When choosing the absolute best

I

Idahotrophyhunter

Beginner
Feb 18, 2011
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I have been able to either own or use most of the finest rifle scopes out there and really have came to appreciate the european's and their craft. When you are dealing with the best, the differences IMHO all really personal prefrence, but with that said what do you prefer? Below is my list.. (BTW, these are hunting scopes - don't have much experience with the tacticals)

1. Schmidt Bender Zenith - to me this is the holy grail of rifle scopes
2. Swarovski Z series
3. Zeiss Victory - my experience is with an older, west germany model
4. Leica ER - Only looked through in store, but was very impressed.
5. ????
 
My list is pretty much like yours.

Schmidt & Bender Zenith -- never owned one, though I've shot a couple of rifles scoped with these. Very impressive, though I'm not certain I can state categorically that they are superior to the Swarovski or Zeiss Victory scopes I own.
Swarovski -- I own four or five. There is a reason I continue to pick them up.
Zeiss Victory/Diavari -- I've owned at least eight and still have three, including a new one that has just arrived. Excellent glass and excellent service on the few occasions I've required that service.
Leica ER -- I own two and will undoubtedly be picking up more. They are hard to rate as inferior to either the Zeiss or the Swarovski.
Meopta Meostar -- I've only looked through a couple. They are on my list to add for my shooting scopes. It is hard to pick these up when I still have opportunities to pick up the others listed earlier.
Vortex Razor HD -- This may be a sleeper. I looked through precisely one, and it was impressive to my eyes. I would love to have one with me for testing at 0 dark thirty. I may find it necessary to pick one of these up this coming year just for testing purposes.
Leupold VX7/VX6 -- These don't test out as crisp and defined as the first four, but for the price they are still impressive scopes. I have three VX7s and one VX6.
 
What do you guys recommend for the guy that wants a good scope, but doesn't want to sell his house to get one?
 
I forgot to mention Kahles. I just picked up a couple today at a very competitive price. Realistically, with top scopes, you are buying an extra few minutes at first light or last light; and there is clearly greater resolution and colour distinction. In light of this, the Leupold VX3 is still an excellent scope, as is the Minox and Vortex Viper. I do not have either Nikon or Pentax, but these scopes have excellent reviews. If they were more commonly available in my immediate area, I would have undoubtedly had opportunity to assess these fine scopes. I have used various Bushnell scopes, and the Elite series provides great value and good clarity and resolution. The OP was to give opinions on the absolute best, though not everyone will be able to secure these at this time. I confess that I am fortunate in my later years to have the ability to have some very fine glass; but it wasn't always the case for me. In past years, my rifles were usually scoped with B&L 3000, Leupole VXII and Leupold VXIII. I managed to take a good sampling of game from this area using those scopes; each kept me on target and performed quite well.
 
Screaming Eagle, you might consider that Zeiss has the Conquest Terra series out now. They are $350 to $450 in the 3-9x40 to 4-12x42 range. They are US made with European components and Schott lenses.
 
My experience is limited to some of the above mentioned scopes and my own used and owned, recommended list would be: Zeiss Victory Diavari, Swarovski Z3, Kahles KX-I own two, Zeiss Conquest, I own three of these, as well as Leupold VX-3, (2). I can not afford the Schmidt Bender and I would buy a Leica ER in a minute if I was to buy another scope. I also still have a Minox and a Leupold VXII on my two rim-fire rifles and they have held up fine.
 
warning, when somebody finally buys top shelf optics one suddenly sells off the lesser optics to buy more of the top shelf optics. its funny how after looking through a schmidt, premier, hendsolt, swarovski or the like, your not as content as you were before doing so.
 
ScreaminEagle":398omjip said:
What do you guys recommend for the guy that wants a good scope, but doesn't want to sell his house to get one?
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Zeiss.
 
OU812":ay8poerm said:
ScreaminEagle":ay8poerm said:
What do you guys recommend for the guy that wants a good scope, but doesn't want to sell his house to get one?
Click to expand...


Zeiss.
Click to expand...

These days, this is very close to the absolute truth. With apologies for the slight thread hijack, I'd say you need to set your budget at $200, minimum, with one or two exceptions. And if you want a great scope, set that budget at $400. With that in mind, you can start to look at new/demo Minox, Meopta, and Zeiss Terra, or Conquest on the used market. Any of these will be scopes capable of proper clarity and brightness to facilitate shooting in the thick woods at the end of legal shooting hours. As the good Dr said above, too, you could consider Bushnell's Elite series (and I'd also add the Legend Ultra HD series, which is now a clone of the old Elite 3200, for all intents and purposes), Nikon's Buckmaster or Monarch series, Burris FullField E1, or a mid-line Leupold, though I won't own a Leupold for two reasons. First, reliability. Second, cost:benefit. I've seen too many break right out of the box in the past decade (VX3 level included) and I've found the "bang for the buck" isn't there. One sleeper scope to consider is the Brunton Echo 3-9x40 (http://www.cameralandny.com/optics2/bru ... echo3940-5). Doug at Cameraland says it's well better than it's $150 pricepoint. For a while, he offered to let you buy one, try it, and send it back for a refund if you didn't like it. He might still do that if you asked. Certainly worth consideration based on his learned opinion alone.

Thread hijack over.
 
Oldtrader3":dl4uhtyf said:
Screaming Eagle, you might consider that Zeiss has the Conquest Terra series out now. They are $350 to $450 in the 3-9x40 to 4-12x42 range. They are US made with European components and Schott lenses.
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Thanks, I've been looking at the Conquest HD5. They look like a goos scope. I have maybe $800 max to spend on a scope for my 257 AI. I wish i had $3,000!
 
The one I have left off the list that I would like to try is the premier 3-15X....But I am an Admitted S&B lover and doubt I would swayed to a premier.

For toughness, the nightforce is nice, but it's optics are lacking compared to the high end European stuff, imho.
 
I'm still sitting in the middle of the ball field with scopes. Pretty happy with my VX3's even happier with the Minoxs and just elated with the Swaro I just received. I can still be just as happy with the Zeiss's, Leicas and Leupolds but the Leicas and Zeiss's can be had for a great price for the amount glass you get. I know Cameraland has some great prices on demos and I can't find much to complain about.
 
idaho, i run the schmidt pmlls on my guns, my teammate uses the premiers. I cannot tell the difference between the two in the glass department. It would come down to what options were available in deciding between the two. Premier and schmidts are both at the top of the scope game.
 
The finest scope I've ever used was built by U.S. Optics, in California. Awesome scopes. I had one on my SWAT rifle for a six-month test. Used it at the range, and on several call-outs. Good grief I was sad to see that thing go.



http://www.usoptics.com/

Guy
 
Z5 Swarovski's work for me and Near Manufacturing Alpha Mounts are also like Jeff mentioned as once you get 1 it's tuff to just buy 1 ! Fixin to get a 10 MOA Alpha mount from Ricard at Near for my 338-378 as the quality really fits a top shelf optik! Buy once cry once :) Any of those optik's you mentioned would be worth their purchase value.
 
usmc 89":6sfr8mpr said:
idaho, i run the schmidt pmlls on my guns, my teammate uses the premiers. I cannot tell the difference between the two in the glass department. It would come down to what options were available in deciding between the two. Premier and schmidts are both at the top of the scope game.
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If you could buy any scope right now, S&B PMII, Premier, a US Optics or even a Vortex HD? What would you buy and why?
 
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