Scope for night coyote hunting and long range daytime target shooting

[egts]

I have a RRA AR Predator Pursuit that I put a Burris FFII 4.5-14x42 on. I have been breaking it in and had discovered that it is not enought scope to shoot long range targets. I need a scope that will have a low enough power to shoot a coyotes on winter moonlight nights @ 50 yards and still be able to see me bullet holes on my target at 200 yards.
I have been looking at the Bushnell 6500 4-30x50, but I'm not real fond of their reticles. I really like the burris ballistic plex. Would a Mill Dot work good for night coyote hunting? I'm also a little apprehensive on the lighted reticles as I am unsure if they have variable power to turn the brightness down, because I don't want it to be over bearing at night. I really prefer to have some sort of ranging reticle, but most that have a ranging reticle will probably be to fine for night hunting. I realize that I am trying to make one scope do the job of two scopes, so any suggestions or advice would be great.
Thanks
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[egts]

I forgot to mention that I have a budget of around $1000 for the scope.
gun)

 

[Gene Jr.]

If you are allowed to use a light that will make just about any decent scope usable at night for close range. Red or yellow lenses work great and do not alert the animals at all. If you are calling they will come in just fine when using a light, actually better, they can't see what's BEHIND the light. Most of my night time calling shots are in the 30-100 yard range on fox and racoons. No experience with coyotes yet.

A lighted reticle can be nice but is not needed. Most guys I know that are very serious about night hunting use the BR Nightforce scopes with external adjustable brightness reticles.

There is also a little clamp on light to light up the reticle of any scope. I've used it and although it does work I find it is not worth the hassle. Just not needed with a good light.

Gene

 

[egts]

Evidently not many people target shoot and hunt coyotes

 

[Tyler Kemp]

Not with the same scope.

 

[blipelt]

I only night hunted with a 12ga. with 4buck.

One option would be to acquire a Gene Davis optical booster for target shooting. A 3X booster will increase a 20X to 26X.


Brent

 

[MontanaRifleman]

My NF NSX 5.5 - 22 x 50 will easily allow me to see my bullet holes @ 200 yds (on white paper) and on 5.5 power can easily pick up targets beyond 100 yds in moonlight. But it's more than $1000. I've seen them go for about $1300-$1400 on ebay.

-MR

 

[edward hogan]

What kind of bullets are you loading in your RRA? What twist is the barrel? Longrange means different things to different people. Not many "longrange" accuracy bullets work well with less than a 1:8 twist in .223rem. Not going to get much "accuracy" past 250yds with 55gr bullets.

4.5-14x is great range of magnification for and AR-15. A 50mm objective with illuminated reticle like the TMR or Mil-Dot and you are set. Compact size and lightweight are also helpful in keeping a field rifle manageable. Many scope including the Burris XTR and IOR 4-14 are long as hell both in terms of overall length and ocular lens assy. This means you have difficulty being able to mount the scope and keeping your rifle balanced. IOR or NightForce scopes are also about 1lb heavier than Leupold or Burris and more expensive.

If you really want a scope with light gathering and excellent optics, both Zeiss and Schmidt & Bender sell an 8x56 fixed power that should be the ticket. Might find one with an illum reticle, but would be near your $1K budget.

My Leupold #60000 mk4 illum TMR 4.5-14 is great in the shadows, and with adjustable illumination enables me not to be overpowered by too much reticle intensity.

Plenty of people will say "but there's better glass"! Yes, but it always weighs more, has long tube design, and in my book image quality isn't the primary consideration for a scopesight.

I have a 20" match barreled AR-15 with a MK4 MR/T and although it is 1.5-5x the reticle design makes it extremely versatile. The M2 turrets are great, w/bullet trajectory dial, and with over 100moa of reticle elevation, it can serve for longrange.