Best Scope up to $1000 for hunting and bench.

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jorgemac

jorgemac

Member
Oct 17, 2015
180
4
Chillan, Chile
I want to upgrade my Sightron SIII 6-24x50 for varmint hunting and long bench shooting with ImpactX .30

The requirements are top HD glass, parallax min 30 yards and max 28-30oz of weight.

One possibility that I found is the Sig Sauer Whiskey5 5-25x 52mm with the MOA Milling Hunter.

The min parallax is 20 yards and weighs 28oz.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Sig-Sauer-Whiskey-5-25x52-30mm-MOA-Milling-Hunter.aspx

Has anyone tried this scope?
Is it really an upgrade to the sightron SIII 6-24x50 in glass quality?

Any other alternative?




 
Haven't had a chance to have a look through the scope you mentioned. It may be good if it is made in Japan or Germany or Austria or USA.

Speaking of crystal clear glass and low weight I can recommend LEUPOLD made in USA.

I can also specifically recommend a JAPAN Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30x 50 which has a 25 yard minimum focus and weighs 21-24oz

having 50 moa of adjustment which is plenty considering its 30x magnification and most importantly, backed by one of

the best no questions asked Lifetime warranty in the business. It is IMHO the ultimate hunting and bench scope in one package

with a low 4.5x minimum and a 30x clear and sharp maximum range which also has a weatherproof rainguard lens coating.

You can even click it to hell and back and it will always return to zero!

Amazon sellers $824.95- $1129.99 same scope different markup.

It is a discontinued model which I highly recommend. I own one

along with many 2.5-16x (10 yard minimum focus) versions and feel that

they are well worth their selling price.



CA
 
Upvote 0
“Best” gets tough with that set of requirements, with several features acting against each other. 

For Hunting, you want a low mag, and for bench, it is great to have high mag. Scopes get expensive when you want them both in high quality glass, and they get heavy.

The SIII 10-50 is a wildly popular bench scope/precision scope. 10x on the low end isn’t ideal for hunting, and it hits the top of your weight mark around 30oz. Can find under $900, closer to $700 used or less depending on model. 

The Vortex PST is a great option, and at 5-25 it is going to come in just over the weight at around 31 I think. Excellent glass, very good range, and Vortex bombproof warranty. It will come in below $1000, $850-950 range. 

I would highly recommend the Athlon Ares BTR. At 4.5-27, it has great range and will meet weight around 27 I think. Glass isn’t as good as the PST, but still very good. They are around $750, or $600 used. You could step up to the Ares ETR, but it is going to go over weight because it moves to 34mm tube. Upgraded glass and 4.5-30, it is a big upgrade, and will cost right at $1000. A used Cronus (non-BTR) can be had for around $1000 and it is even better but still overweight. 

Personally, I think the Ares is the best scope for the money considering the requirements you listed. They are rock solid, track great, and have a superb lifetime warranty too. If you wanted to go higher mag and focus on bench more than hunting, I would go with the SIII 10-50.
 
Upvote 0
Haven't had a chance to have a look through the scope you mentioned. It may be good if it is made in Japan or Germany or Austria or USA.

Speaking of crystal clear glass and low weight I can recommend LEUPOLD made in USA.

I can also specifically recommend a JAPAN Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30x 50 which has a 25 yard minimum focus and weighs 21-24oz

having 50 moa of adjustment which is plenty considering its 30x magnification and most importantly, backed by one of

the best no questions asked Lifetime warranty in the business. It is IMHO the ultimate hunting and bench scope in one package

with a low 4.5x minimum and a 30x clear and sharp maximum range which also has a weatherproof rainguard lens coating.

You can even click it to hell and back and it will always return to zero!

Amazon sellers $824.95- $1129.99 same scope different markup.

It is a discontinued model which I highly recommend. I own one

along with many 2.5-16x (10 yard minimum focus) versions and feel that

they are well worth their selling price.



CA
Click to expand...

Thanks Coldair, the Bushnell 6500 was within my options but from what I have read the optical quality is equal to or lower than that of my Sightron SIII.

Of the Leupold the one that I liked the most was the VH6HD but it is out of the budget
 
Upvote 0
“Best” gets tough with that set of requirements, with several features acting against each other. 

For Hunting, you want a low mag, and for bench, it is great to have high mag. Scopes get expensive when you want them both in high quality glass, and they get heavy.

The SIII 10-50 is a wildly popular bench scope/precision scope. 10x on the low end isn’t ideal for hunting, and it hits the top of your weight mark around 30oz. Can find under $900, closer to $700 used or less depending on model. 

The Vortex PST is a great option, and at 5-25 it is going to come in just over the weight at around 31 I think. Excellent glass, very good range, and Vortex bombproof warranty. It will come in below $1000, $850-950 range. 

I would highly recommend the Athlon Ares BTR. At 4.5-27, it has great range and will meet weight around 27 I think. Glass isn’t as good as the PST, but still very good. They are around $750, or $600 used. You could step up to the Ares ETR, but it is going to go over weight because it moves to 34mm tube. Upgraded glass and 4.5-30, it is a big upgrade, and will cost right at $1000. A used Cronus (non-BTR) can be had for around $1000 and it is even better but still overweight. 

Personally, I think the Ares is the best scope for the money considering the requirements you listed. They are rock solid, track great, and have a superb lifetime warranty too. If you wanted to go higher mag and focus on bench more than hunting, I would go with the SIII 10-50.
Click to expand...

Thanks Smokey, the Athlon Ares BTR is a great option the only thing I do not like so much is that it's FFP and I'm more used to SFP. 
 
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If you plan on clicking (dialing in) to your distances for each shot then I can highly recommend the Bushnell Elite series specifically the 6500s because they are the only scopes that seem to be 100% repeatable 100% of the time and never any issues whatsoever.

I don't totally trust anything made in China (I do however own Chinese scopes as well so I know first hand) when it comes to repeatable reliable clicking for the long haul. With those, I just set them once and holdover and leave them turrets be because I already know better they may work fine in the beginning but when later down the road you want to take those 100+ yard money shots then to me it is not worth the risk but really must admit some of them do seem to have clear glass.

I strongly suggest you do your research to find out where the country of origin was when buying your scope because I can tell you are into high end quality airguns and optics. My recommendations are Austria Germany Japan and USA. Most importantly of all from a good long standing company which has been around for many many years with a no questions asked warranty since you are spending your hard earned money.

I have to add that "Born in UK or USA or designed in USA" does not mean made in England or in the USA. They are made in China.

What I really don't like is when there is no country are origin printed on the scope itself which would tend to lead anyone reasonably intelligent to have ???s.

Sightron SIII made in Japan so at least you started with quality.

If you are going to buy a Chinese made scope then be sure not to use it for clicking and just leave it be and just holdover then you should be OK.



CA


 
Upvote 0
While, in theory, I agree, scopes have come a long way the last several years. When looking at better scopes, I still agree with you 100%. The problem is finding really good scopes under $1000. You have to make some choices, and there are some really good scopes coming out of China right now. I said some, and you are correct that I also encourage people to do their research. While I would still prefer my Japanese scopes, there are some very good, well reviewed Chinese scopes on the market especially in the Athlon lines with good glass and repeatable turrets. I haven’t tried their popular SFP lines. 

$1000 is that line where I think you can start getting into higher quality scopes, but below becomes harder to stick to the tried and true rules of country of origin.
 
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