ORIGINAL: The Rifleman
It's not a bad choice - if you were going to use it in the state of Maine for bears or Moose or Whitetail deer - if all you planned on shooting was 100 yards.
But you will find that if you wish to shoot 250 - 500 yards - where that rifles capabilities shines the best - that a 3 x 9-power scope just doesn't cut the mustard.
My very first concern would be trying to sight that rifle in - since the ammo is probably in the neighborhood of $40 + a box.
A nine power scope at 200 yards is going to be a tough shot and at 300 yards it will be hit or miss at best.
I am not a power freak and most times my advice would be a Bushnell Elite 3200 5 x 15 x 50. But in this case - my advice would be a Bushnell Elite 4200
Recoil does need more eye relief, but your rifle also needs a good piece of glass to get the job done.
If you tell me that you are only planning on shooting Pennsylvania Whitetails at 100 yards or less - I would have to tell you that you have way too much rifle for that job.
I like my ground up meat prepared at the butcher shop and not in the woods with a high power rifle.
You shoot a small deer at close range through the front shoulders with that rifle and all you will have is a hand full of ground up meat.
I don't own a bigame rifle with larger then a 10x scopes andno problems shooting game out to 500 yards. My longest verified shot was 537 yards@ 9x on a pronghorn antelope. I have a 18x on my varmit rifle but in the field I find this too high a lot of the time and end up in the 9-12 range, nothing I hate more then bobbing on a target and the higher the power the more translated to the site picture in terms of movement (hand shake, wind, etc). JMO about the only time high power is nice is off a concrete bench with a solid rest shooting paper.
In terms of the gun ruining more meat, well that all depends on the bullet used. I have seen no more meat waste then any other 300 with the RUM, most of the guys I know who use them run NP, TSX, etc, not your standard/average bullets.
As to the z600 being to smallI really don't think to many RUM user have the set skills to shoot past 600 yards in the field anyway. Of course one could always go back to the old way if they needed more range and hold over. I just got a z600 but prior to that all were non-ballistic style reticles and a mentioned above I have had 0 problems making longer shots. Practice is the key. I suggested the 3x9x40 due to the recoil of a 300RUM and it having 1/2" more ER then the other conquest scopes. Not knowingthe postersexperience with this rifle or other similar reporting rifles I errored on the side of generous in this regard. I have shot several 300RUM's they are fast recoiling and pretty stout b/c of it, not your typical 300 mag report. Getting kissed by the scope is a sure way to develop bad habits!
