For those of you running scopes on your big bores. What are you using and what have you used that failed? I'm mostly looking for guns up over the .40 cal mark. Heavy recoil stuff. My rifle seems to abuse scopes.

On large bore, heavy kicking rifles the larger and heavier the scope the quicker they will self destruct either themselves or the mounts and bases.
The lightest, smallest and toughest scope is the little Leupold 2 1/2 X compact. Any game animal that requires a rifle over .40 caliber should be large enough that it doesn't need to be magnified more than twice, so long as the hunter knows how to stalk. And for an Alaskan guide who might need make a longer shot on escaping game the little Leupold will suprise you if you give it a chance.

I have had El Paso Weaver K2.5 and K3s on some kickers and they did fine. I recently bought a CZ in .416 Rigby that has a Leupold VX3 1.75-6X on it. This is the first of this model I have owned and I have often seen it referred to as a good choice for big bores, but I may swap it out for that Leupold 2.5X compact Phil mentioned in order to trim the weight a bit.

When Michael458 used to test the big bore MDM and other calibers in his lab, he found that the low-power Nikon scopes held up the best.

I used to use the 2.5 power Leupold on my 458s . But came to realize I needed more than 2 1/2 × for some things . Like early season deer hunting . So I went to the 1-4×20 Vx ll. It did ok for a while but eventually it crapped out . And along the way there were lots of times I couldnt take a shot on game because I couldnt see the cross hairs . But could see the animal just fine. Then I put a 1.5-6 Burris E Dot on my 416 Remington and 9.3×64 and it did a good job for a while . Then the wire hung cross hair started going wonky.
Currently, the only low power variable that I know of that ticks all the boxes of 4" eye relief, tough construction, illuminated etched reticle is the Vortex Viper PST 1-4×24 30mm tube . My only problem with it is the eye pieceis about an inch longer than I would like. There used to be 3 of that model. 2 with exposed turrets , mil/mil and moa/moa . And a capped turret model that was moa/moa . All 2nd focal plane . Vortex has re designated the capped turret model into the HS line. But it is still the same construction as the PST.
I'm currently trying the Vortex Crossfire ll 1-4×24 30 mm tube. It has their V Brite illuminated reticle. So far I am very happy with it. It is Sooo much brighter than the 1" tube Leupolds with the floating center dot it is very fast . I haven't put it on my 458 yet but will after March . It is on my 9.3 for now. I have it in Warne rings and it is holding up great. For less than $250.00 it seems to be one of the best hunting optics out there for Alaskan big game hunting.
On lighter recoiling rifles , my absolute favorite is the SWFA SS Classic scope in 1-4×24 .. It is Tough, bright, crisp , clear . Not Awesome optics , but very good. The reticle is imo the single best there is. It maintains zero perfectly . The illumination is ideal . The range finder is fast and intuitive. Turrets are precise with good firm clicks.
The only thing I dont like about the scope is the variable eye relief. On 4power it is around 3" which is a bit close for my liking on a 416 or 458. For hunting , I strongly prefer the SWFA reticle to the PST and I prefer it over the SWFA 1-4×24 30 mm HD and all other reticles I've owned or looked thru! Not that the Vortex Viper PST 1-4 is bad or really lacking . But the SWFA SS Classic 1-4 is as close to perfect as I can find.
I have mine on my 6.5 Creedmoor carbine and will be getting another to put on my 9.3x64.
Unfortunately it seems all these neat little 1-4 +and 1-6 , 30 mm Tactical scopes are built for auto loaders with a continous Pic rail and to be put in a mount like the PEPR, SSALT, BOBRO , ect. So they all have long eye pieces.
The single thing I really like about the M8 Leupold is they have short eye pieces. On my Ruger M77 Mk ll 458, their eye piece doesnt extend rearward much beyond the end of the striker assembly when the rifle is cocked. Pretty much impossible to get ringed with them.

I've been running the luey 1.5-5 for the last decade and then some. But this last one started having some issues. 5x I love because it don't show my front sight in my field of view.

Leupold VX-HOG 1-4x20

I have a Swarovski 1.7x10 on my 416. It has been on for 11 years without a problem.

I had the same scope on a CZ 458 Lott and it was an F'ing disaster. Screws were too small and it sheared them quickly.

Leupold 1.5-5x on my 500 Jeffery. Five years, 500 plus rounds, no issues so far love it.

Leupold 2.5-8X covers all the possibilities anywhere in the world.

You will appreciate the ability to anchor anything wounded from leaving the area at 8X, to fairly close at 2.5X. If 2.5X is too much, you should already have taken the scope off and be looking over the iron sights...

