I just got a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 7x57. I'm looking to put a petite-ish scope on it for weight purposes, & so that the rig will slip neatly into a saddle scabbard.
My benchmark scope is the Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 I have on another rifle. I absolutely love it. However, I'm also aware of where things fall along the price/value continuum.
I'm thinking in the 2-7x3_ sort of range. My leaders would be the Browning (private-labelled by Bushnell in 3200 specs) at $124.95 and the Nikon Monarch (old style) at $189.95. The latter seems to be quite a bargain.
I own a Browning in 3-9x40, & it's decent. I've never owned a Monarch, but their reputations are wonderful. Would the Nikon be appreciably brighter or sharper? Would either 2-7 be shorter, or lighter, or outpace the other in some dimension I haven't considered?
I'm aware of the 2.5-8 Conquest, but at $479 it's out of the running in this one. Dittothe 2.5-8 Leupold VXII at $299 (more $$ for less glass IMHO), as well as theVXIII at $399 (possibly slightly better glass for $200 more).
I would go Bushnell 3-9x40 4200 . Jon at the Opticzone has them and you can find them on Ebay for around 230ish range. 4200 glass is better then anything leupold puts out there and the scope is ok weight wise, I think Bushnell screwed up when they introduced this scope and quickly discontinued it since the 2.5-10x40 basically parallels it and for 100+ more dollars nevertheless there are a lot of them out there for sale. 2-7x33 old Monarch (I am pretty sure it is not offered anymore) is another great scopeand can be had for a reasonable price. It has comparable optics to Leupold but much cheaper.
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