It would also be dependent on the reticle size as well on that 6 power. At 300 yards, MOST reticles will cover a serious amount, if not ALL of your target area. Personally, I wouldn't hunt out west without a minimum of 9x variability. All of my big game "out west" rifles wear anything from 3-9x to 4-16x and I don't take shots past 400 yards. Most the time I can count the hairs in my target area because I get pretty close to my quarry. But if I am spotting a monster across a canyon at 400 yards, I like to know I can tag that bugger right there and it not take a step. That requires pinpoint accuracy high shoulder placement to anchor the animal. I hunt Colorado and Alaska a lot so I see extreme terrain differences all the time. From what I gather from your post, you will need a minimum of a 3-9x variable for the VERY different hunting situations you will experience.

Leupold. Problem solved.

Zeiss Conquest...

Like has been already said I would go with a good quality variable scope with a 3X9 as a benchmark. Hard for me to fathom more magnification since I don't own anything more than a 3X9 and never needed more even though I hunted for 9 years out west. That being said I have never taken a shot even close to 300 yds...never needed to. Leupold is a great scope and if you are looking in the 200 to 600 dollar range then they would certainly have something for you. Zeisse makes some great scopes but that pushes the price up a bit and I doubt a new mid to upper range Leupold would be all that much different than a Zeiss Conquest. I actually have both and feel the Zeiss which is more money is a great scope but so are the Leupolds. A store near here has some gun stocks mounted with different scopes in the mid range prices. Interesting to grab them and look across the store and look at the differences. The Lups are really great scopes and compare very favorably.

Another vote for a 3X9 - which is easily the most popular size scope in America.

Although the smallest I have is a 4X16

Take a look here to see what your money can buy ??

http://www.opticsplanet.com/riflescopes.html

I was born and have lived most of my life "out west". I agree with many of the other posters here in favor of a 3-9x variable scope. I have also been lucky enough to have successfully hunted all of Montana's big game animals (except wolf), and most with rifles with variable scope. Most of my hunting rifles wear variable scopes.

That said, for over 35 years my deer and antelope rifle (that I also used for one of my best 6x6 bull elk, several bighorn rams, and a Dall ram) is my .257 Ackley topped with a 6x Leopold. I have never felt that I needed any other scope on that rifle.


Like hunt54, all of my shots have been well under 400 yards.

Leupold 3x9. Only brand of scope on all my rifles. Wait for an after Christmas/after hunting season sale. I love my 4x12 too, but 3x9 is all you need and is more compact than the higher power scopes

I would suggest a Leupold 3-9x40 and you might consider the Long Range Duplex reticle.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/13...cope-3-9x-40mm

I use the Leupold 4X because I like it simple.