I had a Leupold VX-11 2-7 on my 416 and it held up fine. I wanted a little better glass and just put a Vortex Razor HD LH on it. We will see how it holds up.

On my 375 I have a 2-8 Zeiss Conquest and no issues for several hundred rounds.

Broke the cam/cams in two 1.5-5 Leupolds with my 505 Gibbs firing 600 gr Woodleighs, about to install a 3X Leupold, we shall see.

I will preface this with some qualifiers or dis-qualifiers:
I am not a guide, I do not use my 416's every season, I do not care for 20mm objectives (and I have used them fixed power & variable), I am a fan of straight tubed scopes and have several.
My 416's are not exactly light-weights, M70 Classic SS 22" re-barrel with H&S Precision stock and 416 Ruger factory 20" barrel with McMillan stock. And I use 350 grain TSX almost exclusively.

What I am going to give a try on the Ruger, in Alaska Arms rings is the Zeiss HT 1.1-4x24mm, with #54 reticle(which is misrepresented in Many illustrations and pictures).

I could do without the illumination and the extra protrusion from the scope saddle. It has to be pretty damn dark not to see the #54.
I have had this scope on a 375 Ruger and probably fired it around 50 rounds in one range day. So reliability is a guess.
The other candidate for me, of presently marketed in USA, is the Schmidt & Bender 1.1-4x24mm FD #7. I have the scope but not on .40+ calibers.
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quote:

Originally posted by Fourtyonesix:
For those of you running scopes on your big bores. What are you using and what have you used that failed? I'm mostly looking for guns up over the .40 cal mark. Heavy recoil stuff. My rifle seems to abuse scopes.

I toasted a 2.5-8 luey in one sitting. Shot about 16"
Groups by the end of the sitting.
I prefer a little magnification,
Don't care if it's a straight tube, bright purple or made by the Chinese. I just want it to work!!
Have eye balled some night force stuff but don't like the big tubes. And of course everyone I email says their scopes will hold up to a 375 with a thousand rounds. Which is information that does me zero good.
I've got a 6lb 416 ruger. I need a 1000 rounds on top of that.

I've had good luck with two Leupold Euro-30 1.25-4x's on a 375 and a Lott. I'm pretty sure those are their VX-R line now??

I've had a hankering to put a Swaro Z6i 1.7-10 on the 375, but every time I think too hard about it, I think of additional trophies that ~$2300 could pay for.

have used several Leupold 1.5-5.

Have used several Leupold 2.5-8.

All worked great for many years.

The important part is the scope mounts.

I have seen quite a number fail - especially on large bore Blaser rifles.

They have a terrible claw mount, which hardly catches anywhere.

I think they might have modified that now.

Have seen a number of Leupold 3.5-10 fail.

They seem to have the cross hairs come loose.

This is quite suprising, as Leupold is normally of very good quality.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
When Michael458 used to test the big bore MDM and other calibers in his lab, he found that the low-power Nikon scopes held up the best.

Michael458 has not had one Nikon fail over the years since I last talked with him. He swapped out most of his Leupolds as they would give out.

Now I don't shoot even a tenth of what Michael shoots, but I shoot some very heavy loads in 416Rigby and 500 AccRel (both over 6000 ftlb. loads) and I have not had one problem with a Nikon.

I've used Nikon Monarch Compact 2-8, very compact and lightweight, 4-inch eye-relief (and it fits on the CZ 550 Magnum with normal rings--without rear-extended front ring), and also the Nikon Inline 3-9 and Nikon Slughunter 1.65-5, both with 5-inch eye-relief. (The Inline and Slughunter have mounting spaces of 4.73" so many rifles need a back-extended front sight. Both my CZ 550 Magnum and Ruger Hawkeye models need the extended front ring with the muzzleloader Inline and Slughunter.)

My current recommendation for big bore is the 3-9 Nikon Inline. It is very clear, bright (92% transmission), good glass, the scope is as rugged as rugged can be, the 3-power is low enough for up-close in your face, the 9 is plenty powerful out to 500 yards, AND the scope has 5-inch eye-relief throughout all magnifications. That is about as good as it gets. Naturally, the 3 power has a fairly wide field of view.

PS: oh yes, and the scope tracks very precisely, so shooting a group and then clicking over and vertical a few inches should have your zero within 1/4"-1/2" of what you want. Prices for the Monarch Compact are around $300 and the Inline around $200. The latter is an amazing deal.

