Ordered Rem 700 .308 - Time For A Scope
 

I'll also read through the forum....

Budget = I'd like to stay under $300.

I hunt during rifle season for five days and that's usually it. Maybe one more weekend. Rifle on order, time for the scope. I just ordered a Remington 700 in .308. I think I'll be happy with it. Now comes the time to order a scope. I needed to wait until I knew how much money I had left over to see if I could even get a scope or if I had to re-purpose another one I had and get the scope I wanted next year.

I'll mostly be doing standard woods hunting with some power line and open fields. 300 yds or less and typically 100 yds or less. With that in mind I think a 3-9x40mm will work but I'd like to discuss the actual value of going to a 50mm.

I've only owned one scope in my life which was a Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x40mm and I was happy with it for the price point. I've used a few other rifles with higher end (and more expensive) with a few bells and whistles and you can see the difference. One of them had great light gathering ability and another had some illuminated cross hairs which was nice.

I'd like your thoughts on if you agree on the 3-9x40mm (or 50mm) and what "extras" you think have real value. I don't want my lens filled up with so many playthings that I can't see the deer. I don't need range finders (I don't think) as I generally have an idea to all my markers, etc.

Ready? Go!

I'd stick with the 40mm bell, especially since you have a short action which I will assume also has a 20-22" barrel? No sense puttin a zeppelin atop a handy lil rifle!

Since you had a 3x9x40 Buckmaster you will be hard pressed to honestly beat it for much under $300. Heck get another one! Or for around that price range, step up too the same sized Nikon Monarch UCC. Monarchs are mighty hard to beat in their price range!

Leupold vx-ii 3x9x40 is right at $300 & it is a great, super tough, well backed scope as well.

My only other recommendation for a under $300 3x9x40 would be the Redfield Revolution but honestly I'd take the Monarch or vx-ii over it.

Thanks for the reply! I'll check out all those scopes.

My default is the buckmaster if I had to order one right now over the internet. Naturally I want to do some homework and see what else is out there for my hunting habits and price range. I'd love to settle on something else just to have "something else".

Again, thanks.

Check the Vortex and Sightron lines. Good offerings there.

I would also suggest you check out Swift...I own a bazillion scopes, and Swift and Nikon are the two I think are the best bang for your buck in your price range. I have owned 4 Swift scopes and all in all I believe they really are a great quality scope and they have great customer service. I did have a bad one once, but it was replaced quickly with a single call (everyone has a bad one now and then...the difference is in how the company handles it). I have 3-9x40's on a 270 and a 7MM and I just put a 6-24x50AO Swift Premier on my new Savage 10 in .308 and love them all! I am a fan of the 50mm objective, more light, but I don't know for your purposes if it is going to make that much of a difference. A Swift Premier in 3-9x40 can probably be had off of opticsplanet or SWFA for under $200. Don't forget to use quality rings/bases...such as Millett, Talley, Warne or Lupy.

Happy Hunting!

Thanks for all the advice, all. I've kept the price of mounting separate as I know about how much that will be.

3-9x40 Leupold VX-II

Vortex Vipers have been going for about $300 lately; I think they usually go for $400. Just bought one, and so far am impressed.

I suggest that you go with the higest quality scope you can afford. Eventhough you may hunt only 5-10 days a season you miss a chance in the low light of a cracking dawn or a fading sunset because your scope is essentially "done" , or the image is not crisp enough to pick out that deer clearly at 300-400 yards, or the flaring in bright sunlight is so bad that you cannot make out squat ... believe me you will lament not having spent that extra $$$.

As for 40 mm or 50 mm? A high quality 40 mm is plenty good.

along with the price of the scope, you might want to include the cost of a set of rings and bases for the scope. they come in different price ranges so you have to decide what kind you want to use.

im not going to recommend a specific brand but definately get the bes you can afford. a few month back i bought a 243 while moonlighting at a local gunshop. a new scope came in that was at the $200 price point plus i got a awesome employee discount on the brand. i took the scope off just a few days ago because i wasnt getting good enough accuracy to warrent a scope on the rifle. when i took the scope off i could give it a shake and it would rattle. this was less then 6 months of owning the scope and maybe 300 shots with it on a 243. i wont say exactly which brand but it most my rifles carry this brand and it is one of the above mentioned brands. at the time i had the money for a kahles which i will be getting next.

Leupold or anything with ***anese glass, like a Monarch.

I've got a 6x Weaver on my squirrel rifle that I really like. I paid 91 bucks for it off ebay.

The best scope I've owned is a Loopy 10x on my .308, but it runs around 1500 bucks, so-that's out of the question.

forgot in my last post. quality rings and bases with proper mounting are more important then putting all your beans into glass. this year alone ive mounted 10 times more then most do in a lifetime so trust me when i say this, scopes bugger up every now and then but rings and especially fasteners go wrong all the time. go to anywhere that offers professional scope mounting and talk about old rings going bad. thats also another thing most guys dont know, most rings NEED replacing every decade or so. maybe not the entrire ring set but the fasteners for sure

With "modern" hunting rifles being as good as they are now; the scope, bases & rings are more important to repeatable accuracy !!!

Buy the best you can afford & buy it once - need lifetime warranty !

Of course, the rest is up to you..........................practice, practice, practice