kdvollmer

Personally, I am not a big fan of the Leupold porducts anymore. Ihave a MK 4 4.5 x14 and am really dissappointed by it. If you have a Bass Pro near you, it is usually a great place to SHOP for a scope. not necessarily buy there. The one in Nashville has mostof their scopes on mock stocks so you can pick it up and look though it like you would at home. What i really like is the fact that they have lots of mouts around the stor of lots of different game in lots of different terrain type mounts. Use that stock and scope to look around at the game to really see how it looks with the scope you are shopping for.

skeeter 7MM

I have been a leupold user and supporter for many years but I agree with the majority on the Zeiss Conquest suggestion. I have 3 currently and prefer them to the VXIII in features and optical performance.

As mentioned Zeiss has addeda ballistic plex called the Rapid Z reticle into the conquest line this year. I also prefer/like the Z-plex reticles.

All are good optics though and you should really try to find a shop that would allow you to compare real life so your eye can tell you which is the best. I wouldn't buy an optical device without being able to look through it outside first, store lighting IMO doesn't lend itself to good side by side comparison.

Deerpolice

I apprecciate all the input. I was leaning towards the zeiss and now I am almost positive about the conquest. I have been looking at SWFA, they have some very competitive pricing. I have actually been looking at the 3*10*50 with 30mm main tube. Does this tube size offer any advantage over a 1" tube, it seems to be a considerable price difference?

Thanks again for everybody's input.

Kirch

what is SWFA??

They say the 30mm tube allows more light in as a 1" tube is only 25.4mm.

If you don't mind the 50mm being mounted higher and the higher price I'd say go for it. But I think the 3x9-40mm is plenty of scope for most people and at a great price.

Alsatian

Others have more experience and knowledge about this subject than I do, but this won't prevent me from throwing in my thoughts.

I have three VariX-III 3.5-10x 40 mm scopes and one VX-III 3.5-10x 40 mm scope. They each cost me about $475. My experience with these is that it gets too dark to hunt (after legal shooting hours are closed)before the light gathering ability of the scopes let me down. Thus, a "brighter" scope than these would provide me no practical advantage. The image I see in the scope is crisp and free of obvious optical faults -- no fuzzing when looking towards bright light, no distortion of an image across the field of view, no color separation. The scopes work for big game hunting, my application.

I have never had a problem with these scopes, but I believe that if I had a problem (1) the Leupold warranty would strongly support the scope repair and (2) that I could get rapid response in any place in the US. I wonder how quickly I could get response for failed German glass in Gillette, Wyoming or Cody, Wyoming, or some other big game hunting venue?

But another way of looking at it is that, probably, when you pay above a certain amount of money -- maybe more than about $350 -- any scope you buy is likely to provide good service for big game hunting and also be robust and reliable. If I were to suggest areas for caution it would be choosing unorthodox scope specifications -- for example choosing a 6-24x for a .338 Winchester Magnum may be a mistake, in that the reticle may be stressed for lighter weight cartridges and might be less reliable than a 2-7x scope for the .338 Winchester Magnum. Also, be mindful of the drawbacks of something like an oversized objective -- raises the line of sight slightly, sticks out more, heavier weight -- or large adjustment knobs on tactical style scopes -- may more readily catch on brush when slung on the shoulders. I'm not saying these are total deal breakers . . . just take these issues into consideration.

stubblejumper

What are your legal hunting hours?In some jurisductions,the legal hours are from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.At an hour before sunrise or an hour after sunset,I appreciate all of the light transmission that I can get.

skeeter 7MM

Legal hours here are 1/2hr before and after, though times during a given season where it is well within legal hours thatI to appreciate light gathering/transmission of my optics.

Deerpolice

Yeah ,we're 1/2 hour of sunrise/ sunset. But I want the most for what I am going to get and if something should arise where I need it in darker situations, then I want it to have that ability. For exmpla a clear night with a full moon presents a great time to eliminate crop problems. If I chooses to do this (which I have the legal right and papers to do ) I want the scope to make it happen.
Besides that, it is like others have said, light transmission is what it is all about, the more coming through the better.

Solitary Man

Light transmission is one thing, but resolution is another. One of the things I've enjoyed about the Conquests is their ability to resolve detail better than the Leupolds I've compared them to. No,there's not a big whopping difference, but there is a difference with the advantage going to theZeiss and I can clearly see it when I look through them. Thisis definitely helpfulwhen you're trying to judge antlers against a backdrop of limbs and trigs roughly the same color.