11-04-2014, 11:19 PM
I've had a lot of poor scopes over the years. Most recently it seems I've had some pretty decent ones and most of them didn't break the bank. For what you are describing I would recommend something in a 3x9x40 or a 4x10x40 or so. It doesn't matter all that much what the magnification is.
I personally have had really good luck with the Bushnell Elite 3200 series scopes and also the Nikon Buckmaster series scopes. I think you'd be very happy with either. I think if you go with anything less you'll find yourself disappointed down the road. I don't know what either of those cost these days.
My favorite scope of all that I own is a Bushnell Elite 4200 4-16x40AO, but is going to cost a bit more money, for sure. It has proven to be extremely reliable. I take it on at least 1 horse trip where the rifle is in a scabbard for multiple days over the course of the trip. I consider this to be very hard on optics and it has proven to be top notch, IMO. After 5 years of use and horse trips it was still zero'd well enough to make a 1 shot kill on a whitetail at 530 yards. Admittedly, on the 6th year it drifted a bit and now needs to be re-zero'd. That included a few falls that nearly incapacitated me. Still, with 3 shots I was back on track good enough to finish the job this year and 1 shot killed another WT and nearly 300 yards. The scope tracked exactly as it should have to get back on a relative close zero. Now I'll get it back to the range and zero it up again so that I can do those longer shots when I need to.
Good luck.
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I personally have had really good luck with the Bushnell Elite 3200 series scopes and also the Nikon Buckmaster series scopes. I think you'd be very happy with either. I think if you go with anything less you'll find yourself disappointed down the road. I don't know what either of those cost these days.
My favorite scope of all that I own is a Bushnell Elite 4200 4-16x40AO, but is going to cost a bit more money, for sure. It has proven to be extremely reliable. I take it on at least 1 horse trip where the rifle is in a scabbard for multiple days over the course of the trip. I consider this to be very hard on optics and it has proven to be top notch, IMO. After 5 years of use and horse trips it was still zero'd well enough to make a 1 shot kill on a whitetail at 530 yards. Admittedly, on the 6th year it drifted a bit and now needs to be re-zero'd. That included a few falls that nearly incapacitated me. Still, with 3 shots I was back on track good enough to finish the job this year and 1 shot killed another WT and nearly 300 yards. The scope tracked exactly as it should have to get back on a relative close zero. Now I'll get it back to the range and zero it up again so that I can do those longer shots when I need to.
Good luck.
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