A little help with scope decisions

[1hdflstf]

I have recently gotten into shooting again after a bit of life changing cancer .
After chemo the skills have definitely diminished and need all the help I can get in the optics department.

I have 2 308 rifles one being a national match m1a and a savage 10 with the 20" heavy barrel thats I am looking to equip I greatly respect the knowledge here . I plan on shooting out to 600 meters at this time . I have a 750$ budget I just bought a leupold discontinued mark4 4.5 14 with the ugly turrets. Midway has some vortex viper 5to 25 gen 2 on sale for 500. My other thoughts were a athlon scope they have a few appealing models in this price point. Anyone have any experience with these scopes I am more after clarity and eye box forgiveness than bells and whistles

 

[Convex]

I have recently gotten into shooting again after a bit of life changing cancer .
After chemo the skills have definitely diminished and need all the help I can get in the optics department.

The great thing about it is you're still here.

Take care

 

[Glassaholic]

I have recently gotten into shooting again after a bit of life changing cancer .
After chemo the skills have definitely diminished and need all the help I can get in the optics department.

I have 2 308 rifles one being a national match m1a and a savage 10 with the 20" heavy barrel thats I am looking to equip I greatly respect the knowledge here . I plan on shooting out to 600 meters at this time . I have a 750$ budget I just bought a leupold discontinued mark4 4.5 14 with the ugly turrets. Midway has some vortex viper 5to 25 gen 2 on sale for 500. My other thoughts were a athlon scope they have a few appealing models in this price point. Anyone have any experience with these scopes I am more after clarity and eye box forgiveness than bells and whistles

Glad to hear you're in remission and on the road to recovery, my family has had more than its share of cancer (dad, niece, grandmother, brother...)

Tell us more about the intended use for these rifles? You just plinking steel with the national match for your own enjoyment or? How about the Savage, is it just a range gun or do you plan to take it hunting or do stuff with it beyond the bench?

Nothing wrong with a 5-25 but really no need for it with 308 distances, I would say look at the PST II 3-15x44. Also look for used stuff in the B&S forum here, sometimes used XTR III 3.3-18's can be found well shy of $1k. Look for used Bushnell LRHS or LRTS 3-12's or 4.5-18's. Primary Arms GLx 3-18x44 offers a nice feature set for the price and PA often has some really good sales -

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DetailsThis rifle scope is part of the mid-tier optics line called GLx. GLx brings premium technology and materials into an approachable price range.Building on the features of our award-winning GLx rifle scopes, the GLx 3-18x44mm FFP Rifle Scope brings premium optical performance to a versatile...

www.primaryarms.com

I try to shy away from the Chinese stuff, but Athlon does have some good scopes and a decent track record.

 

[1hdflstf]

So when I got the savage it came with a basic mark ar 3-9 and have taken 3 wisconsin whitetail with it and plan to get into some coyote hunting and plinking. The national match will be more for paper and steel. I just would feel bad about getting it beat up in the woods.
I work only 10 mins from brux barrels and may change out the savage to a 6.5 creedmoor or prc. Realistically what power should I need for up to 650 yards?

And thanks everyone for the words of encouragement april 15 marked one year since my last round of chemo. It really was rough on the body

 

[Convex]

Like Glassaholic, I've lost many in my family to this. Going through it is tough.

Nothing left to do but to fight.

 

[FuhQ]

I have recently gotten into shooting again after a bit of life changing cancer .
After chemo the skills have definitely diminished and need all the help I can get in the optics department.

I have 2 308 rifles one being a national match m1a and a savage 10 with the 20" heavy barrel thats I am looking to equip I greatly respect the knowledge here . I plan on shooting out to 600 meters at this time . I have a 750$ budget I just bought a leupold discontinued mark4 4.5 14 with the ugly turrets. Midway has some vortex viper 5to 25 gen 2 on sale for 500. My other thoughts were a athlon scope they have a few appealing models in this price point. Anyone have any experience with these scopes I am more after clarity and eye box forgiveness than bells and whistles

Vortex just dropped the (basically the Gen 3) of the Viper PST scopes... They called it the Viper HD. I would opt for that route if you can bump your budget a little bit. They upgraded the turrets, internals, glass, and everything. Completely redesigned from the ground up. Also, they are built in Philippines, and have Japanese ED glass in them. I have not seen one in person yet, but several guys on here have had some sneak-peeks for testing and writing articles and such, and all have been quite impressed with them. I did preorder one yesterday from EuroOptic, and the guy said it should only be a few days before they arrive and ship out, so backordering one won't be a long wait, if you got a couple weeks to wait on them.

Also, when you go to checkout on EuroOptics website right now (not sure how long it will be a promotion) use the code: VTX12 and you can save a good chunk of money on them...Even though they're brand new, it still lets the coupon code work... Not sure if that was a mess-up, or what, because most newly released products don't get promo codes or discounts.

This would be ideal on your Savage bolt gun.

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

www.eurooptic.com

And this would be great on your M1A...

