Long Range scope...

chrishaynesusa

Bought an X
Location
SJC
I have been looking at NightForce for my 338 Lapua.
seems to handle the shock of firing without breaking down.

of course the 338 has a lot of shock upon firing. :)
 

Pro-2X

Suspension Lift
Location
Rockmart, GA
Without a doubt. Either nightforce or Schmidt and bender would be best but $$$$$...Nikon monarch is GREAT especially for the price.
 

dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
Can't remember who it is but there's some company making an integrated ballistic computer in the scope with laser rangefinder... Lets you range it, and then it puts a red dot on where you need to aim for your new point of impact...
 

Pro-2X

Suspension Lift
Location
Rockmart, GA
It all really depends on what you are using it for.

Nightforce - Stainless Steel body, Titanium adjustment knob springs, superior rings = Extreme duty / Tactical

Zeiss - Aluminum body, GREAT glass, limited magnification = Hunting & bench shooting

Nikon - Uses Zeiss glass, so basically the same

Leupold - Good glass, great shock durability = Hunting, Bench shooting, and light tactical.
 

TKDx00

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
I have been looking at NightForce for my 338 Lapua.
seems to handle the shock of firing without breaking down.

of course the 338 has a lot of shock upon firing. :)

Lapua rounds cost more than Winchester...and the rifles I found that use Lapua cost more. Even though I'm spending the $ for a .338, I'm trying to keep down the longe range cost. I fell in love w/ the .338 last year. .308's are great and the .50 are just to d@mn big. The .338 are just right for me.
 

TKDx00

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
It all really depends on what you are using it for.

Nightforce - Stainless Steel body, Titanium adjustment knob springs, superior rings = Extreme duty / Tactical
Zeiss - Aluminum body, GREAT glass, limited magnification = Hunting & bench shooting
Nikon - Uses Zeiss glass, so basically the same
Leupold - Good glass, great shock durability = Hunting, Bench shooting, and light tactical.

There's a Cabelas near me that carries all of these. That's were I found the Mossberg 930 SPX.
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
I'm looking to pair up a scope to a Winchester Model 70 Magnum, any suggestions?

Which 70 model did you get?

I was considering the Model 70 Alaskan but went with the Ruger M77 Guide; it was exactly what I was looking for (cool looking plinker/emergency critter blaster).
 

dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
It all really depends on what you are using it for.

Nightforce - Stainless Steel body, Titanium adjustment knob springs, superior rings = Extreme duty / Tactical

Zeiss - Aluminum body, GREAT glass, limited magnification = Hunting & bench shooting

Nikon - Uses Zeiss glass, so basically the same

Leupold - Good glass, great shock durability = Hunting, Bench shooting, and light tactical.

Excluding of course the leupolds that the military use on their sniper systems yes? ;)

I agree with about 99% of what P2X is saying, so, let me throw this at you.

Magnification is a question of your eye sight and how well you need to be able to clearly make out the target. The higher quality glass you have, also lets you forgive a bit on the magnification.

Now, there are three overwhelmingly important questions to ask here, that I don't know that anyone has asked.

1. What caliber is the gun?

2. Please, because we all have our own personal definition of long range shooting, give us some numerical equivalence to what YOU consider long range. It'll certainly help at least two of us (P2X and I at minimum) clarify our answers on what you should be looking at.

3. What are you planning on needing to hit at the range that you specify in #2 above? Be honest, because here's where the shooters with ballistics apps can tell you if you're just plain crazy or not.

In short, if you're like my wife and consider anything over about 400m long range and will never shoot beyond say 600m, I'm going to tell you unless you're purely rolling in the dough, to stick to entry level Leupold, Nikon or Zeiss, because you aren't really reaching out far enough to warrant going all out like what better scopes would provide. If you say you're like me and "long" is 800m+ and you've got a caliber capable of accurate 1mi shots, then we're talking about nightforce, the elite upper end zeiss, the high end leupolds, and I honestly couldn't tell you if there's a Nikon scope that'll get you out that far.

If you're just paper punching, well, have fun and there's not really a lower threshold for magnification, if you can tell that it's your target, go for it.

For hunting, you need a much higher level of magnification, as positive target identification is 100% essential. At long ranges, you absolutely must have enough magnification to tell the difference between a deer, or a stupid guy wearing a carhart suit and no orange like he should be.

Also, like p2x said, durability. I've you're just bench shooting, enjoy, you're fine with any, if you're packing it around through the dirt, rocks, trees, and whatever else while hunting, pick a tougher scope and rings too...
 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
I should add that vortex optics are AWESOME as well. Matter of fact, I would buy a vortex over many of the other options that have been listed. Specifically the viper PST line.

I have to agree with the durability as well. My leupold VX-III on my 270 WSM has taken a beating hiking around the sandhills and tossed in and out of trucks, etc. and has held zero all along. I had an issue with a differently leupold scope and sent it off to get fixed for free because of their lifetime guarantee.

All of the recommendations here have been awesome, you just need to decide on a few things:

1. What is your budget?
2. What will you be doing with it? (Benchrest, hunting, both?)
3. How far is "long range" for you? (will help determine magnification needs.)

Answer those three things and we can point you to a number of scopes to choose from.
 

