Low(er) priced Benchrest rifle scope suggestion?

[1Merlin]

Just bought a 2013 Anschutz benchrest rifle and have been playing with it. I currently have a Weaver 36 with a 1/8 dot and it seems to work well .. but .. not the brightest or clearest scope. Is there a better BR scope out there for comparable money? I am definitely familiar with the Buy once Cry once philosophy but I am not involved enough in the project to spend big bucks on this. Anything noticeably better than the Weaver for 5 or 6 hundred dollars?

 

[kzin]

lol, when I saw the thread title my answer was 't36'

 

[Hozzie]

Nope, in that price range, the T36 is your best best. If you want to get up to the $750-$800 range, you could find a used Sightron SIII 10-50.

Edit: I say that about the T36 in the sense that I wouldn't pay more to get a scope with the same 36 power. If I was going to spend some money, it would not only be to upgrade the clarity, but the power factor as well.

 

[INShooter]

Watch the classifies for one of the Leupold 36BRD's. Great scopes in the 4 to 6 hundred range.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

If you can wait about 8-9 months you can pick up a model year close-out Sightron at a deep discount from scott@libertyoptics.com, recommended to me by some members of this forum. I got a NIB Sightron SIII 10-50x60 for around $550 from him last year.

 

[Herzo]

I don't know if anyone has tried the Mueller 56mm 40X but at the price, it might be worth a try. With that size objective, it should be good for hunting black cats in your coal bin.

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Just bought a 2013 Anschutz benchrest rifle and have been playing with it. I currently have a Weaver 36 with a 1/8 dot and it seems to work well .. but .. not the brightest or clearest scope. Is there a better BR scope out there for comparable money? I am definitely familiar with the Buy once Cry once philosophy but I am not involved enough in the project to spend big bucks on this. Anything noticeably better than the Weaver for 5 or 6 hundred dollars?

I looked thru the Athlon 10-40 and it was pretty clear a friend uses one. I also looked thru Konus 10-40 a fellow shooter has it on his 1913, pretty good . for the price I think they are worth it.

Lee

 

[GSRswapandslow]

i have the 10-40 athlon.....im not a big fan of the glass after comparing it to my tasco world class 36x

it works...but its hazy

 

[jpx2rk]

I prefer the Weaver 36x over the Sightron Sii 36x, but that's me. Try to look thru as many different scopes as you can to see what looks best for your eyes.

 

[PigButtons]

You mention the clarity of the T36 as "not brightest or the clearest", but I have yet to see a Weaver that is not clear. So I'm going to ask, have you focused, I mean really spent some time focusing the ocular lens? I don't mean to be condescending but It took me a couple of years to learn how to get it right the first time. Maybe that's just me. If the reticle is not perfectly crisp when you first look into the scope, it still needs work.

 

[JimPag]

I prefer a Sightron 36X over a Weaver 36X any day of the week. I've had at least 15 Weaver T36's, XTR36's and a Weaver 46 come and go. My friend GPalman on this site had 6 T36's screw up on him. Especially now if any Weaver benchrest scope f's up on you your screwed because Weaver does not fix their scopes anymore.

 

[redrockranger]

I don't know if anyone has tried the Mueller 56mm 40X but at the price, it might be worth a try. With that size objective, it should be good for hunting black cats in your coal bin

I have the Mueller 40 X on a 2013 Anschutz 22 rimfire. It shot the first perfect target at the club i shoot at. I have had it 3 years and no complaints what so ever. I shot against Leupolds, Weaver, Night Force, Sightron target scopes.
If interested by it derectly from Mueller and hang onto the sales receipt for the warranty. A good value for $259. shipped.

 

[pmpski_1]

I used a T36 for a couple years until I bought a Nightforce. I stupidly sold the T36 to a buddy and left myself without a backup scope. I ended up buying the Sightron 36X on sale to replace the T36.

I did a side by side comparison between the Sightron and another T36 shortly thereafter. To me, and the other folks I was with, the Sightron was noticeably brighter. However, for the money, I wouldn't "upgrade" to the Sightron if I still had the T36. It wasn't that much better overall. IMO, keep the T36 and save your money to eventually upgrade to a higher power scope.

EDIT: Buy once cry once - A scope doesn't need to stay on a single rifle. My Nightforce moves around depending on what I want to shoot. So don't think of the scope as a piece of a particular "project", it's a part of your overall set of tools. And don't discount buying used - I got my Nightforce for much lower than retail from the classifieds here. Since many scopes have transferable warranties you'll be fine if something goes wrong.

 

[snert]

I've got two T36's currently. One is much "duller" than the other. But both are perfect for the purpose and the money

 

[krumfola]

Sell the weaver and add that to your budget of $500-600 and you might be able to step up into some of the nicer glass mentioned above.

 

[Lesloan]

I've had several T36's and still have two Sightron 36's, one of them a now-discontinued Big Sky model. IMO, there's not a nickles worth of difference optically between the Weaver and the Sightron (except the Big Sky, which is marginally better). I don't like the turrets on either make. The clicks are not really crisp on either one. The Sightrons' marks are, for some inexplicable reason, bronze-colored instead of white and are hard to read in for my 82-year old eyes in anything but bright sunlight (I keep a flashlight in my range bag for cloudy days), The T36 turrets are equally mushy, and instead of being numbered 0-9 are 0-4.5 then count down back to zero. Weaver made this change some years ago (they used to be 0-9) and I never understood why. I got around this by buying some T24 turrets which were still marked 0-9 and are interchangeable with the T36 turrets, but then Weaver screwed up the T24's too. Although this has long annoyed me, for bench rest it really doesn't matter much since you only have to make major adjustments once. For any other discipline involving distance changes, though, it's a PITA. IMO, unless you're willing to pay for a major upgrade in quality you're better off just staying with the T36. It's a good scope. FWIW, I now have three Sightron SIII 8-32x56's that I consider the bee's knees. Adequate magnification, a crisp and clear image and very tactile tactical turrets with white marks and very positive clicks. You can often find these used for about $700-750.

 

[1Merlin]

I just went with the Weaver. Easy to find and good enough without breaking my tiny little piggy bank. Thanks to all who contributed to the thread!