favorite hunting scope

i dunno, most of the time shots need to be quick or the opportunity evaporates .. i can make most scopes work but if it happens to be on too high a power or out of focus when i grab the gun, thats working against success .. too much to play with doesnt work well in battle ...

For hunting in the wood it’s pretty hard to beat a LPVO with illuminated center dot or chevron and the donut of death. 


busy Christmas tree reticles, fine lines. Narrow field of view and parallax wheels are all not only useless but near impossible to take that quick shot in the woods. Different horse for a different race. 

I've not done a lot of hunting with it yet, but my athlon btr gen2 with ahmr2 reticle (circle of death + dot + tree) is really nice for quick target acquisition. Most of my .22s have the cheaper talos btr ffp scopes with the standard tree and + crosshair which is still pretty nice.

Meopta's 4-20 Optika 5 (SFP) with the BDC reticle has some of "gee whiz" that we like, but in the middle of a really normal duplex. Ad in the "RD" (red dot) and you have a winner do all that's pretty darn comfortable in dark woods.

I turn 53 in March but have vestibular issues that make hunting more difficult and I can understand the desire to make things more simple.

I found a scope that I otherwise liked but that only had a duplex reticle. It also had capped turrets and turrets that weren't very good for dialing.

It's a pretty thin duplex but has illumination for when things are a bit dark.

I took it out in the woods and practiced on pinecones but it just didn't work for me. I quickly realized that I would likely pass up on a lot of shots inside of my PBR.

Same with the one FFP scope I have. No visible holdover marks at lower magnifications for shots inside of ones PBR.

SFP scopes offer a solution but at the cost of having to know holdovers for at least two different magnifications. Or carrying a smart phone with an app.

I do like the simplicity of my fixed power Dedal Stalker 6x. It's a nice compromise between magnification, field of view, target acquisition, etc. 

Had an Immersive Optics 5x30 here for a couple of weeks and that is probably an even better compromise between FOV and magnification. But I didn't take it out into the woods while I had it. 

The DYND-1 reticle on the Aztec Emerald is very unobtrusive. The Christmas tree is there when you need it, not noticed when you don’t. Very effective, especially the IR FFP version. 

for me it depends on the use case. for long range gas guns, shooting multiple targets at ranges between 100-800+ yards, a tree reticle is invaluable if you know how to use one. after a while, the tree disappears for me until i need to use it, even at higher magnifications.

for hunting, i prefer an sfp scope with a nice simple illuminated reticle. generally speaking, unless i was starving, i would not be taking shots that need a huge holdover.

my swampfox lpvo has an illuminated ring and mil marks (accurate at 10x) that i really like so far. i don't hunt with this and i have it on my pcp for plinking and fun. very close to a red dot at 1x with that big red circle if you're pinging plates as fast as you can.

@thelbc, I've tried an 1-4x LPVO for ratting and my issue was that while the illuminate circle helped to quickly acquire rats. The circle itself obscured too much of the rats to make an accurate shot. This was my particular issue, the circle of death may work for some shooters, depends on target size.

For shooting in the woods I like simple and thick MOA dots on a second focal plane scope set at 6x. On FFP scopes the reticle all but disappears at 6x in the woods.

Like wimpanzee above the Athlon Helos BTR 2-12x42 is my favorite hunting scope. I only use it on 6-8x when even shooting at 100yds. It's not super heavy but has great glass and turrets and illumination that works good almost day light bright. It's an FFP scope that can be used at lower powers. I actually don't even like using it on 12x as it looks too big at that point. Close range I use it on 2-4x as well. 



This shows the reticle at 4x looking at pigeons at about 45yds away.

Right! A low power fixed parallax helps with quick target acquisition.

Some of the Leupold hunting scopes with a simple duplex reticle with Firedot might be of interest to the OP. I've been meaning to put one on my whitetail rifle. Seems like they only come out at dusk in my area. I had a Trijicon LPVO with illumination on that rifle a few years ago. The red dot really jumps out at dawn or dusk.

I personally really like the reticle design on the SWFA SS scopes. If they ever do the fixed 6X with an illuminated center dot, I'd be all over it. Great for a hunting rifle and an airgun.

Bushnell AR Optics is fine with 223 bdc reticle for an affordable price such as this.

https://www.ebay.com/p/177630834

Center point believe it or not does the job too for even cheaper. Very useful bdc reticle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304164583200

To me, the most important elements of an air rifle hunting scope in no particular order are…

1) clear, quality glass; this should be a given

2) dependability and durability; again, this should be a given…holds zero like a rock, tracks well, consistent Point of Aim through magnification/parallax adjustment

3) Second Focal Plane; when it get's dark or the game is close and you need low magnification or there is a dark and varied background…all three of which are normal hunting experiences for me, at least; you don't want a first focal plane scope for most hunting scenarios

4) low magnification/wide field of view; there is nothing more frustrating and aggravating than trying to shoot a squirrel that is too close and you can't find it in your scope; my favorite hunting scopes are 1X or 2X on the low end for this reason…3X or 4X are still acceptable

5) parallax adjustment; when shooting at close distances it's very annoying when the parallax/focus is out of wack and it definitely affects accuracy; something that I've found is that low magnification scopes struggle far less with this issue than higher magnification scopes; for example, my Leupold VX-II 1-4x20mm is focused and clear down to about 10' at 1X and 25' at 4X…but is still very clear and focused at all further distances…which brings me to my last element…

6) simplicity; give me a standard or maybe even thicker than average duplex reticle or comparable reticle that is not too busy or distracting; I'm not saying that there is never a use for BDC's or mil hashes/dots or Christmas trees…but in hunting fast acquisition and centering the quarry is paramount; KISS

7) mount it low; this is the least important to me but I think it still is important for several reasons…I hesitate to buy a scope with more than a 44mm objective



This an old post By B.B. Pelletier on pyramydair.com. I find it works perfectly for me out to about 30-35 yards for a dead hold…and it works better if your scope is mounted as low as possible.

"For a pellet gun that shoots around 800 f.p.s., I like to sight in at 20 yards for the near distance. The second distance will be around 30 yards, and the pellet will not rise by as much as one pellet diameter at the in-between distances (between 20 and 30 yards). If you sight in at 15 yards with the same gun, the pellet will be back to the intersection of the crosshairs around 40 yards, and it will rise more than an inch in between.

For a gun that shoots 950 f.p.s., I would still sight-in at 20 yards as the near distance but the far distance is now 37 yards or so. For both guns (800 and 950), the pellet will be about one inch below the aim point at 10 yards and will rise to the crosshairs as it approaches 20 yards. "

Freddie,

you have some carefully thought-out principles and preferences for scope selection — excellent! Having that really helps to wade through the ocean of scopes out there...!



Tom's (Pelletier's) advice about setting your zero for your point blank range is good as it goes. I usually try to tease out every yard I can to get the maximum point blank range (or one that starts/ends right where I need it) — and then a ballistic calculator will do the trick. 



On your no. (5) — that 1-4x20 scope has two things going for it to give you such a long depth of field — or what I call a long SPR = Sharpness and Parallax Range:

The low magnification AND the small objective diameter. Both contribute to a lesser need to adjust parallax and a sharper image.



Matthias





PS: To help me (and others) formulate my scope selection principles and priorities I made a couple of infographics (1 page each) that show the compromises we all have to make when choosing one scope over another....

I usually want it ALL — but in the end I have to choose one characteristic over another, since they are often in direct conflict with each other..... O wretched perfectionism!



 

This one works well for me.