12x or 16x for .308?

[fishnbeer]

hey guys, recently got a savage .308; nice gun, shoots great but came with 7x scope and i want more zoom!

mostly will be 100 yard shooting. every now and then take it to my uncles ranch and do some long shots (property is huge so you could shoot as far as you would ever want, but for my skill pretty much limited to 500 yards)

debating on a 12x power, or go higher power. looking to spend in the $500 range. i want a decent scope but don't care what brand, im looking for performance not bling factor.

been looking at a

-nikon @ cabelas
-a burris
-leupold model 6-18x power, a little over $500

-any cabelas branded scope - are they any good?
-any others i should look at?
-any other sellers i should go through?

haven't bought a scope in a while

thanks guys

[toby]

Just remember quality glass is greater than high magnification.

[CSACANNONEER]

Just remember quality glass is greater than high magnification.

+1.

[fishnbeer]

did some more reading and found positive reviews on vortex scopes. and happened to find one in the classifieds here. thoughts?

[toby]

^^^^ Thats a great scope I have one on my 22-250 it is high power but has great optics, I have never went over 12x on mine.

[shmeddie]

What features are you looking for? Reticle, knobs, parallax, etc.

[fishnbeer]

i'm leaning towards a mil dot, never had one before but i think this is the way to go now. i have always shot duplex reticles on basic 7x scopes. want to try out something new (to me anyway) and learn how to dial in more modern scope. open to any type of knob adjustment, its going to be all new to me, i have never had a scope with parallax adjust either

[NytWolf]

did some more reading and found positive reviews on vortex scopes. and happened to find one in the classifieds here. thoughts?

That Vortex looks to be a Viper HS. It's a decent scope. At the higher end mags, there will be a ring of slight distortion. But other than that, it has great quality glass and can withstand harsh recoil.

[shmeddie]

Check out this bushnell

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/273033/bushnell-elite-3200-tactical-rifle-scope-5-15x-40mm-adjustable-objective-mil-dot-reticle-matte

It has adjustable parallax, target turrets, and a mil dot reticle. The only real draw backs are that its second focal plane and it has 1/4 moa turrets. Though not ideal it is perfectly usable and will work well if the user knows how to use it. Bushnell also has excellent glass for the money.

[ExtremeX]

Vortex PST
SWFA SS Line

Thats a good place to start for a mix of price and quality.

Once you start shooting with scopes with good optical charistics, its really hard to ever go back to budget optics.

[jellybeenz17]

leupold mark 4 8.5-25x50 mil dot part #54690
bushnell tactical elite 4.5-30x50 mil dot part # et4350

[DirtyDave]

A good quality 10x will get you to 1000yds and see better than a lower quality 20x. Fixed power scopes are great for target shooting and typically you will save money versus a variable power scope.
Mil knobs and Mil reticle are my preference. The higher the magnification the more critical the parrallax adjustment is. Not too critical on 10x and under.

[Siberian23]

I completely agree with dirtydave. I have a vortex pst 6-24 ffp mrad. While i like it very much after shooting it, out to 1000yards, I never had it over 12x. My target at 1000 was the standard sized target so it was pretty big, if I was shooting at something quite small more magnification would have been used. If I buy another scope for target shooting it will be a fixed 10x mil/mil. Also get a 20moa base, it'll make sure you have enough elevation should you choose to shoot at longer ranges on the ranch. Also, if you can shoot 500 you can shoot 800, don't cut yourself short.

Of course ymmv, and different types of shooting require different scopes. I would like to try one of the swfa ss fixed 10x in the future myself.

[CSACANNONEER]

I much prefer the finer adjustments of a moa/moa scope than a mil/mil.

[runway1]

I shoot a .308 Police (Remington 700). When I shoped scopes I looked outside (owner encouraged me to take them out) with the Bushnell Elite, Vortex viper and the Nikon Monarch. In my head I expected the Monarch to come ahead but wow, that Vortex Viper was noticeably clearer and better controls.

Mine shoots great on that strong hitting .308. Held true for 500 rounds, so far. I bought the 6.5-20-44 for just over $400and just love it.