Help needed: What scope

marcp

Well lads just looking for some advice on what scope to buy. Picking up my new custom 22.250 remington 700 on Monday night and wondering what scope to put on it. I was originally going for a duralyt but as the pocket is a bit tight this weather I'm gonna hold off on this scope till end off the year.

Just wondering could any of ye recommend a scope for tie me over till the pocket allows the duralyt. something around the 400 euro mark.

Gun will be used for a little bit of foxing and h.c.a.p depending this month will be used for my first season of stalking this winter.

Cheers marc

One shot on kill

I was down in Stakelums today and I has looking ah scopes. The hawke sidewinder for around 400 and the swift premier for around 490. Both seemed very good infairnes.

marcp

What are the sidewinders like, what power. A lad was telling me great things about the tasco scopes today. Anyone have one.

Cass

One shot on kill wrote: »

I was down in Stakelums today ............

Snap.

marcp wrote: »

What are the sidewinders like, what power. A lad was telling me great things about the tasco scopes today. Anyone have one.

I have two of them, and a Varmint.

They are a fantastic scope, and for a while underrated, but are gaining a huge following. The glass is not as good as Zeiss, S&B, etc., but at less than half the price what do you expect.

They come in 6-24, and 8-32 (i have both). On low poer (under 18) they are perfect. On high power (24 &32) they can be a bit cloudy especialy if you target is at close range. SO if you look at something at 100 yards on 32 power you might see this clouding.

They come with red and green illuminated reticle, side parallax (from 15 yards to infinity), a 30mm tube, adjustable eye relief, flip caps, and a 30 year warranty on any caliber up to .338 LapMag. They also have a good range of reticles to suit your preferences.

There is a good write up on them in this months Sporting rifle.


I would not hesitate to recommend one, and i own/have owned Nightforce, Sightron, S&B, etc.


As for Tasco. The older scopes were good enough for the money but the newer ones seem to be "lacking. Just a personal opinion. However as both would be in the same range i would always recommend Sidewinder over the Tasco.

Lastly the Swift. I have had a few over the years, and my last run was with the Swift Premier. They are a decent scope, and more expensive than the Hawke. The glass could be classed as better, but the difference is minute. AI had problems with my last one to the extent i had to change my new Swift for a replacement, and the replacement broke too.

other drawback is some models come with the illumination dial at an angle on the ocular housing, and in the case of the Remmy i caught my thumb/finger everytime i cycled the bolt.

German pointer

If you are only looking for something as a stop gap there is a 4-16x40 Bushnell in the for sale section for €45 and put the other €355 towards the good scope when you get the rest of the money built up.

wildcatares22

Take a look at the Konuspro scopes. The 4-16x50 AO with The 550 ballistic reticle has nice clear glass even at 16x, and very good under the lamp, they can be got new for E140.

One shot on kill

Cass wrote: »

Snap.


I have two of them, and a Varmint.

They are a fantastic scope, and for a while underrated, but are gaining a huge following. The glass is not as good as Zeiss, S&B, etc., but at less than half the price what do you expect.

They come in 6-24, and 8-32 (i have both). On low poer (under 18) they are perfect. On high power (24 &32) they can be a bit cloudy especialy if you target is at close range. SO if you look at something at 100 yards on 32 power you might see this clouding.

They come with red and green illuminated reticle, side parallax (from 15 yards to infinity), a 30mm tube, adjustable eye relief, flip caps, and a 30 year warranty on any caliber up to .338 LapMag. They also have a good range of reticles to suit your preferences.

There is a good write up on them in this months Sporting rifle.


I would not hesitate to recommend one, and i own/have owned Nightforce, Sightron, S&B, etc.


As for Tasco. The older scopes were good enough for the money but the newer ones seem to be "lacking. Just a personal opinion. However as both would be in the same range i would always recommend Sidewinder over the Tasco.

Lastly the Swift. I have had a few over the years, and my last run was with the Swift Premier. They are a decent scope, and more expensive than the Hawke. The glass could be classed as better, but the difference is minute. AI had problems with my last one to the extent i had to change my new Swift for a replacement, and the replacement broke too.

other drawback is some models come with the illumination dial at an angle on the ocular housing, and in the case of the Remmy i caught my thumb/finger everytime i cycled the bolt.

I'm a bit confused now when I think about it but I'm trying to think if any of the scopes I looked at were even 16 power and or a parallax I definitely know the the swift had no parallax. But I think the hawks scope I looked at had the illumination on the left hand side where the parallax dial on the side winder is.

I do remember asking about the dial and been told it wasn't parallax.

marcp

Thanks for all the reply's lads much appreciated. I think ill go check out the sidewinders they sound good value for money.

And tell me this what sort of scope would ye recommend for the duralyt money, the 750 to 800 range. Would you go zeiss or some other brand.

Cass

One shot on kill wrote: »

I do remember asking about the dial and been told it wasn't parallax.

The Hawke Sidewinders come with side parallax, and illumination control on the same turret. This is guaranteed as i have two of them. Some Swift's don't, but the Premier (if that is the one) has side parallax, but no illumination.

marcp wrote: »

And tell me this what sort of scope would ye recommend for the duralyt money, the 750 to 800 range. Would you go zeiss or some other brand.

The Zeiss are good for glass, no doubt. However i was looking at a Duralyt about a year ago, and i prefer higher mag on my scopes (whether i need it or not) and the 12 power max was off putting.


Throughout all the years of shooting i've heard lads talking about glass quality. Some scopes are obviously better than others. Like the Swarovski. are much clearer than Hawke, but when you are talking about a €400 compared to a €2,000+ scope how is that fair or even a comparison. It's like saying a Ferrari is better than a Fiesta. Obviously because of the huge price difference. However when comparing similar priced scopes glass quality is on a par, and some brands may hold a slight edge over others, but the difference is more about word of mouth, and reputation than what the average Joe can distinguish with the naked eye.

All i'm saying is do not rely on reputation only. So the Zeiss may be ever so slightly clearer than a Sightron, and an S&B may be slightly clearer than both. But does the Zeiss or S&B have the features you need.

Up to €800 you could look at;

• Zeiss Duralyt
• Sightron SIII
• S&B
• Bushnell Elite 6500

There other brands i'm not thinking off, and some brands i did not mention due to availability. Also i'd be interested to see if you went for the Sidewinder, if you bother with the Zeiss down the road.

marcp

The sidewinder seems to tick all the boxes (price, quality) for the time being. I would love to be able to hold out for a duralyte but with the hcap coming up in few weeks I may put some sort of sight on the rifle for that.

Also want something that I will be able to move on when I'm finished with it. Not dirt and stuck with it.

Cheers for all the info cass. Ill let you know what I purchase this week.

TriggerPL

Pm sent

FISMA

Marcp,
Have a look at post #10 in this link for my usual recommendations with links.