Pro-2X

Suspension Lift
Location
Rockmart, GA
My choice for my Cheytac that I am building is Nightforce NXS 12-42x56. This is why...
Bulletscope_zpsa42fe995.jpg
 

TKDx00

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
Caliber: .338 Winchester round
Range: up 1 1/2 mile, more if possible
Usage: bench/hunting
Budget: Undetermined actually. If it's worth it to me I can make it happen.
 

dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
Caliber: .338 Winchester round
Range: up 1 1/2 mile, more if possible
Usage: bench/hunting
Budget: Undetermined actually. If it's worth it to me I can make it happen.

Hate to say it, but, according to ballistic advanced edition, you're not gonna make a mile with the .338 win mag, it drops subsonic at about 1050m, and that's a 2 second flight time.

If we say 1000m is your max to be safe, any of the above scopes will be fine



image-831695762.jpg
image-2971331610.jpg
image-2767529535.jpg

Here's the ballistics/trajectory chart

image-1584971124.jpg

And the graph, on the .338 win mag round with the most energy...
 

TKDx00

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
Then what will go that distance besides a .50? A buddy of mine has a cabin on the side of a mountain that overlooks a valley full of deer, moose, elk etc.. I would like to reach out and touch something without dislocating my shoulder.
 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
Then what will go that distance besides a .50? A buddy of mine has a cabin on the side of a mountain that overlooks a valley full of deer, moose, elk etc.. I would like to reach out and touch something without dislocating my shoulder.

Nothing else will do it effectively. Nothing smaller that is. Shooting 1.5 miles is something I think only a handful- literally no more than 5 people- could do successfully.
 

TKDx00

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
1.5 miles maybe stretching it a bit realistically. However I do want to be able to shoot a longer distance than average. I just thought the .338 would be the more effective round short of a 50. So to shoot effectively up to say 1500 and to save a bit of coin am I looking at a .308?
 

Pro-2X

Suspension Lift
Location
Rockmart, GA
.308 struggles at 1000. You could go 1500 with .338 Lapua. IF you wanted to do it a little bit cheaper than .338 Lapua, you could always go with .338 Remington Ultra Magnum. .408 Cheytac holds the world record for grouping @ 2000m.
 

TKDx00

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
$13K for a Cheytac...HAHAHAHAHA you funny :0mg:

Guys...I don't intend to become a sniper for hire... just trying to shoot as far as I can and be accurate. lol
 
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dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
Nothing else will do it effectively. Nothing smaller that is. Shooting 1.5 miles is something I think only a handful- literally no more than 5 people- could do successfully.

Eh, .418 Barrett, the cheytac that P2X is building, .338 lapua mag, they'll all make the mile and a half mark...actually, all of the cheytac builds I think...
 

dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
If you like .338's, stick to the lapua mag...it's a beast, and, lapua's a good enough product, that their brass is the gold standard of brass, and, it's what everyone wants for hand loading...

.338lpm has a combat confirmed kill of 1.58mi if memory serves....

I'm gonna be plenty happy once mine's in my hands...
 

chrishaynesusa

Bought an X
Location
SJC
I quickly learned after doing some research that the scope will in all probability cost as much as the Savage 110 BA 338 Lapua I bought.

Web picture of savage 110 BA
dont have to tell you what BA stand for ? :)

savage-110-ba-338-lapua.jpg
 
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dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
I quickly learned after doing some research that the scope will in all probability cost as much as the Savage 110 BA 338 Lapua I bought.

Yup, but, it's the key to making it function at its best levels of accuracy and capability.

Well, that and training yourself to do it right, and having the ability to function at that level...

A badass spotter goes a long way toward that too...

Along with that badass rifle, and rifle scope, you **also** need an even higher magnification spotting scope. This is the one spot that I suggest leupold for both the rifle and spotting scopes, as they make a series of spotting scopes that have the exact same range finding reticle as the riflescope, so that you have a high magnification version of what's on your gun, for target identification. After all, it'd really suck for you to mistake a person for a moose/deer/etc, and at that point, you squeeze the trigger, and then you have a very ugly situation on your conscience.
 

dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
I quickly learned after doing some research that the scope will in all probability cost as much as the Savage 110 BA 338 Lapua I bought.

Web picture of savage 110 BA
dont have to tell you what BA stand for ? :)

110BA = awesome,

This is my toy as soon as my guy gets home from the catbox across the puddle....

image-3665183640.jpg

Fully kitted, minus the BORS.

26" barrel, with the Leupold Mark 4 M1 scope...(4.5-14x50)
 

dhyde79

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Amarillo, TX
Are we gearing up for "day after" events?!?!?!?

Nah, when I left the military, I was worried I might have some nasty PTSD, so, I had an FFL buddy sell off my SR-25, AR10, LR-308, and a few others, all with high end optics...he called me and told me that he'd gotten em sold and gave me a mind boggling total, so, I called Barrett and blew some of the funds ;)

Unfortunately my FFL guy was an armorer for his unit, and got deployed to Afghanistan after it came in, so, it's locked up in his arms room at the unit and logged as his rifle, so, gotta wait for him to come home to take possession....ended up getting the SR-25 back too, just no high end scope anymore, the guy that bought it dropped it pretty effin hard and ruined the scope....
 

Pro-2X

Suspension Lift
Location
Rockmart, GA
I don't like collapsible or folder. My engineering mind takes over and that is a joint that no matter how precise will wear over time and allow movement. That movement could be several inches at 1000+.
 
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