Scope for tikka 308

Sharpyshoot

What scopes are all using on 308? I appreciate it’s a broad query looking to upgrade my scope and interested to hear what others use.

cookimonster

What do you do with or intend to do with your 308?
If its hunting and in particular stalking, what type of stalking do you do ?....
For example-

1. Open hill with longer ranging shots - 250 plus yards
2. Woodland with relatively close shots.
3. Woodland - dawn and dusk.

Firstly I don't shoot 308 but stalk regularly with a lad who does. This stalking would inculde shoulder to shoulder shooting opportunities etc, etc. He shoots a couple of variable scopes 3-12x50 while I shoot either a 6x42 or 8x56.

Open Hill Stalking
On the hill we both take animals on average at 200 yards sometimes stretching out closer to 300 yds while short range shots of 20 or so yards are not uncommon. The reality is that he rarely changes power off his normal power of 7x, while my 6x or 8x works fine.

Woodland
In the woods I can still utilize my fixed powered scopes in close cover only losing one opportunity since I went over to fixed power of a stag wandering in at less then 10 yards. Here the variable power would have been good. But the opposite is true, when I did use a variable power scope I only ever had one similar opportunity to shoot a stag in real close were I needed to dial down the power.

Dawn and Dusk, Light Transmission
In the past I have used lower end scopes and although the light transmission wasn't as good as others I took my fair share of dawn and dusk animals. Often poorer light transmission can be made up by using larger objective lenses but that comes with it's own issues and coupled with higher magnification your may not gain any advantage.The average human pupil only dilates between
4mm and 8mm, so a high end mag scope may not be delivering optimum light levels, while a oversized low power scope may be delivering more light then the eye can actually handle or need. My 6x42 Schmidt and Bender would out preform my 3-12x56 Bushnell XLT scope any day but wouldn't be as good as the Schmidt and Bender 8x56, a scope built for low light levels. On the hill I tend not to shoot dawn and dusk, mainly because that type of stalking doesn't require those times of day and also for personal safety as I don't intentionally want to be up a mountain on dark, so thats a quailty I could live with out on a scope intended for hill stalking.

Balistics and Scopes.
Between our stalking group we have or did have various calibres of .243, .270, 308 and 30-06. Regardless of whether we used fixed or variable powered scopes we never saw a need for either balistic turrets or reticles. Either using the old adage of an inch high at 100 yards or zeroing for maximum point blank range we have always been able to shoot animal's either close in or out at distance. Again comparing calibres used along side each other in recent past (.243, 308, 270 and '06) there wasn't enough difference in drop to prevent each from performing similar out to our average shooting distances.

So in summary if I was to buy my perfect scope for every hunting experience I've had to date with centre fire rifles it would be something around 42mm or 50mm objective with a low end magnification of 1.5x or 2.5x and an upper end of 8x or 10x. These would give you the best for all sorts- tight cover, close range, medium range and driven game.

clivej

I have used my Bushnell Elite 6-24x50mm on my Sako 75 .308 stalking rifle for about 12 years now. It has always done what I have asked from it. As for the high'er power I have had the thought of having that little extra rather than looking for it. It's great to be able to zoom up when you need too. And I have shoot in FTR competition out to 600y where I have needed that x24 power.

The scope I bought for my CZ 457 in .22lr was the Element Helix again in 6-24x50mm (about the €400 cost). Very good reviews on the range of Elements scopes. And IMO a good scope for all and any .308 calibre rifle.