SmallCaliberCentral

Hi all, and greetings from UK! First post for me so please be gentle.

Ordered my .204 and waiting about 3 months for delivery so got time to choose my glass wisely. Wanting to use the 204 for some target shooting, long range daytime vermin and some lamping for fox and rabbit so looking for a bit of an all rounder.

Wanting mag to be fairly high - 20x or above and max budget around the £1,000 mark so something pretty good. Never owned a real top end scope before so all thoughts welcome.

So far considered Swarovski 5-25x52 BT, Nightforce or Vortex Viper but have concerns with all 3. Swaro has very fine reticule so not ideal in lamp, Nightforce rumoured to be bad performer in low light and Vortex is a bit of an unknow for me. Would consider second hand too if I could find the right one.

Cheers guys, Sam

Just like it is hard to find one rifle that does everything well, you will have a similar problem with scopes. In your situation I would be trying to figure out which Leupold to order. If they don't offer the combination of features you desire their custom shop will build it.

Sam,,,,, i dont know what your experience is , but,,,,, for lamping you want to at least consider and illuminated reticle

Hi Sam, first of all welcome to the forum! I'm sure you will love your .204, I know I do. Secondly, I'd take Hotshot's advice and contact Leuplod's customer service to see what they recommend. I shoot a Cooper .204 with a Leupold 6.5-20X with the VH Reticle but only in the daylight so I can't speak to lamping performance. Gary

Look at zeiss Conquest as well...

Thanks for the advise guys. Will certainly be looking around and consider Zeiss and Leupold. My lamping experience is pretty high to be honest and I've never had to use an illuminated reticule before - not sure I really want to either. I have a Leupold fixed mag on my 243 and get on well with that so maybe thats a good way to go.

Will post some pics when the new Sako 85 arrives!

I'll second the Leupold VX3 6.5-20x50 with VH reticle. I have one on a .204 and the same scope on a 22-250. I shot the .204 out to 500 yards last Sunday by simply using the reticle. Zero it at 300 yards for the .204 and shoot out to 600 yards with the reticle. In my opinion, this is one of the best scopes for a varmint rifle. Street price is around $900.00. I mounted it in a dnz one piece base, medium height.
https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shootin ... ds-target/

My experience is only with Vortex Vipers and I have been very happy with them. For the money I like their glass and have used them for target and varmints with great results.

Hey Sam, congratulations & welcome,
All the information given to you by people on this site is well intended. There are mostly really great informative guys on this site & have greatly helped me with different issues. That being said, you'll just have to sort through the info pick what you like. Now for me, I have had most of the big name scopes under 1200.00. My choice of scopes in that price range without a doubt is Sightron SIII made in Japan. I've got 4 & think they are the best scope on the market now for the price. Check out the SIIISS 6X24X50 LRIRMOA-H or the 8X32X56 LRIRMOA-H both under a grand. If you go to their site, click on technical for a picture of their reticle. It's like a TURBO VH reticle. My opinion, compared to today's Leupolds, they are much better in all aspects. I like Vortex but had to send 2 of 3 back for problems so I got rid of them. Also, the Sightron's have lots of MOA adjustments, the 6x24x50 has 100 moa elevation & windage. I'd like to add, my 2nd choice would be the Zeiss Conquest HD 1" 5X25X50 with rapid-z varmint reticle assembled in Germany but it's not illuminated. Zeiss has a on-line calculator for this scope & you type in all your bullet information and a reticle comes up showing you the exact distance for each line & the distances at different powers. Really neat & oh boy it works. It's my favorite scope for daytime shooting but I can't choose it over the Sightron. Good luck to you,
Jim D

I would add;

- Try and get a scope that has both WIND & ELEV adjustment knobs, even if you do have a hold over reticle.
- Whether you choose SF or AO for parallax is a personal choice.

My first reply but of course it depends on what you intend to do with the rifle. I have 2 Sightron 10-50x60 I really like but think would be overkill so I plan on putting a Bushnell 4.5-18x40 AR I picked up 4 last year for about $100 ea, also have a Leupold 45x45 for target. I also like SWFA fixed poer scope 10x, 12x, 15x, 20x, which sell for $299 & are bulletproof clear scopes & the best buy for your $$ IMHO & around Thanksgiving the drop the price about $50 & add rings, caps & level. All depends on what you plan to do with it & how much you want to spend. A nore on the Sightrons get a model III made in japan as the IIs are made in the phillipenes. Lots of good choices out there.

Keep in mind that the Leupolds are made in the good ol USA, and a lifetime guarantee. I have personal experience with their guarentee. Very good customer service, which is very hard to find anymore, and very easy to customize, if you want too. My choice was VXII 6-18x40.with the varmint hunter reticle. I am not to fond of the 50mm bell. The 40mm bell is more than adequate even in low light conditions. Plus it is easier for a good cheeck weld. I customized mine just for my 204, and the price was easy on my check book!

? How far is "long range" daytime and how far is your "lamping" range.

futuretrades: I hope your correct about Leupold being made in the USA. I've read several articles that say Leupold is now getting their glass from China have some parts made outside the US. I just bought a Leupold 8.5x25x50 LR VHR for around 900.00 and it came with a large Leupold window sticker that says something like "Designed-Engineered-Assembled in America", nothing about Made in the USA. I wish someone would confirm or deny this. The "ASSEMBLED" part makes it sound like they are just buying some ones parts & throwing them together. Also, nowhere on the scope does it say MADE IN USA like the old ones did. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Jim D

TEJAS JD wrote:futuretrades: I hope your correct about Leupold being made in the USA. I've read several articles that say Leupold is now getting their glass from China have some parts made outside the US. I just bought a Leupold 8.5x25x50 LR VHR for around 900.00 and it came with a large Leupold window sticker that says something like "Designed-Engineered-Assembled in America", nothing about Made in the USA. I wish someone would confirm or deny this. The "ASSEMBLED" part makes it sound like they are just buying some ones parts & throwing them together. Also, nowhere on the scope does it say MADE IN USA like the old ones did. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Jim D

Call them and ask, friendly bunch of folks down there. I can't swear that I know the answer to your question. However, I have no doubt that they will give it to you straight.