buying a 7wsm in a couple of weeks for deer, coyotes, pigs ect.. Typical oklahoma game and varmits need some opinions on optics

Hard to go wrong w/ a good 3x-9x. All of my rifles wear Leup. VXIII. My 2nd choice would be a Zeiss Conquest. Don't go cheap on glass, buy the best you can afford.

4-12 leupold or a 4.5-14 leupold or on the low end a 3-9 or 3.5-10 leupold.

I've repeatedly read that the most popular scope magnification in the US is the 3X9. I'd say get one. And as previously mentioned, get the best you can afford. If you can't see it, you can't hit it! If you are going to do lots of varmint hunting, you'll probably want a "varmint" gun; an excuse for another rifle.

aj,
I recently put a VXIII 4.5-14x40 LR on my 7mmWSM, but haven't hunted with it yet. My plans are to use this rig for deer hunting this fall. I do get long range opportunities (plus I'm settling into codgerhood and a little extra power might be useful). Unless you are planning on long range shots at big game, or using your 7mmWSM for prairie dogs, you probably would be well served with a 3-9, or a 3.5-10.

Thanx for the input guys i'll take the input and do some research

I favor the 3-9 Zeiss Conquest and thats what I had on my 7mm WSM. It's optical resolution is obviously superior to Leupold. Leupold is good however if you want to save some weight. I wanted a smaller scope on it so there is a 2.5-8 VX3 on it now. That scope does not come close to the optics of the Zeiss.

There is a new optics vendor with very low delivered prices on Zeiss and they are factory approved. http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/C...age/0/gonew/1#UNREAD

My first choice would be a Swaro 3-10 with the TDS reticle. The AV series is very light and better optically than either the Zeiss or Leupold.
The Zeiss conquest would be a good second choice, good optically but it doesn't have the TDS reticle available.
A Leupold with a Boone and Crocket would be third choice.
As far as magnification goes I think that the 3-10 range is a little more versitle. If you are hunting open areas in Colorado you may find a 4-12 or 4.5-14 usefull but if you hunt much in woods I prefer to have a lower low end magnification with it's wider field of veiw such as on a 3-10............DJ

Vari-X III, in 3.5 X 10. Anything beyond that is more glass and more money for a rifle that still "falls off the table" out past ~350 yards (like they all do).
Scope manufacturers continue to make glass that will "look" further and further, but truth be told, we would all shoot better with a straight 4X or 6X, because at the lower magnification, your heartbeat and breathing rate are not as noticeable in the scope. So we shoot better in the field. Paper groups mean very little in the woods. Buy a spotting scope, use it at the range, work up the load, take your binoculars with you for spotting game, and go hunting...

It all depends on your price range.

If you are on somewhat of a budget, You just can't go wrong w/ a Nikon Buckmasters scope IMO. They are very fine scopes and very durable.

If you are wanting to spend alittle extra, You can't go wrong w/ a Nikon Monarch, Zeiss Conquest, or Leupold. I personally feel the Monarch is the best value of the bunch but, you will get a multitude of diversity just as any Ford vs. Chevy debate.

Good Luck!

Reloader

If budget is not a problem this is the future

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/hor...jsp&_requestid=50300

I have an older Kahles and they make excellent scopes.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Doubless:
Anything beyond that is more glass and more money for a rifle that still "falls off the table" out past ~350 yards (like they all do).
QUOTE]

What in the world does that mean? A Federal Premium 7 WSM 160gr Accubond has more energy at 500yds than ANY of Federal's 243 Winchester loads have at 100yds. That same 7 WSM load shot 1/2 MOA groups to 300yds in my Lightweight 7 WSM. I didn't shoot groups at 500yds with it but I firmly beleive that it would have shot groups within Kill-Zone size on Whitetail deer.
I'm not trying to advocate 500yd shots necessarily but they are well within the capabilities of an accurate 7 WSM rifle using a steady field rest. Obviously a better hunter will close in for a better shot if at all possible but why not develope your shooting skills in case a long shot is all that's available.
I personally would rather hunt with an inexpensive rifle with a good scope, than a good rifle with an inexpensive scope. Inexpensive rifles like Savages, Tikka T-3's shoot as well as much more expensive rifles. You get what you pay for in scopes............DJ

quote:

