I'm having a .257 Weatherby Magnum built for hunting/targets. I will be using it on groundhogs, coyotes, and deer anywhere from 300 out and im trying to decide on the glass. I'm leaning towards a Swarvoski Z5 in 3.5-18x or 5-25x. What would better suit my needs?
Scope for 500+ yards
- Thread starter gnlvr22
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paphil
Well-Known Member
Have you looked at Huskemaw? The glass is very clear and the turret system, when set up properly allows you to dial to the exact distance. It also has wind hold built into the turret. I've killed groundhogs out to 1200 yards. Dial and shoot! Len sells them here at the store.
I have not. I had looked at burris blackdiamonds, leupold mark 4, and the swaro. The closest dealer to me that sells Huskemaw is 3 hrs away but next time I'm that way I'll check them out. Looks like their reticle is similar to the Swaro 4w reticle I was looking at. Gun won't be done till June 
so I have time. What kind of price tag?
so I have time. What kind of price tag?Are you spending that kind of money because you want to or because you think you have to? May sound like a weird question but it doesn't take a whole lot of special in a scope to shoot out to 5-600 yards today. Lots of good options out there in the mid price range.
I will be honest, I am not a big swaro scope fan. I love their binos and spotters but their scopes are not as good as they should be especially for the price. Their glass on them is great but their durability and turrets are not. I know many are going to flip a lid when they hear me speak this heresy but look at the names that they are competing with in the $1500 price range. They are not up to the standards of their competition IMO.
With that flat shooting of a gun you could easily use a good graduated reticle for almost all of your holdovers. Even if you dial you are going to have minimum turret travel.
I would encourage you to come up with a list of features you want, ie, FFP or SFP, special reticle or duplex, zero stops, mag range, obj size, etc then start shopping accordingly. This will greatly narrow down your options.
As always I would put durability and turret repeatability at the top and glass near the bottom. In today's market it is really hard to get poor glass that will in any way affect your shooting experience or abilities.
HTH,
Scot E.
I will be honest, I am not a big swaro scope fan. I love their binos and spotters but their scopes are not as good as they should be especially for the price. Their glass on them is great but their durability and turrets are not. I know many are going to flip a lid when they hear me speak this heresy but look at the names that they are competing with in the $1500 price range. They are not up to the standards of their competition IMO.
With that flat shooting of a gun you could easily use a good graduated reticle for almost all of your holdovers. Even if you dial you are going to have minimum turret travel.
I would encourage you to come up with a list of features you want, ie, FFP or SFP, special reticle or duplex, zero stops, mag range, obj size, etc then start shopping accordingly. This will greatly narrow down your options.
As always I would put durability and turret repeatability at the top and glass near the bottom. In today's market it is really hard to get poor glass that will in any way affect your shooting experience or abilities.
HTH,
Scot E.
Scot,
So are you saying a $900 burris blackdiamond 6-24x with a ballistic milldot reticle will do anything I want out to 1000? That was my first choice originally but thought i should put better glass on a custom gun...this will be my first custom gun so I'm new to 500+yard shooting
So are you saying a $900 burris blackdiamond 6-24x with a ballistic milldot reticle will do anything I want out to 1000? That was my first choice originally but thought i should put better glass on a custom gun...this will be my first custom gun so I'm new to 500+yard shooting
It likely would. The real high mags are often not usable anyway due to mirage so often times it isn't' a real benefit to pay more for a lot of extra power which usually comes with extra weight and length. That does depend on where you shoot though. But a lot of times that is the case for varmints.
I would look at the Vortex Viper, and Viper PST, Weaver grand slam, super slam and 3-15 tactical, Sightron, and Bushnell 4200, 6500 and tactical. The SWFA SS line has a fantastic 5-20x50 if you wanted a full tactical style. Their 3-9 is also very good but may be less power than you want. In the $1500 range there is the Vortex Razor (full tactical) which is a very, very nice scope. Some of these are FFP which may not be what you are looking for so keep that in mind.
Scot E.
paphil
Well-Known Member
If you could find someone to shoot with you and show you how the scopes operate AND show you that they can back up their scope with hits at 1000 yards and good accuracy at several shorter distances, and then if you feel you can shoot well with that scope, then go with it. Don't buy any scope without first trying several of them. Huskemaw will be your choice if you really want to shoot well past 500 yards!
MHO
Well-Known Member
Trazman, yes it is worth the money. just my 2 cents
bruce_ventura
Well-Known Member
Scot E said:
That's a pretty hard knock on Swarovski. I haven't heard that before, so I have to call you out and request you back up that statement. I don't have a pony in the race here - just very interested to know why you reached that conclusion (c'mon, you knew it was coming).
Regarding mechanical over optical quality, I agree for PDs and coyotes. Atmospheric turbulence usually limits resolution for PDs. Coyotes are usually called in close and sighted with the naked eye, so not much scope is needed.
For big game and especially deer, however, I would say optical performance should be at least as high a priority as mechanical performance. Targets are difficult to spot, illumination is often marginal, and turbulence is usually low. Good glass can make a difference, especially in the area of glare. Veiling glare reduces image contrast and that means reduced resolution. I'm seeing a wide spread in glare performance among scopes in the $400-1,000 MAP price range. Resolution over the field of view also varies quite a bit.
For a multi-use rifle like this one, I would let the most demanding scenario (in this case deer hunting) drive the scope selection process.
Just my opinion, but the most important factor in any scenario is always being able to hit your target without scope failure or turret malfunction. If you don't have these qualities, being able to see them with a high end monocular mounted on your rifle means that you have sadly been relegated to just a wildlife viewer.
I don't have a pony in the race either, just my opinion based on some I have handled and backed up by some comments made by some of the optics guys that I listen to most.
Do keep in mind where I come from though with scope use. Optical quality is always at or near the bottom of my list for any scope decision I make. Quality, durability, turret repeatability, and features will come first. There is just too much good glass out there today to scrimp on any of the other more important aspects of a scope. I do agree with you that there are currently some growing pains with some of these new manf. that are trying to bring what was previously lower end foreign made scopes into the mid to high end level. But they are making huge leaps and bounds IMO, getting noticeably better with each new upgrade. But today's glass is so much better than what was available 15-20 years ago and look at all that was accomplished back then from a hunting scenario!
Also, I have always been involved in very precise or LR type shooting (what we used to call micro LR shooting). I started shooting LR with .22 long rifle and then migrated to LR shooting with precision airguns. Any faults with a particular brand or model are going to stand out and potentially be a deal breaker much more easily than conventional centerfire shooting or even LR centerfire shooting out to 6-800 yards. Often times we were spinning the turrets 2-4 revs just to get out to 100 to 150 yards! Very demanding. Plus many don't know this but there isn't anything harder on scopes than the recoil of a spring or gas ram airgun. Harder than any of the big magnums shot in LR big game hunting. So I got a really good feel for what was really durable and what wasn't. So this experience helped shape what I look for in a scope today and set my standards pretty high. The interesting thing is that the high standards needed for success seldom followed the high end scopes being touted as the best.
My experience, YMMV
Scot E.
+1 for the Huskemaw. I have three and they all work flawlessly. Great Reticle and glass for long range work and vey repeatable turrets.
I own a few of both. Nothing bad to say about either. I believe the Huskemaw is $1300 for the Blue Diamond 5x20. 20x is plenty of power.
