Scopes bench rest
- Thread starter Will99
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Leupold Competition, Sightron SIII-SV, Delta Stryker, Falcon X-50, Vortex Golden Eagle, Trijicon Ten Mile, Nightforce Atacr, Athlon scopes, there are so many! It boils down to what power you’re looking for and what you want to spend! I use a Stryker 5-50x and love it, Cooper uses a Golden Eagle 15-60x and loves it, Alex uses a Argos 10-40 and likes it too(not on par with the other too though). Price is usually the deciding factor!
Stoti
Stoti
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G
Guest
Guest
If you go Leupold, buy a used one. The new Leupolds might as well be stamped "Made in China" unless you spend well over a grand on one.
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"Benchrest", I've ranted about this before, so I'll keep this short. shooting a rifle from a bench, does not necessarily constitute "benchrest" competition. There is a difference. When I speak of Benchrest, I mean true Benchrest. The sports that I have been competing in since 1995.
There have been a few "good" scopes in the many brands and lines of scopes that do costitute truly good benchrest Quality. The brands are in no particular order, weaver, Bausch and Lomb, Leupold, Nightforce, Sightron, IOR Valdada, and March... You all may have a scope that you consider to be good or consider to be Benchrest quality... but day in, and day out at the matches and in the winners circle, those are the only brands.
As far as lines in each brand, let me clear something up... for what we consider Point blank benchrest, (anything 300 yards and under for centerfire and 100 yards and under for rimfire and Pneumatics), Straight, fixed power is the king, no need for variable, and also in building a rifle and staying within weight constraints, no room for a variable there either.
On to the Lines I like and have owned. Most of these lines have been discontinued and are still available on the used market... remember a Leupold scope that was USA build will always be a Leupold scope... and will always be covered unconditionally. I have owned and shot Weaver straight 36x, good entry level scope, I have owned and competed with Leupold BR36x pre and post D model... The D model had locking adjustable paralax adjustment. Good scopes, the D model was king for a number of years. Bausch and Lomb 4200 and 4000. good scopes, the glass on the straight 36x was impeccable quality. I have owned and shot with those as well. Leupold came out with the Competition series 35x, 40x, 45x... I have owned and shot through the 40x, and 45x... at first there were adjustable parallax issues... Leupold fixed that and can still fix it... I had mine fixed. after the repairs... great scopes and they were $800 to $1000 new, depending when you got them... I bought all mine on the used market. I have owned Nightforce scopes... I've never owner a fixed power Nightforce, or a very recent Nightforce for BR... they are a good brand with great glass... For years Nightforce was, and still is a very Heavy scope... the weight kept it out of the hands of guys that competed where weight was an issue... Nightforce was so good at that time that we joked that it doubled as a boat anchor... they have lost weight but not enough in my book. IOR Valdada... great scope... of the European brands like Ziess, Schmidt and Bender, Swarovski, and IOR, they are they only that I consider to have a good true "Benchrest" scope. MARCH... I own, and have owned and shot through many MARCH scopes... Top of the heap is all I can say... You pay a decent price for a great scope and it never fails... If you want to win, and you spend good money on all your equipment, you're silly if you don't get MARCH benchrest scopes. March however fell out of the tree a few years ago and bumped their fool head and cancelled the line for their Best Benchrest scope. They now have some variables like 35-50X. or something like that and they quit making the 40x52mm straight power benchrest scope I have a few of those and I compete with them.
Everything else, is not a benchrest scope... change my mind!
There have been a few "good" scopes in the many brands and lines of scopes that do costitute truly good benchrest Quality. The brands are in no particular order, weaver, Bausch and Lomb, Leupold, Nightforce, Sightron, IOR Valdada, and March... You all may have a scope that you consider to be good or consider to be Benchrest quality... but day in, and day out at the matches and in the winners circle, those are the only brands.
As far as lines in each brand, let me clear something up... for what we consider Point blank benchrest, (anything 300 yards and under for centerfire and 100 yards and under for rimfire and Pneumatics), Straight, fixed power is the king, no need for variable, and also in building a rifle and staying within weight constraints, no room for a variable there either.
On to the Lines I like and have owned. Most of these lines have been discontinued and are still available on the used market... remember a Leupold scope that was USA build will always be a Leupold scope... and will always be covered unconditionally. I have owned and shot Weaver straight 36x, good entry level scope, I have owned and competed with Leupold BR36x pre and post D model... The D model had locking adjustable paralax adjustment. Good scopes, the D model was king for a number of years. Bausch and Lomb 4200 and 4000. good scopes, the glass on the straight 36x was impeccable quality. I have owned and shot with those as well. Leupold came out with the Competition series 35x, 40x, 45x... I have owned and shot through the 40x, and 45x... at first there were adjustable parallax issues... Leupold fixed that and can still fix it... I had mine fixed. after the repairs... great scopes and they were $800 to $1000 new, depending when you got them... I bought all mine on the used market. I have owned Nightforce scopes... I've never owner a fixed power Nightforce, or a very recent Nightforce for BR... they are a good brand with great glass... For years Nightforce was, and still is a very Heavy scope... the weight kept it out of the hands of guys that competed where weight was an issue... Nightforce was so good at that time that we joked that it doubled as a boat anchor... they have lost weight but not enough in my book. IOR Valdada... great scope... of the European brands like Ziess, Schmidt and Bender, Swarovski, and IOR, they are they only that I consider to have a good true "Benchrest" scope. MARCH... I own, and have owned and shot through many MARCH scopes... Top of the heap is all I can say... You pay a decent price for a great scope and it never fails... If you want to win, and you spend good money on all your equipment, you're silly if you don't get MARCH benchrest scopes. March however fell out of the tree a few years ago and bumped their fool head and cancelled the line for their Best Benchrest scope. They now have some variables like 35-50X. or something like that and they quit making the 40x52mm straight power benchrest scope I have a few of those and I compete with them.
Everything else, is not a benchrest scope... change my mind!
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Weaver T-series I use 24 power. I am a big fan of Sightron, in 22 rimfire where scope power is 6x max I use a couple of fixed power Sightrons. Sight picture and clarity rival the best.
Tim
Tim
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Weaver T36 Target Dot. Mounted on a RAW TM1000 Bench Rest. Great glass and very old school affordable.
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The weaver t36 is affordable, no doubt.
Is it great glass? No. It’s on par with the Sightron SII 36x bench scope....which is to say that it’s mediocre at best. It’s adequate for 25m Benchrest....but not 50y or further if you have something better. If it’s all you have, you can make do. I have these along with a Leupold Comp 40x. At 100y on a sunny day with a lot of mirage...I cannot begin to see 22 cal bullet holes with the Weaver or Sightron. It’s just a blurry mess. The Leupold is miles better....but not as good as a March, Nightforce, or others. It comes down to what you can afford and what you can put up with.
Im not aware of any 400$ scopes that have glass just as good as a 1500$ scope.
Mike
Is it great glass? No. It’s on par with the Sightron SII 36x bench scope....which is to say that it’s mediocre at best. It’s adequate for 25m Benchrest....but not 50y or further if you have something better. If it’s all you have, you can make do. I have these along with a Leupold Comp 40x. At 100y on a sunny day with a lot of mirage...I cannot begin to see 22 cal bullet holes with the Weaver or Sightron. It’s just a blurry mess. The Leupold is miles better....but not as good as a March, Nightforce, or others. It comes down to what you can afford and what you can put up with.
Im not aware of any 400$ scopes that have glass just as good as a 1500$ scope.
Mike
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