When you ask for suggestions on what scope to buy you always hear Leupold. I cant afford one . Does anyone have a good experience with any of the more affordable scopes on the market? If so I would like to hear about it . Thanks!

I don't have any idea how much you can spend or what you expect but I suggest you take a look at a used Leupold - take a look on ebay - lots of them. Used Burris is another choice.

I suggest you say to hell with over-priced Leupold scopes and forget them. I've used Bushnell all my life without a SINGLE problem and I'm currently into 2 Simmons Prohunter Series 4x12's. Both are super clear and working great on a 270 and .243. Both are under $100 dollars and will do wonders for your shooting.

Just because something costs like hell doesn't mean it's any good.

Good luck.

Take a look at the Leupold VX-1 line of scopes, they are very similar to the original Vari-X line of scopes. Prices right, good warranty, and it says "Leupold" on it.

Buy a used leupold or a VX-1 leupold which is just the old Vari X 11 line of scopes.

I usually look for old USA made Redfields. True, the warranty is no longer valid, but those scopes were every bit as well made as Leupolds, so the likelihood you'll need repair is very remote.

If you did need to have an old Redfield repaired, ABO in Miami will do it for under 50 dollars in most cases.

I normally see the used 3 to 9 Redfields (the best all around power range in a scope) for a bit under 100 dollars. I gave 75 dollars for the last one, and it's actually a bit brighter than my early 70's Leupold Vari-X II, and I wouldn't take a Vari-X II for it.

I also agree that the Bushnell's are pretty decent for low dollar scopes. I have a 3.5 to 10X Bushnell that is my "go to" scope when I suspect a scope problem on a rifle. It's a winner.

Most folks who put down cheaper scopes fail to take into account that the low dollar scopes are most often mounted hastily and carelessly (with a rusty screwdriver from the coffee can under the kitchen sink) in cheap mounts. Since most scope "problems" are rooted in improper mounting, I think lower dollar scopes get at least some criticism they don't deserve. No, they aren't as reliable as the better scopes, but they aren't as bad as many folks will have you believe...

Dan Newberry
green 788

I'll take a NEW scope with a warranty and no out of the box problems anyday over some old dog with no warranty and hope the last guy who owned it didn't use it to build fence with. This thread is starting to remind me of the one about pick-up trucks where everyone told how great their trucks were...after they spent $6,000 repairing it. Duh? Where's the value in that?

Since the Rand to Dollar is so bad here , only the very rich can afford the leupolds . So us not so rich guys like to stick with the Lynx or Tasco scopes . I will still even buy a Tasco if it was made in Japan even though they are closing, and you dont get a warranty with the scope. As for Bushnells , I have not had a single problem with the litte banner on my .22 .

Regards
Rudie

What are you going to use the scope for?
If you go from the truck to the bench I would say a good Tasco, BSA, Simmons, or Bushnell would be fine, if your going out on a once in a life time hunt or making money by shooting itty bitty groups then you may want to step up to a little more scope such as a burris, nikon or leupold.

Leupolds have gotten expensive no doubt. I live about an hour down the road from them and I pay the same price as everyone else. However, If your Leupold ever goes bad you send it in and will have a new scope in 5-7 days, any other scope???
Anybodies guess.
I had a Varix-2 3x9 for 20 years and decided to send it back for a warranty check, 5 days later I recieved my scope but by golly it would not zero. Back to the factory it went, 5 days later I got a brand new upgraded replacement, no questions asked. Had I really needed that scope badly to say finish out the deer or elk season I could of drove up there and came back home with it the same day missing only one day of the hunt, any other scope? Hunt over, or go buy another one while waiting for repairs.

Wes

Besides Leupold, I have had good luck with Bushnell, Simmons, used Lyman All-Americans (love the 2.5X and 4X All-Americans!!), and even old steel-tube Weavers. The only exception is a hot-loaded Ruger No. 1 in .45/70. The ONLY scopes I have found that can stand up to this rifle's recoil have been Leupolds.

