something like nitrogen and then seals it. No air or water vapor in the scope = no internal fogging. That does not do anything about the external lenses, which can fog from something like breathing on a cold lens. Also, rain can obscure the view.  Some manufacturers are putting a coating on the external lens to reduce/prevent this fogging. See http://huntingoptics.net/blog/how-are-optics-made-fogproof-and-waterproof/

I've had 2 Leupolds and 2 Vortex scopes.  I compared a Vortex Diamondback to a Redfield and thought that there was a large difference in the clarity and field of view in favor of the Vortex. It seems that my Diamondback is superior to my Vortex crossfire. I had a 30 year old Leupold Compact 2-7x-33mm that failed in its adjustment.  Filled out a form, sent it and the scope to Leupold, and in three weeks, had a brand new 3-9x-33 VX-II Ultralight.  I do not believe that it has an external anti-fogging product on it.  I have used something from a camera store in the past and it worked well for that purpose.  Can't remember the name.  You need to be careful however; I've read that Rain-X for example is not compatible with multi-coated lenses found on scopes.

My next scope will likely be a Leupold because of my experience with them.  My oldest one is now about 47 years old and functions flawlessly, and made in the USA.

[yodasheet]

Thanks again for all the advice. I wonder why Leupold make the Redfield scopes cheaper if they are of the same quality and compete in the same price range. 

Also on another note any thoughts on the Nikon P-223, its also in my budged and I've been told its also fogproof on the outside and is a great scope for my ammo of choice which is .223 

I just want to cover all the bases and go through all the pros and cons of the scopes i found reviewed on Tango Tactics before i make my final decision. 

[Core]

3 hours ago, yodasheet said:

Thanks again for all the advice. I wonder why Leupold make the Redfield scopes cheaper if they are of the same quality and compete in the same price range. 

Also on another note any thoughts on the Nikon P-223, its also in my budged and I've been told its also fogproof on the outside and is a great scope for my ammo of choice which is .223 

I just want to cover all the bases and go through all the pros and cons of the scopes i found reviewed on Tango Tactics before i make my final decision. 

I have the P223 and I want to tell you it is not great for hunting if you plan on moving around at all. When I bought it I researched cap-less turrets (like it has--no caps, and the turrets do not lock in any manner) and some people said don't use them for hunting. I ignored this and got it anyway because sometimes I still have to learn the hard way. I toted around a gun with this scope on it a dozen times during gun season and I was constantly worried about shifting the POI. This wasn't pointless worry: One day I experimented with a sling and as I moved the rifle around for a few hours by the time I finished the day I had twisted the turrets a ton of clicks. Now, to their benefit, since it is a zero reset system I could see how much I had shifted them and could reset them back, but I wasn't confident in that until I got to the range--what if, while snagging it and turning the turrets, I had also had them lift out to "reset" (and guess what--I had, I had to go to the range to re-zero the gun)? I just thought the whole thing was too easy to snag. IMO this scope badly needs a way to lock the turrets once they are zeroed so that they will no longer lift out. Also the very prominent ridges used to turn probably don't need to be so prominent. I know there are many scopes without caps that solve the issue the p223 has.

Lastly, although this scope MIGHT be more resilient to the strange recoil of a bolt going forward on an AR-15, I wouldn't worry about BDC as it's pretty useless anyway on this scope. It is set specifically for a polymer tip 55 gr out of a 24" barrel. Chances are your barrel isn't that long and/or you're not shooting the exact ammo anyway, so the BDC points for 200, 300, etc. won't line up. As such the BDC will be different and any of the BDCs would work.  You'll have to research yourself though if Nikon has any special protection in the p223 designed to withstand recoil from an AR that other scopes in their line lack (I really don't know).

