Just picked up a cheapy savage in 30.06. No scope on it but it does have rings. Probaly going to put my VX-I on it from my Remington 700 SPS and upgrade on the Rem 270 that i always hunt with. Was looking at adding a Zeiss Conquest or VXIII or possibly something else in that $399-449 price range. Any suggestions?

I have several Leupold scopes and a couple of Nikon scopes. In my opinion, it's tough to beat a VXIII 2.5-8x or 3.5-10x for a hunting scope. The VXII 2-7x and 3-9x are nice too, if you want to save a few bucks.

Try the usual suspects: Conquest, 4200, VXIII, Monarch, Sightron. I looked at the 1st 4, & chose the Conquest. I'm incredibly pleased with it. It seems to me that the next price level up jumps quickly to $1,000, and my eyes couldn't show me any appreciable difference. Certainly not 2x the price's worth.

They're all wonderful scopes, so look at as many as you can find side-by-side, and let YOUR eyes tell YOU which one is best.

FC

IMO the Conquest inits range is extremely tough to beat due to optics and features. To my eye its better then the VXIII and 4200 elite in both areas. I have or own both of these as well.

I second the above advice to compare them and see which your eye likes best.

I'd agree that the Conquests are hard to be in that price arena. However, with that said, the Japanese glass now showing up in the new Nikon Monarchs and Sightron Big Sky are also very good. I like Leuppy's, but just not as much any more (except the FX III series) as I used too.

Zeiss

The only "new" scopes I'll buy will be Zeiss also...

If you are willing to spend the money, the Zeiss Conquest is the best of the lot. If I had to choose from there, I would go with the new Nikon Monarch. I have looked through both, and I got a great deal on the Nikons, so it was a no brainer.... I bought 2. If I had not gotten the deal, I would have gone with the Zeiss.

You can get a Ziess Conquest 3X9X40 BRAND NEW ON ebay for 379.00, I bought 2 there great.

Good Luck

I spent 3 hours @ the range today, trying different loads in 3 rifles. 1 had a Weaver Grand Slam 4.75 x 40, another had a Vortex Razor 2-7x33, and the last had the Conquest. The 1st 2 scopes are certainly not slouches, but the Zeiss is just on a whole 'nother level - just a joy to look through. Each time I shoulder that rifle, I'm soooooo glad I matched it with the Conquest.

Try one out, & let us know what you think!

FC