Long range scope recommendations

[NeilM]

Hi guys. New to the forum here and I'm currently hunting for a long-range scope to go on my .308 Savage 10BA rifle(24" barrel). Will be shooting at distances from 150 - 400yrds mostly.

Specs: looking for no less than 16X magnification and no less than 50mm obj lens. Or should I be looking at something with lower magnification?


Would love to get your input/opinion on a sub $1K scope that is very good. Preferably something you currently own or have experience with in the past. My price range is from $550 - $850.

So far from a couple of days of research, I've found these 2 scopes:

1. Leupold VX 3 6.5-20x50mm (approx $860)

2. Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 (approx. $750)


Any input would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!


~Neil

[tonyxcom]

I don't think you need that much magnification for 400yards. But I guess it depends on what you are shooting at. Although since your rifle is capable of a lot more than 400y, it would make sense to get something with the range that matches the capability of the gun, so I digress.

I've shot an AR10 to 800 yards with a Mark IV 3-9x40 and an AR15 to 750yards with a 1-4x30 MTAC. But only at steel.

[brando]

Yeah, that's far too much magnification for those distances, but its understandable as the most common mistake people make with optics is getting too much magnification. 10x @450yrd will give you excellent FOV and precision and still be good for another 200 yards beyond that. Sub-$1000 scopes that are "very good" are few and far between, especially if you do more than simple plinking.

[DirtyDave]

For most shooters, 400yds is not considered long range.
Magnification depends on the type of shooting you will be doing. Are you punching paper and trying to shoot tight groups at 400yds? Or are you ringing steel plates and silhouettes?
Seems there are a lot of magnification junkies that end up with way more mag than they'll ever need.
There is a general rule of thumb that an optic is good for 100yds per 1x of magnification. There are a lot of guys that shoot 1000yd competitions with a 10x scope. My Daughter shoots my 223 with a 1-4x out to 400yds no problem.

[NeilM]

many thanks guys. Truly appreciate your advice.

I'll be shooting at both paper targets and also steel plates/silhouettes.

So it seems that I'm looking for too much magnification. Understood.

Per Tony, I'd like to get something close to the potential of my rifle since I may need it in the future(hunting/longer range/etc.) I would only like to buy a good scope once.

[DirtyDave]

I really cant recommend a scope in your price range, but then I'm biased as well

[Switchbarrel]

Sightron SIII 6-24x or 8-32x

-Rick

[Short Action Precision]

I would recommend the Vortex Viper PST 4-16. Its a great scope in that price range. If you wanted to bump it up then I would look at the Bushnell HDMR ($1300). The Vortex is plenty of scope for what you want to do. They also sell a 2.5-10 that would work as well for you.

[NeilM]

I would recommend the Vortex Viper PST 4-16. Its a great scope in that price range. If you wanted to bump it up then I would look at the Bushnell HDMR ($1300). The Vortex is plenty of scope for what you want to do. They also sell a 2.5-10 that would work as well for you.

Many thanks for this. Truly appreciate it.

[707electrician]

400 yards isn't even mid range but that vortex will be a great scope. You can dial it down for short range and you have more zoom when you decide to shoot real long ranges

[Hamstur]

If you are willing to skirt your stated "sub-$1000" limit, I would pick a used non-illuminated SWFA Super Sniper 5-20 for $950-$1000 shipped. SWFA is pending a group buy on them for $1050 new.

If $850 is simply the limit, I would get a Viper PST 4-16 FFP over the 2 you listed.

[NeilM]

thanks all.

Any input/opinion on the Trijicon AccuPoint 5-20x50 scope?

[DirtyDave]

thanks all.

Any input/opinion on the Trijicon AccuPoint 5-20x50 scope?

Just curious why you are stuck on such high magnification scopes?

[NeilM]

Just curious why you are stuck on such high magnification scopes?

Hey Dave. Just looking at all my options just in case I want to go longer range shooting (800 - 1000 yds). So many name brands and so many choices per brand. Thanks again.

[Hamstur]

Any input/opinion on the Trijicon AccuPoint 5-20x50 scope?

The AccuPoint 3-9 and 5-20 are fun scopes for a hunting rifle but the ranging reticle option of Mildot only has 0.25 MOA adjustment. Glass is a little worse than Leupold to my eyes.

Reason I would still say a Viper PST 4-16 FFP for you is it's features-laden -- nothing to do with tacticool and everything to do with the opportunity to learn which ones matter and which ones don't to you.

- Imho, the zoom range is ideal for 308 & field shooting. My 15 and 16x zoom scopes take my rifles out to 1200yd very easy. PST glass is it's weak point but it's also unfair to judge it against a top tier scope. Around 16x is also where mirage becomes an issue. Most guys who run 25x scopes still generally shoot in the 16x range. I crank my 16x down to to ~10-12x to improve depth of field for sub 500yd shots.
- FFP: you always hear SFP shooters ask "is FFP worth it?" and "should I have bought FFP?" but never vice versa. Find out if it's for you. I don't own a single SFP scope because I'm not into benchrest shooting. Having a consistently scaled reticle is an absolute for practical shooting (e.g., steel plates) because 1 mil is always 1 mil regardless of zoom.
- EBR-1 is a really decent hash reticle with middle ground hash spacing -- 2MOA and 1/2 mil
- Reticle & adjustments all match -- nothing sucks more than judging elevation wrong, being off by 0.7 mil and realizing you can't convert 0.7 mil to ~2.5 MOA.
- Zero stop -- I bought one NF without zero stop once. I don't own it anymore. Lives sucks when you forget which turn you're on & can't re-zero.
- The PST lacks a high adjustment per turn turret -- this is where you will live on the brown side of the fence. My scope dopes out to 1200yd in ~85% of one revolution (12.4 mils shooting 155 Palmas @ 2750fps). Compare that to 2.5 full revolutions of the 5mil/turn PST. But guess what? If you shoot to 1000 yards, just crank it down til it stops -- and you're back at zero.
- Illumination - every wants it, most people typically never use it cept for hunting and night comps. The PST has it so at least you can play around with it.
- Awesome lifetime warranty & customer service

If you decide later you want to upgrade, resale value is very high for PSTs.