Top 5 best & worst rifle scopes
 

I've been looking to replace one of my rifle scopes and was wanting to know what everyones top 5 best and top 5 worst rifle scope brands are.

Worst...Simons

Best...for the money I hear great things about Vortex and thier warrenty. I will be getting one next month.

Best (for the money) Nikon

Worst (for any money) Simmons

Hopefully good (my new Mueller)... :s13:

Define best. At what cost?

I wouldn't get anything less than a Leopold or Nikon class scope. That would be the absolute bottom and I would go all the way up to Zeiss or Swarovski for a higher end gun.

The higher priced scopes are, the more overpriced they are. Increase in scope quality diminishes with each dollar spent. Reminds me of teenagers who have to have $150 jeans.

The more you spend the less quality you get... How do you figure that? When it comes to optics you get what you pay for. Now with that being said, there are some very expensive scopes out there and you have to decide on what features are right for you. On the budget end my choices would be a Nikon Prostaff or Burris Fullfield, moderately priced Leupold VXII, moving up the ladder a Zeiss Conquest. Personally I can't justify spending more that $450 for a scope depending on what the intended use is. That having been said, you buy the best scope that you can afford, if you have to save up for a little bit to buy better glass then you will be ahead of the game when you find out that the cheapo scope you bought just doesn't do it for you.

I have a Leupy MK4 M1 6.5-20x50.....they run about $1200....great scope...but i will say my $400 Zeiss conquest 3-9x40 has better glass.....i believe that the Zeiss conquest line is the best value out there.

You didn't correctly read my post. I didn't say the more you spend the less quality you get. I said that as you spend more and more you get less of an increase in quality. For example, a 200 dollar scope might be twice as good as a 100 dollar scope, but a 1000 dollar scope is not 5 times better than a 200 dollar scope. Once you get above a few hundred dollars you are pretty much buying a name.

Amen brother,I use nikons and not the high dollar ones either.never had a problem with one and thier great scopes with a good warranty.looked through a bunch and will have to agree with you.

I have several of the old original Redfield's and never had a failure. I started buying Leupold's after Redfield went belly up.Of the Leupold's I had one that failed me at a bad time. It was a Vari X II. Three times sighting it in. I missed a couple nice deer thanks to this scope. It wouldn't hold it's zero.I get it set get a shot and miss it. Take it back to our range and it was way off. Three times this happened. I sent it back to Leupold,they supposedly corrected it. I haven't used it since. It cost me a couple nice bucks and that's hard for me to forget.
My next one will probably be a Nikon. Haven't decided if I should give Loopy another chance.It's possible but doubtful.

Thanks Emilio, Same to you ole buddy. I'm doing alright, all considering everything wrong.I filed for disability a couple months ago.I know that will take awhile getting it to be approved.Keep in touch when you can.

Frank :patriot:

Ruger-Redhawk
 

Hi Ruger, where do you live at in NC? I live a few miles from Gastonia, NC.

Deer Hunter check your PM's

what do you guys think bout bsa ,, i got a bsa 8.5-34x42 scope it says platinum??? i have no clue maybe you guys know more than me its on my traditons buckhunter 50 cal muzzle loader( not the pistol)

I'd get a burris or leupold. Or if you can get a zeiss or swarovski. And just a heads up redfield is making scopes you could check them out, their made by leupold.

Here are the ones I have on my rifles in order of quality and cost(high to low)
Leupold Vari X III (or VX III now I think)
Nikon Buckmaster
Redfield Tracker (or whatever it is now)
Bushnell Trophy

I have no experience with Simmons.

If I was going to put a good piece of glass on a new rifle and was limited to less than $500, I would go with the Zeiss Conquest (I think you can get a 3-9X for less than $500). Clearest glass that I have seen in a scope in that range or below.

I would say that Nikon is making a great scope for around $125.00...
I would also suggest Leupold for approximately $125.00
I so wish I could get a redfield which my late father had on his rifle but that wont happen any time soon!

If you want a good value I still like the 4-16x40 TASCO. Its about 100 dollars. You can see farther than a 3-9 and if its out of focuse a little you just reach up there and ajust it.

