Best bang for the buck long range scope

[jaybb]

Actually, @Twitch2120 has a helluva deal posted for an swfa HD 5-20 with aadmount caps and mount.

If in s GA, no reason to limit yourself to 600 yards with Arena probably not all that far from you.

Glass quality is always important. A big one that people don't pay attention to on budget options is tracking. The Strike Eagle fails these tests constantly. I know that Blackhound is a good company, but I can't see their tracking holding up reliability. Nothing in that price range does. Wanna chase yourself and never figure out why you aren't hitting and hate the intermediate and long range stuff? Get a scope that doesn't track properly

Yesterday I showed a guy at the range how to do tall target tracking with my Blackhound 6x24x50 mil scope... scope tracked perfect 10 mil up, 10 mil right, 10 mil down ,10 mil left .. perfect square and ended with a hole in hole from 100 yards .Thats how you know your scope is tralcking right...I have over 700 rounds of 6.5 Creedmoor through that scope... if for some reason the scope doesn't do exactly what I want it to do they are local
But so far so good .... I'm sold on them

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

Yesterday I showed a guy at the range how to do tall target tracking with my Blackhound 6x24x50 mil scope... scope tracked perfect 10 mil up, 10 mil right, 10 mil down ,10 mil left .. perfect square and ended with a hole in hole from 100 yards .Thats how you know your scope is tralcking right...I have over 700 rounds of 6.5 Creedmoor through that scope... if for some reason the scope doesn't do exactly what I want it to do they are local
But so far so good .... I'm sold on them

Not exactly. Your click values could be off. A box test just shows that they go back you zero.

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

An interesting read for those interested in tracking:

https://www.snipershide.com/precision-rifle/scope-tracking-test-results-2020/

Hope to see it updated again soon, but some interesting results for sure.

Notably - 9 of 9 perfect on the 624i from Kahles. 11 of 12 perfect on the Gen 2 Razor. And more Leupold sucking d

 

[jaybb]

Not exactly. Your click values could be off. A box test just shows that they go back you zero.

i had to use the largest piece of paper/carboard target we had on hand yesterday...
i like to use a large/tall cardboard and use what my Kestrel calls for 1255 yards (moa/mil)
thats the real values i use for my scopes....

 

[cmshoot]

Like I’ve said more times than I can count on here, I don’t pay any time or attention to YouTube shills. If I don’t know them personally, they’re suspect.

You get what you pay for in optics. Anyone that says you don’t is trying to sell you some cheap crap.

You don’t see cheap scopes or cheap guns submitted for government testing/contracts, despite the legions of fans who insist “it’s just as good!”. If they were actually just as good as optics and guns costing several times more, then the government would buy ‘em. In the vast majority of cases, for instance, the military goes with the lowest bidder whose product passed all the tests. My Fed agency just went to new guns, and it came down to two final competitors that were neck and neck. The final deciding factor was cost, and we got the less expensive of the two.

So why don’t cheap gun/optic companies submit their products for government contracts? Because they know they will fail miserably.

 

[cmshoot]

At the conclusion of a Box Test, you are looking for a few things:

1. Did it return to zero? In that one corner that has two groups shot into it, do all the shots look like a single group?

2. Is the square..........square. Locate the center of each group, and “connect the dots”. The two horizontal lines should actually be horizontal, and the vertical lines vertical.

3. Measure those lines connecting the center of each group. I convert MOA/MRAD to inches, and measure accordingly.

MOA to inches: MOA x (Range in yds/100) = inches

Mils to inches: mils x (Range in yds/100) x 3.6 = inches

I’ll also use the Scope Runout Test:

Shoot 1 round.

Run the elevation all the way up, back to zero, and shoot a second round.

Run the elevation all the way down (if your scope is able), back to zero, and shoot a third round. Some folks have a zero stop with no provision to go below Zero. If your scope is set up that way, then skip this step.

Run the windage all the way to the left, back to zero, and shoot a third or fourth round.

Run the windage all the way to the right, back to zero, and shoot a fourth or fifth round.

At the end of it, you should have a single group of 4-5 rounds that are all to the same POI.

 

[Lightning8]

Shep is right about MIL and LE demanding high quality equipment (although there have been some interesting choices lately - looking at you SIG). However, I no longer carry an M4 etc. for a living. I have no issues buying "middle of the road" equipment for competition and practice such as long range scopes fir hobbies. Example - I started with Vortex PST Gen 1 6-24x50 MIL scopes and they served me well (and scored very well on the 'Hide test noted earlier). I moved up to Burris XTRII 5-25 when I got a great deal. Rocking a Strike Eagle 5-25 34mm on a 224 Valkyrie upper. If I win the lottery I will buy a bunch of top tier scopes but I am ok on the second tier for now.

 

[KingTuna]

I agree, I didn't want to get a cheap scope for this rifle. I'm good most of the time with a fairly cheap scope that I'll be hunting with at 200 yards and not turning the elevation and windage any after sight in for the most part. I just wanted to see what scopes could be had for a decent price and do the job well without having to spend a grand. I have several listed I'm reading up on while I save the cash. Thanks to all for the input!

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

As soon as you start to use your turrets as a fidget spinner, quality becomes apparent. Doing a lot of rimfire stuff for the past couple of years, you can clearly see scopes failing. Trying to get 28 mils (96.25 moa or so for you unwashed brethren), then down to 10, up to 17.4, down to 2.1 and so on can be hell on your scope if the mfg took shortcuts. Rimfire at the distances we shoot puts a lot of strain on the cheaper scopes. See a lot of em because of the preconceived notion that rimfire should be inexpensive, but in actuality, it can accentuate flaws in just about every area of your shooting and equipment. Scopes are strained a fair amount. Not many people are gonna be maxing their elevation on centerfire and running everything in between like you do with the rimfire stuff. Then add in small targets, low energy rounds that don't provide much feedback when you miss, and the glass quality becomes apparent.