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I've been tossing around the idea of replacing the scope on one of my rifles, but scopes are not my specialty; I just don't know what's good and what's not anymore.
The rifle is a custom Rem 700 30-06 that my dad bought back in the '80s. It's a 26" heavy barrel, McMillan pillar-bedded stock, put together by a master riflesmith. When I practiced from sandbags regularly, I could shoot .5moa with it, but I suspect that it might do better than that; half-minute was just the limits of my abilities. I'm not a big bench-rest guy anyhow, my interest in tiny little groups from sandbags comes and goes.
Anyhow, it currently has a Leupold 6x scope that hasn't been off of it in 30+ years, and I've always thought that 6x is a little weak for such a rifle. My dad never shot it, didn't really even like guns, just thought he needed it in case he ever needed it. He passed a couple years ago and it's mine now. I think eventually I want to put a bigger scope on it, maybe a variable around 6-16x or something like that.
As to cost, I'm not going to break the bank. I know a lot of guys like expensive optics and preach things like spending more on glass than you do on the gun, but that kind of thing is way out of my league. I'm thinking two to four hundred tops. I'm not a hunter or an "operator"; this rifle won't be packed through the boonies in a snowstorm. It will be packed to the range in a padded case, and if my life ever depends on this rifle, something went way, way wrong in life.
It's funny, when I was a young man, in my circle of friends where I grew up, a really nice scope that most hunters I knew liked was a Leupold Vari-X 3-9x40 that could be had for $100 or so. Nowadays it seems that those are looked down upon as a budget scope, and everyone spends $1k or more. To each their own. Nice stuff is nice to have, but not everyone can afford it.
This is just something I've been thinking about, thought I'd start researching and learning what's good and what's not, and what would be appropriate for this old rifle, and in my price range. What really got me thinking was seeing a used B&L scope in the classifieds here, looked like a really good deal. Must have been, because it went quick. I made a commitment earlier this year to not spend any more money on guns and such, but somewhere down the road I might spend some on a scope.
The rifle is a custom Rem 700 30-06 that my dad bought back in the '80s. It's a 26" heavy barrel, McMillan pillar-bedded stock, put together by a master riflesmith. When I practiced from sandbags regularly, I could shoot .5moa with it, but I suspect that it might do better than that; half-minute was just the limits of my abilities. I'm not a big bench-rest guy anyhow, my interest in tiny little groups from sandbags comes and goes.
Anyhow, it currently has a Leupold 6x scope that hasn't been off of it in 30+ years, and I've always thought that 6x is a little weak for such a rifle. My dad never shot it, didn't really even like guns, just thought he needed it in case he ever needed it. He passed a couple years ago and it's mine now. I think eventually I want to put a bigger scope on it, maybe a variable around 6-16x or something like that.
As to cost, I'm not going to break the bank. I know a lot of guys like expensive optics and preach things like spending more on glass than you do on the gun, but that kind of thing is way out of my league. I'm thinking two to four hundred tops. I'm not a hunter or an "operator"; this rifle won't be packed through the boonies in a snowstorm. It will be packed to the range in a padded case, and if my life ever depends on this rifle, something went way, way wrong in life.
It's funny, when I was a young man, in my circle of friends where I grew up, a really nice scope that most hunters I knew liked was a Leupold Vari-X 3-9x40 that could be had for $100 or so. Nowadays it seems that those are looked down upon as a budget scope, and everyone spends $1k or more. To each their own. Nice stuff is nice to have, but not everyone can afford it.
This is just something I've been thinking about, thought I'd start researching and learning what's good and what's not, and what would be appropriate for this old rifle, and in my price range. What really got me thinking was seeing a used B&L scope in the classifieds here, looked like a really good deal. Must have been, because it went quick. I made a commitment earlier this year to not spend any more money on guns and such, but somewhere down the road I might spend some on a scope.