Cry Once - Buy Once

[gamboolman]

Gentlemen,

I am near to retirement. The perfect vision I had as a kid shooting squirrels in the head from a good way off with iron ....gave way to middle age - and Trifocals and ....being a Senior....

For retirement - we want a good spotting scope for range use and also in the field.

I have always been a believer in buying good equipment. Don't mind spending the money to get good kit....

We need to be able to see 308 holes in paper at ~200 yards maximum, and most likely 100 yards will do us.

Will use the scope at range and woods. Planning on pigs and deer mostly besides range shooting.

Swarovski, Nikon, Leupold ?? Others?

Need advice and would appreciate any feedback the community can offer.

Thanks, gamboolman

 

[MilDot1960]

All the brands you list are top class optics and all of them will fill your needs, The Leupold GR is a great Scope if you have to pack it on a hunt, it does come with a Shoulder strap which is handy or if you buy the 12-40x60 GR HD kit you get the tripod and a window mount and all the Camera fittings and soft case and a hard case with first class optics, If I had not of bought the GR them I would have stayed with my older spotter because none of the other impress me but the Mk 4 /GR HD sealed the deal for me.

Hope that helps,

John.

 

[mojavejim]

Any will work for the range but hunting - low light & shadows it's hard to beat swarovski.

 

[TheGerman]

Spotter 60 and a Barrett MRAD

 

[ZiaHunter]

Pretty tough to beat Swaro and Hensoldt. Have a STM 65 and a ATS 80HD as well as a Spotter 60. For hunting my goto spotter is the STM 65 because of its size and weight and prefer the straight design. For scoring matches the ATS80 works great. For spotting shooters nothing beats the Spotter 60.

 

[bluebu70]

Skip the spotter and get a pair of Swarovski binoculars and a tripod mount.

 

[Dabeechman]

Truthfully you don't need a lot of optic to see .308 holes at 100-200 yards. I don't have great eyes, and my junky $200 Konus could handle that. I doubt I could see .308 holes on white paper at 300 yards though.

Bonus points for when I left the Konus on the top of my truck and drove off with it. Came back 30 minutes later and it was still in the middle of the road and in perfect shape.

 

[FourT6and2]

After spotter-shopping for months, I went with the Meopta Meostar S2. It's fantastic. That's what I would recommend unless you want to spend more than $2,000.

 

[gamboolman]

Thanks for the responses.....Information overload....been reading the internet alot.....Just to help folks understand....baby boomer, was working in oilfield in slide rule days.... and still in the oil patch.... but God willing not for but a couple more years....

For the kit I am looking at the monies I am seeing is not bad..... so now its just a matter of getting the right kit for us. Like I said I learned long ago to buy good kit...personal and in the oilfield...

I will post the Short List for yawl to comment on. Range work to a couple hundred yards....using to spot pigs and deer....and for fun..

Thanks, gamboolman and Ms. gamboolgal.....

 

[N2thermals]

Leupold is hard to beat for the money. And they come with a lifetime warranty.

 

[IanHusaberg]

Spotter 60 and a Barrett MRAD

This is always the right answer!!!

 

[Nik H]

My Kowa TSN-82SV does exactly what you want and it is about $1K with eyepiece and case.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I use the Vortex Nomad 20-60x60, which is, unfortunately, a discontinued product. It is capable of resolving 22 caliber bullet holes at 250yd (at least) in a gray background.

Vortex currently offers the Diamondback 20-60x60 for $399 on several vendors' sites. I expect it can do as well as the Nomad, which was also in roughly the same price range. The Nomad's key feature was its light weight. I turn 71 this month.

The 'buy once, cry once' mantra is a catchy tune, but I found out that it can be an expensive shortcut that may only be partly true. Initially, it was not an option for me, I was financially limited to the lower priced end of the optics spectrum. I found that I was able to provide my rifles with reasonably priced, reasonably effective, and adequately reliable optics for under $100, namely the Tasco 42mm Objective/1" tube 6-24 and 2.5-10 powered Varmint/Target MilDot offerings.

They do what's expected according to the box inscriptions, and are cheap enough to keep a spare mounted on a .22lr trainer that can also serve as a 'hot spare' in a pinch if/when the main scope shits the bed. In the 15 or so years since I bought my 5 of them, none of them have done so. They are not stellar performers, they are just simply adequate. Really, though, for most of us, that's the main question.

As finances improved, I kept the Tascos for less demanding applications, and looked further afield for something with a higher level of performance, but still financially reachable. I found and bought the Mueller 8-32x44 Target Scope (the link shows both the Target Dot and MilDot style reticles). Available variously for between $250-300, it is another less expensive but decent performer. Eventually, I bought a second one, and will buy more as applications/rifles accumulate. Neither has failed in over 6 years so far.

What none of these choices provides is a wider angle objective of the 50mm or larger size. This involves some sacrifice in light gathering capability, and/or lower light performance; so a compromise is in order. But they also result in a lower optical axis, which can be helpful when developing longer trajectories. Since I don't shoot, or intend to shoot, under such additionally demanding conditions, it's a compromise I can live with. Others may not. I'm not telling them they need to or are wrong to do otherwise; I just don't need that kind of performance in order to float my boat.

My approach took well over a decade to research and to obtain sufficient confidence. There was a wrong turn or two involved. The BOCO approach is quick and simple, but it also allocate funds that could as easily be allocated to ammunition and practice, and may get the shooter onto the range a bit sooner. Ultimately, the shooter chooses; and whatever choice, they are usually right for their own circumstances. Just be aware that there are some alternatives.

Greg

 

[EternusVigilantia]

My advise is to by the Leupold. I'm sure others are good, however, any time i've ever dropped, bumped, dinged or had a mishap it has never affected my leupold optics. Plus USA made and excellent customer service.

 

[MilDot1960]

My advise is to by the Leupold. I'm sure others are good, however, any time i've ever dropped, bumped, dinged or had a mishap it has never affected my leupold optics. Plus USA made and excellent customer service.

I have the GR 12-40c60 and the Leupold 10x50 Mk 4 Coyote Coloured Bino's The Mk 4 bino's are as good as bino's costing 2 or 3000 dollars, I can read the print on packaging that measures 0.9 mm tall from over 16.8 feet and car number plates at over 550 yards and that is with a pair of 10x50's so with the GR I should be able to read them at around 2000 yards,

I would not bother using my binos for spotting, because the GR it has great eye relief.

John.

 

[Semperriddle]

Vortex is hard to beat when factoring there warranty to price point

 

[Wyzrd]

Check out the spotters from ZenRay too. Very good glass at a decent price point, but pretty big and heavy if carrying it around while hunting.