I plan on getting a scope during Black Friday Week to take advantage of the deals. I’ve read and researched everyday for the last month and cant decide, and changed my mind every week. I’m not in the military, or police, I also don’t have access to all the different scopes to try out, so I need help from the experts.
(What My Rifle is Used For)
I live in the deep south of Arkansas. My land can quickly go from thick trees (cqb) to wide open (up to 500 Meters) I’ve had to run hunters off my land along with the vast array of critters, including aggressive stray pit bulls and bears. My rifle isn’t for home defense, we always conceal carry for that, I’d guess you’d call it a ranch gun.
Its a Spikes with a 14.5 Rainier Arms Match Mid Length, CMC Trigger, and Aimpoint T1. Before deciding I wanted a scope, I measured the groups to see what I want and what I need. I can do 11" groups at 400 meters. The drop rate is significantly greater from 4 to 500 meters, so at 500 meters I can hit a 2’x3’ foot target about 7 out of 10 times. So I’d like to be more consistent at 500, I need to hit it 100% percent of the time. I need tighter groups at 3 and 400m, and I need headshots at 200m.
I’m confident a little magnification and reference points on the reticle will get me there. It doesn’t have to be illuminated and bright red, as long as it draws the eye at 1x, I can see the reference points, they aren’t too thin, and the illumination is not blinding at dusk on min. I had an acog ta33 and didn’t like the fixed 3x so I sold it and got the t1, I like it a lot. But I’d like to get a 1-4 if possible. I have about $1000 saved up and can’t decide on something. I’m a minimalist so I’d like to avoid offset sights and mounts, Something light and stout.
I can keep saving a few hundred or so past black Friday if something is worth it. Just let me know and be specific please. I’ve also never used the EE before, so if you know of a killer deal on there I’ll have to be instructed on how to use that a little too.
Burris XTR (genII) 1-5x24 usual price $799 can easily find a 10% discount
Burris XTR (genII) 1.5-8x28 usual price $999 can easily find a 10% discount (requires 34mm rings or mount)
Leupold VX-6 1-6x24 usual price $999 can easily find a 10% discount / does not have ideal reticles for distance use
SWFA SS 1-6x24 usual price $999, can NOT usually get a discount, but is likely to be heavily discounted on Black Friday or that week
/ solid scope but one I don’t personally like as discussed in other thread about similar uses
I can’t tell if a true 1x is important to you. If it is not, there are some 2-10x or other low but not quite 1x options (including the 1.5-8x above) that would be worth considering - particularly the Burris XTR 2-10x, the Burris Veracity 2-10x, the Leupold VX-6 2-12x, Steiner Predator GS3 2-10x, Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10x32, and others.
If you do, you can get a mount that allows you to run it alongside the scope, thus allowing for a higher magnification optic. You would also have a heavier total weight.
If you sell it, you have a correspondingly larger budget, and (hopefully) better choices to chose from.
That scope is out of production - that’s the original XTR series, made in the US and introduced 10-15 years ago. I had the Euro Diamond version of that scope. Glass was good, construction quality was decent. It’s a somewhat dated design, and you’d have to find a deep discount price ($500 or less) for it to be a decent value. I think you would be much better served by something with more than 4x maximum magnification.
I was in the same position in that I wanted a scoped AR for short to medium distances to complement my close-range AR (LMT with Aimpoint M4). I finally settled on a Leupold VX-6 1-6 power scope. Initially I went with the illuminated Firedot for $999 from Brownells but the illuminated reticle burned through new batteries within twelve hours even if turned off. I sent it back for a refund and got the non-illuminated VX6 1-6 power for $899 and have been very happy with it. At close distances on 1-power it is easy to shoot with both eyes open and at the higher powers it is easy to shoot at medium distances. It has a standard duplex reticle and is simple to use. Good luck in your search.
best wishes- oldandslow
I made a decision, wanted to let you guys know and wanted to thank everybody.
I was able to get a SWFA SS 1-6 of the sample list for nearly 20 percent off. It was rated a C class which means, visible blemishes present… It came in today and after looking it over I have to say “Its brand new, not a thing wrong with it”, I’ll fix that in the next few weeks, but SWFA is very modest with their ratings. It also came with a SSALT Single piece mount by SWFA. I’ll use it for a few more weeks till I save up for a Bobro or a Larue. Then I’ll probably sell it on ebay, and recoup some of my money.
It was waiting for me when I got home from work, I had a little time to mount it properly and a little daylight left to try to zero it. I got it zeroed in at 50 Meters before it got dark. I only had about 15 mins with it. That will get me close when I re-zero it for 200 meters. I may play around with the zeros and see what works best for my stash of 55s and the mils that are on it.
Overall impressions are very good. Very clear glass, not as bright as my TA33 I used to have, but still bright. The eotech style reticle is very fast and didn’t need illumination until it started getting dark. I like how the ring goes out of view when you zoom in and the cross hair becomes more clear. I see what you where talking about how the ring restricts FOV at 4 and 5 power, I don’t think I’ll have an issue with it. Its very stiff, I will need a cat-tail, that’s a long way to move all that glass. A minor detail I like is it takes the same batteries as my T1 so I don’t have to stock up a separate pile which is nice. I tried a little comparison with it. If I’m faster with my T1 then I need a shot timer to tell. The true one power easy on the eyes and real impressed with it. For the people considering a Patrol, I had considered a Leupold VX-R Patrol which is 1.50 according to the specs and after trying this scope on 1.5 I can say, that would have been fine. I didn’t have any speed issues with it. After all I’ve seen people running 1.5 acogs just as fast as trying a T1, so I’m not surprised it wasn’t an issue. I’m not saying 1.5 are faster, just the time difference for me is negligible But I am more than happy with my choice, the true one power is a nice feature that’s easy to use. The extra 6x is a huge bonus Because I’m not getting younger. I would have been fine with a 4x but the extra 6 is awesome, and glad I ended up with it
Thanks for all the advice and information. I have and will recommend this site to my friends. They are all great scopes and made this a real hard decision. It was fun though, glad I got a scope that will last years to come.