Need advise for buying a scope

[Grimstod]

Here are my specks that i need

Price budget 1000-1800$
Objective lens 42-52mm preferably a compact scooe
Power needs to be a zoom with max somewhere around 20-30x
Mill turrets
Mill reticle preferbaly a simple one. Not to much clutter.
Good optics to resolve stuff (groundhogs especially) out to 1000yards or more.
First focal plane.
Turret clicks must he perfectly reliable.
Needs to have at least 25mill of virtacle adgustments internally.

Will be using it for
Groundhogs 600-1200yards
Deer 100-600yards
Target shooting to 300 amd steel gongs to 1300
Needs to be a ruged scope that can take a lot of abuse and handeling. I am going to he using this a lot.

I dont have brand Preferances.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Here are my specks that i need

Price budget 1000-1800$

This is going to be a problem because your specs (we don't want specks in our scopes,) are pretty high end.

Objective lens 42-52mm preferably a compact scooe

This is a contradicatory specification. There is nothing "compact" about a 52mm objective scope. However, with the subsequents specs, you need the larger objective to let in as much light as possible and that's not compact.

Power needs to be a zoom with max somewhere around 20-30x

I suspect here you mean that you want a variable scope with the top magnification between 20 to 30X. A 25X scope will usually have a 5X or 6 or 8X low end, which might be a little much for deer hunting at 100 yards.

Mill turrets
Mill reticle preferbaly a simple one. Not to much clutter.

So, mil reticle and mil turrets. Good idea to keep them the same.

Good optics to resolve stuff (groundhogs especially) out to 1000yards or more.

In optics, you get what you pay for. Keeping your price spec in mind, this gets tricky.

First focal plane.

Adds to the cost and cuts out many scopes.

Turret clicks must he perfectly reliable.
Needs to have at least 25mill of virtacle adgustments internally.

That's about 90 MOAs, so you're looking for a 30mm tube scope using small 1inch tube lenses, or a 34mm tube using 30mm tube lenses. Second option gets more pricey. Don't know why you would not consider a 20MOA ramp and reduce the range of your vertical adjustment. You could get better internal lenses.

Will be using it for
Groundhogs 600-1200yards
Deer 100-600yards
Target shooting to 300 amd steel gongs to 1300

Target to 300 but deer to 600 and groundhogs to 1200 yards? Interesting.

Needs to be a ruged scope that can take a lot of abuse and handeling. I am going to he using this a lot.

I dont have brand Preferances.

I was going to suggest a Nightforce BEAST which meets all your specs except for one; price. It's $4,200.

You might want to look at the Nighforce ATACR 5-25X56 Mil-R. It's $2,300 and a 34mm tube but I think it meets all your other specs.

 

[DeltaBravo]

Sightron lists a FFP 6-24 MR or MOA for $1299 on their website. My Sightron 10-50x60 has been a great scope for several years. They make good stuff IMHO at good prices.

Dennis

 

[Grimstod]

Delta I have looked at them before but have not been able to handle one in person. How do the optics perform relative to say a Nighforce or a Leupold or SWFA HD?

 

[Grimstod]

Bayou shooter, I have seen the nightforce but it is to big. 56mm tub is way to much. Thinking more in the lines of a 42-52mm range. Those are more manageable. I have several 42mm scope from SWFA and they are quite compact for a rifle. Maybe not an AR but this is a bolt gun. Not a AR

 

[Shynloco]

Sounds to me like you want a 6 (or 8)x24x42 that should cover most of the areas you listed. Certainly a Nightforce or Leupold is what I'd be looking at to decide which model I like best. Mine are all fixed power scopes and both makers are superb in optics and clarity.

Alex

 

[Grimstod]

Alex what scope are you talking about? Is it a leupold or a Nightforce? Sounds like what i want.

 

[DeltaBravo]

Grim,

I shoot with a couple fellas in VFS at Austin Rifle Club. One has a NF Competition; one has a March 40x; several Leupy's in the 40-45 range. My Sightron is as bright or brighter than any of them, but this is my opinion only and is based on quick looks thru each. My SIII seems to hold POI just fine and has good feel in the turrets, as well as repeatability. I haven't shot any of the others except the March and it was a fine scope, but at 3 times the price of a Sightron, I'll stick with my SIII LRTD.

