Hi guys.
just bought a browning stainless stalker in 338wm. looking for scope ideas. am leaning toward nikon monarch 3-12. rifle will be primarily used for elk.

any one you want just DON"T get larger than a 40mm objective. All it will do is get in the way in the woods. Remember elk are a BIG target and my preferance is for the 2.5-8x leupold. If you don't feel comfortable shooting it with 8x magnification get closer.

I agree with idahoelk101 although I used the same scope for plains game in Namibia and Botswana. Worked great on my 338WM!
John

I have to disagree a touch. I'm a big fan of the Zeiss Conquest 3.5x14x44. I feel its the perfect balance between 40mm and a 50mm bell.

They balance well, offer great low light transmisison, and are small enough for a standard ring height.

Nothing wrong with the Monarch - I like the Conquest as the best bang for the buck magnification is up to you. I suggested going to Doug at Cameraland and the 2.5-8 x32 Conquest for a freind's light 30-06 Mountain rifle.

He went with a Burris 4.5-14 and 300 WM Sendero - it works for him at the range but after a few trips up the hill he has decided lighter is better for the 30-06 anyway.

Any quality scope that is in the magnification range 2-7 to 3.5-10 with no larger than a 40mm objective and 1" tube will do fine. This is a hunting scope, remember, not something you rest over a bench or shoot from a hide on moonlit nights at black animals in the Black Forest.

You'll want a liberal "eye box" (generous fore-aft and side-to-side eye placement) for any hunting scope, particularly one on a relatively hard-kicking rifle, so check out that feature before settling on a particular brand.

I have a 3-9X Leupold on one of my .338's (the one I took to Africa) and a 3.5-10X on another, but the 2.5x8X would do as well. An earlier .338 which I killed an elk with wore a 2-7X Leupold and the elk seemed not to mind the slightly lower magnification too much.

I agree with Idahoelk and Lucky1!

My .338 wears the 2.5-8 and has worked just fine throughout the states and on a PG hunt in Africa. Really like the setup!

I use a Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10x56mm Zenith on my .338 Win. Mag.

Great scope and great combo.

Helped me make a clean, one shot kill on a southern greater kudu at a measured 296 yards one morning in Namibia a few years ago.

I look closley at the Zeiss Conquest, Leupold, and Nikon product line when wanting a quality affordable scope. Recently I used a Leupold 4.5-14x40 in Africa on top of a custom .375 H&H and thought it was terrific. When I am not concerened about inertia force on scope mounts under recoil or weight I do use Schmidt & Bender, Zeiss Germany, and Swaro. I've also tried and like Meopta, but they are heavy.

I have exactly the same scope as mrlexma on my .338 wm.....Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10x56mm Zenith works great for me. Fabulous for stand hunting at dusk and down....perhaps the brightest scope on the market !

Like some of the others here, my .338 Win Mag wears a 2.5 X 8 Leupold and see no reason to change.

The 2.5 X 8 is a perfect scope for a .338 Win Mag in my opinion. I have gone to higher magnifications on my flatter shooting magnums but a .338 is not a "fast" caliber and does not need some high power scope.

The 2.5 X 8 Leupold is compact, light, tough, and is a very bright scope. I have several of them.

quote:

I have gone to higher magnifications on my flatter shooting magnums but a .338 is not a "fast" caliber and does not need some high power scope.

Au Contrair! With some of the lighter-for-caliber bullets, the .338 can be about as flat shooting as any "magnum". I took a springbok with a single shot (not a very large target) at about 400 yards with my .338
using 200 grain Ballistic Tips at 3050 fps. Run the drop tables on that load and you'll find it gives up little or nothing to any of the 7mm or .300 magnums. That being said, the 8X magnification is fully adequate for game animals out past 400 yards, so your use of the Leupold 2.5-8 in no way handicaps your .338.

ON THE OTHERHAND, slinging a 56mm aluminum baseball bat with glass lenses on each end over your shoulder to which a gun was attached WOULD significantly limit the use of your .338.

Stonecreek, I am well aware of the use of the 200 grain Ballistic Tip in the 338 Win Mag. I have shot a number of wild hogs with that load and some at really long range. I still do not feel that I am handicapped with the 2.5X8 Leupold scope on this rifle.

In fact, I have killed elk at over 500 yards with the .338 Win Mag using the 250 grain Sierra Game King.

2.5 X 8 Leupold or 2.5 X 10 Bushnell elite 4200

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
ON THE OTHERHAND, slinging a 56mm aluminum baseball bat with glass lenses on each end over your shoulder to which a gun was attached WOULD significantly limit the use of your .338.

I may be mistaken, but I think that this Namibian problem lion - which I shot square in the chest with the same .338 and S&B noted above, at 20 yards, as he was charging - might just tend to disagree with you, if he were able to do so.



And here's the kudu noted above, dropped with the same .338 and S&B, as he stood atop a kopje 296 yards away, across a wide chasm between us.



He might also quibble with your claim, based on his actual and fatal experience.

I have used a Leupold 6x42 fixed power scope on my .338 Winchester for years without a wobble. This rifle is on its second barrel and third scope. I like fixed power scopes with long eye relief on heavy kicking rifles. I have never found this fixed 6 wonting on long or short range shots. It has never let me down.

Mrlexma: Beautiful trophies! Thanks for sharing. It just goes to show that a good hunter can overcome hadicaps presented by large, unwieldy equipment .


By the way, here's my kudu taken with a .338 topped with a 3-9 Leupold. It wasn't nearly as far away as yours, but was taken with a snap running shot offhand as it crossed the narrow opening of a dry stream bed. I doubt I would have done as well on such a shot using your equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Mrlexma: Beautiful trophies! Thanks for sharing. It just goes to show that a good hunter can overcome hadicaps presented by large, unwieldy equipment .


By the way, here's my kudu taken with a .338 topped with a 3-9 Leupold. It wasn't nearly as far away as yours, but was taken with a snap running shot offhand as it crossed the narrow opening of a dry stream bed. I doubt I would have done as well on such a shot using your equipment.

S-Creek, In what part of Texas did you kill that Kudu? I couldn't help but notice what appears to be a Cedar (Mountain Juniper) branch in lower left corner of the picture.

quote:

S-Creek, In what part of Texas did you kill that Kudu? I couldn't help but notice what appears to be a Cedar (Mountain Juniper) branch in lower left corner of the picture.

Nope, didn't see any Juniper in Southern Namibia, but they do have a tree that is a member of the locust family which is awfully close to a mesquite. The landowner I hunted with has a large "mesquite" growing next to his house (about the only tree species which will make a large tree in that 8" per year area). He said he shot some 40-odd pestilent baboons out of it during the previous summer.

I'm not aware of any kudu available for hunting in Texas. They can jump an 8-foot fence without even trying hard, so containing them would be folly. There are a few exotic game farms (zoos, so to speak) where kudus are free ranging, but those animals are virtually tame and fed onsite, so I guess they don't bother with broaching the fences.

Here's the same shot of my kudu, but pulled back several yards. As you can see, the vegatation you're talking about is something quite different from Juniper.