Vortex Viper HD 3-15x44mm SFP VMR-3 MRAD Riflescope VPR-31503

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 3-15x44mm SFP VMR-3 MRAD Riflescope VPR-31503

www.eurooptic.com

 

[Glassaholic]

Realistically what power should I need for up to 650 yards?

10-12x really. 15-16x if you feel you need to PID for legal game. But only you can determine that with your eyes, especially with somewhat inferior glass. The new 3-18 range is a good cover everything but reticle at 3x usually not great. Give and take with this stuff.

 

[n2ishun]

Vortex just dropped the (basically the Gen 3) of the Viper PST scopes... They called it the Viper HD. I would opt for that route if you can bump your budget a little bit. They upgraded the turrets, internals, glass, and everything. Completely redesigned from the ground up. Also, they are built in Philippines, and have Japanese ED glass in them. I have not seen one in person yet, but several guys on here have had some sneak-peeks for testing and writing articles and such, and all have been quite impressed with them. I did preorder one yesterday from EuroOptic, and the guy said it should only be a few days before they arrive and ship out, so backordering one won't be a long wait, if you got a couple weeks to wait on them.

Also, when you go to checkout on EuroOptics website right now (not sure how long it will be a promotion) use the code: VTX12 and you can save a good chunk of money on them...Even though they're brand new, it still lets the coupon code work... Not sure if that was a mess-up, or what, because most newly released products don't get promo codes or discounts.

This would be ideal on your Savage bolt gun.

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

www.eurooptic.com

And this would be great on your M1A...

Vortex Viper HD 3-15x44mm SFP VMR-3 MRAD Riflescope VPR-31503

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 3-15x44mm SFP VMR-3 MRAD Riflescope VPR-31503

www.eurooptic.com

Joe Bobs is showing them even cheaper although not yet in stock.
I guess we'll see when we see huh ?

 

[BCP]

Mark AR 3-9 you already have is a good basic scope for your m1a

I like the pst gen ii scopes in that price range, the 3-15 model is easier to get behind imho

 

[FuhQ]

Joe Bobs is showing them even cheaper although not yet in stock.
I guess we'll see when we see huh ?

If you get Military/LEO/FR discount, you can get them even cheaper at EuroOptic.

Doesn't seem to be any cheaper than EuroOptic to me... Both say $999.99.

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50 FFP VMR-4 Reticle - MRAD

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50 FFP VMR-4 Reticle - MRAD

www.joeboboutfitters.com

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

www.eurooptic.com

 

[n2ishun]

If you get Military/LEO/FR discount, you can get them even cheaper at EuroOptic.

Doesn't seem to be any cheaper than EuroOptic to me... Both say $999.99.

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50 FFP VMR-4 Reticle - MRAD

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50 FFP VMR-4 Reticle - MRAD

www.joeboboutfitters.com

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

www.eurooptic.com

My bad.
Didn't notice there are 2 different reticles available.
The one with the VMR-3 reticle is $899, the VMR-4 is as you say $999

 

[Glowie]

If you get Military/LEO/FR discount, you can get them even cheaper at EuroOptic.

Doesn't seem to be any cheaper than EuroOptic to me... Both say $999.99.

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50 FFP VMR-4 Reticle - MRAD

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50 FFP VMR-4 Reticle - MRAD

www.joeboboutfitters.com

Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

FREE SHIPPING on Vortex Viper HD 5-25x50mm FFP VMR-4 MRAD Riflescope VPR-52502

www.eurooptic.com

Anyone think these are a better option than a pst<$600.00 for hunting/ shooting steel?

 

[FuhQ]

Anyone think these are a better option than a pst<$600.00 for hunting/ shooting steel?

I bought one on Friday, we’ll see when it comes in… I was not impressed with the PST2 5-25x50.

 

[Glassaholic]

Anyone think these are a better option than a pst<$600.00 for hunting/ shooting steel?

The PST II 3-15x44 has the best experience overall of all the PST II line IMO. The PST II 5-25x50 is decent but I prefer 56mm objectives in scopes with >21x magnification at the top. For this reason I think the Burris XTR III 5.5-30x56 is a better option than PST II 5-25x50 if you don’t mind the rough cut knurling and sometimes stiff mag and/or parallax. How good are these Leupold Mark 4HD’s remains to be seen as they are so new, but being a decade newer than PST II I would hope they are excellent optical-mechanical performers. For the above reason I am not excited about the Mark 4 6-24x50 and concerned it might get a little dark above 20x so the 8-32x56 would be much more appealing in overall design and performance, I expect this scope to do quite well on a competition oriented rig.

 

[Soblack62]

So when I got the savage it came with a basic mark ar 3-9 and have taken 3 wisconsin whitetail with it and plan to get into some coyote hunting and plinking. The national match will be more for paper and steel. I just would feel bad about getting it beat up in the woods.
I work only 10 mins from brux barrels and may change out the savage to a 6.5 creedmoor or prc. Realistically what power should I need for up to 650 yards?

And thanks everyone for the words of encouragement april 15 marked one year since my last round of chemo. It really was rough on the body

Keep shooting Buddy. Glad you’re still with us.