Rifle Scopes Scope & Mount Suggestions

[Lucky Se7en]

I just took my first step into distance shooting & went out & bought an Accuracy International AE MK III. It just arrived at the store yesterday, unfortunately I have to wait a week before I can walk out with it. Now my next step is to get everything I need to put this gun to work. I've been doing a lot of research on which scope to get but it's really hard for me to judge what would be a good scope for my purposes & what would be overkill based on my limited experience. The gun comes with a "Picatinny rail with 0 moa standard" mount. Unfortunately most of the ranges around here only go to about 300 yards but I still want something that will give me the capability of pushing the limits when I do get the opportunity, I'd say something that can shoot from 600-800 yards comfortably would be something I'm interested in (AI says the effective range of my rifle is 600 yards if that makes a difference). My philosophy is to buy one scope for this gun that I know will perform well in every instance I'll come across rather than getting a scope that I'll want to change out or upgrade someday. Do you guys have any suggestions for me? Given everyone's experience here what you suggest is going to have a huge impact on what I end up deciding to buy.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Nightforce F1 with mil knobs and mil reticle of your choice. Watch the classifieds on here and you can find good deals on them.

For rings/mounts because of the very low profile rail on the AE and the cheek height you want at least something in the 1.125" range to get a proper sight picture. 1.35-1.4 works better for me. I'd either run the AI 18moa 30mm mount or the NF unimount or mag mount.

 

[HOGWILD]

What caliber is it and what is your budget for optik and budget for bases & rings? Also what optik have you been looking at and what is the budget for the glass? with a little more info you will get some spot on info as your post just leaves out too many variables?

 

[Lucky Se7en]

.308 caliber and I'd like to spend less than $2000 total but if you guys recommend I step it up a bit I'm willing to get something that is higher quality. And thanks for the suggestion redneck, I'm looking it up right now.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

What is your exactly rifle setup and base? It makes a difference when selecting a mount.

 

[Lucky Se7en]

All I have so far is the rifle itself, bought it from euro-optic, AE MK III with 20 inch barrel and a muzzle break. I'm trying to piece together the rest right now. Planning on getting an atlas bipod with the adapter for the chassis, looking into monopods and scopes right now

 

[shovelstrokeed]

My choice would be a 3.5-21 Bushnell Elite Tactical. G2 reticle and zero stop. For a mount, I went with a Spuhr 34mm with a 20 MOA angle.
Plenty of elevation for a 100 yard zero and the G2 reticle is clear as a bell. Glass is not quite up to my Swarovski but it will suffice for anything up to twilight shooting. The combo may push your $2000 limit at retail but deals are to be had.

 

[houarms]

Lucky, I just bought the same rifle from Euro-Optic this week too. I have a Leupold 8.5-25 sitting in the safe that I plan on mounting. Ordered a set of. 885" and 1" Badger rings...hope one set will be tall enough. I'll post pics later if you like.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Disregard my previous post, I thought this was another thread. I'd still go with the F1 and either the AI amount or a unimount.

 

[Lucky Se7en]

Lucky, I just bought the same rifle from Euro-Optic this week too. I have a Leupold 8.5-25 sitting in the safe that I plan on mounting. Ordered a set of. 885" and 1" Badger rings...hope one set will be tall enough. I'll post pics later if you like.

Have you looked at monopods for it at all? The majority of the rifles I have seen with the AI chassis have monopods on them so I assumed there would be some sort of attachment in the stock, I haven't played around with it much yet but it seems like there's some work required to get it on there if it's at all possible.

 

[houarms]

Have you looked at monopods for it at all? The majority of the rifles I have seen with the AI chassis have monopods on them so I assumed there would be some sort of attachment in the stock, I haven't played around with it much yet but it seems like there's some work required to get it on there if it's at all possible.

Haven't looked into getting a monopod yet. Next purchase will be a mount for my Surefire can.

 

[Lucky Se7en]

I came across a couple scopes that might be possibilities & I was wondering what you guys think of these...
-Swarovski Z5 5-25x52 BT Plex Riflescope 59880.....................$1600
-Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x56 MLR Riflescope C238......................$1466
-Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 8.5-25x50mm (30mm) M1 Mil Dot.............$1000
...I'm looking for these keeping in mind I won't be shooting past 400 yards very often, but if you think there is a feature these are missing that would make a big difference please let me know.

Thanks again,
Sam

 

[HOGWILD]

Swarovski Z5 Rifle Scope 3.5-18x44 Plex BT - 59760 on sale
Z5 is a nice optik but 5-25 is for a long range rig and kinda nice but a lotta optik? Glass quality is really nice and I would go with a SPHUR or Near A Mount with some kinda cant built into the mount, probably not needed for the distances you mentioned but ya might want lob a few long ones on occasion! I have both Optiks and really like the 1 I have linked above but for a 308 the 5-25 is just a lotta scope as mine sets on a 300 Wby Mag and I almost swapped it to my 338-378 Accumark! Hard to out perform Schott Glass !

 

[Pinecone]

I would at least put a 20 MOA base on it, if not a 30 or 40 MOA base.

Another option would be the Vortex Razor line of scopes. Will push you budget a bit.

Sport Optics (Rifle Scopes, Binoculars, Spotting Scopes and Range Finders | Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss | SportOptics) gives a very nice Sniper's Hide discount. You have to call them for the discount.

 

[Speedie]

I received my AE MKIII a couple of weeks back and used a Nightforce UniMount (1.375" height). I'm glad I went with that one rather than the next lowest as I think that the 1.125" would have been uncomfortable to use. If you're not familiar with the UniMount, it gives you 20 MOA without having to swap out the factory rail.

On the scope front, I went with a Sightron SIII 8-32x56 LRMOA and couldn't be happier. I also have a NightForce 12-42x56 BR and to be honest the glass on the Sightron is every bit as good to my eyes. It's perhaps not built to be quite as rugged as the NF, but that's up for debate. I actually prefer the Sightron's turrets which is saying something as I always really liked the NF's.

Regarding monopods, I could be wrong (happens a lot) but I think any of the options out there require a little bit of cutting / filing the standard skins. Another option is to swap the standard thumbhole skins for Victor Company's excellent Viperskins - the V2 rear for the Viperskins accommodates the Accushot BT08 monopod right out of the box.

 

[HOGWILD]

These track fairly straight and a lotta scope for the money with FFP, it's better to have the extra mag and not need it than need it and not have it kinda like the rail I would go with a 30 MOA at the most ! Depending on the caliber ?

Leupold Mk4 8.5-25x50mm ER/T M1 FFP MtTMR 63055
My bad they are outta stock but I will betcha they will have them soon! Sorry!