what do you recommend for a 340 wby.? Is there one with a 30mm tube out there,also eye relief long enough so I don't have to climb the stock.

Big Don: I have a close friend that has used two scopes on his custom 338/378 Weatherby. He uses it for Elk, Bear, Deer and once for Antelope over the years I have known him.
The first scope he had on it was a 3.5x10 Leupold. This scope worked well and held up under the recoil perfectly.
5 seasons ago he got the "hots" to put a Shepherd Scope on it, with the ranging circles to allow him to hold "dead on" out to 1,000 yards.
You just image the Elks brisket to back in the proper circle and touch her off!
I personally am surprised that this scope has held up for this long (considering the amount of shooting he does with this "boomer"!) on that Rifle.
Anyway the Shepherd HAS held up and has helped him keep his continuous string of Bull Elk harvesting seasons "going along" just dandyly.
He got a 6x6 Bull this just past opening day.
His Shepherd and his Leupold were the 1" tube models.
I wish you luck with whichever scope you choose but for sure I would only opt for an absolute top of the line model with an "air tight" warranty!
The recoil in your future is going to be "significant".
Again best of luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I use a 2.5-8 VariX3 Leupold on my 338 WinMag.
On my 375 H&H I use the 1.75-6 Leupold VariX3.
I am happy with both.

I've got a Swarovski 3-10x42 on mine, 1in tube. I like it.

I was having that same dilema... At this point the rifle is still on order so I have a little bit of time... To say the least, eye relief is critical... Obviously any of the high end Euro's will work for you... Right now I'm looking at a Leupold 3.5 - 10 x 40 with the Boone and Crocket reticle... I considered the Zeiss as well but only the 3 - 9 x 40 has 4 inches of eye relief, the rest of the Conquest line dips to 3.5 or less some as little as 3.2 (hence the reason to look elsewhere for this rifle)... If dollars aren't a real problem you might want to consider the Nightforce 3.5 - 15 x 50... I've looked at these and they are simply awesome and just about indestructible but they do go for about 1200 dollars....

Ken....

If you want more weight, you can buy a 30mm tube. Otherwise, it holds no optical advantage.

Factory specs on eye relief are often fiction. Some of the euro models have reasonably generous eye relief, but a very short eye "window"; that is, you must place your eye exactly a set distance from the lens in order to see the sight picture. This is a real problem when shooting from varying positions that real-world hunting presents.

For hard kickers, Leupolds work the best. They give up some field of view for additional eye relief and a long eye window. Many of them will have an eye window long enough that you get an acceptable sight picture as far as 5 1/2 inches from the lens. They also have a fail-safe warranty and excellent customer service if recoil (or anything else) creates a problem.

There are lots of good scopes on the market, and I'm sure that some of them are as recoil-resistant as Leupolds, some of them have as much eye relief, and some of them have equal or better optics. I haven't found any of them that combine these characteristics as well as Leupold. If you try a Leupold and don't like it for some reason, you can resell it for 75-80% of what you paid. This won't happen with other makes, which is another really good reason to try the Leupold first.

Very good points Stonecreek... The Nightforce scopes are the only units I've seen that does everything as well as a Leupold and have the superior optics... But then too they were designed for military use and Nightforce simply did some minor changes to turn them into great hunting scopes...

I certainly understand the concept of "buy the best optics you can afford" but I just have a problem paying as much or more for a scope then I did the rifle...

Just my 2 cents...

Ken....

Look at a Leupold 30MM LPS scope. They have a ton of eye relief!

LEUPOLD that's the only scope I will put on my rifles.30mm tubes do nothing more a 25.4mm(1") scope wont do,o-yeah it will add more weight .
My 340Wby wears a VX11 2-7x33,which has more than enough eye relief.

Leupold hands down. My .340 wears a Vari-X III 3.5-10x40. Lately I'm liking the 2.5-8 a bit better but you need to use extension rings (I think.. pretty sure) to mount one on a MK V receiver; an item I will not use on my rifles.

Leupold LPS

My .340 wears a 4X16 Burris Signature and has served me well at home, in Colorado and Alaska, on Deer, Elk and Moose. If I were buying new today it would be a 4.5X14 Ziess Conquest, without a doubt. The coatings on the lenses are the difference, particularly when looking into the Sun. I have the Ziess on several other rifles including a .338 Lapua and it is awesome. Good shooting.

+1 for the vari-x III 3.5-10x40.

Big Don,

My .340 - Swarovski 4-16x50 Professional Hunter 30mm Riflescope - TDS-4

Works great.

Roland

Zeiss now makes three Conquest models with 4" of eye relief that should work depending on your needs.

