What scope do you trust? Most rugged, dependable rifle scope?

[Badboymelvin]

I’m a Leupold fanboy so I’d always say Leupold

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I was in the Navy, my brother recently retired from the 82nd, one nephew just retired Army SF, another is in the 101st, and yet another is in the 4ID…
We all use Leupold so I guess I’m a little plugged in lol
It’s OK, no worries! Some guys like blondes, some brunettes

I’ve been out for a few years but it was Mark 4’s, as well as some Schmidt’s

 

[Inline6]

I was in the Navy, my brother recently retired from the 82nd, one nephew just retired Army SF, another is in the 101st, and yet another is in the 4ID…
We all use Leupold so I guess I’m a little plugged in lol
It’s OK, no worries! Some guys like blondes, some brunettes

Thank you and thank your family for your service.

Forgive me I'm not certain of the groups you named. Are any of you snipers, DM, AD, SDM, or USMT? I cannot recall one person say 15 years ago that looked through a Leupold and then a S&B then say I chose Leupold.

Again, I'm not saying they fall apart like Legos. I'm saying I have seen to many go down with my own eyes. For that reason I personally don't trust them.

I have looked through the new MK5HD, the glass has improved. I did not like the way the mirage looked through the glass. I'm being picky, I see no reason for them choosing 35mm main tube, .25 mil marks on their reticles. If I did not have the knowledge of them from 20+ years ago. With what I mentioned above would keep me from purchasing them. This is all my personal experience and thoughts, they are worth what you paid for them.

 

[CZDiesel]

Thank you and thank your family for your service.

Forgive me I'm not certain of the groups you named. Are any of you snipers, DM, AD, SDM, or USMT? I cannot recall one person say 15 years ago that looked through a Leupold and then a S&B then say I chose Leupold.

Again, I'm not saying they fall apart like Legos. I'm saying I have seen to many go down with my own eyes. For that reason I personally don't trust them.

I have looked through the new MK5HD, the glass has improved. I did not like the way the mirage looked through the glass. I'm being picky, I see no reason for them choosing 35mm main tube, .25 mil marks on their reticles. If I did not have the knowledge of them from 20+ years ago. With what I mentioned above would keep me from purchasing them. This is all my personal experience and thoughts, they are worth what you paid for them.

The 82nd and 101st work directly with SOCOM units. My nephew who retired Army SF was not a Sniper but Snipers were in his teams and he operated along side of them.
Chris Kyle’s two favorite scopes and scopes he used were a NF and a Leupold. The Photo that he has in his book with his longest kill has a Leupold on it! He never complained about them that I’ve seen…
Again, I hope we aren’t ruining this thread and personally I’m happy with whatever anyone is happy using so that’s all I’ve got.
Happy Labor Day brother!

 

[Inline6]

The 82nd and 101st work directly with SOCOM units. My nephew who retired Army SF was not a Sniper but Snipers were in his teams and he operated along side of them.
Chris Kyle’s two favorite scopes and scopes he used were a NF and a Leupold. The Photo that he has in his book with his longest kill has a Leupold on it! He never complained about them that I’ve seen…
Again, I hope we aren’t ruining this thread and personally I’m happy with whatever anyone is happy using so that’s all I’ve got.
Happy Labor Day brother!

It's all good brother! We are just two guys having a conversation about the topic at hand. Both of us stated our experiences. That will give people different perspectives. Which is what this is all about.

Happy Labor Day to you too!

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

I have Nightforce scopes on 4 of my rifles that I need to account for bullet drop over 250 Yards. They work in conjunction with DOPE that is captured in my Zeiss RF Bino’s. Zero stop, dial for elevation, and wind is what works for me for accuracy with distance. Glass is great, rugged built, repeatability, and great customer service.

Others include different variations of Leupold.

 

[mdwest]

Some of you guys must be absolute troglodytes lol…

I’m not particularly kind to my gear… I go places where the weather sucks… I don’t mind getting on the ground and crawling to a shooting position, dragging my rifle along the way, etc etc…

If not flying, I typically travel with my rifles in soft cases and don’t bother with hard cases…

Etc etc…

And I don’t have the slightest worry about breakage with any modern, reasonable quality scope..

As I said in an earlier post, I’m not particularly brand loyal.. most of my safe holds leupold, zeiss, and swaro… but there’s a vortex or two in there and a few other things..

There’s nothing I do.. and nowhere I go where I am concerned with having nightforce/smash with hammer toughness…

Don’t get me wrong… there’s scenarios where that kind of ruggedness is of high value… back in my “sniper” days when I was much more regularly crawling through drainage ditches, dragging my bag over rocks, running through the woods at a full sprint for a few hundred yards, etc etc.. it would have been appreciated…

But, truthfully, the leupold MKIV and the VariXIII that I had in my rifles then survived everything I threw at them… and I’m pretty sure they could have taken more..

 

[Cotton King]

I have purchased 2 different Leupold's recently - VX5 HD and VX6 HD as well as a Swarovski Z8i. All have been good scopes depending on what the budget will allow.

