I own a safe full of Leupold Vari-X IIIs, a few Zeiss, a couple of Kahles etc. So I'm no stranger to high end glass and prefer it on my serious spending money on big hunt rifles.
But my wife and my daughter have been bugging me about deer hunting of late so I went ahead and decided to put together a small deer rifle for the women in my life.
Found an excellent condition Sako 579 in .243 for $470...perfect. A used set of Sako low mount rings for $35. Again, fabulous. Then I started contemplating scopes.
I kind of settled on a Leupold 2.5-8 Vari-X III. But sat down and thought hard about shelling out another $440 for a scope for the wife and kid. Not that they ain't worth it. But there had to be decent options out there that ain't going to eat up that much income...in my tax bracket $440 represents about $700 income!!!
So I started looking around. I ended up with a Sightron 2.5-10 compact for $239. Its advertised with a Lifetime Warranty and assembled in Japan. My understanding is the same firm supplied Leupold with optics and other components before the began total production in Oregon...
The glass is pretty darn nice. No its not a Swarovski. And at 10X its just a tad bit fuzzy around the edges...not enough to notice if you don't know what to look for. It looks solid as a rock and eye relief on this model is very constant. I'd feel very confident with this glass on any hunt for deer in my local stompin' grounds. It may not be the equal of a Vari-X III but for the difference in price of over $200 I'll settle for the very slight sacrifice in optical quality.
How it shoots and holds up on my Sako remains to be seen. I bought it from a dealer with whom I trade a great deal and trust and he reports not a single problem with the Sightrons which outsell the Leupolds in his shop 2-1. How it performs, like I said, is still a matter of debate.
In the end the ladies will be using my Swarovski binos anyhow. So its not like they are crippled with inferior optics...

[ 09-12-2003, 00:48: Message edited by: Kentucky Nimrod ]

I was just out with a varx3 and a burris fullfeild II early morning sun in are faces. I could see the target better with the burris then the leupold. The leupolds are nice scopes but the burris pulled through just fine. At 174 dollars for the burris in 3x9 with ballistic plex. It is one usefull scope. I have put about 200 rounds of 338 win mag under it no trouble yet. The plex is dead on out ot 400 yards didn't try it at 500 ran out of time.

KY -

i've been using a sightron for about 2 years now, and am surprised that more people aren't. they are excellent scopes.

I've had to send my Sightron SI 3-9X40 back twice for wandering zero after minor, and I do mean minor, bumps.

I got a brand new scope back every time, but this time an old Weaver K4 went on the rifle that had the Sightron, and the Sightron is still in its box waiting for the gun show this weekend to be traded for some surplus 30-06 ammo or whatever else I can get.

They suck, as far as I am concerned.

Orion,
Are you being more careful now?

Seriously, how long did they take to replace your scope?

The SI is the low end of the line. I think the SII is slightly better. (I hope anyhow)

Like I said...it looks good. We'll see how she holds up.

Kentucky, if you were a real loving husband and father, you would put the Sightron, or lesser scope, on your rifle and put the Leupold or Kahles on theirs....yeah right. Just buy them a Savage and put a Simmons on it they'll never know the difference. Take what you saved and buy youself another Sako and vari XIII.

Aw, JEEZE!!! Here I am, trying to cure my insomnia, and somebody has to mention Sightron Scopes and send my pulse rate thru the roof!!
Here's why- A couple of years ago, the Sightron sales rep came into the gun store I worked at- They were having a "spiff", which meant that for every Sightron scope a salesman sold he got money, I believe it was $5. Salespeople in gun stores are not grossly over paid, therefore this $5 was enough to make them push the Sightrons over other scopes. It got so that with some salesmen, the first scope they would show anyone would be a Sightron, and they would be praised to high heavens. The store owners liked this because there is a higher profit margin in Sightrons than in Leupolds.
My experience with the Sightrons was that we had a very high percent of them returned with problems. Now, I know there are some people that have used one or more for years and are happy with them, and I am not disputing that- But, overall,from what I saw from selling many many scopes, the Sightron had significantly higher returns that almost any other scope.
I also tried a Sightron, a fixed 6 power, and it had an incredible amount of distortion. If you moved the cross hairs off the center of a bulls eye target with an inner white bull, the innewr white bull would appear on the very edge of the black bull. When I returned it, they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Of course, it didn't give me very good groups on my 223 either. In my opinion, Sightron was one of the truly "bad" products to come along.
When I need an inexpensive scope, I have been turning to the Weavers, and have had good luck with them, in terms of reliability, holding zero, warantee service, and quality of optics.