What in the world does that mean? A Federal Premium 7 WSM 160gr Accubond has more energy at 500yds than ANY of Federal's 243 Winchester loads have at 100yds. That same 7 WSM load shot 1/2 MOA groups to 300yds in my Lightweight 7 WSM. I didn't shoot groups at 500yds with it but I firmly beleive that it would have shot groups within Kill-Zone size on Whitetail deer.
I'm not trying to advocate 500yd shots necessarily but they are well within the capabilities of an accurate 7 WSM rifle using a steady field rest. Obviously a better hunter will close in for a better shot if at all possible but why not develope your shooting skills in case a long shot is all that's available.

Retained energy at 500 yards is a moot point. The majority of us can't accurately judge distances enough to tell the difference between 350 and 425 yards, and I am not so sure the range finders are as accurate as we like to think they are. The fact is, I know of only a handful of extremely over-bore rifles that can hold "dead on" past roughly 350 yards on a deer-sized animal. (That means being able to put the crosshair somewhere on the animal and be reasonably sure of hitting it.) The bullet is going to drop roughly as much between 300 and 400 as it did between the muzzle and 300. So you have to hold over the top of the back at anything much over 350, and I would like for someone to explain to me what 8" of daylight looks like at 400 yards, looking through a scope. In other words, how far do you hold over the top of the back, and how far to the right or left is that 10 mph wind going to drift your bullet?

And the reason not to "develop your shooting skills in case a long shot is all that is available" is that to me there is no reason at all to try that shot, miscalculate, wound and lose an animal. An animal can take a step when you touch the trigger, and be hit dead in the paunch when the bullet hits, even if you are holding dead on the vitals when the trigger breaks.
Just get closer, or set up again and when the animal comes back, maybe he will be within certain killing range.
Just my opinion, but all game animals deserve a certain, quick and humane dispatch, not a buggered up shot and a slow painful death because we didn't do what we owe them.

Doubless, There are a number of excellent laser range finders that are accurate to within +/- 1 yard to 1200yds much less 500. I wouldn't try a longer shot without one. Usually though the laser rangefinder will tell you that it's too far to shoot.
A TDS, Boone and Crocket, Mildot, Shepard, Ballistic MilDot or any number of other reticles will allow you with the help of an accurate laser rangefinder hold directly on target out to 600 or more yards. I'm not saying that everyone should be taking 600yd shots but it is possible.
Sorry to highjack to thread but longer shots can be ethical if made with proper skill and equipment.................DJ

Okay. Spend a thousand or so dollars on a scope. Holding your super-dooper 8X40X56 high dollar scope at the top of the back while dialed up to 20X so you can see the animal clearly, watch the crosshair move around because of your heartbeat and breathing. Now tell me exactly when you are going to fire, because that minute movement on your end equals probably a 12" drift at said distance. THEN tell me how far the bullet is going to drift because of the wind. Oh, and tell me how you are going to make sure the animal doesn't move just when you take the shot.
Better yet, just take five rounds, and fire all of them into a 10" circle at 500 yards from a normal sitting position; not off a bench. (That is about the size of a whitetail's vital area.)
Sorry, I stand by my original premise. Shooting paper at 500 is one thing. Paper stays stapled to the board, and paper doesn't breathe... or move... or suffer because of an ill-advised shot. The animal deserves better.
To each his own. I am 51, have lost two deer in my entire life, and that is three too many. If you can do it, more power to you. But a lot of us who think we can, chop up animals every year, and they die a lingering death because we didn't do what we should have: gotten close enough to be sure of the shot.
The animal runs off and dies, and the meat is wasted.
I will say it again: they deserve better.
I think I have made my point, and I won't reply again. I have hijacked the post long enough. My sincere apologies.