Long range scopes

[DarcyPotter1]

Today my 22year old son and I go to the city and pick up the Savage 110BA338lapua we have been waiting on for half a year . what should it wear for glass if you had this rifle and did not have to pay for the scope what would ride the rail. We have looked into this a fair bit but have waited till the rifle arrived to take the plung I hunt a lot and have many rifles but no long range work. I have Leupolds and one Zeiss and one Swarovski scope wich i find to be overpriced . Between the 4 shops that are local my picks are Leupold, Nightforce, March, Zeiss and Vortex??? allso Bushnell allso Tripods should it be tilt or no Thank You for the help

 

[BerdanSS]

what should it wear for glass if you had this rifle and did not have to pay for the scope what would ride the rail.

if money was no object it would be a night-force or Schmidt & Bender.

allso Tripods should it be tilt or no Thank You for the help

I don't know about tripods, but all of my Harris Bi-pods are tilt models....the only ones I buy are swivel base anymore.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

If money were no object, I'd try a US Optics scope.

We've got this fancy interwebz thing now... No sense being stuck with what the local shops carry.

In bipods, the answer is Harris. Get a "tilt" model. You can lock it so it doesn't. You can't unlock the no-tilt model.

 

[AllenJ]

You are the first person I've ever heard say,

Swarovski scope which I find to be overpriced

Can you justify that for me please? I am saving now to buy one for a long range rifle build and before I lay down $1650 of my hard earned dollars I'd really like someones opinion who is not mesmerized by the Swarovski name. I decided on a Swarovski for 2 reasons, first I've never heard anything but wonderous stories of how brilliantly clear they are and secondly because they are the only scope I could find that did not weigh a ton.

 

[DarcyPotter1]

i find that the Swarovski does not gather any more light than my Leupold and that was the selling point allso i went with the 1.7-10x42 as it is mounted on a 375H&H mag of witch I have 2 one a traditonall express and one a winchested stainless with laminat stock the stainless wears the $2099.00 canadian dollar Swarovski I thought I would use the low end of the power more than I do I find myself seting it on 3 and it stays there only to be dialed up if a open shot is long by this I mean 200-350 yards the older blued walnut stocked express wears a leupold 1.5x5 pistol scope bought in Yukon for $345.00 and has served the rifle and me well like I said I do not have long range experriance or good spelling lol to busy looking at the gals and hunting . It may be that for a long distance scope they are quite good but for the average hunter I find I fell for the hype and that is what I am trying to avoid here.

 

[DarcyPotter1]

Suport Local Shops

the reason I am limiting myself to the scopes I listed is I beleave in suporting my local shops I could go of the wall and by a S/B up to 80x and it would probly be great but I yhink if we suport are local shops they will be there when we need them . For that reason I by Canadian when I can and American allso import is for when we dont make it or you dont make it or as is the case with the Chiappa Kodiak 45/70 we just got trying to get a Winchester big boar rifle is like hunting Unicorns kind of things that dreams are made of I do have one on order but it has been close to a year now and i needed the rifle now . So if you see why I limit my list to local allso I dont by over the internet hek I just got on a cumputer for the first time 3-4 weeks ago im not a savy guy when it comes to theas things I would probly end up owning nuthing except a credit card with a $5000 bill thanks for the advise

 

[AllenJ]

Thank you for the reply on that Darcy, I really appreciate the information.

The person most responsible for talking me into considering a Swarovski is a retired Marine Sniper that I work with. His selling point was that at 600 or 700 yards you're not really going to see a difference between a high dollar Leupold and a Swarovski, but beyond that distance you'll see a huge difference. Being that you're going to put your new scope on a rifle meant for long range (338 Lapua) maybe that is something you might look at.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Certainly your choice, and I support local businesses when they have what I want (I am a local business) but I don't DECIDE what I WANT based on what they have. I want what I want, if they don't have it, or don't have it for a reasonably competitive price, I buy elsewhere.

 

[ronl]

I'd go with the Nightforce of the ones you mentioned. They are rock solid. My second would be one of the Vortex Razors.

 

[Mauser8mm]

Burris Eliminator

The Burris Eliminator is a laser designated scope that pretty much does all the work for you. Check it out, it starts at $800 and can go to $1,500.

Oh and what are you planning to use this rifle for?

 

[Dan Newberry]

The laser scopes work okay as long as you can get a reading from the laser... we've seen two of those scopes come to our long range shoots, and after about 700 yards, they're done--unless conditions are perfect for a reading.

I think Nightforce is the one to beat. Euro-zone scopes scare me a little, simply because that whole part of the world is in such a dither right now, you don't want to end up with a high priced scope that was made by a company based in an area where the entire economy imploded...

I have a Leupold Mk4 8.5-25x E/RT (front focal plane reticle) scope on my 110BA, and it's serving me very well. But I think I'd trade it fast for a 5-22 NXS Nightforce if I ever got the chance.

Dan

 

[Jim Watson]

I'd go with the Nightforce because I know they are built to handle the recoil.
The others probably will take it, but Nightforce for sure. Couple of them in town here on .50s and doing well.

I'd shop around on bipods, I'd want something stouter than the Harris on my .308 on a .338 Lap.

 

[handlerer2]

Everyone has bounced all around it, but, it being the darling of the long range target crowd at the moment I would choose the March. Never heard any criticism of it other than they must be made of gold at their price.

 

[Theohazard]

Nightforce is my favorite scope if money is no object. Sure, there are a few brands with slightly better optical quality, but when it comes to weight vs. durability and (most important for me) precise and repeatable adjustments, Nightforce is the best on the market.

 

[Toolman]

I have the 110 BA in .338 Lapua Mag also. I put a VXIII on to start with but I'm saving for a Nightforce.
I reload my ammo so I called Leupold, gave them the powder type, weight, bullet type & weight & they sent me the calibrated turrets for that load. Works like a charm! Zero @ 100, want 300? just dial to 3, ect.
My BA doesn't seem to like Hornady brass tho. Lapua brass works great.

 

[cryogenic419]

I've got a Nightforce on my .308 bolt gun and have been very happy with it.

Its not the lightest scope out there but the thing seems to be built like a tank. I know there are some even higher priced scopes out there with slightly better optical qualities but the Nigtforce has pretty damn good optical quality.
I looked through a bunch of different scopes Leupold, Bushnell, Zeiss, Swarovski, Trijicon, Nikon, Nightforce, and Schmidt and Bender. You could definately see a difference between the lower dollar scopes compared to the higher dollar ones. Once you got to the higher dollar ones there wasn't that huge of a difference in optical clarity. After optical quality, good solid construction was the next consideration. Then come the bells and whistles.

Once I found a few that I liked I went to a bunch of different forums just seeing what problems or complaints people might have had with different brands. I really didn't see much in the way of anybody bashing Nightforce, thats not to say nobody has ever had problems I'm just saying at the time I didn't see much out there.

What ultimately sold me was price for what they were offering. They had extremely good build quality, very good optical quality, wide selection of reticles, and as a bonus the reticle illumination. Settled on a NXS 5.5-22×56 with the NP-R2 reticle.