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All round hunting optic 2000 - 2500

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Tikka View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tikka Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: All round hunting optic 2000 - 2500
    Posted: October/31/2012 at 23:53
Ok, So... I'm looking at getting a scope. What I think I'm going to do is put picatinni rails on all my rifles and buy a fancy one piece quick release to put this one scope on all my rifles. This is something Ive picked up from the magpul guys. So If Im going to do this, Ill need to do it right. I've come up with some scopes that I'm looking at. Their all in more or less the same class. To me whats important is an illuminated reticle, good customer service, and quality glass to hunt those last minutes of legal shooting light.... not necessarily in that order.

Dont need any fancy gimmicks like a huge magnification range, a 3x9 would be just fine. Just some simple, quality glass.

Now before we get a flamin' could someone send me a link to what the differences are with the Zeiss lines?

http://swfa.com/Zeiss-25-10x50-Victory-Diavari-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P7759.aspx
http://swfa.com/Zeiss-25-10x50-Victory-HT-T-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P56136.aspx
http://swfa.com/Zeiss-25-10x50-Victory-Varipoint-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P12853.aspx
http://swfa.com/Schmidt-Bender-25-10x56-Variable-Hunting-30mm-Riflescope-P658.aspx
http://swfa.com/Schmidt-Bender-25-10x56-Zenith-30mm-Riflescope-P1668.aspx
http://swfa.com/Swarovski-17-10x42-Z6i-30mm-Riflescope-P53306.aspx

also I understand there's some Khales fans out there

Thanks for your help gentlemen
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jetwrnch View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jetwrnch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/01/2012 at 05:46
The best overall hunting scope in MY opinion is the Trijicon Accupoint. You'll get slightly better glass with the alpha scopes, but the tritium reticle in the Accupoint more than makes up for it. The 3-9 is light weight too. Customer service has been quick when I needed it. I can't stress enough how handy the Trijicon chevron reticle is in hunting situations. I'll pretty much will pay whatever it cost for the best scope for the application, and Accupoints are all I use for hunting. In your price range you could get three of 'em too. The differences between scopes above $800 is slight. The alpha scopes are better, but not THAT much better, and in my opinion not quite as good overall for hunting. Now if you want a 6x zoom then Z6.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bugsNbows Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/01/2012 at 07:10
IMO, when you get to the upper tiers (S&B, Swaro, Zeiss, Leica, Kahles, etc.), the glass is all outstanding. That's when differences such as size, weight, reticle design, durability / repeatability, tracking, intended usage info, etc. get more personal in nature. For one person to expound relevant specs that's fine but, ultimately, it's up to you to select the one that fits your criteria. With that said, I'm a 2FP Swaro lover. 
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FireEMT5 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FireEMT5 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/01/2012 at 08:26
Just something to ponder, depending on the barrel contours of your various gun.  You'd want to make damn sure that whatever mount you go with allows you to mount that one great scope to all your guns.  You most likely will want to mount the scope as low to the barrels as possible to maintain a good natural cheek weld when looking through the scope.  If you say have a heavy barrel on one and a much thinner barrel on another you'll end up with rings high enough to clear the heavy barrel, but this could result in being too high mounted on your thinner barrels.
 
Many people have thought about going this route, but after thinking it over and actually trying it, find that while it may save some money, it's a big hassle, and not as great an idea as it seemed in the beginning.
 
Another thing to consider is that each time you move the scope from rifle to rifle, you have to have kept good records on resetting the zero for each, and to get total piece of mind and fairness to the game your after, you to will probably be verifing it, by shooting at a target each time it's moved to prove to yourself that it is as zeroed as you can get it.  This will add to ammo costs.
 
I wish you luck and sucess on your hunts, but if it were me, I'd take your budget and get several good scopes in the 3-9 or 2.5-10 range and set each one up in a good set of rings and leave them alone.
 
