Scope for a muzzle loader

[bench]

Do I need to buy a special scope for a muzzle loader because of the type of recoil or will any good scope work??
A friend of mine wants to buy a Leupold VX-1 3x9-40 and said someone told him he had to buy a special scope for a muzzle loader.
I do not own a muzzle loader so I am no help to him.
Thanks
Bench

 

[hogpatrol]

Do I need to buy a special scope for a muzzle loader because of the type of recoil or will any good scope work??
A friend of mine wants to buy a Leupold VX-1 3x9-40 and said someone told him he had to buy a special scope for a muzzle loader.
I do not own a muzzle loader so I am no help to him.
Thanks
Bench

Been using scopes of all types for the last eleven years. I have a Leupold VX-R on a smokeless ML now and the recoil from it is pretty serious. Get good quality and stay away from the el cheapo Chinese's. I've seen some of the low end Bushnells and the Barskas get destroyed on muzzleloaders. As far as the ones that are advertised as muzzleloader scopes, they are usually equipped with ballistic reticles that match a specific load. In my experience/opinion, that type of reticle is more of a marketing gimmick.

 

[XTR]

When I had my Knight Rolling block I used a cheap Bushnell DOA 250, it was dead nuts on the drops for a 250gr sabot over 100gr of Triple 7. That gun was the best deer killer I've ever owned. I killed deer from 50 yards to 150 yards and only ever missed once (and that one my partner ranged it wrong) Great little scope for a ML. (I sold it to my hunting partner for his son, and it still works)

I now shoot a Savage MLII smokeless, I put an inexpensive Vortex on it, but in any case because the ML bullets drop so fast from 100 to 200 I would get something with drop marks on the reticle and learn the drops so you can make good shots out to 150 or so.

 

[FatBoy]

I have been using a 1-4.5x Bushnell shotgun scope the last two seasons. I bought the rifle and put a Nikon ML scope with BDC that failed right out of the box. Took 30 rounds to figure out WTF was going on, but the windage was not adjusting. I took it back to the store, and bought the Bushnell so I could hunt the next day. So far is holds zero, has decent light collection at first and last light. It's compact and very light. No BDC. I only use 100 gr of Pyrodex, so I can't say how it would work with a magnum load.

I wasn't a fan of Bushnell. They were junk scopes when I started shooting LR back in 2000. They are still what I would consider entry level but they have come a long way. I'd buy another one of these scopes if I was setting up another ML and I'd recommend it to anyone who prefers to hunt with low power, like I do.

 

[dkhunt14]

When I had my Knight Rolling block I used a cheap Bushnell DOA 250, it was dead nuts on the drops for a 250gr sabot over 100gr of Triple 7. That gun was the best deer killer I've ever owned. I killed deer from 50 yards to 150 yards and only ever missed once (and that one my partner ranged it wrong) Great little scope for a ML. (I sold it to my hunting partner for his son, and it still works)

I now shoot a Savage MLII smokeless, I put an inexpensive Vortex on it, but in any case because the ML bullets drop so fast from 100 to 200 I would get something with drop marks on the reticle and learn the drops so you can make good shots out to 150 or so.

My one buddy is building smokeless muzzle loaders on Rem. actions. They are really using Leupolds with target turrets and shooting to 800 yards. They just range and turn the turrets just like a rifle. These guns really shoot. I have seen then shoot 2 and 3 inch 5 shot groups at 600 yards pretty consistently. I agree with the other posts and would use a quality scope. The recoil is pretty stout on most of them, even with a brake. Matt

 

[XTR]

Maybe I got lucky with my Bushnell DOA, it worked on my Knight with black powder substitutes. I did try it on my 45-70 shooting revved up loads and the turrets didn't hold up to the recoil. I put it back on my Knight and it was fine. Recoil on the triple 7 wasn't as sharp I guess.

I can be a bit of a glass snob, my other hunting rifles wear Swaro's, and I love the little Z3 with a BRH reticle. Weighs 12 oz, great glass and a simple mil drop reticle. I put it on my 45-70 highwall, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone willing to drop $900 on a 3-10x, but I realize not everyone wants to go that route.

 

[newbie_nick]

I bought my first muzzle loader a couple years back and mounted a Leupold Shotgun/Muzzle loader VX1 on it. Both Nikon and Leupold were offering shotgun/muzzle loader variants, and from what I could read, the only different in these scopes was the 50 yard parallax calibration rather than 100 yards in the normal scopes.