60% hunting/40% target scope for 270win

[Oskurmyboy]

Its my main deer rifle (shoots factory 130s .75 moa at 100 yards) and does pretty good when just trying to hit targets at longer distances. I won't have any places that I hunt that I've ranged to be over 300 yards for deer but lots of places to stretch out to 600 yards at targets. It currently has a Zeiss Conquest 3x9x40, which I love. I am color blind and it is amazing what I can see when I look through the scope....still cant see colors, but things are very bright and vivid. I remember when I bought the Conquest thinking "how much better can this be than my Nikon, Vortex, Weaver ($250-300 scopes)". It was much better. I set it 4 years ago and forget it. Holds zero and works like a champ. I'm now wanting to step up to a little more magnification and performance. I like SFP with a holdover reticle. It just seems fastest to me where I hunt. Id like to try spinning turrets when shooting a longer targets from a bench.

BUDGET= $1000ish, I've got a lot of Cabelas points to spend
--Low light hunting matters first. I am almost always looking towards a forest and it gets dark fast
along the trees.
--Great glass- I am hoping for that "wow" reaction I had when I first looked thru my Conquest
--Easy to get behind
--SFP, it just seems to work for me and its all I've ever tried
--reticle for hold over and wind. Decent turrets because I do want to use them when target shooting.
--magnification from 3x 12-16ish, cant imagine needing much more for this gun.

Half a dozen years ago I looked thru some Leupolds and wasn't impressed. Everyone seems to like the new VX5HD/6's, so I am open to anything. Again, I don't see things like everyone else do to color blindness, but I am willing to check out anything you guys recommend. I am easy on my equipment and plan to keep it along time. I'm a great buyer but a lousy seller.

 

[Hand Skills]

I was recently looking for a scope for my .270. Something with a little more reach for than my standard duplex 2.5-8x. After a bunch of research I went with the VX5 3-15x44, mainly due to all the praise here for the Impact reticle. There really isn't anything like in the world of SFP.

 

[257Tony]

If low light is important, vx5 or vx6, or Bushnell elite 6500 gets the bid in that price range.

 

[Rich Coyle]

What weight max?

 

[Oskurmyboy]

What weight max?

No real weight max. I don't have to lug this gun around much, just wouldn't want to get overly top heavy.

I figured I would get a lot of suggestions for the VX5/6, thanks guys.

 

[dmj]

The night force shv might be something to look at. The 3x10 power isn't all that heavy. The one I have seems clear and tracks well if you are considering dialing. Another scope that gets looked over a lot that seems to be a pretty good scope is the sightron siii. Good luck

 

[dsculley]

Check out the Burris XTRii line. I am very pleased with mine.

 

[Canhunter35]

I have a Zeiss conquest mc 6.5-20 and a leupold vx3i lrp, 6.5-20, the leupold to my eye is a touch crisper and brighter. I don't know about the new Zeiss open turrets, but the old ones kind of suck. Lol, it tracks great and everything, but has a splined shaft the turret slides down on to reset your zero, it's never right on zero so It's easy to be a click off. Impact reticle is awesome though! For a hunting scope the vx5 is nice but for myself when I'm behind the gun I prefer the lrp tall turret

 

[Rich Coyle]

Well then, I suggest a Bushnell 66500 4 1/2-30X50. When Leupold VX-6 4-24X52, Swarovski z5 5-25X52 compared side by side on deer antlers 131 yards away in low light there was no difference. In good light on an optics chart the Bushnell barely edged the other two. Whatever I could see with 15X in the Bushnell the other two needed 16X for me to see the same thing.

 

[Oskurmyboy]

Thanks for all of the replies. I spent Saturday at Cabelas looking thru a Leupold VX5, NightForce SVH, Zeiss HD5 and Swaro 5, they didn't have any 6500 Bushnells. To be honest, the Zeiss glass seemed the brightest to my eyes, but again, this was only thru them indoors at a sign 113 yards away. I found the eye box of the Leupold most difficult to get behind. I called Doug at CameraLand, who is great to work with and he recommended I look at the Athlons. I liked what I saw and the Ares 4.5-27x50 moa/moa may fit the bill. I changed directions a bit with the FFP scope, but this seems like a good scope to get started with. I should have it in hand in a few days and I will follow up with my thoughts and reactions. I can spend 10,000s of thousand's of dollars on a car I have not driven but I struggle and agonize over buying a scope I can not look thru at an outdoors setting. Lets hope this works out.