Posted: 4/19/2016 5:42:34 PM EDT
| I wanna be quick to the point here. Im looking at a VX2 CDS 3-9x40, Mark AR Mod1 3-9x40 or SWFA 10x42 mi/mil or 1/4 MOA. I shoot paper 90% of the time and go to Colorado once a year to hunt mule deer. Id like to shoot longer ranges with this gun but to hunt not to win matches. The scope will be going on a Rem SPS AAC-SD 308. What would you pick? |
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I personally prefer variable magnification.
Also within your price range, the Midway Special Weaver Grand Slam Tactical would fit the bill as well with matching mildot/mil turrets. 3-10x and pretty good glass considering the price. They are $300 new from Midway. It is a SFP optic and only has a 1" tube. A 20 MOA base allowed me to utilize the maximum amount of elevation and left me about 1.6 mils of down travel, so it worked like a zero stop. So the Weaver GST has some similarities with the Mark AR optic. The GST does not have any parallax adjustments. |
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Quoted:
I personally prefer variable magnification. Also within your price range, the Midway Special Weaver Grand Slam Tactical would fit the bill as well with matching mildot/mil turrets. 3-10x and pretty good glass considering the price. They are $300 new from Midway. It is a SFP optic and only has a 1" tube. A 20 MOA base allowed me to utilize the maximum amount of elevation and left me about 1.6 mils of down travel, so it worked like a zero stop. So the Weaver GST has some similarities with the Mark AR optic. The GST does not have any parallax adjustments. he makes a good point I would probably go with the weaver. I loved my weaver grand slam it was great (although mine had a parallax adjustment) |
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he makes a good point I would probably go with the weaver. I loved my weaver grand slam it was great (although mine had a parallax adjustment) Quoted:
Quoted:
I personally prefer variable magnification. Also within your price range, the Midway Special Weaver Grand Slam Tactical would fit the bill as well with matching mildot/mil turrets. 3-10x and pretty good glass considering the price. They are $300 new from Midway. It is a SFP optic and only has a 1" tube. A 20 MOA base allowed me to utilize the maximum amount of elevation and left me about 1.6 mils of down travel, so it worked like a zero stop. So the Weaver GST has some similarities with the Mark AR optic. The GST does not have any parallax adjustments. he makes a good point I would probably go with the weaver. I loved my weaver grand slam it was great (although mine had a parallax adjustment) The last Weaver scope I ordered had "Made in the Philipines" engraved on it. I would buy the Leupold, any Leupold over that. |
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I dont mind that its made out of USA but a Weaver I have a hard times being ok taking out in the mountains. Dont know why? Maybe im a snob? Ive owned Zeiss and Leupold most of the time, I thought I was being a bit 'wild' by wanting the SWFA but since everyones reviews are great on that scope I figured I would out it in the running.
Btw just saw theres an optics section 
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Any scope with a low end magnification lower than 4X and a high end magnification of at least 9X will work fine.
Unless you are hunting until its too dark to walk back to camp, 40mm objective is fine. If you have aspirations of long range you need externally adjustable turrets. If you range aspirations are longer than 600 yards you need a 30mm Tube. If your range aspirations are longer than 800 yards, you will need a 20 MoA base. |
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I would go with the SWFA all day over the scopes Mentioned.
With the fixed 10x, you can go up close all the way to 1000yds. The scope is well built and dials as well as scopes costing 3X as much. If you happen to break it, just send it back and get a new one within a week! I run SWFA's or Vortex PST's on my rifles. |
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The last Weaver scope I ordered had "Made in the Philipines" engraved on it. I would buy the Leupold, any Leupold over that. Quoted:
Quoted:
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I personally prefer variable magnification. Also within your price range, the Midway Special Weaver Grand Slam Tactical would fit the bill as well with matching mildot/mil turrets. 3-10x and pretty good glass considering the price. They are $300 new from Midway. It is a SFP optic and only has a 1" tube. A 20 MOA base allowed me to utilize the maximum amount of elevation and left me about 1.6 mils of down travel, so it worked like a zero stop. So the Weaver GST has some similarities with the Mark AR optic. The GST does not have any parallax adjustments. he makes a good point I would probably go with the weaver. I loved my weaver grand slam it was great (although mine had a parallax adjustment) The last Weaver scope I ordered had "Made in the Philipines" engraved on it. I would buy the Leupold, any Leupold over that. The Weaver Grand Slam Tactical will say "Made in Japan." It has Japanese optical glass and Japanese construction. This is not the same line as the Phillipine Weavers. It is incredible at its price point. However, if interested in illumination, the FireDot in the Illuminated Mark AR is very useful in low light The extra cost is worth it. Battery life is years because it is motion activated. I have the VX-R Patrol version with better glass, 30mm tube, but the same low profile turrets and TMR reticle. You will not get lost. Zero stop is not needed with 6 mils of elevation on a single turret rotation. Six mils will take you from a 100 yard zero to beyond 600 yards without passing zero. As pointed out above, if you truly want a zero stop, put it in a 20 MOA slope mount. It will not be able to rotate a full turn down from a 100 yard zero. You can always find your absolute zero that way with either the Weaver or the Mark AR. No sane hunter would take a 10x fixed power scope hunting if close shots at moving game are a possibility. Field of view is greatly reduced and following and leading a running deer would be very difficult. The small exit pupil also limits eye box lateral movement. Such scopes are great for shooting at still objects at longer distances and open plains hunting where shots will not be close and the animals not spooked. I've shot deer at 50 feet away in wooded areas. Even at 3x all I could see was fur. I had to move the scope around to find the area behind the shoulder. Fortunately that deer was standing still. It is easy to overscope a hunting rifle. |
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Since you want a zero stop and the rest of the practical features, do yourself a favor and spend more. It's not that much money compared to traveling for hunting every season. The 3-12x Bushnell LRHS is exactly what you are looking for. A 24.4 ounce scope is not such a good idea on a rifle to be carried in the field all day hunting. The 3-9x Mark AR weighs half of that at 12.4 ounces. As a hunter, I find most FFP reticles poor choices in the field at low power, especially in low light. |
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Since you want a zero stop and the rest of the practical features, do yourself a favor and spend more. It's not that much money compared to traveling for hunting every season. The 3-12x Bushnell LRHS is exactly what you are looking for. I dont mind if I dont, I just would like to have something that has a counter or a stop. The swfa has a counter and the cds can have a zero stop if you order a cap with one. The Mark AR dosent have any of those abilities Leupold said so I kicked it out. Im still debating on the Leupold VX2 3-9x40 CDS vs SWFA 10x42. |
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If you are willing to spend a little more, look for the Vortex PST line.
2.5-10x32 FFP ~650 used; $800 new 2.5-10x44 SFP ~550 used (1 on Ebay right now that is going for $500 Buy it now); $600 new They have zero stop, elevation revolution indicator, illuminated reticles, choice of Mrad or MOA, matching exposed turrets |