Cons: No red-dot model available in the 5-inch eye-relief models, though special reticles are available. And 2-power over 36mm objective or 3-power over 42mm is quite bright.

Lot of replies here, but no one has mentioned how heavy their rifle is. That's going to make a big difference on whether the scope survives.

My 500 Jeffery is l2 lbs with scope, rings and sling unloaded.

Ditto's on the Leupold ultralight FX 2.5x20, plenty of eye relief and tough, I have made 300 yd shots with it, plenty of magnification for most big game situations out to 300 yds and beyond. Even for my 60 yr old eyes.

quote:

Originally posted by TonyRumore:
Lot of replies here, but no one has mentioned how heavy their rifle is. That's going to make a big difference on whether the scope survives.

Although NOT a big bore I have a very light (7.25 pounds) short barreled 9.3x62 that scrambled a Nikon 3-9 Monarch. I replaced it with a Leupold 2.5-8 and have had no issues with that rifle and scopes since.
My .375's also wear Leupold 2.5-8's and my 400 Whelen wears a 2-7 Leupold.
I am not a fan of straight tube scopes or anything lower than 2 on a variable. The Leupolds hold up great and although my rifles are not ultra hard kickers I do shoot them more than a lot of people usually a couple hundred to several hundred rounds a year and these scopes seem to survive.

I have a Zeiss 1.5x that a friend brought back from Germany in 1985, so it's 30 years of age. I had it mounted on a 375 for about the first 15 years, then swapped it over to a 458, where it's been since then. Both rifles have been shot a bunch with all sorts of loads. The post and horizontal wire have yet to move when not being directed by the knobs.

I just got a Leupold Patrol 1.25x4 with the SPR reticle.
Red dot for quick shots & the circle on the SPR really draws my eye to the target.
I just wish it came in a long eye relief version
I do so much better with ghost rings on the barrel and scopes further out than "normal" because of my major astigmatism.
Have no idea how long it will last, but for quick shots on the 375 H&H Mark V it will work great.

Schmidt Bender Zenith 1.1 x 4

I really like Bushnell 6500 Elite 1.25-8X scopes on my big guns. I have a bunch of them.
Hold zero and 4" eye relief. Priced right for a superb value in quality optics.

458 Win nailed it down to the dirty truth, the rest are still swimming..

A real sho nuff big bore will usually blow its scope by 250 rounds, few ever get fired that many times so the owners just havn't got there yet, but many will go south in 25 shots, not saying there are not exceptions to the rule..

I want a light scope with a 20 mm objective and fixed power..on a DG rifle..My favorite and the only scope I will ever trust with my life again is the 2.5X compact Leupold that .458 mentioned..

Big heavy scopes with lots of scope sticking out the front ring are very prone to distruck or go of POI..if you don't believe that then shoot a group with a big heavy scope then hit the front of the scope with the palm of your hand and shoot another group..and don't tell me it moved two or three inches but that's OK, it is not OK if your trying to brain a buffalo or a Bears head wagging back and fourth thru the bush coming 30 MPH at you. that's when I want MOI in my gun as that's the size of an eyeball, but to each his own on that subject.

quote:

Originally posted by TonyRumore:
Lot of replies here, but no one has mentioned how heavy their rifle is. That's going to make a big difference on whether the scope survives.

My 505 weighs 10 lbs scoped and ready, it's rough on glass, and me too when I pushed those 600 gr Woodleighs to 2450.

quote:

My 505 weighs 10 lbs scoped and ready, it's rough on glass, and me too when I pushed those 600 gr Woodleighs to 2450.

Jerry, they're talking about Big Bores, not that little Pop-Gun! :-)

quote:

Originally posted by jerry mcdonald:

quote:

Originally posted by TonyRumore:
Lot of replies here, but no one has mentioned how heavy their rifle is. That's going to make a big difference on whether the scope survives.

My 505 weighs 10 lbs scoped and ready, it's rough on glass, and me too when I pushed those 600 gr Woodleighs to 2450.

Alls I have to say is 600g at 2450 fps in a 10 lb rifle, ouch ouch ouch!

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:

Big heavy scopes with lots of scope sticking out the front ring are very prone to distruck or go of POI..if you don't believe that then shoot a group with a big heavy scope then hit the front of the scope with the palm of your hand and shoot another group..and don't tell me it moved two or three inches but that's OK, it is not OK if your trying to brain a buffalo or a Bears head wagging back and fourth thru the bush coming 30 MPH at you. that's when I want MOI in my gun as that's the size of an eyeball, but to each his own on that subject.