I've said the same thing many times!
I would stay away from Tasco, Simmons and BSA for sure! On the low budget end, you really DO get what you pay for! Good glass alone, costs more than a 100 dollar scope.
On the flip side, once you get past the 300-500 dollar range, the cost of quality starts getting out of balance. You could pay 10 times the price but you are not going to get 10 times the quality! Besides, even if you did, would it be worth it? To me, the answer would be NO! My Loupy and Nikons are plenty good enough for ANY legal light shooting!

You can pick up a Bushnell Elite 4200 3-9x40 for $240 TYD from Amazon right now.

........and there you have it !!!


Note: "other" = 2nd most, although not to list Nikon skews that %.

Best scope
 

years ago the only scopes available was WEAVER,they did fine but fog up a lot.

by far in my opinion LEUPOLD is best.i have 5 .after having them for 40 years i fell and bro my 3x9x40 power with paralax adj. this scope was top scope in 1971.i paid 116 for it.

i sent it in to LEUPOLD with letter of what happened 40 YRS LATER.they sent me a new 3x12x40 with parralax adj for 80 dollars .that scope was over 400 dollars new now.

those tascos etc are what we call throw away scopes, when they break ,throw it away.

BUSHNELLS i feel are good scope for price too.also i dont like having a J.A.P scope on my remington rifle.only LEUPOLD..........

I think Nikon is the best one for your money, Simmon is bretty junk.

i guess i am from old school. to put any scope on my gun that is not american, it aint going happen.

my remington would not feel good with nikon on it,or my savage model 99s.it see it all time. i saw guy with a 300 win mag, great gun, made in usa and he had a TASCO scope on it.

that gun cost 1300 dollars new.unreal make your stomach upset to see that..............

The best scope I looked through is a Docter Optic. Every bit as good as a swaro, zeiss.or any $1500 scope.

Even the most expensive scopes can fail! You just cannot get quality for 100 dollars! Any one of the components going into a quality scope would cost 100 bucks, by themselves!
Not to mention quality machinery, craftsmanship, and quality control! "Quality Control" helps ensure that you will likely never have a problem with the product! That alone, costs $$$! If you buy Simmons, BSA or Trashco, you are the "quality control!" If it breaks, odds are, you don't send it back! If you do send it back, they take several months before sending you another cheap piece of crap replacement!

Truth hurts.....................I know !


Again, you get what you pay for !

From my personal experience:

Worst by a long shot .... BSA, Tasco and Simmons. I will never spend $1 on any of their products.

As for flat out best? Zeiss , Swarovski and Kahles top of their lines are the best scopes I have, and in my opinion superb performers. And for what these cost retail, they should be !!

I have had several scopes whose performance fell in between these two extremes. All were in about the $300-$500 range MSRP .

JagMag says it well here. Ive got a little of everything in every price range and my pock for the best value is the Nikon ProStaff. Very nice glass for the money and extremely durable for everything from a truck gun to a walking stick.

Sorry: Don't qualify
 

I've used only three brands in thirty years. And one, in my cheapness, would be on many bottom five lists, but shockingly to some, still does a nice job after over ten years.

I'll disqualify myself and knock on wood at my limited and good choices. I don't think I'll get to five scope brands.

Valentine are you talking about one of the older Tascos? I used a Tasco World Class for a long time and killed alot of deer with it..lol. Actually put it on a 50 cal muzzleloader when I took it off my 270.

Well Huntinyoung, I guess it depends on what you are using it for and where you hunt. Out here in Idaho, we are taking some long range shots. So for my 300 Ultramag, I have a Leupold VX3 4-14 power with the BC reticle. I am shooting out to 700 yards. I will probably go with a Swavorski on my next rifle.

Schmidt & Bender Absolutelty the finest scope there is!!!!!

Best scope for the money? Everybody has an opinion and this one is mine

http://swfa.com/Zeiss-4x32-Conquest-...ope-P6595.aspx

I have one of these on my muzzleloader and another on a 7mm-08

I heard the fixed powers have better light gathering than varialble so I thought I would give it a try. I love these scopes. If the moon is out you can night hunt with these things.

If you are hunting whitetails generally 25-200 yard shots then this is the perfect scope for the money.

Anyone ever hear of Galaxy?