Please keep us posted and let us know how this method ultimately works out for you.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sparky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/01/2012 at 10:36
Just because you have an excellent quick release and picatinni rails on all your guns does not mean that they will be zeroed when you move them from one gun to another. What FireEMT5 wrote is good advice. 
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Obi Wan Kenobi View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Obi Wan Kenobi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/01/2012 at 21:36
Originally posted by Tikka Tikka wrote:

Ok, So... I'm looking at getting a scope. What I think I'm going to do is put picatinni rails on all my rifles and buy a fancy one piece quick release to put this one scope on all my rifles. This is something Ive picked up from the magpul guys. So If Im going to do this, Ill need to do it right. I've come up with some scopes that I'm looking at. Their all in more or less the same class. To me whats important is an illuminated reticle, good customer service, and quality glass to hunt those last minutes of legal shooting light.... not necessarily in that order.

Dont need any fancy gimmicks like a huge magnification range, a 3x9 would be just fine. Just some simple, quality glass.

Now before we get a flamin' could someone send me a link to what the differences are with the Zeiss lines?

http://swfa.com/Zeiss-25-10x50-Victory-Diavari-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P7759.aspx
http://swfa.com/Zeiss-25-10x50-Victory-HT-T-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P56136.aspx
http://swfa.com/Zeiss-25-10x50-Victory-Varipoint-30mm-Rifle-Scope-P12853.aspx
http://swfa.com/Schmidt-Bender-25-10x56-Variable-Hunting-30mm-Riflescope-P658.aspx
http://swfa.com/Schmidt-Bender-25-10x56-Zenith-30mm-Riflescope-P1668.aspx
http://swfa.com/Swarovski-17-10x42-Z6i-30mm-Riflescope-P53306.aspx

also I understand there's some Khales fans out there

Thanks for your help gentlemen
 
If you've got the money and really want true low light performance, get the Zeiss 2.5x10 HT. I just came from hunting in Wisconsin with a buddy of mine who owns a 1500 acre farm. Some nights we sat and just field judged some of the bucks on his place until it was pitch black. He was using the Swaros 10x50 HDs and I was using Zeiss Diavari 10x45s. When it got really dark my buddy was using my binoculars. The scarey thing is my 10x45s just missed the upgrade to the new Zeiss HTs. Swaro and S&B make great scopes, but Zeiss is the best in the world when it comes to LOW LIGHT applications. I give the slight nod to Swaro for long range shooting, but if you are talking about shooting big game in low light, the top of the line Zeiss are HARD TO BEAT.
 
Don't be misled, most hunters are honest with their opinions but a lot of guys don't really know what "low light" is. Many think "low light" means 15 -30 minutes past sun set. No, where I hunt, its 1 hour past sun set and when I was in Wisconsin we were judging deer 45 minutes to 60 minutes past sun set.
 
I'd get that Victory HT. Awesome low light performance, compact light weight scope, good customer service.
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Skylar McMahon View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Skylar McMahon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/02/2012 at 10:07
Originally posted by bugsNbows bugsNbows wrote:

IMO, when you get to the upper tiers (S&B, Swaro, Zeiss, Leica, Kahles, etc.), the glass is all outstanding. That's when differences such as size, weight, reticle design, durability / repeatability, tracking, intended usage info, etc. get more personal in nature. For one person to expound relevant specs that's fine but, ultimately, it's up to you to select the one that fits your criteria. With that said, I'm a 2FP Swaro lover. 
 
Excellent point. And I have to agree with you on Swarovski.  Out of the scopes that the OP listed, the 1.7-10 is what I would use.
 
 
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Chris Farris II View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Farris II Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/02/2012 at 10:47
I agree for all around the 1.7-10 Swaro is hard to beat.
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helo18 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote helo18 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/03/2012 at 10:51
I am a Swaro fan.  Have a 2.5-15 I just bought from SWFA.  I would go with the 1.7-10 as well.  The Z6i is a great lowlight scope.  Love how you can set the illumination for day and night how you like it and turn it to each setting easily.

I did recently get to use a Ziess on a hog hunt at last light and night.  A really cool feature on that Ziess was the auto sensor that dimmed the dot as light faded so that it was never too bright.  It was never too dim either.  The Ziess was a great scope for last light, as of course all alpha scopes should be.

I also played with some S&Bs at the same time.  One thing I liked about one model was how heavy the reticle lines were with a fine middle.  No illumination, but would have been easy to shoot an animal at night with it.

My nod goes to the Z6 overall for features I like, plus my eyes just like the glass.  Close second is the Ziess Diavari. 

You might also consider the Lieca.  I don't have a scope of theirs, but I do have their Geovid binos and absolutely love them!! 
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