Hot Core,
I like this rig so much I just ordered a McMillan stock for myself to use when the wimmen's cut down stock isn't in use.

I plan to send it off for some action work and to have the whole thing bead blasted and satin blued and the crown re-cut...got to test fire it first.

The Sightron might not be so bad. I had it out last night next to a VX II I have mounted on my CZ452 American and couldn't see a bit of difference in the twilight.

I don't anticipate the sweet thang's will be doing much more than stand hunting but you never know. Last year the wife was with me when I killed a 235lb 10 pointer and while she was excited with the hunt and the kill she wasn't overly enthusiastic about field dressing the critter... Just one more "honey do" waiting to happen...

I don't fret too much about what's been written by a couple of posters. If you hang out here long enough you'll find anyone will complain about anything...don't care if its a top dollar Zeiss...you'll still get horror stories.
And you just don't know what their background or motives truely are. They may sell other stuff or might install their scopes with 3lb ball peen hammers...who knows. OTOH they might be completely forthright.

I guess what I'm saying is that for the most part we tend to be OVERLY serious about this hobby. For a long time I was a glass snob and wouldn't own anything less than a Leupold. But as short as a few years ago there was a huge qualitative divide because all that was out there since the demise of Weaver (US made) was discount store glass like Tasco/Bushnell/Simmons and Leupold/Burris with very little in between. The last few years have seen the introduction of well made mid-priced optics that seem reasonably well made...things like Weaver, Nikon and B&L... So I thought I'd take a chance...

I'll be shooting that rig plenty...I hope the Sightron holds up.

Hey KY Nimrod, I really don't know a thing about a Sightron Scope. Yours may perform just as well as any other budget scope. But, my natural skepticism(tooooooo many years working as an Engineer in Product Evaluation) kicked in WIDE OPEN!

As for me, I'd still let the wife and daughter use known goods that have established a high factor of confidence in their reliability. If by chance "they" miss an opportunity at a Trophy and you do find something amiss in the Sightron, it will be tough on your conscience.

So, best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

What bullet are you planning to use?

[ 09-13-2003, 02:00: Message edited by: Hot Core ]

Most likely the 95 grain Partition. But I just loaded up some 95 grain Hornady SSTs. If they ever make the 6mm in an Interbond I think that would be ideal.

I've always been a partition fan. On deer they really aren't necessary but the case can certainly be made for em in the smaller, high velocity .25 and 6mm calibers more so than than in my 7mmand 30 calibers.

FWIW, its not really a budget scope. It ran $240 which is what a Vari-X II costs...

[ 09-13-2003, 06:02: Message edited by: Kentucky Nimrod ]

I would echo Hot Cores sentiment that there are scopes for the same price range with proven track records. The VX-II or Bushnell Elite come to mind. Let us know how the Sightron does after a couple hunts.

I actually have had several high hits on deer with various calibers that left no blood trail in spite of an exit. In fact, I took a doe with my bow about 3 years ago and the arrow was a complete pass through...a Muzzy 90 gr broadhead. It hit both lungs high but there wasn't a blood trail for 40-50 yards. Then it began to look like someone took a little spray bottle and lightly misted the plants about waist high. She ran maybe another 30 yards and was obviously spraying the blood from her mouth. I saw her go down from the treestand so there wasn't much chance of losing her.
But there wasn't a drop of blood that came from the arrow wounds... I've had rifle shot deer do similar things. In every instance the chest cavity is absolutely full of blood...

[ 09-13-2003, 20:40: Message edited by: Kentucky Nimrod ]

Kentucky Nimrod,
Let me preface this, I am a dyed in the wool Leupold fan and have never tried a Sightron. A friend has a gun shop here locally and is a sightron dealer. He is very impressed with them. We have a very active bench rest group here in town and they are also impressed with them and some participants use them and win on a fairly regular basis in the local shoots. I also found out that when one goes bad, you do not need to send it in. You can take it to any Sightron dealer and he will give you a new one, right off the shelf. I do not know if that is all the models but I do know that my friend does it that way.

[ 09-14-2003, 09:43: Message edited by: Customstox ]

Just a word about an inexpensive scope to use...I am seeing some Bushnell 3200 Elite 3x9x40's being closed out at the local WallyWorlds around the Dallas area at about $150 from a regular retail of $179 & $189 depending on store location.
And for any Texans who read this thread there is a 20% off Coupon in the TP&W Field Guide that is good only at the Bass Pro retail stores in Katy (Houston) or Grapevine (DF/W) that is good until Dec 31 '04 on any one item at regular price excluding guns and boats. Apparantly no limit to the coupon except for a single item purchase. A buddy saved a bunch on a scope!
Ron