I have several Baush & Lomb, they all have been very good scopes, they are super clear, with good objectives. Try the Elite 3200 in 5-15X50 w/AO, you can get it for around $250 from Ron Shirk in PA.

I have a weaver 3-9x50 that I'm have no problems with.

Johan

I don't know what your budget is. Two options for good glass at lower costs are the B&L Elite 3000 3-9x40=$149, Nikon Monarch 3-9x40=$249, the Burris Fullfield II=$187 from Bear Basin: Bear Basin Link

I have used the Elites and have Monarchs on three of my rifles now.

Good Luck,

Bob

[ 07-14-2002, 19:50: Message edited by: Bob in TX ]

Try Bruno Shooters Supply. They've got very good pricing on Leupolds. EBay is pretty much a waste of time. I see used Leupolds on EBay every day selling for more than the same new scope from BSS. If the scope says Leupold on it, some moron on EBay will pay a fortune for it. I agree with ricciardelli. A new VX-1 is the identical scope as a Vari XII and won't cost much more than a cheap Chinese or Korean piece of junk.

I've got a bunch of Tasco's, Swift's, and Weaver's laying around that I'd just love to unload. The optics and precision just ain't there my friends. They all would serve for a hunter in decent conditions, but for precision shooting, NOT. Leupold has such a superior reputation and commands a premium price because they earned it.

I have used Leupold scopes for 50 years, mostly I buy used ones at 50 cents on the dollar..Leupold stands behind the scope regardless of how many times it has changed hands....If one goes bad send it in and you will get it back in a couple of weeks max and it will be as good as new..that has been my experience...I bought two last week, a 3X for $150 and a 4X for $125. you can pick up a 2x7 vari X11 for about $175 or less.....check out the gunlist under scopes for sale...or buy one at E-Bay.....

I just got an old 1944 Mauser and the workmanship of it makes my more modern rifles look cheap, I dont think this really holds true with scopes though. Their seals become hard and fail and dust can get inside, their clarity goes south from scratched clouded lenses besides the fact that scope technology has come a long way in the past few decades. Get a new Bushnell, their optics are the best among the lesser line.

I have an old redfield that sits in the cabinet because my bushnell trophy is twice the scope the redfield ever was. Why pay the same money for someones old POS weaver or something that may not even adjust if you can get a new scope?

I had one of the cheapest bushnell 3X9s you can get mounted to a 7mm RM for years and it held zero very well until I sold the rifle. For all I know it may still be on it. I used to theorize that if a cheap scope fails after two years I could afford another one but they alway have held up suprisingly well for me.

Its amazing, the man said specifically that he doesnt want to hear about Leupolds yet half the posts in here say "GET A LEUPOLD"! They must be the official scope of the reading impaired.

"They must be the official scope of the reading impaired."
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No, it's just that most of the guys here are trying to steer the man in the right direction. You can recover 75% of the price of a Leupold in good condition if you choose to sell it. Try that with a Bushnell.

Being able to discard a cheap scope every two years when it goes bad and replace it sounds great....unless it chooses to fail during an expensive hunt. You get what you pay for.

I've had a few different kinds of scopes, including Leupold. Below $200, my favorite is the Simmons Aetec. It has aspheric optics, which allows a little shorter, lighter weight design. The field of view is very wide. I have one on my .223, and consistently do 5/8" five-shot groups with it.

Optics is a well understood science, and, at the manufacturing level, even very good, multi-coated optics are surprisingly cheap. Also, do not overlook the use of a sunshade. In a modern scope, the limiting factor is not so much the amount of light transmitted as the amount of stray light that is scattered in the scope, and the sunshade makes quite a difference in some cases.

I wouldn't pay an extra nickel for 50mm over 40mm. Yes, it does gather more light, but in 99.9% of cases, it does not allow you to see more. It adds expense, and it adds weight, and in the end, all it does is constrict the pupil of your eye a little more.

Pecos: By unload I meant unload as in sell. I need the bucks to buy a few more Leupolds.

Seriously, I might list them in the classified section later this week when I get back into town. I'll give you right of first refusal!