YMMV

Dennis

 

[dlong]

Swarovski Z5 or Zeiss HD5.

 

[CharlieNC]

A few weeks ago I purchased the Sightron 6-24x50 ffp which meets your specs. Shot it on steel out to 1100yd on 12x with great target resolution, using the lower mag to spot misses. Cost from bigsupply.com slightly over $800 with shipping. Very good optic for the money.

 

[Whiskey4]

Bushnell DMR IIi 3.5-21-50mm FFP 34 mm tube in the used market is running in the 1k range,very clear glass

 

[hunter243sgk]

I think you will need two scopes for all your needs.

 

[Mr.Knowit all]

LOL... People love to put their 2 cents on a question like this and you will usually get a lot of good intel. I learned early on that you get what you pay for so buy the best one that fits the way YOU shoot. IMO a scope needs to hold it's zero and be mechanically accurate when your on the knobs. Check out Cal's scope test on PRB. Good luck.

 

[nakneker]

If you already own SWFAs you know they are a solid scope for the price point. Your budget allows for some good glass and it sounds like your wanting a scope used for some long range varminting. You can buy Nightforce NXSs used but they don't come up very often in the Mil variety. You may want to look at the new Nightforce SHV F1s, but they only get you to 15x. Nightforce is known to have reliable turrets and they hold their value. Personally I have one of the SWFA 5-20s in mil, love it. I also own a couple NXSs in mil, great scopes. There have been some screaming deals on SigTango6 in FFP mil turrets, I bought some because of the price point over the holidays and have been very happy with them. You can probably still find some on EBay new around 1200 bucks or so. My favorite scope that meets your criteria is a March, FFP, mil, 3-25x42. It's compact, clear, repeatable and has become my favorite hunting scope. Bullets.com had them on sale for around 1900.00 when I pulled the trigger on that one. If you want more info or have questions you can always PM me. Hope you find what your looking for.

 

[Spike A]

not trying to beat a dead horse here but i too have a sightron siii 6-24 ffp, i have given it a beating lugging it around wood chuck hunting and it seems to always hold zero and track very well.... i have the moa version so not sure what that mil reticle looks like, but the moa version isnt cluttered at all. Now that being said i would be curious on that march ffp, but it is a 1000 more so....

 

[3Ackleys]

The OP was looking for this scope 2 years ago if he hasn't made a choice by now there is no one that can help...

 

[6MMsteve]

he's on Pluto shooting at Venus

 

[Spike A]

haha well i definitely missed that...

 

[AthlonOpticsGuy]

What you describes, in my mind, screams Athlon Chronus BTR ( Due out in 2 weeks). Check out this video..

 

[dondlhmn]

Here are my specks that i need

Price budget 1000-1800$
Objective lens 42-52mm preferably a compact scooe
Power needs to be a zoom with max somewhere around 20-30x
Mill turrets
Mill reticle preferbaly a simple one. Not to much clutter.
Good optics to resolve stuff (groundhogs especially) out to 1000yards or more.
First focal plane.
Turret clicks must he perfectly reliable.
Needs to have at least 25mill of virtacle adgustments internally.

Will be using it for
Groundhogs 600-1200yards
Deer 100-600yards
Target shooting to 300 amd steel gongs to 1300
Needs to be a ruged scope that can take a lot of abuse and handeling. I am going to he using this a lot.

I dont have brand Preferances.

My advice is to pick ANY good scope that has good optics and good, repeatable adjustments, but MAKE SURE that it is one that has a reticle that suits you. The best optics, adjustment, or reputation in the world will do you NO GOOD AT ALL if you just can't deal with/get along with a reticle that you don't like!!! Get a reticle that fits YOU and YOUR shooting style....and realize that this important choice may then dictate what brand you buy as not all scope manufacturers off the same reticles. Don't worry about what bling the girls at the range like....you are spending YOUR MONEY to make YOU a decent shooter!!!