 

[fourfive8]

KISS principal- 2 1/2 FXII Leupold Ultralight.
Makes sense considering weigh/mass inertia is not your friend for mitigating effects of recoil. Have 2- one on 416 Rem Mag and one on 450 Watts. Additionally this scope has 4.9” eye relief.

 

[WyoBull]

You have to understand the circumstances. How hard are you on your gear? Tough environments is one thing, getting bounced around having turrets spun up and down for repeatability is something else.

The first 12 field matches I personally shot, atleast one went down every match (have seen as many as three in one match). The game some of play, we are trying to hit 1/2 MOA targets at distances past 1k yards.

If one of your scope/rifle combo's hold 1-2 moa are you fine with that? I'm sure a good many here are okay with that. Some of us are not, if a match barrel of mine cannot hold 3/8" @100 yards (I know when I'm holding it back and when the rifle is holding me back). The barrel gets replaced. Depending on the round that can be between 1k-2k rounds (6mm-7mm) 308win and 223 live longer generally speaking 2-4X.

inline6, your points are well taken and valid. I live in Wyoming and mostly hunt here. The environment can be pretty tough, both terrain and weather. I mostly hunt from 6000 feet high desert plains and sagebrush up to above timberline during all seasons.
I am a hunter, not a benchrest shooter. So, my standard for accuracy is 1/2 MOA and if any of my rifles cannot produce that or better I get rid of them. I also reload all my own ammunition.
Having had such good luck with Leupold I just can’t see changing at this stage in my life. I also believe in the KISS methodology and thee CDS dual with a fine duplex reticle is pretty simple.
I know there are better scopes but Leupold works for my intended purpose.

 

[ThinusS]

Leupold. I use quite a few on working rifles, including a VX-I, VX-2, VX-III, VX-3, VX3-HD, VX-5 HD and VX-6. They are probably the toughest scopes on the market. Not that you can't break them, I've managed it with two scopes in 25 years, but it is not easy. and if there is a problem, Leupold will repair or replace it, no question asked, for the cost of shipping it to and from the South African agent.

I also own and use a Swarovski z3, a S&B 4x36, an old steel tube Weaver K3 and a 30 year old Japanese made Tasco, which now sits on a springer air rifle but had done duty on a 7x57 and a .300 win mag.

 

[Andama]

If you want to compare weight and durability the Leupold MK5 is really hard to beat. 26oz gets you a pretty bombproof piece of glass with a great magnification range. If you compare it to the VX6 with very similar magnification you are only gaining 4oz and getting a much more robust piece of hardware plus its FFP.

 

[petander]

German and austrian riflescopes have served me well for 50+ years. I have had others too. Here in Finland we hunt in low light,cold and snow.

Taking the same scopes to Africa is stretching it a bit.

 

[Quaticman]

I have a Trijicon Accupoint 1-4x with the German # 4 reticle on my .458 Win Mag dangerous game rifle. I would trust my life on that scope.

 

[petander]

I have a Trijicon Accupoint 1-4x with the German # 4 reticle on my .458 Win Mag dangerous game rifle. I would trust my life on that scope.

I hear you about #4 reticle. My "new-for-me" 80's Sako 375 H&H is wearing a steel tube B.Nickel 1-4x24 with a #4 reticle. That scope is from the 80's as well, I have had it on many rifles since 94 or so when it came to me.

One does not shoot tiny 300 m groups with a #4 but at 1x, I can break clay pigeons on berm from 25 to 75 meters all day while having a good , wide vision. Both eyes open of course.

I will swap that scope for something larger for load development later on... but after I'm done, it's back to #4. Got many moose with it during the years.

 

[petander]

German #4 @ 1 X mag. Berm is 75 meters

 

[Rule 303]

Toughest most reliable: Nightforce NXS or subsequent hunting models , , Schmidt and Bender Zenith, Aimpoint, Trijicon, Zeiss Victory. These are based on what I have and what I have seen/read.

From what I can make out there is not much in the reliability/toughness side of things between the S&B, Aimpoint and Trijacon.

 

[dlmac]

I have had only one scope fail and it was when I really needed it. It was a low cost budget scope and I had hunted with it for several years. Bought better scopes after that and never had a problem. Burris, weaver, Leupold, Zeiss, Kahles, Stiener and Nikon.

 

[Buckums]

I had a Nikon lose a seal and it fogged internally. That was over 30 years ago. Of the Nikons I have now, none as let go. And they sit various rifle calibers including .300WM, .375HH and my .458B&M. And they've all seen lots of trigger pulls. It's too bad they stopped making them.

I had the same thing happen with a 2010s era Nikon and I didn't know it until a nice whitetail in KS was walking past me at 150 yards and all I could do is sit and watch since I couldn't see anything out of my scope. Nikon replaced it, but that didn't get back my hunt or the opportunity at a very nice buck. I love the old Heavy-Shot commercial ... "I didn't come this far to miss" same goes for scopes.