By far simmons is one of the biggest pieces of shit on the market. I had a simmons 4-12 fall apart on an 06 after about 200 rounds,the AO fell off and you could press your finger against the eyepiece and move the glass. I had two 4x simmon rimfires fall apart that were mounted on a 10-22T. After the second one fell apart I sent it in got a third and sold it putting the money towards a weaver 4x rimfire and its held up well and at 100 dollars below a leupold,has served me well,it's by no means the glass of leupold.Weaver is probably the best economy glass around

I've had tascos and for the most part they are ok and you have to pay attention to what models you buy.

I've had several older redfields one of which was a 3-9 with a built in rangefinder. I had it on a .220swift and it worked well on coyotes,I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older redfield they were built as tough as leupold.

In bushnell I wouldn't buy anything but the trophy series and they're still a cheap scope. The bausch and lomb series are good,but they cost as much as a leupold and aren't quite as good.

Nikon has gotten some good press lately,but the eyerelief on them is shit.

Anybody can afford a 3-9 leupold. It just comes down to priorities. To me,being able to put a scope on a rifle and leaving it there for years without having to put up with a bunch of bullshit failures,sight in changes and a host of other things going wrong,is appealing. I've gotten away with this using weaver,older redfields and foremost leupold. I'll agree with those that think Controled round feed is overrated and that regular bullets work as well as most premiums do, but when it comes to optics,the hype in leupold is justified.

Amen, RMK. You can buy a new Leupold VX-1, 3-9 for $189 from Bruno Shooters Supply and you'll have a first class glass with resale value.

I may be swimming upstream but I just put a new scope on a 338 Win Mag and looked at Leupold Vari X III ( I own three ), Zeiss Conquest ( had paralax problems ) and a Weaver Grand Slam 3X10-40. I ended up with the Weaver, the optics are superior or equal to the Leupold and the adjustments are dead on repeatable. The Millet mounts I had sheared after 70 rounds (only extended mounts the store had) and I replaced them with Burris double dovetails and haven't had a bit of trouble in 400 rounds, not bad for $250. It looks like it'll hold up, I've submerged it, froze it and have had no leaks or fogging. Take a look you may like them.

Thanks guys , I appreciate all the replies and opinions.The problem I face , which is partly why I ask this question , is two fold . Number one is that I live in rural colorado so it is not possible to just go to the mall and see the several different options that are available. The other problem is that when it comes to optics I MUST plead IGNORANCE. I just dont know enough about them (yet) to understand all the things I should. I see that most of you seem to prefer variable power scopes . I will assume that is for versatility ?I plan on shooting at paper and would like to reach out to maybe 400 yards on occasion although most shooting is done at 100-200 yards . At that distance I wonder if a 9 power scope would be adequate.Again thanks for all the input.

You wont go wrong with leupold. A friend has zeiss and the optics are a bit brighter but for $800 and up they should be brighter.
Leupold really is the standard by which others are judged and it takes optics costing twice as much to compete and the gain in quality is small.

Nearly every town has a pawn shop.The poorer and more desperate the town,the more pawn shops. Go to a pawn shop and look at the scopes. You'll find leupold,usually in quanities,because it holds its value and you can actually get some money loaned against it. Look through the scopes and make your own decisions. Burris is another option,I've got two rifles right know that I use regularly with a leupold 3-9 and another with a 3-9 burris. The burris is good glass and the price was right,but the leupold is clearer and was 10 dollars more.

Variable scopes are nice,but to many people try to shoot on the highest power all the time. The 3-9 will magnify well enough at 400 yards, but I prefer a 4-12 if you're doing that type of shooting. The problem with high magnification is limited field of view and distortion caused by heat. The average guy could get away with a 3-9 just fine on big game and the 4-12 makes a good combo for both varmints and big game.

Variable power really sorts out the quality of a scope. Garbage scopes will change point of impact dramatically as the magnification is increased or decreased. High quality scopes will show little or no change in impact as power is changed. Just buy a 3-9 leupold and forget about optics.

