What is your choice? Opinion on lighted reticle scopes for low light hunting?

About any good deer rifle is a Leopard rifle...I will pass on gimmick scopes and that is what I consider a lighted reticle is, something else to go wrong at the moment of truth.. I like the KISS principle when hunting.......I have never had a problem with a 1.5x5, 1x4 or a 3X Leupold...

Whatever rifle I'm hunting plainsgame with. You don't need a task-specific rifle for leopard. Use anything from .270 Win. to .375 H&H.

I suppose illuminated reticles have their advantages, but I'm old fashioned. I don't trust battery-operated ANYTHING when it comes to my rifle or its sighting system. Camera's rangefinders, flashlights, yeah, but not the rifle, and not the scope...........

AD

As Allen has said, any medium bore high powered rifle will suffice for leopard.

Leopards are most often baited and shot off a tree branch--often in the dark with nothing but starlight to backlight them and illuminate the rest of the world besides.

For that reason, I used a Schmidt & Bender 1.25-4x20mm Flashdot illuminated reticle scope on mine and wouldn't go after leopard at dawn or dusk without one ever again.

The scope works just like any other when the illuminated reticle feature is turned off, so one always has a standard reticle as a back-up.

But the battery is about the size of a dime and I keep an extra under the turret cap on the scope, too.

I hunted Leopard in Zim in June 2004. Had a female in the tree but no males. My rifle of choice was my Chapuis Double in 9,3x74R. I used a Swarovski 1.5-6x42 with the illuminated circle dot reticle. The reticle is visible with the power turned off. Of all the illuminated reticle scopes I have checked out, so far I like this one best.
My load was a 285 gr Hawk with the .035 jkt in the right bbl with a 286 gr Woodleigh Soft in the left.
I wasw also going to use this rifle for lion with the exceptikon of a Woodleigh soft in the right and a 286 Nolser Partition in the left. All these bullets hit the same place to 200 yards.
It is no secret here that I kike to hunt with doubles, but I REALLY think that a Scoped Double rifle in the proper calibre is the best choice for hunting any game over bait., or in thisc brush. You just cannot beat the two quick shots of a double in those hunting conditions.
I also used the Chapuis on all my plains game.
I plan to use the same combo on my 2007 Safari.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:

Chapuis Double in 9,3x74R... Swarovski 1.5-6x42 with the illuminated circle dot reticle... 285 gr Hawk with the .035 jkt in the right bbl with a 286 gr Woodleigh Soft in the left...

What an unusual combo.

I know of a SxS double in .221 Rem Fireball with scope mounts if you are looking for a prarie dog gun.....

500grains
See if you can borrow that rifle and we will give it a try this June.

Why do you think the Chapuis with the Swaro scope is an unusual combo?

You hit on the reason for my question regarding illuminated scopes. Do you need them? If you can see the regular cross then was the dot an asset? Like Ray, I like to keep things simple. However in this case if the light will not work you still have a working scope....so is it worth the extra $$ to own a illuminated scope?

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
Why do you think the Chapuis with the Swaro scope is an unusual combo?

I bet that not 1 client in 1000 takes a 9.3 x 74 double leopard hunting, and you may be the first person in history to take one leopard hunting with a circle dot reticle. It's a very interesting setup that combines someting very traditional (rifle) with modern technology(scope reticle).

quote:

Originally posted by ROSCOE:
...so is it worth the extra $$ to own a illuminated scope?

ROSCOE,

For me, the answer is definitely yes. Although I've posted it before, I'll tell you the whole story.

When I saw my first leopard, I had a 7mm Rem. Mag. with me in the blind. On top was a Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10x56mm Zenith. You will not find a scope anywhere that is clearer or that transmits more light. It has a 30mm tube and 56mm objective, and that incomparable S&B glass.

The leopard I saw that first night was too small. But I quickly realized that I really should have brought my .375 with my S&B Flash Dot illuminated reticle scope on top.

I had thought that the big Zenith would be plenty bright enough, but when I put it on the leopard, the thinner, center crosshairs of the A4 reticle were invisible. I could have managed a shot by centering the leopard's shoulder using the outer, heavier crosshairs, but it would have been a hell of a lot riskier than I would have liked.

Remember that a wounded leopard will lay in wait when followed up and will always charge if physically able. My PH and two of our trackers already carried some awful scars, including wicked claw marks and one bullet wound, inflicted by client-wounded leopards and an errant, leopard-charge-initiated gunshot on previous safaris. Like any client hunter, I had no wish to be the cause of wounds like those.

So, having learned my lesson, when we set up in our second blind, I brought my .375 with the Flash Dot illuminated reticle scope on top. As I've said, the Flash Dot has a reticle that functions normally when the light switch is turned off. But when it's switched on (silently by the way), it's illuminated by a red dot at the center of the crosshairs.

My leopard showed up at dusk. Even with a pretty bright moon and the Milky Way lighting things up about as well as could be expected, he was profiled in solid black against a less black sky.

Under these conditions, the illuminated reticle, set at the lowest setting (1 out of 11) was perfect. All I had to do was put the red dot on the leopard's shoulder and press the trigger.

Worth it? Given the possible alternative, absolutely yes.

How about night vision scopes?

Are they legal?

One of those on a 45/70 double would be the cat's meow!

Minkman

mrlexma is correct. I already had a Leupold 2.5-8 with the heavy duplex on my 9,3 double. The PH recommended an illuminated reticle scope as we were in a Communial Area and could hunt to 10 pm. I liked the Swarovski scope so well I used it for all my plains game as well. My longest shot was on a kudu at a little over 300 yards. I like this scope so well I will be getting others for my 308 and both my 375 Blaser bbls, but I will have to break into Fort Knox first because even the bank does not have enough money to buy 3 of them.

While I have used iron sights on the 9,3 Chapuis for most of my NA game I used the scope for all of my plains game so the talley is probably around 50/50 scope vs iron, give or take an animal of two for that rifle.
I have found the 9,3 double with scope to be one of the best hunting rifles on the planet.
I consider it a bit on the light side for buff, hippo, rhino and elephant, but perfect for ALL other game, shot under 250 yards or so.

500grains,
What can I say... I am a Pioneer in the Modern use of the Double Rifle.

I hunted Leopard in 2002, I used a simple .270 bolt action, factory ammo and guess what! I killed a Leopard, "One shot! One Kill!"

My PH was thrilled that I bought a .270 for Leopard, he's only been PH'ing for about 7 years, his father has been PH'ing for well more then 30+ years. A .270 is the only caliber he likes to see on a Leopard hunt!

Oh! By the way, I leave in 2 weeks for another Leopard hunt, with the .270!

I chose the 285 Hawk with the .035jkt as my forst round on leopare because of its devistating effect on deer and wild pigs. In Africa it gave drop to the shot on every impala I hit with it.
For the second shot and for the follow up if necessary the Woodleigh Soft will shoot stem to stern on any leopard.

The ONLY reason I use different bullets on the same hunt in my double rifles is that that ALL hit to the same place over normal hunting distances.
Funny thing is I have found this much easier to do with double rifles vs bolt rifles.
I am working on a theory for bolt rifles... will report when I have a chance to test it.

My first and only leopard was shot with a .375 and a leupold 1.5 x 6. I think the objective was a little small and I will use a 3.5 x 10 next time.