Budget'ish 4-12x40 scope recomendations?

[timboy]

I'm looking to upgrade the scope that came on my savage axis bundle special,it currently sports a Bushnell 3-9x40.
I've decided I would rather have a
4-12x40 and I would like to keep it under or around $275,I see a bunch of Vortex in that price range and some NOS Nikons,any one have experience with them or any in that ballpark?

 

[Cleck]

I bought a Savage Axis a few years ago and put a Nikon P-308 with the bdc scope on it. I absolutely love it. Nikon consistently made good scopes for the budget minded and for the serious shooters. Look on Amazon and ebay for them, now that Nikon has gotten out of the game. If you can't find any, Vortex is perfectly fine. It has taken deer with it and I'm sure that it's more than capable of shooting better than I ever will be able to.

I took the sunshade off for hunting, same as the bipod.

 

[Robin]

I don't have them in that size, just 3-9 in both Nikon and Vortex and both are excellent, fine crosshair, great glass, very clear and crisp.
Robin

 

[tony]

No experience with Vortex. I have a couple 3-9x40 Nikons and find them to be excellent. When I had a young family I found the BushnellI Banner and Trophy series of scopes to be excellent. I still am using a Banner 4-12x40 I purchased 35 yrs. ago. I also am using a Bushnell Trophy that's about 20 yrs. old. When I was a younger man I hunted hard in the mountains I spent only what I could afford to replace immediately if I smashed the scope taking a tumble down some steep mountainside terrain... Being old now I don't hunt so hard anymore I decided to splurge and recently purchased Leupold VX-3i 2.5-8x36 for my wifes .30-30 Marlin. Nice scope. Good luck on your optic hunt...

 

[Vapor]

Vortex is weak, with thin tubes. Made to a price point.

There's a reason they have such a great warranty and all their users know the number.

They work great for once a year deer hunters.


In that price range get a burris e1 and forget about it.

I have mid-range Japanese scopes, Leupolds from VX-2, vx-3s...the Burris E1 and mtac I have greatly impress me for the money.

 

[MilesTeg]

These guys are starting to have a good reputation. I just picked one that was close to what I thought you would like, but there are others worth looking at.

Primary Arms SLx 4-14x44 FFP Rifle Scope - MIL-DOT Reticle

This Primary Arms rifle scope is part of the SLx optics line.

www.primaryarms.com

 

[Cleck]

These guys are starting to have a good reputation. I just picked one that was close to what I thought you would like, but there are others worth looking at.

Primary Arms SLx 4-14x44 FFP Rifle Scope - MIL-DOT Reticle

This Primary Arms rifle scope is part of the SLx optics line.

www.primaryarms.com

I love the Primary I put my AR, it's a great performer for the price. It was recommended over Nikon and Vortex AR scopes when I was looking

 

[MilesTeg]

I love the Primary I put my AR, it's a great performer for the price. It was recommended over Nikon and Vortex AR scopes when I was looking

I run one of their red dots also. I have yet to try one of their scopes. The internet buzz gives them the thumbs up if that counts for anything.

 

[Cleck]

I run one of their red dots also. I have yet to try one of their scopes. The internet buzz gives them the thumbs up if that counts for anything.

The ACSS reticle sold me. It is way overbuilt for anything I'm going to do now, and that's ok, because I can always learn and adapt.

I wanted a 1-6x or similar short-range scope, but longer than my dad's Vortex red dot. Being illuminated as well, this was hard to pass up.

 

[Jaywmustang]

I have had good luck with bushnell banners, still have one on my 30-30. Nikon are nice too (I have a buck master)but I’m not sure what Nikon optics are still available. They are no longer making firearm optics, left overs were going pretty cheap. Never owned a cheap vortex, great warranty tho. I have two higher end vortex and love them.

 

[Vapor]

Fullfield E1™ Riflescope 4.5-14x42mm | Burris Optics

www.burrisoptics.com

 

[JamieZ]

Bump power and price up a little and buy a first focal plane scope. Bought this one a year ago, after always buying Nikon. I love it.

Vortex Diamondback 4-16x44mm Rifle Scope, 30mm Tube, First Focal Plane, Color: Black, Tube Diameter: 30 mm, Up to 30% Off — Free 2 Day Shipping w/ code 2DAYAIR — 4 models

Shop Vortex Diamondback 4-16x44mm Rifle Scope, 30mm Tube, First Focal Plane | Up to 30% Off 4.8 Star Rating on 67 Reviews for Vortex Diamondback 4-16x44mm Rifle Scope, 30mm Tube, First Focal Plane...

www.opticsplanet.com

 

[holdover]

Im going with the diamond back soon .Midway has thier Mark 4 on sale for 1K, which is a steal when you compare it to the the other high end scopes Im going to kick myself if it goes back up to 14.

