Seeking Trad Deer

What are your opinions on a regular duplex recticle verses the Boone and Crocket Leupold Recticles and the multi range recticles of Burris and such. Which would you buy and why?

RedAllison

I like em ALOT. Several years ago I thought they were to gimicky or more for military/tactical use. But after playing with them and then using them in actual hunting situations over the last few years I have come to really recommend them and am in the process of actually having several reticles changed out in a few of my scopes.

For someone that is not shooting over 300yds (or 200 with slower calibers and muzzleloaders) they aren't needed. But IMHO if you are going to be shooting at ranges where you will be incurring more than 6" of drop, I say GO FOR IT! I haven't had any of my Leupolds changed over too the B&C but I did spend 2 days shooting at ranges up too 1k yds with several guns that had the B&C reticles. They made 500yd shots childsplay! I didn't have to work with the "windage bars" on the reticles but I am sure after a few rounds on the range and a trip or two in the field they would prove just as useful as the others.

I still like a good ol plain mil-dot as well, they are simple and work just as effectively. The main point of them is to assure a consistent aim point at XYZ yardage. I wouldn't recommend them for a beginner shooter as they would probably be more than they can manage or they might falsely instill a notion of being able to shoot farther than a newbie should. I also personally think a scope should be at a minimum of 10x and preferably 12x or greater to get the most from a multi point reticle. A 9x scope isn't much when you are talking about shooting 4,5 or 600 yds.

Good luck,
RA

Seeking Trad Deer

Thanks for your response RA, I learned a lot from it. I am wrestling with getting an LPS in either 2.5-10 or 3.5 to 14X or a VarixIII with the Boone and Crocket. I don't have a clue as to what to get. I want it for someday hunting out West. Any additional thoughts are appreciated.

Mike

haugenna

STD (lol)"seeking trad deer"

I have a Leupold vxiii 4.5-14 boone and crockett. I love the scope. I have it mounted on a weatherby 30-378 and someday I hope to reach out and tag something with it. As for now just having fun at the range. I bought mine on ebay for 450 dollars NIB. I noticed in your second post that yousaid"someday", if there were no hurryI would wait, you never know what theywill come up with next. Happy hunting.

RedAllison

STD if those are the only two scopes you are sold on then save yourself some money and buy the VXIII. The LPS is a fine scope don't get me wrong, BUT despite it's 30mm tube there is still 1" glass inside it! I just don't think they are worth the couple hundred extra compared too the VXIII series. For the same money you can get into the 1" Swarovski AV series and they ARE clearer than either the Luepolds. I have a 3.5x10x50 VariXIII and a 4.5x14x50 VariXIII and when talking about reaching out and touching someone with mil-dots you will want the most magnification you can get. In all honesty a 10x isn't really any different than a 9. At least with a 14 you can draw down on them. Is this going to be a treestand rifle or one you are going to tote? If it will be primarily used while stationary you might wanna look at the 6x20x50 Leupold. My brother has one on his 300WSM Abolt and though he primarily uses it for treestandin, it worked great on our mulie/lope hunt in WY lastyear. He has the mildot reticle and ANYTHING within 600yds is "goin for a ride in the truck" On that same hunt I had my 6x24x50 Swarovski PVS atop my Sako Warbird and it too performed flawlessly but our closest shots were 125yds on mulies and both lopes were shot over 300.

Good luck,
RA

ps
My opinion of THE most perfect scope? If Swarovski would build a <15" scope that weighed under 1# and had the range of 4x30 with a 56mm bell on a 30mm tube with their TDS Plex reticle and could do it for less than $2k-3k I'd be ALLOVER it!

Seeking Trad Deer

Believe it or not I have a VXIII in 2/5 to 8 x 36 MM that is a new scope with the index matched lenses. I seem to prefer the VXII and LPS. Must be something wrong with my eyes. Any other thoughts are appreciated.

eldeguello

Most of us will never shoot at anything much over 300 yards away unless we are a little loony. For the majority of hunting, a plain Duplex is fine, if the rifle is zeroed correctly. To me, the various rangefinder/ballistic type reticles are way too "busy", having too much to look throught/at, to distract one's attention and even obscure some of the field of view at the worst possible time-when we should be concentrating on the target.

If you are sitting in the "Hoch-Sitz" like in Germany or Texas, and have range markers on every possible game approach, and have all the time in the world to fool around deciding which bead on the reticle to use, then I guess they're OK.....
But I'll admit to being a trifle weird. I like a low-powered,FIXED-POWER (2.5X to 6X) scope that can be mounted low,has a large fields of view and doesn't have to be parallax-corrected for every different range. I think astronomical telescopes should be mounted in observatories, not on rifles!

I have several variable scopes, but have discovered, after using them off and on for forty years, that I tend to leave them set at one power setting while hunting, usually 4X, and have never changed one when a game animal was sighted! Some people use their high-power scopes for spotting, but this is a dangerous practice, for which binoculars should be used!!

Seeking Trad Deer

I was at Cabellas yesterday because they have a huge scope selection I can look through. I spent about an hour with the head scope guy. He told me that Leupold are poor scopes. He told me I should be buying a Zeis Conquest, Nikon Monarch Gold, or Swarvoski or perhaps even a Burris before I buy a Leupold. I do think Zeiss is better but I was really surprised at how down he was on the Leupold Scopes. This is coming from the guy that is their scope expert and that is all he does. What do you guys think about this?

SCOTT78

I have a zeiss conquest and i really like it. Personally i think it looks more clear than the Leupold but that is just my eyes

Paul L Mohr

Your cabela's must not be like mine. The scopes are in the gun department. The counters have scopes, handguns and other stuff. The rifles are behind the counter. There is no one person that specializes in anything. They work behind the counter and will help who ever with whatever. Not to mention take a phone call in the middle of helping you (that drives me nuts!).

I would ask what qualifies him as a "Scope Specialist". The fact that he sells them doesn't mean much. Does he have an optics background? Is he a world class hunter and used all these scopes in the field? I doubt it. I think cabela's does a decent job of getting employees knowedgable in the department they work, but experts? Not from what I have seen. Opinionated yes, experts, not so much. Most of the time they can't even tell me who makes a particular scope when you look at it. I mean it has thier name on it, but it's made by someone else for them. It sure would be nice if they knew who, but they don't.

I'm not a huge leupold fan, but a poor scope? I highly doubt it. One of the best built on the market, that is why they offer the waranty they do. Just a bit pricey for what you get in my opinion. I could see if he said that about tasco, or a cheaper bushnell, but leupold? I hope they don't hear about what cabela's staff is saying about thier product.

On that note I own one of the Cabela's Alaskan Guide scopes and like it quite a bit. I thought for the money it was nicer and had more features than the simular leupold I looked at. It's a 6.5x20x44 with the mildot reticle. I put in my .17HMR and love it. I tried about 4 scopes before I found the one I wanted. That is the good thing about cabela's, if you don't like it take it back and get something different.

Paul