I'd never thought about the distance from the front ring to the front glass like that. Is that something the rail mounted scopes (think Swaro or Zeiss rails, not piccatiny rails) have as an advantage over the ring mounted scopes??

My .416 wears a 1.5-5X 30mm Leupold with detachable mounts; the backup scope is a 2.5X Leupold. I do remember having an issue with a Leopold variable, but I can't remember which one.

I have also used a Bushnell Elite 3200 2x7 and had no problems with that; I only replaced it because the Leupold has an illuminated reticle.

I use Nightforce scopes on my long range guns and have not had any problems whatsoever; they track perfectly and stay zeroed (300 RUMs and 338 Edge/LMs) but they are big and heavy. I wonder how the smaller Nightforce scopes would hold up on a .416.

On small/low power scopes make sure the front lens is NOT inside the front ring. In front or behind is OK--but in the ring is trouble---ask me how I know--LOL

If you are careful about torque and use a little paper tape on the inside of the rings you can clamp right over the front lens -- but if possible it's best to avoid it.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:

quote:

My 505 weighs 10 lbs scoped and ready, it's rough on glass, and me too when I pushed those 600 gr Woodleighs to 2450.

Jerry, they're talking about Big Bores, not that little Pop-Gun! :-)

Quick, page Safarikid and that 4-Bore.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:

quote:

Originally posted by jerry mcdonald:

quote:

Originally posted by TonyRumore:
Lot of replies here, but no one has mentioned how heavy their rifle is. That's going to make a big difference on whether the scope survives.

My 505 weighs 10 lbs scoped and ready, it's rough on glass, and me too when I pushed those 600 gr Woodleighs to 2450.

Alls I have to say is 600g at 2450 fps in a 10 lb rifle, ouch ouch ouch!

You're quite right Chuck, it did BOOT, 147 grs H-4831 got me safely there, only loaded a couple handfuls that way to check my new stocks relationship to the full length bedding job and crossbolts, all good.

All subsequent 600 gr. loads are at a very sedate, yet I believe to still be very effective 2150 fps.

I have found the 416s and 404s are compatible with about any quality scope or at least mine have been..

Problems begin with the 458 Win or perhaps the .458 Lott and up..If you have problems with the 375s or 416s (not counting the 416 Wby as I have no experience with it and its pretty hot) then its probably something other than recoil. At least that's been my

Regarding the 1.5-5 Leu. When they went from the III version to the 3 version they supposedly added an additional erector spring to help with heavier recoiling rifles.
I have the older III version on a 458 Browning Safari which happens to be a pretty light 458. No problems with it yet and I shoot 500 gr pills at 2150-2200 FPS.
I have looked at putting 1X6 VX6 on that rifle and test it out. 24 mm objective and moderately light.

quote:

Originally posted by eezridr:
Regarding the 1.5-5 Leu. When they went from the III version to the 3 version they supposedly added an additional erector spring to help with heavier recoiling rifles.
I have the older III version on a 458 Browning Safari which happens to be a pretty light 458. No problems with it yet and I shoot 500 gr pills at 2150-2200 FPS.
I have looked at putting 1X6 VX6 on that rifle and test it out. 24 mm objective and moderately light.

It is a no brainer in these circumstances to get the Nikons. Michael458 couldn't break them, after busting close to 20 Leupolds (twenty).
Look for the magnification and eye-relief that you want. (e.g. the Nikon Inlines have 5" eye-relief, excellent for heavy kickers.)

CZ 550 in 416 Rigby Kevlar stock with scope & bolt 9 lbs

Warne 30 mm rings & Leupold 1.5-5X Illum scope

Fired about 400 full power rounds mostly 400 gr & 340 / 350 gr loads

No issues

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:

quote:

Originally posted by eezridr:
Regarding the 1.5-5 Leu. When they went from the III version to the 3 version they supposedly added an additional erector spring to help with heavier recoiling rifles.
I have the older III version on a 458 Browning Safari which happens to be a pretty light 458. No problems with it yet and I shoot 500 gr pills at 2150-2200 FPS.
I have looked at putting 1X6 VX6 on that rifle and test it out. 24 mm objective and moderately light.

It is a no brainer in these circumstances to get the Nikons. Michael458 couldn't break them, after busting close to 20 Leupolds (twenty).
Look for the magnification and eye-relief that you want. (e.g. the Nikon Inlines have 5" eye-relief, excellent for heavy kickers.)

When my Leupold 1.5-5x croaks after enough 500 Jeffery rounds, I will definitely look at Nikon for a replacement. I will use Leupolds lifetime warranty and put it on our Marlin 336 30-30 though