Last couple of hunts I've used a nikon prostaff instead. It has thumb adjustable, zero-reset turrets, but they are capped. They don't have hash marks on the turrets, but you don't need those unless shooting insane distances anyway. I like this scope way more for hunting simply because it's basically the same scope but no chance of snagging a turret. Zeroed for 100 I only have to uncap to adjust for something significantly further and odds are very good I can expend the extra few seconds to uncap it in that scenario. In any case on these nikons I do love the thumb adjust and I am surprised anybody still makes scopes that require a coin or similar to adjust in the field. That seems a massive PITA.

People rave about the optics on Nikons. The p223 and prostaff both have multi-coated optics that give 98% light through.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Core

[silentdog]

Quote

Thanks again for all the advice. I wonder why Leupold make the Redfield scopes cheaper if they are of the same quality and compete in the same price range. 

Back in the day, Redfield was a competitor of Leupold and made high quality optics.  Sadly, they went our of business and were out for quite some time.  I suspect that Leupold bought the rights to Redfield for the name recognition.  Now it comprises their economy line. They have the same warranty but I do not believe that they have necessarily the same performance as the Leupold line.

I would look for other sources in addition to the website you are using. That site is one person's opinion, including his ratings, and you may find your ultimate preferences are much different than are his. For instance, you may find a fine crosshair to be a disadvantage if you hunt early or late in the day, shoot at moving game, etc. His preference for fixed power scopes may not suit you as well.  I use a variable, pick my power, set it and then leave it alone for the day. A 2-7x is about the size of a fixed 4x.  He is also focusing on economy scopes and at a $300 price point, you have many more options open to you. For instance, he lists the Leupold VX1 but not the VX2, which is within your reach.

I've never used a Nikon but I have looked at them and their image is very clear. I would not want anything for big game hunting that has sight adjustments that are not covered however, so his pick of the P223 does not resonate with me at all.

Good luck.

[bugsNbows]

I would recommend that you visit the S.W.F.A. website and check their offerings. They also have a Samplelist section comprised of trade-ins, discontinued models and sales specials. Prices are good, and they are a great company (out of Midlothian, Texas).

[wildcat junkie]

With a budget of $300 what's the problem. A Leupold 3-9x40 VX-II can be had for  $299 or less, including shipping, from any of a number of sources .

 

You are not going to beat that for service, reliability, versatility and quality at that price. And it's American made. 

[wildcat junkie]

14 hours ago, yodasheet said:

Thanks again for all the advice. I wonder why Leupold make the Redfield scopes cheaper if they are of the same quality and compete in the same price range. 

 

The Redfield line will have better "features" at a certain price point, but the optics won't be of the same clarity and brightness as a comparably priced Leupold.

 

Yes the Redfield has 1/4 minute click adjustments while the VX-I has friction, but that feature is merely a convenience whilke sighting in. Once the scope is zeroed, the lesser quality optics of the Redfield will be there every time you use it and under the right circumstances, might cost you an opportunity.

 

Sacrificing optical quality for "bells and whistles" is not a wise thing to do in the long run. A simple duplex reticle can be used as a very effective range finder if you know the relative size of your target.

[Gencountyzeek]

I'm all for leupold. For $300 u could probably get a used vx-3 on ebay. I have a vx-3 3.5-10 x40, it's a fantastic scope. I also have vx2 3-9x40, m8 4x, and a m8 2.5. All great scopes, backed by a great warranty.

[ants]

I have had real good luck with the Nikon stuff but if you're leery of them, by all means,  the Leupold VXII, right around 300. 

[yodasheet]

Thanks again, the VX2 does looks very good indeed. I just wondered if i could get a decent scope for a bit less than my budget I could use the money towards better mounts and rings etc.

Also after a bit more research I feel the best option is to go for a Vortex Crossfire 2, it ticks so many of my boxes, it has a lifetime warranty like leupold and after reading multiple reviews on it many reviewers have said it has the quality of a scope in a much higher price range than it.

So yeah i think this is it, I just wanted to get your opinions on it before i push the buy button.

[Adkhunter1590]

I think you'll be very happy with the Vortex. I'm very pleased with mine so far.