Best Long Range Scope

ART_SKYD

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Curious what scopes you guys have had good luck with on a setup to shoot out to 1000yds? Reticle type and power? Looking for the best bang for my buck, there is a lot of expensive glass out there.
Thanks
 
Best bang for your buck- SWFA 6X or 3-9x42
If you plan on dialing a lot and budget is not an issue I’d look into a Nightforce NXS or SHV, S&B or a March.
 
Bang for the buck, i've had good experience with Sightron.
Currently using Sightron STAC 4-20X50.

Money no object, Sightron SIII, Nightforce, Steiner, US Optics.
 
Best bang for your buck- SWFA 6X or 3-9x42
If you plan on dialing a lot and budget is not an issue I’d look into a Nightforce NXS or SHV, S&B or a March.
Pretty much sums it up, though I'd go 10x if going fixed. Also Bushnell LRHS or LRTSi. Mil/Mil makes sense to me, whatever you do don't mix the reticle and turret (i.e. one in moa, the other in mil).
 
leupold vx3i Lrp in 6.5x20 or 8.5x25 with tmr reticle. And that’s coming from a guy with high end vortex, nighforce, Zeiss, and US optics in his safe.
 
Hunting or competition?

For competition I’d say a Sightron S-III with a dot for F-class or Benchrest. or an MOA type reticle for something like PRS competition. The S-II 36X or Weaver T-36 are also great options for F-class or Benchrest and even cheaper than an S-III.

For hunting I’d say Zeiss Conquest or a made in USA Leupold. The Asian optics companies have glass that is as clear and bright as Leupold and European stuff, but the contrast and color rendering are not nearly as good, especially in low light. It’s weird how a good bright Japanese scope can seem bright at the last legal minute, yet you still struggle to see, then you look through a Leupold FX-III or something European and deer are visually just jumping out of the background at you. Duplex reticle or Christmas tree type based on MOA. BDC type reticles are too specific to particular bullets and loads for my taste.
 
I really like Nightforce, and have been very happy with the NXS 5.5-22x50mm when shooting targets out to 1,000 yards. I've also heard positive things about Leupold's VX3i LRP line of scopes. Have a good friend who just bought one and he is extremely impressed given the quality and features for price point, and he is a Nightforce guy with his own 1,000 yard range on his farm.
 
Swaro X5 (4W reticle/5-25x56). If your buget allows... set on top of my .300 win mag. Awesome setup pushing 215 gr begers! Best glass EVER
 
I shoot a few PRS matches a year. I see more Vortex Razors Gen 2s than everything else combined. After that would be an equal mix of S&B , Nightforce ATACR, and Bushnell ERS and DMRs. Most competitors shoot MIL scopes.. Most are shooting a 6mm with 6.5s a close second.
I prefer a second focal for hunting, the fine tactical style reticle are tough for me to see at low power in low light.
The Zeiss Conquest V6 , Nightforce SHV, Leupold VX5 and 6 would be my top choices. Second would be the Swaro Z3 and Vortex Razor LH. Caliber of choice would be a 7mm. Good BCs at higher weights without sacrificing too much speed.
 
Thanks for all the great insight.
How do you guys like the turret dials on a lot of these scopes? (If they have them) A buddy has a Remington 700 in 300 RUM with a vx6 that set up put 3 rounds in a 3 inch bullseye at 1000yds.
 
I also should have put it in my original post but I would use the scope on my hunting rifle. Most situations are under 400 but you never know when you’ll find a really big buck at 850 yds and it would sure be nice if that was in your effective range.
 
Depends on your budget.
To me, $400 is an expensive scope. To others, not so much.
Out to 400 yards, with available, occassional longer distances a decent 12 power will get you there.
For most of my hunting, i use a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12X42. I regularly shoot 500 yards (target) and have taken it to 1,000 yards. Though not the best for that kind of distance.
A decent Leupold, Sightron, Vortex will work for you.
Several companies will make CDS turrets for you.
 
850 is a long poke on a live animal. I shoot long range a good bit. Ive got the gear and experience to do it. I set my personal limit at 500. A 3mph wind which is tough to read, can turn a kill into a wound at 850. Something to think about. It ain’t as simple as the inner web makes it out to be.
 
The word best should be removed from the English language, it doesn't exist in anything. For one reason or another your gonna find different people have different idea's on what make's something best. You can lay out the money for a good Night Force but I suspect if you want the best, they make another that cost a bunch more money for some huge improvement you can't even see! You spend what you can afford and normally get something that will work for you. In going up in price from some point, the improvement is usually gonna be so small you won't see it but, there's always someone out here to tell you what it is in their opinion! is Night Force and other's in their price range good product's? I'm sure they are! Are they necessary, I'm sure they aren't! Buy what you can afford and learn to live with it.
 
I’m adamantly against dialing a scope in the field, and even more adamantly against exposed knobs for hunting. That said, plenty of people do both. I’ve seen a fellow on TV post up quite a few misses on shots he was comfortable with after dialing a knob. I’m not saying I’ve never missed, but I’ve never wondered if I missed because the scope didn’t go where I told it to, or because I dialed it to the wrong place in the heat of the moment. I haven’t shot a match in five or six years, and things are getting better all the time, but when I was shooting matches, no one in HBR or F-Class was dialing once they started shooting for record. They would either wait for the condition to come back or hold into the wind. There are also way to many stories of people on a hunt and noticing that their elevation or windage knob has been spun, sometime before a miss, and sometimes after. The solution is a reticle with some manner of compensation. BDC type reticles are the simplest. Something based on MOA or MILs is more versatile.

There’s a lot more to effective range than what you can do on paper after a sighter shot or two. If you can roll up to the range, and shoot a target at a random distance(not the 1000yd line) with no flags on the cold bore shot any day of the week and not from a bench, well then, that’s probably within your effective range.
 
Sometimes questions show how much a fella has studied up and dug into a topic, sometimes they show the need for it.
I shoot enough to hit a bullseye at 450 yds with my current set up which is a vx3 4-12 with reticles. Lots of practice with your firearm will let you know your effective range. That being said there are elements of the hunt that can’t you can’t simulate in practice. I read up a lot, I talk to people with experience a lot but I don’t know everything and I am not an expert that’s why I’m asking for advice and opinions.
 
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