New glass

[clayton86]

So I splurged a little this week on new glass for 3 of my guns well 2 new scopes and 1 new gun that I’m putting a scope from a previous gun on. 
 

I ordered a pulsar thermion for my AR I use for coyotes that one in pretty excited for to ditch the night vision for thermal. 
 

however today I kinda splurged on a new optic for my savage 10fcp 308 that I’ve just had a vortex cross fire 3-9x50 on and always felt kinda restricted by the weak scope. Well today I sprung for a vortex viper hst 6-24x50. Ditched the crossfire to put on my new 17 hornet and the viper is going on the 308. 
 

just from mounting it and playing with it in the store then several review videos I’ve watched on it I’m more excited for this set up than I am for the coyote slaying thermal I’ve got coming in. 
 

anyone else here use the viper scopes? Gonna zero it Thursday along with the 2 other guns needing zero from getting new scopes. 

[Way2slow]

Never got on board with Vortex. $1,000 has always been my cap for buying optics for a rifle and every time I've looked at the Vortex, it was almost twice that for their good scopes.  When you get down into their mid range and upper mid range I've never felt I was getting as much scope as I was paying for.  Don't get me wrong, not saying they are not good, I just felt others were better for the price.  I just ordered two Bushnell Forge FFP scopes and one Bushnell Nitro FFP 4-16x44 to put on a new Marlin 60ss 22, Does that make since or what? Actually, it will probably only be on the 22 for several months while I'm waiting on a couple custom barrels for rifles I'm building.  That's six Bushnell scopes I've ordered in the past eight months.  I remember the day you couldn't give me a Bushnell, they were are the bottom of the food chain then.  About like a Simmons, but they have made a hellava turn around and now, I think they offer the most scope for the buck.  I was buying Sightron SIII's but every time I get one of these Bushnell's I seem to like them better each time.

 

 

[fishballer06]

I just bought some new glass as well. I looked at the Vortex lines and they come highly recommended, but I just didn't feel comfortable buying from a new company that makes their scopes in Asia. 

 

I'm glad you didn't go with Leupold. They seem to have really dropped the quality of their lower end scopes, and they are charging upwards of $600 for scopes that have all the bells and whistles that you want, but they still have the same glass as their $200 scopes. 

 

And I have to agree with you @Way2slow. Bushnell has really stepped up and revamped their entire scope lineup. I snagged a Nitro 3-12x44 for my one deer rifle. 

[clayton86]

The warranty is what sold me on the vortex. Should anything happen it’s always covered I already had my crossfire warrantied back in November I put it on the 308 and when I put the muzzle brake on it and went to reconfirm zero it broke one of the lenses inside the scope. They overnighted one to me and gave me 30 days to return the broke one because it was hunting season. I don’t deer hunt anymore so it wasn’t necessary but I’m not gonna complain. 
 

they are the nicest scopes I’ve ever looked through granted I never had nice optics till now. The viper with rings ran me $740 that’s the most I’ve ever spent on a scope not counting the thermal ups is delivering today hopefully....long story there smh. 

[Way2slow]

My problem is  have more good rifles than I have good optics.  A number of my scopes were scopes I bought back in the 70's and 80's when I was doing a whole lot more hunting than now.  It's only been in the last 15 years I've actually started buying upper mid level and lower high end scopes.  I've bought rather nice scopes for the handful of rifles I shoot the most, nothing like a Schmidt Bender but nice. Now I'm upgrading the older ones and trying to get scopes on all of them.  In the past, I've been taking a scope off one rifle and putting it on another I wanted to use. 

Since this is an ongoing project and I have no certain time line I have to meet.  I'm an opportunistic shopper.  I have come to really like the Bushnell's and they are very good at having some really great deals on them.  Their Forge line are some really nice scopes and when I can buy their $800 - $900 Forge scope for $400, and their $1,500 Elite scopes for well under $1,000, it's hard to buy another brand.

A friend of mine thinks there is not other scope than a Schmidt Bender and I have shot with one he paid over $4,000 and I am yet to see how I could justify something like that.  The only time I've noticed a marked difference was late one evening (almost dark) and I was shooting a 500 yard target with his 6.5CM with a SB scope on it.  I was going to shoot a couple with my 260 and call it quits.  Well, that didn't happen.  With his scope I could still see the target, with my scope, I could see a blob down there, but no way I was going to make out the bulls eye. Both scopes were similar in power, but that still don't make me want to run out and pay what those things cost.

[clayton86]

Got my pulsar thermion in and mounted up zeroing it in the morning coyotes won’t stand a chance this thing is sweet

[Way2slow]

On the subject of new glass.  If you happen to be looking for a new Rim Fire scope, there is a killer of a deal on the Bushnell.  I think they discontinued some and you can get their 3.5-10x36 A17 with Multi-X reticle #613510A for $53 from a seller on ebay. 

Now, if you look at the same scope in the A22 with their 22 drop zone reticle (for 22 long rifle) they are still going for $90, which is still a good deal.  I bought one, and then I came across this A17 (calibrated for 17cal).  Couldn't pass that up so I bought two of those.

The thing is, when you get the Multi-X reticle, the only difference between the A17 and A22 is one markings on one of the three turrets that they come with.  Something you will probably never use anyway.  They both still come with the standard turret and a blank you can put you own calibration marks one. 

Now, these are not your little tinker toy scopes, they have a little size to them and a little weight so if you are wanting some little bitty something, you don't want one of these.

[SuperDuty]

On 1/8/2020 at 5:38 PM, clayton86 said:

Got my pulsar thermion in and mounted up zeroing it in the morning coyotes won’t stand a chance this thing is sweet

Sweet! You'll have to give us a a good review of it when you've had time to put in through the ringer.

 

My youngest son and I love to hunt yotes. We both use AR's too. He's 14 and just got his first AR for Christmas. It's a PSA 16" upper with the nickel boron bolt and the lower is the fully polished enhanced trigger model. I put the red camo hogue buttstock and pistol grip on it since that's his favorite color. And topped it with a Leupod VXR 2-7-33. I think that $400 Leupold is almost as clear as my brother in laws $3000 schmidt Bender scope! Honestly, I think even the new Freedom series seems to be as good as the old VX2-3 series of scopes. 

 

This is what his came out looking like. He loves his new rifle!