Help me outfit my new tactical rifle project.

encoreguy

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Sep 24, 2006
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I just purchased a Savage 10FP DBM rifle with the new Choate tactical stock. I have been wanting to put together a tactical DBM rifle for awhile. It is a .308 but eventually I will screw on a .260 ackley barrel. I will use a 20 moa Ken Farrel base and burris signature Z-rings with inserts. I want target type turrets, a mil-dot reticle and at least 3.5" of eye relief. It will be used for longrange target shooting (perhaps f-class shooting) and hunting. If money was not a concern I would simply buy a Nightforce, Mark 4 or a Zeiss and be done with it, but with 2 kids yet to go to college I cannot bring myself to do it. I really hate to go over the mid-$500 range, but I think I can fill my needs and keep within that budget.

I prefer to dial in the range and use the mils for windage hold-offs. So I need accurate, repeatable elevation adjustments.

I am thinking of the following:

On the lower end side,
3200 5-15 tactical (50 moa and 4" of eye relief) but smaller field of view over other scopes in that power range.

4.5 - 14 Weaver tactical (I think it is the exact same scope as the 3200 but has only 3-3.5" of eye relief but a wider field of view. It might have a different tracking system (Weaver has been known to have good tracking).

4.5 -14 or 6-18 Buckmasters with mil-dot. The 6-18 has target turrets but not a big fan of 1/8" adjustments. I think these are only 40 moa or less range of adjustment.

Perhaps a Vortex but I don't like their short eye relief.

A little higher price:

Sightron Big Sky II 4.5 X 14 with side AO, 80 moa 1/4 adjustment and 20 minutes per revolution.

Sightron Big Sky 6.5 X 20 with side AO. 60 moa, 1/4 adjustment and 20 minutes per revolution. Only concern here is smaller field of view.

Big Sky 4-16 mil-dot but has 1/8" adjustmernt only 10 minutes per revolution but does have 80 moa adjustment and is cheaper than the above Sightron scopes.

I have a Nikon Monarch 4-16 mil-dot now and I could get target turrets for it but it is only 40 moa and to be honest my Burris Fullfield II 4.5-14 is much clearer side by side. So I am not overly impressed. I have one of the very first New Monarch's to be delivered so maybe the later ones are better. My old 6.5-20 Monarch UCC with ILL mil- dot is also a better scope but are hard to find since they quit making them.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Given the choice you outline, the Bushnell is nice. But with only 50moa of adjustment, it would be a delicate dance to get the the right canted base. 30moa might be too much.

When I first started reading your post, my initial reaction was Sightron. They make a good scope. Also, if you're willing to go a little over $500, you could have the Leupold custom shop build you a nice VX-3 with tactical knobs and mil-dot reticle.
 
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I would also recommend taking a look at the Clearidge Ultra XP5 scopes. The are very close to your budget and is a top quality scope.
 
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