I have had a Leupold Vari-XIII on my .300 WBY ultra-lightweight for 6 years now. Before that it was on a .338 Win. for a couple of years. Has always worked like a champ for me. I realize that exact model is no longer available, but I assume the newer VX models would work just as well...or perhaps even better...I've thought of sending this one back to Leupold's Custom Shop and having it retrofitted to accept their new Alumina RainCote lens kit. Don't know if it's worth spending $65 to have it retro-fitted or if I should just sell mine on Ebay and buy a new VX-III. But back to your question...You can't go wrong with a Leupold. A buddy of mine is a shooting/reloading accessory dealer. He sells a ton of glass of different brands and told me that he averages around one return per 1000 Leupold scopes he sells...basically zero. He dropped Burris a few years ago because he got tired of dealing with their warranties. There are Leupold detractors on here, but I'm not loaded with enough cashola to start experimenting in an attempt to find something better. I can easily see well enough in dense timber to kill an elk at first LEGAL shooting light, it holds it's zero despite my repeated attempts to body slam it on a shale slope and it has PLENTY of eye relief. Don't know what I'd want different???

I have a 7 pound 340 Wby that wears a B&L 4000 1.5 - 6x. It's worked well for years, and anything that is big enough that I would use a 340 on I can see with the 6x top end. FWIW - dan

For those that do not know, U.S. Optics, a California company builds a line of hunting scopes. This company is widely known for it's high quality tactical style scopes introduced the sporting line several years ago. World class optics in hunting clothes. Three models including a 3.2-17x model that would be perfect for the dual role of a light medium.




U.S. Optics Hunting Scopes Page

quote:

Originally posted by Heat:
I certainly understand the concept of "buy the best optics you can afford" but I just have a problem paying as much or more for a scope then I did the rifle...

Just my 2 cents...

Ken....

That usually doesn't end well and it ends up costing more in the end. The fact is that the larger 30mm Euro scopes have clear optical advantages over the 1" scopes built by Leupold and in fact the Euro 1" scopes also show clear optical advantages over the similar Leupold products, their warranties are also very good. For example the Zeiss 3-9 Conquest line has been an overwhelming success and is often compared to the Leupold for optical comparisons where it usually falls short, in fact more shooters are buying other brands when at one time they would flock to Leupold when they moved up from the common oriental cheap scopes. Even scopes like Bushnell 4200's are considered optically superior compared to the leupolds of equal value.

Let the view through the scope be your judge.
just my .02
bigbull

Hey bigbull... Perhaps I should have mentioned that I was not refering to paying more for a scope then I did on a 400 dollar rifle... More so when I purchased the Weatherby Accumark I just didn't see enough difference between the quality 600 dollar scopes and the 1600 to 2000 dollar scopes.... These would include all of the name brands well known for their quality and optics... I could see a bit of clarity difference between the Leupold and Zeiss brands, for instance... It't just that I'm also not the youngest person in the world anymore... The scopes in the 1200 and up range just couldn't (because of my old eyes) justify their price...

This is not to say stay away from the expensive brands, just make sure that YOUR eyes can tell the differnce in a meaningful way... Whichever you buy you certainly want to buy one that is well backed by the manufacturer...

Ken....

We hear this stuff all the time. This brand or that one is sharper or brighter than Leupolds. The truth is many don't understand that what they are looking at is not what it seems. Swarovski, for instance, consistantly appears a touch sharper or brighter than a comparable Leupold. Yet when you test each with a photo specktal meter, the Leupold comes out brighter. What gives ?
The Swaros actual magnification is more than the Leupold when set at the same indicated magnification. Set them on the same actual magnification and your test results are different.
Another factor that makes a difference is focusing. Many beleive that you just focus until the reticle is sharp and you are done. Not so. You can then, w/o changing the sharpness of the reticle focus the scope's image a bit more. Very easy to do with a euro style focusing system. That's because the focus changes so quickly. But, with a typical Leupold you have to go play wih them for a while. Since they don't show much immmediate change, most assume there is nothing more to be had and don't try to find it.
When adjusted properly, only Zeiss scopes show any brightness advantage over Leupolds and that is only sometimes. As a practical matter, that difference means nothing. E

E, It's really as simple as this. People can see better through Zeiss, Schmidt und Bender and Swarovski Scopes than they can through Leupolds. To some people that makes them worth spending more to own them....................DJ

Welcome to the forum Eremicus.

A ophthalmologist said that each person views optics their own way. Thats why he asks them whats better A or B! Remember that from your last eye exam?

He also said that personal bias was a factor. He did not get into a discussion of sales representatives for optics such as you Eremicus!

Oh, I'm sure they can DJ. That's because they don't understand how the clever engineer's with such companies fooled them into thinking they were comparing apples to apples.
Speaking of eye exams, try taking your next eye exam by stepping a few feet closer to the eye chart and telling the examinner that it makes no differnce.
I am not now, and have never been employed by Leupold or anybody else in the optics field. Nice Try. E