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Let the strucken deer go weep
The hart ungalled play
For some must watch while some must sleep
Thus runs the world away
-Hamlet
It took me a long time to wise up and quit buying anything less than Leupold. I can't afford anything better, and have not found the need for it.
A used Leupold is as good as a new one. They don't care who bought it - they know they made it.
Don
quote:
Originally posted by Adirondack Joe:
Joe/ I would have to agree with the other post get a vari x 3 Leupold, the 2.5x8 would be great! with all the money and time you will have in travel to the places you are talking about hunting, it would be a shame to trust anything less than LEUPOLD and your good Browning to bring home the "bacon", get a standard DUPLEX and with the lower 2.5 it will work well for the close cluttered shots and crank it up to 8 for the longer Deer shots, Leupold has made a few bad scopes but very few percentage wise and a little pre-trip pratice and checking will eliminate most all that can be eliminated before they are a problem, good mounts and rings and a pre trip tune-up on the gun/loads combos and you will be set for the firearms part of your quest, good luck and good shooting!!!
I use a Leupold 3-9X on a 7mm magnum; I like it but have not used it in the woods much. I also have a Weaver steel-tube 2-7X on a 6X45mm, probably the right magnification for that as it's at most a 200 yard gun for antelope or deer.
The 2.5-8X or something like it would be a good choice for a woods gun that will see occasional use in open country. If you can, it's best to spend the money once and get one of the better scopes.
Tom
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Handgun Hunter
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Safety & Ethics,Accuracy, Velocity, Energy
Joe M
Best bang for the buck is Leupold, I have used some of them and are actually very impressed with them.
Burris,Weaver,Tasco, sightron and the rest should't be called scopes. Often these "scopes" prevent you from taking the trophy of your lifetime, by not working properly
Bet your money on leupold, they also has a great service and secondhand value.
If you got some more dead presidents take a Swarowski or schmidt und Bender. They are making very nice scopes that are working very well. Of my 8 scopes are only two from Oregon, the rest is from Astria.
JOHAN
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Ray Atkinson
Yep, get a Leupold 2.5 - 8x. I have a 2.5-8x Leupold that has been on a bunch of rifles. I've eventually tired of all the rifles for some reason or other over the years, but the scope always gets taken off before the rifles are sold! Basically, there isn't much reason to sell the scope because I can't see much room for improvement. It is a great all-around scope.
John P. Ball
jpb
While it's true that the Vari-X III line is slightly theoretically improved over the older VX-II's, there is no practical difference in the field. The Vari-X II 3-9 is far and away the best scope bargain available. Low end power is plenty wide for woods, and higher power would be superfluous for even the longest big game shots. I'm sure the other scope manufacturers are trying, and I hate to see one company monopolize an industry, but there's just really no competetition for Leupold out there.
(By the way, I saw the entire objective bell of a Simmons fall off of a .270 on a sighting shot in camp on a Canadian black bear hunt. I'm sure Simmons gave the guy a new scope, but what about a $3,000 bear hunt?)
John
If I had bought Leupolds in place of the Simmons and Weavers when I had small kids, was paying back college loans and just started working, I wouldn't be married today. No, even if I put away my lunch money, saved a little longer, etc, etc. The money sometimes isn't there, period. Easy to forget when you are a little older and have some cash jingling in your pocket.
The easy answer is not always the right answer. Leupold is not perfect: I have talked to enough guys about how great Leupold service is to realize that Leupold's fail. How else would we know about Leupold's service?
I've not yet heard of one Grand Slam failure, and I've asked. Weaver service is excellent, not at the level of Leupold, but still excellent. My Weavers have always held up. Sure, I'd love to have Leupolds on all my guns. I'd also like to drive a Lincoln Navigator, and shoot a "best gun" double. Ain't gonna happen before the kids are through college.
For scopes, the three criteria I use to judge a scope are mechanical performance (reliability), optical perormance (clarity) and resale value. From that perspective I think the Weavers, Burris and such are acceptable. I've watched used Grand Slams go for 85% of street price on Ebay, which is pretty darn decent. I'd stay away from the Sightron because the resale isn't known yet. FWIW, Dutch.
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For evil to prosper, good men must do nothing. (Burke)
But in practical terms, the Leupold is probably still more affordable than most other scopes. An excellent used 3-9 Vari-X II can be bought for about $175, and will resell years later for as much or more. A new Simmons, Bushnell, or Tasco of the same power would not be a lot less, would resell for a fraction of the purchase price, and might or might not perform in a satisfactory manner.
If you're really so strapped for cash that you can't afford the difference, then you can hardly afford to shoot your gun, much less hunt with it.
For poverty-stricken college students and new family men (and I've been both), I suggest looking for a good used fixed power Weaver, Leupold, or Redfield. The fixed scope may not be as glamorouos as the variable, but will be more dependable and cheaper (and if you have to drop the price down in the import range, the fixed power is much more likely to be a servicable scope; I've seen really decent 4X imports with various labels sell for as little as $10 as take-offs from gun trades).
Glad to hear the news that the Weaver Grand Slams are quality scopes. As I said earlier, I hate for one company to monopolize a market.