Scope for a new Savage 300WSM that is consistent.

MrGman · Guest

I have a new Savage Weather Warrior (read that 24" stainless barrel and lightweight synthetic stock) rifle in the 300 Winchester Short Magnum. I am looking to hunt pigs in California and possibly Deer and elk hunting later on wherever they may be. I am a fairly firm believer in the all purpose 3 X 9 type scope. I already committed to Leupold steel mounts (low) that will hold up to about a 44mm front objective, 1 inch tube.

I have vision correction problems that make me not happy with most end bell adjustable focus for the cross hairs. I really like the new quick focus adjustments on the rear optic end of the end bells. Some people say get the adjustable objective for parallax. I don't know if I want to spend the money. I am not a fan of the Bushnell scopes. I just bought two of them for lesser range "fun" rifles and am not happy at how you need to be right down the center of the pipe to not have the image black out when they are at their highest mag end, I have seen good postings for the Nikon Monarch series, Burris, Leupold ( which I don't like mostly because of the end bell focusing and very tight zoom adjustment rings, not because of their quality), Kahles, and Weaver (which I don't see sold here at optics planet). I would prefer to stay under $300.00. But this is my one rifle I want to have for serious hunting for ever, so I am willing to spend if I have to up to $600.00.

I really want this combination to be repeatably accurate, meaning consistent, so that when I sight it in for hunting season year to year, it pretty much shoots in the same place. I don't plan to put a lot of rounds through it for "fun" shooting" once its sighted in, Hopefully it will be a one shot per pig deal and probably no more than 2 hunting trips per year.

I have read numerous posts here and consider you guys to be worth listening to.

I don't know much about the Burris at all, but from what I have read I like the idea of their steel on steel erector sets that they say are so strong. However I have never heard anything bad about the ability to hold a sighting on any of the other name brand scopes in the above $3 bills range either. So, what say you?

opticsplanet.com · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the confidence in us and the nice comments. Appreciate it.

I'm sure you'll get no shortage of comments on this post and lots of good info, but I'll throw some stuff into the arena to get things rolling.

Weaver scopes are owned by Meade corporation, who also owns Simmons and Redfield (not to be confused with the old Redfield scopes). We don't carry Weaver, but we do carry Simmons. From what I have seen on other websites, though, the Weaver Grand Slam appears to be the high end offering from Meade. Like most scopes, today, it has the fast focus eyepiece.

The Leupold VX-II, http://www.opticsplanet.net/leupold-vari-x-ii-3-9x40mm-rifle-scope.html and VX-III, http://www.opticsplanet.net/leupold-vari-x-iii-35-10x40mm-rifle-scope.html also have a fast focus, lockable eyepiece and a tactile power ring, so you might want to look at one of these at your local gunshop. Any Leupold is a good investment if for no other ereason than Leupold's great customer service and warranty.

Kahles is owned by Swarovski and is really a high end scope. Any rifle would be proud to wear one. The 3-9x40 AH, http://www.opticsplanet.net/riflescopes-kahles-ah3-9x42-plex.html will definitely be priced higher tahn the othe 3-9x40s, however. Still, if you want that European quality, it's a great scope.

If you are thinking Kahles, you should also take a look at the Zeiss Conquest, http://www.opticsplanet.net/zeiss-3-9x40mm-conquest-rifle-scope-with-z-plex-reticle1.html.The Conquest has dynamite optics. I've always been a fan of their T* coatings for low light work.

Burris is right out of Greely, Colrado and is an excellent, well-made scope in the Signature series, http://www.opticsplanet.net/burris-3-9x40mm-signature-select-scope.html and Fullfield II, http://www.opticsplanet.net/burris-3-9x40mm-fullfield-ii-rifle-scope.html. I have no problem recommending them.

The Nikon Monarch, http://www.opticsplanet.net/nikon-riflescope-monarch-ucc-3-9x40.html has always been one of my favorites for its great optics.

Don't write off the Bushnells. In the Elite 4200, http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnell-25-10x40-elite.html you have a scope with excellent optics and construction. Don't confuse this scope with their low end offerings.

