Best Scope Under...

[Big joe]

O.K.... Just curious and I want to tap the great wisdom and experience in this room! Give me your opinion and why ???

Best aproximately 3X9X40 scope

under $200.00

under $350.00

under $500.00


Thanks in advance for your comments

[Baylian]

I have a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40. It was $200. It has rainguard. It also has a rubber edge on the rear eyepiece. It also has a 3.5 inch eye relief.

Good Hunting, TJ

[rem 700]

Best under 200? Leupold Rifleman--I have 2 and are both very clear, and from my heavy 22-250 to my 7mm magnum, it will take a hit with no problems.

Best under 350? Leupold VX-II; even better than the rifleman as far as clarity. Can't go wrong.

Best under 500? You guessed it. Leupold VX-III; enhanced light gathering, fast focus, and from a trusted name.

All of these have a full lifetime warranty, are fully waterproof, and extremely tough. I'd also consider nikon scopes to be up there.

[Jack]

Another good one under $200 is the Burris Fullfield.
Under $350 there's going to be several among Leupold, Burris, Nikon, Bushnell, Pentax, etc.
Under $500? Zeiss Conquest.

[popplecop]

I think that you have received some very good advice from the ones that have given it. I personally have a Bushnell Elite 3200 that I mounted on a CZ .22rf and it is a great scope. I have some from most of the makers mentioned and no complaints on any.

[300 RUM]

I have a Burris 3-9x40 with the ballistic plex that was under $200.00. The clarity is above average in that price range, the repeatability was very impressive.

My only complaint is a very minor one. The width of the crosshair. A thinner line would be nice for longer ranges. I have it on a 223 I use for prairie dogs and at 300+ yards they are thick. To give it fair shake my crosshairs in my Elite 3200 are the about the same thickness. With a higher magnification scope, like what is normally on a varmint gun it would not be as big a deal. Or if using it for big game it wont matter anyway.

[Catfish]

Over the years I`ve had alot of scopes. I`ve had problem with every brand except Leuopld. I have abt 30 Leupold scopes at present, form 2x to 36x, fixed and variable, and rifle and handgun. The only gun that has something other than a Leuopld on it that I plan on shooting much is a 500 S&W Preformance Center gun I bought with a Burrius scope on it. It shoot well, but I had 2 other Burrius scopes and both were bad so this one makes me very neverious.

[Riposte1]

I guess very few folks have enough experience to know definitively, certainly not me. But, like Catfish, I have tried a lot of scopes on a lot of rifles (and shotguns and handguns) and, while I cannot say a Leupold has never failed me, I can say that that brand has failed me fewer times by far than any others and yes I have have tried Zeiss, Kahles, Swarofski and S&B (all of those make great scopes too, but they all have let me down at least once).

I will admit, the older Leupolds (and the Rifleman and VX-1 which seem to be the same) are a bit frustrating to zero but once they are settled in, they seem to stay. leupold is almost always my default optic, though I am willing to try others (just ordered a Kahles this morning).

Riposte

[Catfish]

It finaly happened. I dropped a 13 lb. gun and it landed on the scope knocking thefrount bell loose. So I`m about to find out for myself if Leupolds service is as good as I`ve heard.

[Talon]

Hello Joe,

I've become very partial to Mueller scopes .

$250.00 http://www.muelleroptics.com/img/pro...MT41650IGR.jpg

$300.00
http://www.muelleroptics.com/img/pro...1044/scope.jpg

FWIW
Talon