The main reason I buy Leupold is the eye relief. I have yet to find a scope under $500 that has as much flexability in eye relief. Specially on low power settings. The specs also indicate the flexability. One of the few that does. Actually compare a few and you will see what I mean. Shoulder several. Most scopes you must have your head positioned at the exact eye relief or you will have blackout doughnut. With my Leupolds there is a generous 1/2" or so of forgiveness. If you are shooting from a bench this may not be important. Then yes scopes like the Nikon are fine. If money is a factor the Bushnells are hard to beat for clarity and eye relief.

[ 07-15-2002, 16:10: Message edited by: wildcat51 ]

I share your monetary awareness, just picked up my first new rifle and after much debate over scopes I got what was on sale! I bought a new bushel scopecheif 6x20x40 for 300 CAD. Can you get a better scope, surly. Can you spend a lot more, absolutely. Do you need to spend more to get an acceptable product ? definitively not. So buy the best you can afford because to upgrade later will cost you more

One thing I've not seen mentioned yet is that Natchezss.com has a refurbished scope section on their web sight. You can often find good quality scopes like Burris and Leupold, as well as other brands at a reduced price and they still carry all factory warranties(assuming it was good in the beginning). try searching the sight and see if there isn't a scope there for you. I would have bought my scout scope there for $50 less than I ended up paying because they (Natchezss.com) didn't have on in stock. I do agree with the others thought that you should probably spend a little more than you want and as little as you can.

The Nikon Monarch series isn't as good as leupold. I don't own a Nikon,simply because I've shot several rifles that have had the monarch series scopes on them and the quality and performance isn't there with nikon,so why buy one.

The Nikon scopes I've used,didn't have the clarity of leupold and eye relief isn't there.
I've found the same reaction to be true with other shooters,who have went from using leupold to Nikon.

I will go with Kromer on this one. I use Leupolds and even BSA with no problems, but when I want a very good scope for a lower price I look for new or barely used Bushnell Scopecheif VI scopes. They aren't made anymore but were the top of the line. I've heard people compare them to the Leupolds. I won't do that myself but they are close.

Weaver Grand Slam or Classic series

Nikon Buckmaster or Monarch

Burris Fullfield II

Zeiss Conquest

I believe anyone of the above would serve you well.

I shoot warm 45-70's (not Ruger #1 pressures) in a Marlin with a Simmons straight 4 power scope on a Weaver base. Been on there since 1984 with no problems

Wildcat Junkie-
You better check with LEupold..

They will repair or replace it for free IF the damage was not caused by "abuse" or improper handling.

I have a 2x EER that was underwater for some time during a flood. It proved to not be waterproof. I inquired about sending it in, and the rep. told me that this may or may not be covered by warranty. "Send it in, and we'll let you know..."

They've tightened up the no-questions-asked policy regarding free repair/replacement. I certainly don't blame them, but everyone -- especially those who consider the "L" word gospel -- needs to be aware of this.

I can't afford this, or I can't afford that.

Balderdash!!!

Look here!!! Bullets are running $15/100 if you can find a sale. I paid $600 for my 1942 Springfield Garand. $800 for the Bushmaster AR, $1200 for the Rem. 700 PSS with a Springfield scope (Govt. Tactical) . . . another $150 "tweaking" to Ackley, recrown, new recoil lug.

$300 in surplus Mausers.

$350 in a Romanian AK-47.

Thousands in 1911's, revolvers, semi-autos.

More thousands in chrono, bench presses, scales, dies, tools.

Hundreds in gas for getting to the range.

Hundreds for range fees.

So, let's drop this lame excuse about not being able to afford a good scope. If you want a good scope, stop whining and shell out the damned money. You're gonna get what you pay for, and on a nice rifle, it's a good investment.

How about another approach to this thing.
An inexpensive scope is more likely to fail.
A fixed power scope is less likely to fail.
If you want a lower priced scope the best odds of getting a good one is to buy a fixed power model!

Jim if you are a serious shooter you can;t afford not to buy a Leupold. All things considered it is the best value on the market.