Since I'll soon be taking advantage of MGM's pistol barrel deal, I'll need a new pistol scope. I hereby solicit the advice of some of you pros. Of the following options, which would you choose and why? I'll most likely opt for a 13" .30-30 AI, will probably shoot 125-130 grain bullets, and hope to be accurate enough for shooting at antelope/deer/hog-sized game out to 200 yards.

Burris 2-7 X 32 for $270
Bushnell Trophy 2-6 X 32 for $165
Nikon Monarch UCC 2.5-8 X 32 for $290
Simmons Prohunter 2-6 X 32 for $130
Swift Reliant 2-6 X 32 for $200
Weaver 2.5-8 X 28 for $200

I'm pretty familiar with the Bushnell Trophy (I have two), and the price is right, but I'd consider other options. Advice?

quote:

Burris 2-7 X 32 for $270

With Ballistic Plex Reticle.....great field of view, plenty of magnification and eye relief...and the ballistic plex works great......the Burris is worth the extra $$$ in my opinion.

That model Burris doens't come with the BP reticle does it?
They're all good scopes really.
I have 2 Simmons and they work great! The one on my 7-30 is fine and its sighted dead on @ 200yards, your 30-30 will kick a little more.
All the Swifts I own work great also, great buy for the money.
I only have dealt with the Swift, Simmons, Burris and Bushnell...all are fine.
My Leupold on my 257AI is real nice too...but REAL spendy.
I don't think you can go wrong with any of your choices. Sorry I can't help you out more.

quote:

Originally posted by Ammohouse:
That model Burris doens't come with the BP reticle does it?

Sure it does......Burris #200279.......2X7 matte finish with BP reticle....

I have experience with Leopold and Nikon pistolscopes. I prefer the Nikon.

I got a weaver 2.5x8 from Natchez for $169.00 on sale. Check their web site, they run sales quite often for almost all the ones you listed.

I have Weaver and Burris on all my pistols and have not had a problem with any of them. I don't like the eye relief on the Leupold pistol scopes, so I have stayed away from them after purchasing a 4x, some time back.

After reading how bad customer service was for Meade right now I would skip the the Weaver and the Simmons right off. i have a Burris 3x12 BP ordered to go on my 6.5-284 barrel but I am still leary about it. I have purchased 3 Burris scopes and 2 had flecks on the inside of the glass and the third had several defects from the factory that stems from bad quality control. If there was another scope with 12x mag I would have bought it instead. Now for 200 yrds or less you can not do any better than the Elite 3200 2x6. With mine on a 15" 308 barrel I shot clay pigeons at 200 with rarely a miss and then it would be my fault and not the gun.

The Burris 3x-12x with BP is a little more money but well worth it. I have one mounted on my Savage Striker in .243Win and I've taken groundhogs out to 350yds with it. I've posted a pic of it in the hand rifle section. I also have an older Burris 3x-12x mounted on my S&W 460 that's still going strong. Two of my five S&W 500's are wearing Leupolds. One is a 2x and the other is a 4x and neither have given me any problems.

The Burris 2x-7x w/BP would be a good choice but if I'm going to reach out there and touch something I prefer a little more magnification.

I have Bushnell Trophy and Redfield Five-Star scopes on my Contender barrels. They both work very well. After hunting with them, I decided the most important thing to look for in choosing my next scope is field of view. I want more.

Good shooting,
desmobob

quote:

Originally posted by desmobob900ss:
I have Bushnell Trophy and Redfield Five-Star scopes on my Contender barrels. They both work very well. After hunting with them, I decided the most important thing to look for in choosing my next scope is field of view. I want more.

Good shooting,
desmobob

And that's mostly why I find myself leaning towards the Burris - excellent FOV compared to the others. I've been holding off, but now that the barrel is in my grubby little paws I'll have to cave and order the scope. Anybody know a better (read cheaper) place than SWFA to get it?

quote:

Originally posted by DesertRam:

quote:

Originally posted by desmobob900ss:
I decided the most important thing to look for in choosing my next scope is field of view. I want more.

Good shooting,
desmobob

And that's mostly why I find myself leaning towards the Burris - excellent FOV compared to the others. I've been holding off, but now that the barrel is in my grubby little paws I'll have to cave and order the scope. Anybody know a better (read cheaper) place than SWFA to get it?

