Which Scopes or Red Dot sights will hold up to heavy recoil?

My eyes just don't focus as good as they used to, so I'm looking at options for some of my handguns. I have a few scopes on my Contender barrels, but my only heavy hitter there is the 45-70 bbl. I bought one of the TC recoil proof scopes with the lighted reticle back around 95'to put on the 12" 45-70 bbl. It looks like the reticle is rotated inside of the scope body, but everything else seems to work.
I went and looked at a couple of red dots, one of them said it was only good up to 357mag...

I have had good luck with Leupolds and Burris on my heavy kickers. Also, I have a Trijicon 4 MOA Red Dot on my Freedom Arms 454 Casull and so far, no problems.

Ultradots can take a ginormous amount of abuse. They come with a lifetime warranty and the one on my .475 has withstood thousands of full-tilt rounds, a couple of spills from tree stands, and it now resides on my .500 JRH and is taken an even heavier beating. All for $160.00 shipped. What's not to like?

Leupold and Burris are the best handgun scopes, no doubt about it. They're a tad more expensive than most others, but they both provide lifetime warranties if ever necessary. I own a half dozen Burris and two dozen Leupold (I see better with the Leupolds and they have a much better eye relief for me than the newer Burris), all hunted with extensively and usually with heavy recoil -- not a single problem with any of them. I thought that I had a problem once and sent the scope back to Leupold, but they gently informed me that the problem must be on my end of the scope, however they completely rebuilt it at no cost to me anyway since I'd used it a lot and the glass coatings were starting to reflect the wear. They were right about the problem being on my end of the scope by the way.

I would use nothing but Leupold double dovetail bases and rings. They're indestrictible steel and will not permit anything to move under recoil. They are totally foolproof and the best available choice.

As for red dot sights, Aimpoint is clearly the very best for heavy recoil. Nothing else compares. They are expensive, but I use nothing else for hunting. I invest far too much in time and treasure to get in a position to make a shot on game and the price of an Aimpoint is a small price indeed to ensure that the scope can always be counted on to do its part.

quote:

Originally posted by OldHandgunHunter:As for red dot sights, Aimpoint is clearly the very best for heavy recoil. Nothing else compares. They are expensive, but I use nothing else for hunting. I invest far too much in time and treasure to get in a position to make a shot on game and the price of an Aimpoint is a small price indeed to ensure that the scope can always be counted on to do its part.

I have to ask if you have ever used Ultradot's products? It's the one red dot-type sight that Magnum Research recommends as being able to stand up to the heavy kickers. Have a look, they are priced way more reasonably than Aimpoint's products. We have never had a failure on any of our big revolvers (.45/70, .475 Linebaughs, .480 Ruger, .500 JRH). It would be worth looking at IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Ultradots can take a ginormous amount of abuse. They come with a lifetime warranty and the one on my .475 has withstood thousands of full-tilt rounds, a couple of spills from tree stands, and it now resides on my .500 JRH and is taken an even heavier beating. All for $160.00 shipped. What's not to like?

Post the picture of the broken rings and the Ultra Dot never missed a beat.

I have and Ultra Dot and they are guarented for life and for any amount of recoil. The Ultra Dots are a very good product that is reasonalble priced

After many years of using a scope on my .44 magnum handgun revolver, and using Ultra Dot red dots on my bullseye guns, I have come to the conclusion that the red dot is preferable and I will be substituting an Ultra Dot for the Leupold scope.

The Leupold has served me well, but I find that a good red dot such as the Ultra Dot is quicker and easier to use, and far less bulky. My ULtra Dot, mounted on the slide of my 1911, has taken the beating from thousands of .45 ACP loads. I am sure it will work well on any of the large caliber hunting revolvers.

The good news is, send your broken T/C "recoil proof" scope back to T/C and they'll probably send you a new one; at least they did for me twice. They're really not bad scopes if you use them for a little less taxing application.

Some handguns would do fine with some type of red dot optic but, if you have one that pretty accurate out to 100 or 200 yards, you're better off with a scope.

As for scopes that will hold up to recoil, I would say don't go with Burris. I have not heard good things about their warranty service and if you read the reviews on MidwayUSA you'll see that many have had problems with them.

When I asked J. D. Jones, of SSK Industries about handgun scopes he said the Bushnell M-3200 and the Leupold VX III 2.5-8X (would also include the Vari X and the VX-3) hold up well to the heavy hitters. I've gone with the Leupold 2.5-8X scopes mostly and have even broken a couple of those. The good thing about Leupold is that if you send your scope in, even if you aren't the original owner, they'll fix and return it to you promptly without whining.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:

quote:

Originally posted by OldHandgunHunter:As for red dot sights, Aimpoint is clearly the very best for heavy recoil. Nothing else compares. They are expensive, but I use nothing else for hunting. I invest far too much in time and treasure to get in a position to make a shot on game and the price of an Aimpoint is a small price indeed to ensure that the scope can always be counted on to do its part.