 

[Jaywmustang]

Im going with the diamond back soon .Midway has thier Mark 4 on sale for 1K, which is a steal when you compare it to the the other high end scopes Im going to kick myself if it goes back up to 14.

Try a nightforce shv

 

[1075tech]

Vortex has many different levels at different price points.

Sign up at aaoptics.com for email alerts. They sell refurbished scopes with Vortex 's full warranty, usually for around half of MSRP. I've gotten some great deals there.

 

[timboy]

Thanks for all of the replies everyone,I will definetly look into all of the suggestion!

 

[PA Guns & Ammo]

Check out Hawke Optics

 

[meketrefe]

Jeezz... I see some of the recommendations and I doubt some people even have them or they might not have tried a decent scope.
the 4-14 (x3) ratio is such a bad choice for a 4 starting power. It coudl be done but most do not fair well and
magnification on paper doesn't say what the scope is actually doing in real life nor how good it is. you can have a x10 magnification
in a good quality lense giving you a better picture than a x14 of so so glass given light transmission, aberration when zooming in and
other series of artifacts present in most budget high magnification scopes.

What do you want decent optics or do you want to have some features that might work?
HArd to have features in that type of budget so better shoot for a decent scope in chinese glass that are pretty much all budget ones no matter what brand excluding a few like a couple of weavers and a few redfield models made here by leupold.
weaver has as few with japanese camera grade lenses.
The best value in the market is probably the weaver tactical 3-15 with jap glass a first focal plane and army mild dot and mil mil adjustment but those are a bit more money and perhaps you want something more deer hunting/field oriented than a rugged tactical scope?

@tony said VX3 from leupold? Those are actually pretty good lenses.

It is really a bad time for scopes right now since the good ones are low in stock or totally gone including the best deals.

 

[meketrefe]

Mang! ...the 3-15 weaver tactical deal is gone. ... in fact many great deals are gone right now! ... I was just checking.

IMHO,... if you have some time save some money and buy a better one

 

[Vapor]

Jeezz... I see some of the recommendations and I doubt some people even have them or they might not have tried a decent scope.
the 4-14 (x3) ratio is such a bad choice for a 4 starting power. It coudl be done but most do not fair well and
magnification on paper doesn't say what the scope is actually doing in real life nor how good it is. you can have a x10 magnification
in a good quality lense giving you a better picture than a x14 of so so glass given light transmission, aberration when zooming in and
other series of artifacts present in most budget high magnification scopes.

What do you want decent optics or do you want to have some features that might work?
HArd to have features in that type of budget so better shoot for a decent scope in chinese glass that are pretty much all budget ones no matter what brand excluding a few like a couple of weavers and a few redfield models made here by leupold.
weaver has as few with japanese camera grade lenses.
The best value in the market is probably the weaver tactical 3-15 with jap glass a first focal plane and army mild dot and mil mil adjustment but those are a bit more money and perhaps you want something more deer hunting/field oriented than a rugged tactical scope?

@tony said VX3 from leupold? Those are actually pretty good lenses.

It is really a bad time for scopes right now since the good ones are low in stock or totally gone including the best deals.

I have several of the Japanese weavers. The glass on the Grand slams I have is easily on par if not better than my VX3-i. They were a stellar deal. Bow owned by bushnell, they are a shadow of their former selves, selling basically re-branded Korean Bushnell Banners.

To OP, another option is the Leupold vx freedom. It stands well up next to my VX-2s. Should be in your approximate price range.

 

[Cleck]

We didn't really ask what the OP bought the rifle for. Like me, he bought a cheap rifle. Does he want to get into deer hunting, have a basic scoped all-rounder, or does he want to get into precision shooting eventually, but is just limited by budget right now? Before recommending a $600 scope (when he asked for $275) for his $200 rifle, let's see what he wants to do.

 

[timboy]

We didn't really ask what the OP bought the rifle for. Like me, he bought a cheap rifle. Does he want to get into deer hunting, have a basic scoped all-rounder, or does he want to get into precision shooting eventually, but is just limited by budget right now? Before recommending a $600 scope (when he asked for $275) for his $200 rifle, let's see what he wants to do.

Good point Sir,I am just using the rifle primarily for hunting,the price is an arbitrary amount I chose based on the value of the gun and my expectations from it.
Shots wound be well under 300 yards,I just need more magnifaction due to lousy eyesight and want something better than bottom of the barrel optics.

 

[Cleck]

All the scopes recommended in your price range will work then. The farthest I've shot a deer with this scope is 100y. I'm not knocking the other scopes, they're great, but not needed in this case. If anything, you'll wanna upgrade the gun or parts of it before the scope is needed to be upgraded. I wanna change the stock, I modified the trigger myself, but sometimes I get ahead of myself and say, "Just buy a better rifle if you wanna do all that" but then I still wonder if I can upgrade bits of it and not buy a 1k rifle when I don't do any long range shooting

 

[timboy]

@Cleck I was actually keeping an eye on the same scope you have on a eBay auction(open box but new),I went back to buy it last night and it was gone

 

[meketrefe]

I have several of the Japanese weavers. The glass on the Grand slams I have is easily on par if not better than my VX3-i. They were a stellar deal. Bow owned by bushnell, they are a shadow of their former selves, selling basically re-branded Korean Bushnell Banners.

