Help me choose a rifle scope

I just purchased my first hunting rifle, a Remington 700 ADL in .30-06. The rifle alone set me back a little, so I need some help choosing a solid, multi-purpose scope that is somewhat inexpensive (is there such a thing?).

I plan on hunting elk in CO and deer in CA. I have seen plenty of Simmons scopes (mostly vari. 3x9).

Any suggestions? Please email responses. Thank you in advance.

My suggestion is to NOT buy a cheap scope. Imho, the scope is MORE important than the gun.

I have gone through Simmons, Redfield, & Bushnell scopes, and was dissatisfied with all of them. I now have a Leopould and can say I would have saved myself alot of money and heartache if I had gotten the Leopould to begin with.

I was lucky in that I bought my Vari-X III used (for $125).

I have heard that Burris and Zeiss are also good, quality scopes.

My preference, if you don't want to spend the money for Leopould, go for the Nikon Monarch 3x9 its about 259.00 to 279.00 depending on where you go, but it has great glass and coatings and is very reliable, I have three Leopoulds and two Nikons, and I like the clarity and brightness of the Nikon just a little better, even though it's less expensive than Leopould. Just my .02 worth

Weaver makes a nice variable 2x10 for under $200.00. A few years ago a comparison test ranked Weaver with Leupold for considerably less money. I do however have Leupold Vari-x II 3x9 on my rifles and they are great. In the lesser price ranges Weaver is the only other scope I would consider.

Ed Kautz

I am not gonna trade off my Leopold for it, but I have had good luck with Tasco World Class scopes. I have one on a 721 .270, and one on my daughters 788 .243. I often carry my daughters gun lots and lots of miles in a scabbard on a horse and it has always worked fine. Good Luck!

Hate to tell ya, but the scope should usually cost about as much as the gun. I have a Leupold VariX 3 on my 700 ADL 30-06. Leupold is my favorite by far.

i have a simmons 3-9X40 on my 30-06 and it has done fine for me so far.

also, look at the pine ridge scopes cabelas sells. i know people that have been using them for a while and wouldnt trade them for anything.

Since we've been so darned argumentative on everything from dogs/deer, coyotes, 22-250's I couldn't let this one go. Just who in the world proclaimed that the 'scope should cost as much as the gun'?

Been using Tasco World Class Scopes for years and, when bought, they were less than half of what the rifle(s) cost. Now, having said that, if by some strange quirk ole Santa was to leave a new Leupold in the stocking this year, I doubt I'd be too quick to throw it away. Is it that much 'better' than the Tasco? Don't know, never owned one. But, I do know this....it ain't gonna kill the deer or coyotes any deader than what I have now. And, my Model 70 with the 3x9 Tasco has killed everything it's ever been pointed at when the trigger was squeezed.

<sarcasm ON> Everyone knows that the scope should cost as much as the gun. You should also attach the gun securely to your expensive scope. Also, don't forget that the deer you shoot using your scope will be much more dead than if you shot it using a 'cheap' scope. I mean I do have more money than sense ya know. <sarcasm OFF> Try the Tasco world class scopes or the Simmons Pro-hunter line. They have both been good scopes for me. If you have a little extra money take a look at the Simmons Whitetail Classics or 44 Mag's. and the Tasco World Class Plus scopes.

Mike

'Trying is the first step toward failure'

'Just because I don't care, does'nt mean I don't understand'

I'm glad you've had good luck with your Bushnell, but you must realize that you are in the VAST minority.

I had a Bushnell 3x9 on my 30-.06 (gun cost $300, scope $75). In only 2 years of fairly light use (going to the range 2-3x, then hunt), the crosshairs seperated. Bushnell replaced it, but the same thing happened to the new one. From my experiance, I wouldn't put a Bushnell on anything stronger than a .22.

I now own a Leopould Vari-X III on top of my hand me down .270 (gun cost $0, scope $125 used). I wouldn't take 10 setups of what I had before for what I have now.

Having worked in a retail fireams store, this might shed some light on things for you. At the store where I worked, we sold Simmons, Tasco, Weaver, Bushnell, Redfield, Leupold, Zeiss and Swarovski. We had a high return rate on all of the low end simmons, tasco and bushnell scopes, partly because here in Ohio, we are shotguns only for hunting and as shotguns have a higher recoil than most commonly used rifles, these scopes were being turned back into there basic components pretty quickly. Return rates were as high as 20-25 percent for some of the el cheapo supremes. Over a three year period, we only had one return on a leupold, a vari-x III where the windage wouldn't adjust right out of the box, none on the Zeiss and none on the Swarovski although we only sold fewer than 15 over a 3 year period. Now, there was a defining line that stood out over those three years. $100.00 appeared to be a bench mark. onece you got over that mark the return rates for scopes really went down. Good buys that were reliable included Weaver, Simmons Aetec and their whitetail classics, Bushnell Trophys and Scopechiefs, all typically under $150.00. Don't even think about touching a Bushnell sportveiw, Simmons deerfield or Tasco pronghorn and Bantam. All P.O.S. any way you look at them. Hope this helps.