As a matter of habit, I always check prices at Midway, Natchez, Midsouth and Graf & Sons before ordering anywhere. Someone might have it on sale. Lately, I've also had good luck with those websites that show you a list of suppliers and prices. I just bought a little solo backpacking tent for less money than I was ready to spend, and got free shipping, too. It never hurts to do a little Googling and see what turns up!

Good shooting,
desmobob

I buy all my scopes from Jon at the The Optic Zone. Every now and then I can find the same model cheaper by a few dolars somewhere else but the customer service from jon and Tammi are second to none.

Burris. Great optics for the money and even better lifetime guarentee. I shipped them a scope I had purchased USED and they went completely through it, replaced the turret that no longer clicked when turned, gas purged it and returned it at no cost to me.

Burris 2-7 with B-plex on the way from Bear Basin. Should be mounted up and in action next weekend. Picked up 4 boxes of Federal 30-30 ammo to start fire-forming brass too. Hope to have some 125 grain B-tips loaded for my Wyoming antelope/deer hunt in early October.

2x7 Burris here also , plex with posi-loc,mounted on my ss savage super-stricker 308,its never let me down! congrats on your Burris,regards jjmp

That 2-7X BP will work great for u, and with a little practice (very little actually) u'll get to 300-400 yds. no problem with it when the wind's down. Try to find a place where u can practice at 300-400 to see what it will do. Antelope hunting means long-range shooting more than any other big game there is. Get some knee pads, and heavy leather gloves, and be prepared to crawl some to close distance if neccessary. There's a slight modification to your sling that can be made that allows for a tight hold to the body while crawling, if you're interested.

Pretty exciting to crawl up on a big antelope buck for sure. They rarely spook to something on all 4's whereas they will always spook to something on 2 feet. If u need any help zeroing that BP reticle for long-range let us know. Here's a place to start if u really wanna get into it--

www.ottllc.com/specialtypistols/sp20.pdf

also check the Tech Notes on the Burris ballistic reticles on their website.

I just saw that u live in NM. There's a lot of places out there to shoot long-range. I'd also consider some of the higher BC bullets around 150 gr. as well. They'll hit harder (and faster) than the 125/130's beyond 250-300 yds.

If u ever get up this way (Pueblo, CO) look me up. The salvage yd. here in town has some great cheap steel to use for long-range shooting practice.

Thanks for the input and offer Steve. I'll actually be passing through your area on the way to Wyoming. I'm not sure what my schedule will be like (seems like I'm always in a hurry to get hunting) but maybe I can set something up.

On another note, I had a minor setback today. I tried to mount up the base and rings and found that my Burris DD signature rings fit much too loosely in the Leupold DD base. Not sure which is the problem...

Man, me neither. Good luck with it.

719-564-5609 Call anytime, leave message if necessary.

Interesting - Burris DD rings don't seem to like the Leupold base. Found some Leupold DD rings locally and they worked just dandy. Scope is all mounted up and ready for action this weekend. Hope to get out and see how the new rig hangles and to fireform some brass.

I have a TC recoil proof 2.5X on my Redhawk, and 2-7X on my Encore 15" 45-70.
I really like these scopes- good price for excellent optics.

quote:

Originally posted by DesertRam:
Interesting - Burris DD rings don't seem to like the Leupold base. Found some Leupold DD rings locally and they worked just dandy. Scope is all mounted up and ready for action this weekend. Hope to get out and see how the new rig hangles and to fireform some brass.

DR,
what part of wyoming will you be hunting in?
There is a specialty pistols antelope hunt in later September, near Casper.
If you are in the Gillette area, give me a holler.

Ernie, sorry for the delayed response. I'll actually be a bit further south, near Laramie. I'm waiting until the second week of October because I have Region D deer tag too. I get to spend a week up there chasing antelope and deer.

Hope you all have good luck up there!

Good Luck!

Well, I'm growing quite fond of the MGM barrel with Burris 2-7 scope. I have shot quite a bit of factory Federal ammo with 150 grain bullets and have noticed pretty darn good accuracy. I also like the Ballistic Plex real well. In fact, it helped account for this antelope doe, shot at 134 yards (used the second stadia wire down from the main crosshair, which is nearly dead on at 150 when zeroed at 100).