I’ll never forget the day I went to the gun club with my brand new Remington 700 with Vortex scope to dial it in. Only to be told by some jackass that to be considered a member of the “shooting community” it would take nothing less than putting a $1,500 Nightforce scope on it.
When somebody tells you that your scope has to be twice the price of your rifle is when you know they are full of s**t. As are many in the “shooting community.”
Having said that Rule #1 for buying rifle scopes: don’t worry about getting the latest and greatest. Whatever perceived features or gains you would receive from picking a more expensive scope over another are probably so minimal that they probably don’t pertain to you. Most people can’t outshoot their scopes.
Rule #2: Don’t fall for analysis paralysis. Everybody is an expert these days or wants to be one. It’s easy to get suckered in to analyzing every aspect of a scope so that it becomes a religious obsession. When you find yourself becoming a materials scientists on the matter of scope housings, optics coatings etc. it’s time to stop and make a decision.
Ran Leupold glass for along time but have slowly switched to Zeiss. The Conquest line is damn fine glass for a reasonable price.
NRA ran a “test comparison” of BDC scopes in “The American Hunter” a few years ago. Compared everything from $2,000 Zeiss and Swarovski rigs to a $200 Weaver. Interestingly, the Nikon Monarch BDC ($349) tested as good (and in some tests better) than the big dogs. My response to the editor was that most American hunters would buy the Nikon and use the money saved to but another gun! The truth is, its your money, buy what you can afford that gets the job done and ignore what anyone else thinks!
I have hung up my deer hunting aspirations and shoot at paper instead so I acknowledge my opinion is not relevant to a topic on deer hunting scopes.
I like the zero Stop feature on the Nightforce but not for $2,100 and change.
I have a comparable SWFA mounted on a .308 DPMS LRT SASS. Good scope.. Built off a US Navy contract for @ 1/3 the price.
I have outshot a buddy who shoots with a Nightforce.
I tell my wife when we hit the lotto I am going to mount one on a 20” LWRC REPR.