VX-6HD or Polar T96?

[revturbo9967]

Ran a s&b klassik on my 375 in Zim last year and won’t look back. Best over all hunting scope I own

 

[CP392]

Ran a s&b klassik on my 375 in Zim last year and won’t look back. Best over all hunting scope I own

Im glad to hear it went well!
Fixed or variable? Which size?

 

[375Ruger416]

View attachment 628736

I have a Christensen Arms Traverse chambered in 375 H&H that needs some glass. I'm trying to decide between these two scopes and hoping to get some input from those more experienced with higher end optics.

I have no way of seeing the S&B before purchase and have no previous experience with that brand. Leupold is the standard for many with a quality reputation all around. That being said, I'm leaning towards the S&B because it is something a little different as well as something new to me.

Any thoughts on these or possibly a different recommendation all together?

I’m putting a VX6 hd 2-12 on my 375 barrel for my R8. That said, I was shooting my 6.5 prc to 450 yds a couple days ago and have found my Nightforce 2.5-10 to be enough magnification to shoot out to 550 yds in the past. I would go smaller and lower profile rather than bigger. I may end up going with a 1-6 myself.

I would go with the Leupold 2-12, the Leupold 1-6 or one of BeeMaa’s suggestions above. The swarovski 1-8 and the 1.7-13.3 are also great options if you have to have a little more magnification and have the budget for it.

 

[375Ruger416]

BTW, one of our site sponsors offers great prices on Swarovski optics.

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/special-swarovski-pricing-for-ah.69736/

 

[revturbo9967]

Im glad to hear it went well!
Fixed or variable? Which size?

3-12x42. Took buff, croc, hippo, and a bunch of other plains game

 

[CP392]

Thanks so much for all the input!
I went ahead and placed an order for both the VX-6HD and S&B Polar I originally asked about, as well as an S&B Klassik 3-12x42, as suggested by revturbo.

I sincerely appreciate all the responses! I'm certain one of these scopes will fit this rifle perfectly.

I might have an excuse to start a new project as well.

 

[375Ruger416]

Ha ha - both is a great answer. I’m sure you’ll decide upon the perfect one for you!

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi CP392,

One thing I forgot to say is the configuration of the scope, specially the lenght of the eyepiece. Having had all makes mentioned here, I would chose the ones with the shortest eye pieces. The S&B I have had and still have, great optics and mechanics, all Klassik, a 1,25-20 (my first scope in my .375 M70 pre-64) and my present one, a 1,5-6x42 in my FN AKAH 30-06, have a rather long eye piece. This feature makes difficult to mount the scope forward enough with regular mounts to avoid the possibility of a "scope ring" mark in your forehead.
I am convinced a rifle with some recoil, say starting with a 375 or even lower, must be able to be shot from ANY position without ANY danger to be hurt by the scope. Period.
So, the Zeiss Victories and the Kahles Helia C I have, and Leupold as well, are champions on this! Short eye pieces and long eye releif!

Good luck!

CF

 

[Bandera]

Let us know which you decide on.
My reply was going to be that picking a scope comes down to your personal preference and your hunting style.
Also a SCI show is a great place to go and look a bunch of scopes.

 

[revturbo9967]

Thanks so much for all the input!
I went ahead and placed an order for both the VX-6HD and S&B Polar I originally asked about, as well as an S&B Klassik 3-12x42, as suggested by revturbo.

I sincerely appreciate all the responses! I'm certain one of these scopes will fit this rifle perfectly.

I might have an excuse to start a new project as well.

The Klassik is not necessarily a Africa style scope, but it fits my style of shooting. FFP and true mill dots on the P3L reticle allow to have accurate hold overs if using a ballistic calculator. Again, not really needed for Africa, but if the scope ever goes on another rifle, I can use it out west. Capped turrets just make it a sweet hunting scope with the ability to stretch the rifles legs.

The illumination on the P3L is quite impressive

 

[RLL]

I used the same vx6 for several years…move to a couple S&B models for several reasons.

VX6 - fixed parallax leaves some room to be desired when looking/shooting past 100 yards. I do not like thick duplex reticles. Firedot could be brighter in full sun and dimmer when it’s dark out. 42mm objective is preferable to mount lower for me. Glass is acceptable at that price but could be better

S&B fixed paralllex appears better, likely glass quality, still fuzzy when trying to really focus on details out past 200. Illumination dim and bright is the best on the market. Period. The 50mm is not my favorite objective size for mounting or looks. Also important, eye relief is similar for both scopes, not a major factor on 375 but bigger caliber id re-think.

If you can, order some samples to compare before deciding…part of the fun is the research and testing before settling. My 2 cents…

 

[Philip Glass]

View attachment 628736

I have a Christensen Arms Traverse chambered in 375 H&H that needs some glass. I'm trying to decide between these two scopes and hoping to get some input from those more experienced with higher end optics.

I have no way of seeing the S&B before purchase and have no previous experience with that brand. Leupold is the standard for many with a quality reputation all around. That being said, I'm leaning towards the S&B because it is something a little different as well as something new to me.

Any thoughts on these or possibly a different recommendation all together?

That is a tough one as both are good. I use and recommend that Leupold VX6 2-12.
here is another option as well as my take on the whole issue:

 

[Sheldor]

I had a VX-6HD with the firedot duplex. If someone makes better glass I haven’t sat behind it. The turrets are easy to use and were accurate on mine. Pig hunting at night with no light is doable with this scope if you have a decent moon. The firedot turns down low enough to not hurt your night vision. I can’t say enough good things about this scope and shouldn’t have gotten rid of it but it’s what I do.

 

[Sabre]

"The best scope" becomes such a preference based situation that it's almost always going to be better to look at them yourself in person and decide. Which seems to be what you ultimately decided to do. It's interesting how much opinions vary on even very high end scopes and of course their reticles.

I have read countless reviews of scopes and thought I found the perfect one to fit my needs, then went and checked it out in person and couldn't stand it. Then looked at another one on my list and it was great. Or even more funny is when you are comparing scopes and come across one that should be much lower on the list for quality due to price, and find a lower priced one that blows more expensive ones out of the water.

If you are person who likes illuminated reticles that adds another, not so small, obstacle to overcome. So many companies will make an expensive and great scope, then do a terrible job on the illumination feature.