Hunt Talk Radio - Look for it on your favorite Podcast platform

Lower-end scopes vs higher-end?

I would guess the majority of hunter's seldom take a shot past 200 yds!
Someone asked what the difference was between lower and higher end scopes. They include glass quality, ability to maintain zero, and reliable adjustments. I prefer my bullet to hit where the reticle indicates at all distances, short and long, call me crazy.
 
Someone asked what the difference was between lower and higher end scopes. They include glass quality, ability to maintain zero, and reliable adjustments. I prefer my bullet to hit where the reticle indicates at all distances, short and long, call me crazy.

Snowy, I'm with ya. Now I have 9 days to find a good Breaks bull. Hope my scope holds zero. mtmuley
 
I have a few mid range scopes (Leupold) and a few lower end like the entry level Vortex. I've had very few issues with any of these scopes. They are on everything from a 243 to a 375, and a handful in between.

I had a Bushnell that was 30+ years old that eventually lost part of the reticle. Aside from that, the only scope issues I've ever had were from Cabelas's scopes. I've had two of them about 20 years apart. Both of them were mounted on my 300 win mag, and both lasted less than 5 shots. The first one the glass cracked, and the second one something inside broke and there were bits of white plastic floating around in the glass. Never again.

I have two Vortex Daimondbacks. One on a 30-06, the other on a 270. While considering the price, I have nothing but good things to say about them.

Lots of different scope from many different manufactures come with the Cabela’s name. Some are the cheapest crap in existence, and some are excellent. I have two that are simply re-badged Meoptas.
 
Leupold VX3I 3.5x10x40 in any of it's feature variants IMHO, is the best value to performance scope on the market...but I repeat myself.

Any of the VX3i line, really. I've not been able convince myself a more expensive scope is worth the cost when you can get these at the $400 range.
 
For the most part they really are as good as you think they are. Your beliefs and what you trust and like are what matters most. I've had some cheap scopes I never trusted and they worked great. I have had some leopolds that didn't track worth a crap but then again most of my leoplods have been great and a few of the cheaper scopes I have had didn't work and I trashed them.
 
Anyone can offer a good optical quality scope. The Chinese make great optics, and many of the optical elements used in well known brands of quality are sourced from China. But where things get sticky is the mechanical portion of the scopes. I trust USA made parts used for adjusting and tracking over Chinese parts. I also trust the QC of American assembled scopes over Chinese built scopes. Things like spotting scopes and Binos do not have the same QC requirements that rifle scopes do because they do not have to adjust, track, and repeat. This is where Leupold shines over a company like Vortex in my opinion.
 
The truth is that price may not dictate quality AT ALL. I have had the opportunity to own MANY high quality rifle scopes and as someone else here already said, you should tailor your scope selection to your need/use. Once I owned several Swarovski scopes of varying vintage and configurations but none that suited a semi-auto hunting rifle i was putting together - I purchased a new Swarovski Z5 3.5-18 (i think) in one inch tube. This scope was $1250 give or take a few bucks and could not hold its own in comparison to MUCH more economical scopes of similar or better build quality. That Z5 had horrible light gathering, a terrible paralax focus and it could not pass a tall target tracking test - not even close. My point in explaining that is to highlight that a scope can have "the name" and "the price" but not the quality - this happens all the time. There are three brands that I have settled on time and time again due to their unrelenting quality, durability and warranties - Schmidt and Bender, Steiner Military and Khales. To be fair I have only ever owned 2 S&B's and 1 Khales scope, but I do currently have 4 different Steiner military pieces and love them all. As the very closest 4th on this list is a tie between Leupold and Vortex - but with these brands you must be watchful of which product line you are shopping within, there are obvious quality differences between the upper and lower tiers of products - Steiner has this issue as well between their Military lineup and other product lines. If I were looking at spending under $1000 on glass, I would certainly be looking hard at several of the Leupold and Vortex pieces, in my opinion there are several that fit dollar/value there.
 
Light is the main thing. With optics for the most part, you get what you paid for. However, I am not the type that shells out the money due to brand name or any of that. You don't always get fair value in my opinion buying based on brand name. I buy based on performance and durability for hunting gear. Sometimes a $500 scope will do just as good as a 1000-2000 dollar one. You have to evaluate each situation and decide which best fits your needs and budget.
 
Light is the main thing. With optics for the most part, you get what you paid for. However, I am not the type that shells out the money due to brand name or any of that. You don't always get fair value in my opinion buying based on brand name. I buy based on performance and durability for hunting gear. Sometimes a $500 scope will do just as good as a 1000-2000 dollar one. You have to evaluate each situation and decide which best fits your needs and budget.
I disagree on "light" being the main thing. For me, I want one that holds zero and tracks correctly above all else. I've yet to not get a critter because of a scopes ability to allow me to see to the end of legal shooting hours.
 
I disagree on "light" being the main thing. For me, I want one that holds zero and tracks correctly above all else. I've yet to not get a critter because of a scopes ability to allow me to see to the end of legal shooting hours.

That is the major difference is what I am saying. I am with you. That is not the main feature I would pay extra for a scope myself. I buy on accuracy and durability and not on brand name or looks.
 
Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping Systems

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
110,817
Messages
1,935,471
Members
34,889
Latest member
jahmes143
Back
Top