To OP, another option is the Leupold vx freedom. It stands well up next to my VX-2s. Should be in your approximate price range.

The grand slam and tactical are all made in japan with high end japanese camera grade lenses, strong tubes and very precise mechanical system. They also track to the T. I have sever al of their tactical and razor and they do work as well as many $3k scopes and why you see them in tactical matches and professional shooters / swat teams.

 

[Cleck]

@Cleck I was actually keeping an eye on the same scope you have on a eBay auction(open box but new),I went back to buy it last night and it was gone

For a few more beans, the M-308 is a better version of mine, as it can adjust parallax as well, which helps focusing at a distance (very basically, if you're interested, just look up what it does) - it's a fantastic scope that I wish I would have gotten, but I am still very happy w/ this one. For what you're using it for, you won't be disappointed. The Vortex and Primary offerings will also be in the same price range and offer the same value.

 

[meketrefe]

The thing with budget scopes is that they are ok for the basic jobs as soon as they are not total junk(many of those) and they "stay" and are sold with the rifle.
But scopes also impact the way we experience shooting and maybe we want to "invest" a bit more on a scope something we can master and normally will stay for ever with us whether we sell the rifle or switch calibers or guns.
We are all different people with different set of eyes and different needs and expectations.
That is why it is so hard to make suggesrions w/o knowing more about what you want to do now and might want to do 3 years for now and whether you consider a scope important to your expeeience.
Many budget scopes is normally a bad investment vs a few good ones that you keep .
Also lets get real you can have a sinple and nice 2-7 or 3-9 scope to pop a deer at 100 yards.
But do you also like to shoott targets at 200, 300 or 500 yards?
And do you like to see your impacts w/o the need of a secondary optic?
Would you consider simple tactical features like a mil dot stadia something of value?
With less than 300 dollars I would focus more in the best optical quality one can get in popular scopes(3-9 for exampke) and forget about features.
On average, Popular departments like 2-7 and 3-9 offer more value for budget scopes because more brands and modes are competing for those popular options.
Very few brands make scopes themselves, they are OEM rebranded made to order and retailers just put their logo on them like primary arms, vortex diamondback, bushnell AR chinese scopes.
They might work but they also can fall apart in pieces because they are cheaply made.
We have actually taken some apart just to see what was inside.

 

[Jaywmustang]

The first time I got behind a higher end optic, I saw a big difference. If I could afford it, all my optics would be high end. But in the real world, we have to compromise. I would check out all the box stores and look though their selection. The problem I have and I’m sure other people have, is the lack of local options to get your hands on. I am happy with my lowend bushnell and Nikon for their intended purpose. Would I buy again? Maybe but I would rather save up for something better.

 

[meketrefe]

The first time I got behind a higher end optic, I saw a big difference. If I could afford it, all my optics would be high end. But in the real world, we have to compromise. I would check out all the box stores and look though their selection. The problem I have and I’m sure other people have, is the lack of local options to get your hands on. I am happy with my lowend bushnell and Nikon for their intended purpose. Would I buy again? Maybe but I would rather save up for something better.

looking through a few scopes one might be considering is so important because we all have different set of eyes and see light and colors different from the person next to us.
Plus it gives us some opportunity to check features and ask questions although it is hard to get answers as true experts are becoming extinct in the sales force.
If a store is not close by ask around the range, fish and rod club and most times people would offer themselves to check their scopes and other equipment given one asks politely and shows signs of being a serious person that people might find safe with and cordial to exchange opinions with.
If you dont have access to anything this is a good way via forums and make sure to stick to time tested recipes that might give you certain assurance.
And for the op or anyone here...
I am happy to share any details about any scope I own and have owned in the past and also have a couple of large boxes filled with budget ones that either came with a rifle package or bought at some point in my life. Lots of wasted dollars for the most part. At the time seem like I was getting great deals.
Same with certain firearms, barrels, stocks, presses, anmo, etc ... The ones I like I am going with me to the afterlife.
These days I feel less is more in the end. Quality vs quantity seems right specially because we only have 2 arms and two eyes so we cannot really shoot more than one rifle at the time and we might want to learn it well anyway.
Own less, do more.
I know it sounds like master yoda but it seems that is the way.

 

[meketrefe]

And btw.... After this thread I started looking online and it seems retailers are running on empty. All the best deals are gone. Out of stock is the most popular tune.
Horrible time to buy most stuff it seems.