Well I am 26 years old and fairly new to the sport of hunting whitetail deer. I have been using an old 30-06 with an old tasco scope on it and would like to up grade a new gun I just purchased, since the previous one was passed down. I bought Weatherby .270 WSM. I do not want to spend 1000 bucks for a scope, but I do feel I need to get a nice scope seeing how I plan on keeping this gun for many years to come. The longest shot I will ever need to take will be 200 or so here in Texas, but I would like to go hunt my buddies place in South Dakota for Mule Deer, etc... I have heard of shots up there at 450yrds, but with a 7MM. I am just looking for a point in the right direction of how to select a scope and what type is good to buy. Thanks for the advice and suggestions.

buy the best you can afford, If you have $350 to spend then find the best for that price.

www.cameralandny.com. No better place for great optics and price. Look at zeiss conquest for that type money.

Burris Leupold or Zeiss... and price increases in that order. Give me holler and we can get you one worth the money...

take a look on swfa.com and look under the sample list. I'm a fan of burris scopes. You will get a lot of varying opinions on optics. The best thing to do is go where you can have a multitude of scopes in your hands ( so you can see which one works best for you).

Ziess conquest would be my vote. The other brands unless you get the leupold varmit hunter don't have windage adjustment. It's about 400 bucks if you shop around.

I have a burris 3x9 fullfield 2 on my 30-06 and a leupold 2.5x8 on my marlin 308. I think between those two the leupold is clearer and a hair better in low light.

I've liked the Ziess scopes that I have looked through in the field.

whats your location? find some others here on the forum, meet them and see if they will let you look at their optics. if your in central texas, i've got 4 or 5 on different guns, that your welcome to look at, look thru, whatever & most are under $300 and have great glass, super clear, and have held up to alot of harsh reloads
Natchezss.com is where i buy all of my scopes

Don't know of any scopes that DON'T have windage adjustments??? It is needed for proper "zero." Burris is my vote. I have had several with no issues and awesome light transmition. Also, can't beat the FOREVER WARRANTY!!!

Good thing burris has a forever warranty u gonna need it. Lmfao

ill tell u something my grandad told me a long time ago "quality is cheaper in the long run".the brand of scope is all on the individual, you ask ten people what brand of scope to use you will get at least 4 different responces, go to a gun shop and look at all they have , but dont buy the cheapest one u find, find one u like and save up if u have to.

My rule of thumb is to pay 2/3rds the cost of the gun for a scope. If you spent $600 on the Weatherby, then go $400 on the scope. Any more and you're out-glassing the rifle.

Buy all you can afford

I'm talking about adjustible mils for wind calls bud.

I'd say Nikon, best bang for your buck.

Leupold hands down!!! The best guarantee in the business. Just send it in and they will fix or replace it with no problems!!! The best turnaround times and customer service! Like i said before their are way more expensive euro scopes which i love, but after hunting all over the world 9 out of 10 guides i have been with carry leuo's!!! I wonder why???

Because they haven't tried anything else. Any guide who tells you Leupold is better than S&B, US optics, Premier Reticles Swarovski, Kahles, and high end Zeiss, really doesn't know what he is talking about. Leupold's prices have increased MORE than inflation while the quality of their product has went down hill. Hell, most of their products are made in China now. Even the ones that are "US Made" were just assembled here, with just enough american parts to call them "US Made".

Do they work? Yes. But there are much better options out there where you aren't paying for a name.

Check out the Vortex Viper line. They are getting good reviews from long range guys. I have seen people say their $500 Vortex is clearer than their $1200 Leupold Mark 4. And I have heard of no tracking problems either. Vortex's warranty is about as good as it gets too.

From their website;

Our warranty is about you, not us. It's about taking care of you after the sale. The VIP stands for Very Important Promise to you (our customers) that we will do the following:

Repair or replace your Vortex product for any reason at NO CHARGE TO YOU. It doesn't matter how it happened, whose fault it was, or where you purchased it.

* Unlimited lifetime Warranty
* Fully transferable
* No warranty card to fill out
* No receipt needed to hang on to

If you ever have a problem, no matter the cause, we promise to take care of you.

I'm a guide and I've used ziess, swarvorksi, kahles and Bausch and lomb and to be honest with you leupold optics are just as good as the rest of them.

Best I can figure, onces you get into the $300 price range quality goes Way up. I've never had a ziess or swarvorski, either a scope or a binoculors that were noticably clearer or gathered more light.

I own both a super duty and a BMW. My Bmw is nice, my diesel will blow the doors off it but people ohhh and awww when i tell them i have a beamer....kinda like what people think when they have european optics.


And if you think i don't know what I'm talking about I have beaucoup's of pics of dead animals to show you

Leupolds work. I believe I said that in my post. But they are not on par with the others mentioned. The VX-III and up aren't bad quality but value wise it isn't a good deal. The ones under VX-III are far from worth the money. They use the name to push a low end Chinese scope and people buy them because they have the Leupold name on them.

I've killed deer with Nikon Buckmaster scopes, but that doesn't mean they are the best. Hell I've killed deer with $80 simmons. If you can see through it, and it will hold zero you can kill deer with it.

Lmao, didn't even bother with s&b cause he has no clue what that stands for prolly :), I run swaro 4x16x50 ph and there is no leupy that compares and I have compared in the field and on the range. Lmao!!!

Then learn the correct way to say what u mean bud. Lmao!

i know what schmidt and bender is, but I've never looked thru,hunted or known anyone who has owned them

i thought that too and the explanation still isn't right lol.

Nope. And tx the s&b is incredible glass prolly will be the next scope I buy they are expensive as hell, putting money up to give one a whirl so I can give a hands on opinion, but have looked thru them and the glass is incredible.

I think he is talkin bout to target turrets