To begin with,the nikon was very likely a good scope,the most lilely culprit of reason it was dark is small exit pupil. Exit pupil is the diameter of light or view at eye relief distance from scope. The average human pupil dialates to roughly 5mm to 5.5mm in low legal shooting light. So a scope that was turned up resulting in a smaller exit pupil would naturally be darker. It's easy to figure exit pupil in a scope,or how big the exit pupil is at any given power of magnfication. All you have to do is divide the objective lens(front) in mm by the x of magnfication-example-an 8x scope that has a 40mm objective lens will produce a 5mm exit pupil. So if you had that nikon turned above 8x,it would have appeared dark,whereas if you had turned it down to 6x,it would've brightened dramatically. As far as what you're looking at,in leupolds,I would suggest the vx3-especially since you'll be able to find them on clearance. In my opinion,the standard duplex is just fine for 99% of all normal hunting situations. Timbercruiser-I don't see how you can say he can get a "much better scope" than leupold,possibly a small difference but NOT much better.
ORIGINAL: pnut
Anyone have any experience with this scope on a 7mm? My Remington 700 7mm (wood stock) kicks like a mule and it's in need of a good scope. A week before gun season we were shooting and my old "trusty Tasco.....heheheheh, I know but it never failed until this year) went south so a buddy let me borrow his Nikon Buckmaster 6x18-40 that he had on his .204
I got to be honest with you, I hate the Nikon. I can't see through it after dusk. I don't know if the scope is bad or what but I can't see myself buying a Nikon scope after that experience. I missed two does (250 and 350 yrds). I have made those shots many times before.
I used my Dad's 7mm the last night of the gun season (Browning 7mm automatic) and he has a Leupold Rifleman 3x9-50 and fell in love it but his 7mm doesn't kick near as hard as my Remington so I'm looking at the VX-II. I'm just looking for peoples opinions here. I have a budget of about $400 and will probably purchase it from Cabelas during the "after season" sale when everything is on sale. I buy a lot of stuff from them online so they tend to send me a lot of coupons in email.
Also what are your opinions about the extra $29 for the "Long Range Duplex" over the standard "Duplex reticle.