Scope for hunting deer?


RedLynn

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That's essentially it.

I have a .308, and I need a scope for it. I don't need a night vision scope, and I don't need some kind of super magnification. A 2-10ish scope would definitely suffice. What I'm not sure about if what exactly I should get. I like Zeiss and Vortex optics, but I couldn't find any Zeiss scope to my tastes, not for a reasonable price. I found a good Vortex scope, the Vortex Optics Viper PA with 6.5-20x zooming. It's got a very reasonable price, and it is one of the best scopes for my rifle, but its magnification power is a tad excessive. I'm not really a fan of Burris, but their Scout 2-7x32 is also supposedly one of the best.

What should I do?

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For deer hunting i like a 3-9 or comparable power range, most the rifles we hunt with have 3-9 scopes.  That would be good for the .308.  Personally i prefer Nikon optics, hard to beat them in their price ranges.  Have a monarch 2.5-10 on my long range 308 and 4-12 pro staff on my other 308.  On my 270 i most often deer hunt with is also a monarch in 3-9.  Have several other Nikon scopes on most our other guns and been happy with them.  

I have not had any bad experience with Burris.  They are good scopes, have a fullfield 2 3-9x40 on my primary varmint/yote rifle, not quite as bright in low light or as sharp as the Nikons but serves its purpose well.  

Vortex gets great reviews, may try them in the future but have had no first hand experience with them.  

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The only scopes I've used are Bushnell and Leupold. My .300 WSM has a 3-10x40 Bushnell Elite 3200 and my 7mm-08 has a Leupold VX-1 3-9x40. I find that power range the best overall for the areas I hunt here in Ontario. Not too often I have an opportunity to shoot over 300 yards where I hunt. 90% of it is less than 100 yards. The biggest deer I killed was at around 15 yards and I was still able to quickly identify where I was shooting. Pretty much anything over 3x you'd be pushing it. On my walks home from the stand there's fields where I could make a 200+ yard shot easily and 9x is more than enough to do so. If I was out west hunting in Saskatchewan or other flat land areas obviously I'd want to have some more power, something like a 3-18, which gets expensive to have both a low end power accompanied with the higher magnification. 

Would I limit myself to Bushnell and Leupold? No, I'd like to try the Nikons, Zeiss, Vortex and other well known brands. My buddy killed a moose last year with a .300 WSM at 675 yards, it was topped with a Vortex scope with custom turret.

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I just put a Leupold FX-II 4x on a Savage 99F in 308.      I like a fixed power---simple & rugged.     It's a nice light lever action for humpin these Colorado Rockies.  My other rifle is a 30/06 Remington LH 700 it's topped with a Leupold 6X.       I would pick either.        I've seen guys looking real hard thru their variables trying to see the elk---comes to find out the bull was at 50 yards & the power was cranked up to 9x.

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Camofire.com runs specials every now and then on great priced Ziess Conquest and Terra lines of scopes. Ziess glass is really good stuff. I was sold on Ziess a few years ago by using them under the star light hog hunting with no other light source. I saw the hog I shot with no problem just from the light gathering capabilities from the Ziess Conquest on the TC Encore. Leupold is fine glass also. I mean even the low end Rifleman delivers, VX1 ,VX2 and VX3 scopes are steps up.

Caliber specific scope...the Nikon P308 with BDC reticle would be a good fit also.

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Well, my best advice will be for you to try out some great scopes for your 308 rifle . You know it is better to go for the scope that best suits your rifle before getting a second option. why I am advising you to think it before doing is that I have seen people with a firearm and until the moment we met, they have been having one problem or the other with their firearms. You might get a great scope for your 308 that will make you proud like mine does to me! Good luck 

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Quote

That's essentially it.

I have a .308, and I need a scope for it. I don't need a night vision scope, and I don't need some kind of super magnification. A 2-10ish scope would definitely suffice.

What I'm not sure about if what exactly I should get. I like Zeiss and Vortex optics, but I couldn't find any Zeiss scope to my tastes, not for a reasonable price.

I found a good Vortex scope, the Vortex Optics Viper PA with 6.5-20x zooming. Best Vortex scope for ar15  for deer hunting in here

It's got a very reasonable price, and it is for my rifle, but its magnification power is a tad excessive. I'm not really a fan of Burris, but their Scout 2-7x32 is also supposedly one of the best.

What should I do?

Nikon P223 3x is a nice scope that is crystal clear. I'm not an optics expert but this is light years better than the old Bushnell from the late 90s I have on my deer rifle. I initially was going to buy the Nikon P223 3x fixed power as I felt the size in regards to length looked better on the AR in my opinion. I'm glad I went with the 3-9 variable power. The scope length still looks proportional to the gun. I'm beyond a beginner target shooter and I kept a 1 inch pattern at 100 yards no problem using sandbags as rests. I believe a 3x fixed power is only good at 50 yards and found it hard to see a quarter size orange dot at 100 yards. I also picked up the butler creek flip open covers. The sz 19 eyepiece and sz 31 objective fit perfectly. I did not use the BDC as I was in the "back 40" and could only go out 100 yards.

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