(Mods, use or delete as you see fit, but I saw this post on another board and thought to myself, “Damn…this is EXACTLY what pisses me and a lot of other people off.”)
Welcome!
If you’re new here, please take a few minutes to read the tacked threads, and realize that like most forums this one has a culture of its own. The culture here is not an accident - most of us are tired of the non-fact-based blather that is typical of 90%+ of the gun forums out there. Please see the following for some good examples of what NOT to do when you finally make your first post:
Welcome to the forum and good to hear you bought the very same gun I have.
Although I cannot solve all of your problems and a big contributing factor is personal preference, I can try to help a little with the scope.
As for choosing a reticle in my opinion simpler is better. Unless you custom order from Leupold the BDC and other similar radicles I believe to be a hoax. There is no way a reticle like that can be accurate for all calibers in all environments.
This is your OPINION. You have offered no clues as to your actual experience, therefore your opinion is really not worth anything, and in fact contributes to the noise. S/N is important, and you’re raising the noise floor with bullshit like this.
Of course there ways around this like ballistics charts and of course lots of practice but, I think they are just a big marketing scheme.
My father and his father like so many other hunters just used a simple cross hair and had no problem sighting in their guns and taking game or whatever.
There you go again with an uninformed opinion, and you added a touch of “Well mah daddy and papaw got them a deer every time they went a-huntin, and they didn’t need no mil-dots!” Worthless.
As for objective lenses 50mm is the big standard meaning there bigger but they are out of the 1000 range or usually junk.
The 50mm usually works just fine but, you need to make sure you have high enough rings so that the bell or objective won’t touch the barrel.
One thing you may want to consider is tube Diameter most newer scopes are 30mm tubes but the American standard is 1 inch.
Nikon and Leupold both have great lifetime warranties.
Nikon has great scopes for the money especially in their Monarch line. They are able to compete with companies like Leupold and Nightforce as far as quality for a fraction of the cost.
Leupold has always had great scopes all around and I’m sure always will. Nightforce are more expensive but if your already spending almost a grand ask yourself if it’s worth spending a couple hundred more for something you really like that will last you forever.
I’m not saying go cheap nor buy the most expensive just because you have the money. Read, read, look at stores, read some more, ask other people for their opinions, and most important find something that you like. 250 yds. you will not need any extremely high power scope. A 3x9 or 4x16 would do just fine.
One other thing you may want especially if you are not going to be doing a lot of hunting or maneuvering of your gun is a bolt knob something from Badger Ordinance.
The reason I say this is from what I’ve heard is it eliminates having to worry about hitting the scope with your hand while cycling the bolt but, it does add size therefore consider what you will be using your gun for and realize that it MAY get in the way.
Blah, blah blah. “I’m sure…They are able to compete with companies like Leupold and Nightforce as far as quality for a fraction of the cost.” “from what I’ve heard…” “May…” If you find yourself using words or phrases like these, you’re probably wrong. If you have actual experience with something, say so…if you don’t, then search and read about it, and if you don’t find what you need, ask a question…but “I heard” is a surefire way to make it to the jerkoff list around here.
What makes this forum valuable is that we deal in facts and actual experiences, not secondhand airsofter bullshit. “Mah Bushmaster is just as good as a Colt” is not going to fly around here, chiefly because many of us have good objective evidence that it’s not true. Sorry if that burns your ass, but it’s the truth. There are plenty of places you can go on the net to have circle-jerks over your DPMS, NcStar scope, or Bushhamster, and nobody will hurt your feelings over it. This is NOT that place. If your shit is not up to par, expect to be advised of that fact - and if you’re willing to learn to GET it up to par, this is the place to be…except if you’re one of those guys who can’t admit you made a mistake and are not willing to learn how to fix it.
Do what you want with it, but when I saw that post I immediately thought - we could use this as a negative example.