I have to ask if you have ever used Ultradot's products? It's the one red dot-type sight that Magnum Research recommends as being able to stand up to the heavy kickers. Have a look, they are priced way more reasonably than Aimpoint's products. We have never had a failure on any of our big revolvers (.45/70, .475 Linebaughs, .480 Ruger, .500 JRH). It would be worth looking at IMHO.

I have heard good things about the Ultradot from target shooters, but I've not tried them either on the range or in hunting situations.

Those that have suggest that they're pretty recoil resistant, but I have no personal knowledge. Maybe I'll give one of them a try and see for myself.

I have a Burris 3X handgun scope on my Blackhawk 41Mag. It is decent but I recently had to send it in to Burris repair center because of failure of one of the lens. Freedom Arms (which I don't own any) recommends the Bushnell Elite 3200 pistol scope, and a co-worker of mine didn't listen to them and instead mounted a Leupold on his FA model 83 454Casull and it will not hold zero. I have seen rave reviews of the E3200 Bushnell and have not heard of any failures. BTW, I used to have a Cabella's red dot sight mounted on my 41 and kind of wish it was still there, but thought I needed some magnification.

quote:

Originally posted by OldHandgunHunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:

quote:

Originally posted by OldHandgunHunter:As for red dot sights, Aimpoint is clearly the very best for heavy recoil. Nothing else compares. They are expensive, but I use nothing else for hunting. I invest far too much in time and treasure to get in a position to make a shot on game and the price of an Aimpoint is a small price indeed to ensure that the scope can always be counted on to do its part.

I have to ask if you have ever used Ultradot's products? It's the one red dot-type sight that Magnum Research recommends as being able to stand up to the heavy kickers. Have a look, they are priced way more reasonably than Aimpoint's products. We have never had a failure on any of our big revolvers (.45/70, .475 Linebaughs, .480 Ruger, .500 JRH). It would be worth looking at IMHO.

I have heard good things about the Ultradot from target shooters, but I've not tried them either on the range or in hunting situations.

Those that have suggest that they're pretty recoil resistant, but I have no personal knowledge. Maybe I'll give one of them a try and see for myself.

On two occasions my revolver took a spill from my tree stand (one time it actually wasn't my fault! ), it on both occasions absolutely nothing was affected -- with the exception of me, of course!

Really tough to beat the Ultradot, particularly at that price point.

Hay Whitworth, would like to look at the ultradot. Witch one was a buck 60. Thanks
Larry

Chrystech, it's the Ultradot 30 that I'm using. Look at it on www.ultradotwest.com

seems quite reasonable for the good stuff im hearing. im a little slow for my liking with the eer scope and goint to try a red dot type system. any advantage to the lt or pan av?

the ultradot is the red dot i use on the heavy guns i have both leupold scopes and red dots and prefer the ultradot.And mine has also taken a spill from 20 feet and no problems

I will back ol whitworth on the ultradot.It takes recoil well,and in a hunting situation,with revolvers,it works extremely well late afternoon ,early morning.It extends your ability to shoot a little over irons at those times of day.

As far as a previous poster said about T/Cs "recoil proof"scopes I didn't have very good luck and even worse experience with customer service.But that was just me.

Lots of good info on scopes. How about the rings? Haven't found a set of rings yet that will hold onto the scope mounted on my 460 S&W.

quote:

Posted 15 August 2010 19:24 Hide Post
Lots of good info on scopes. How about the rings? Haven't found a set of rings yet that will hold onto the scope mounted on my 460 S&W.

Try Warne rings for a Weaver base.

quote:

Originally posted by Pancho:
Lots of good info on scopes. How about the rings? Haven't found a set of rings yet that will hold onto the scope mounted on my 460 S&W.

If you're using a Weaver base, nothing will work perfectly, but Warne rings will work the best. They're actually something of an overkill onan aluminum base, but they'll do the job where aluminum rings will magnify the existing problem.. If you have a true steel Picatinny rail, then the Warne rings will give you great performance.

The best choice, however, is a Leupold dual dovetail base (it's steel) and the matching steel dovetail rings. Mounted properly, nothing at all can move under any recoil and it just doesn't get better than that. The only downside is that the Leupold rings only come in 1" so if you have a 30mm, or some other diameter tube, they won't do it for you.

What about 3 or 4 rings like the TSOB mounts?

quote:

Originally posted by Pancho:
Lots of good info on scopes. How about the rings? Haven't found a set of rings yet that will hold onto the scope mounted on my 460 S&W.

I dont scope handguns much anymore but when i did i about exclusively used luepold 2x scopes. Never had a problem with them even on really hard kicking guns.

I have a Tasco 2x on one of my 41s and have had no issues in a couple thousand rounds. I have an Ultradot on the other and I like it just as well. If you can go with the Ultradot 25 instead of the 30, they are on sale at Nachez for $140. Either way, with an Ultradot, you can't lose.

www.larrysguns.com is a UD distributor and warranty station for the US region. His everyday price on that is $135.99 w/free shipping.