I'll get out of the way now and make room for some of regulars.
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Joanie (Jne) K
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ranburr · Guest

The previous post offers good suggestions. One thing that I will add is that you do not need an AO unless you go beyond 10X magnification. I personally prefer the Zeiss Conquest series. But, as stated, don't discount the Bushnell Elite 4200s. The Elite was sold under the B&L banner for years and is a top quality scope.

ranburr

MrGman · Guest

Thanks for the input first, The reason for the pondering about the adjustable objective is this. I have been at the 100 yard line with scopes (Non AO) that are supposedly set for "zero parallax" at 100 yards. When taken to 10X the target was not sharply in focus. Adjusting the eyepiece for my vision and having the cross hairs in focus, did not bring the target into sharper focus. Adjusting the eyepiece beyond the point of reticle focus for my vision further brought the target into sharp focus. I didn't understand why both could not be optimized at 100 yards at the same time. I have looked through friends scopes with AO. And I can clearly bring both the reticle and target at 100 yards in sharp focus at the same time. Now I know for aiming and shooting at a big game targets at these or futher ranges with a 9 or 10 X scope probably won't change the aim point, But it sure would be nice to see a crisp clear target and reticle when I am sighting in a rifle/scope. Have not been able to do that in years unless of course I keep the magnification lower, say 7X or below. I am 50 years old, far sighted and were progressive lenses for everthing from 6 feet and under. Any thoughts? Gary

ranburr · Guest

I am going to take a guess and assume that you have been using lower quality scopes in the past. If this is the case, your problems should be cured with a higher quality scope, like those listed above. Try out as many as you can, scope technology has come a long way in recent years. One thing you might want to remember about objective AOs is that they are rarely dead on accurate.

ranburr

MrGMan · Guest

On my previous 270 Win. Hunting Rifle it came with Tasco Trophy 3 X 9 Scope. I bought a Simmons 44 Mag model 3.5 X 10 with the quick focus eyepiece. This is the scope that I can't see sharply at 100 yards unless I adjust the Eyepiece beyond what would be sharp reticle focus. I have some Bushnell Banner series on my low power fun rifles. I have a Leupold Vx II 2 X 7 on my 22 WMR. I like the quality of the Leupold, I don't like how hard it is to turn the zoom ring. That's not relevant to this issue. Since it only goes to 7 X I don't have much of an issue with notcing the targets are or are not in really sharp focus at 100 yards.

Right now I am leaning real hard towards the Zeiss Conquest, which some friends have and also highly recommend, but still haven't decided for sure. I am not in a big hurry.

opticsplanet.com · Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:53 am Post subject:

Hi

If you can squeeze the Conquest into your budget, go for it. Great optics at a reasonable price, all things considered.
_________________
----------------------
Your personal optics expert
Joanie (Jne) K
http://www.OpticsPlanet.com
Phone: (888) 263-0356
Fax: (847) 574-6820

ranburr · Guest

I have quite a few Conquest and I feel they really are the best scope for the money. As I suspected, most of your scopes are of lower quality. I do not think you will experience these problems with the Conquest.

ranburr

MrGman · Guest

I have put in the order for the new Zeiss 3 X 9 Conquest this morning. So I will post how it works out once I have it sighted in.

Thanks, Gary

Guest · Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:57 pm Post subject:

I have mounted the new scope and had very similar results to that of the previous Simmons Scope. Basically with the scope already precentered (Per Zeiss manual) it was shooting 9 inches low at the first shot at 50 yards. I brought it up to zero on the target with the adjustment knob then moved on to the 100 Yard line. I couldn't get consistent fine adjustments and it was not grouping well at all.

I came home and tried to evaluate the situation. It was my belief that the scope was 20 mils lower in the rear than the front on the fixed Leupold 2 piece mounts. I could see the back edge of the scope rings digging into the scope tube but not the front. I calculated the error from 50 yards (1800 inches) with a 9 inch drop to the 3.75 inches of separation of the front to rear ring and its about 18 mils. I completely redid the mounting starting with the front only this time. With the front ring mounted to the front base only. I can see the rear ring still attached to the scope body free floating above the rear ring by about 20 mils. If I tighten up the rear dovetail mount it pulls the scope down to the base. I don't think these scope bases were optimized for this model Savage rifle. I shimmed up the rear mount by 20 mils and taken away the free floating clearance. I am hoping that the scope will now be shooting high and I can bring the reticle back closer to its original center point, within its proper adjustment range and that the rifle will group and behave better at the 100 yard line. I never had this trouble using weaver style ring mounts on flat topped rifles. I will borrow my friends boresighter if I have to do this yet again. I don't believe at this time that there is anything wrong with the new scope (and now with the old scope) or the rifle itself, but the mounts. If I can't get this dialed in at all, I will try to find weaver style mounts.

MrGman · Guest

Just a quick report. So far have not been having too much luck with rifle. The mounting bolts through the stock were coming loose and I have had other issues with the ammo and shooting in general I am not happy about. The Scope is beautifully clear and at 100 Yards I can definitely dial in the eyepiece and get the cross hairs and the target image both in sharp focus and see the bullet holes in the paper, at the same time. So I am happy in that respect. I have borrowed back my friends Leupold Boresighter and recentered the scope to its original center position in the horizontal plane only. My offset of the rear mount vertically with shims appears to have worked rather well. With the bore sighter I am able to see the click adjustments go smoothly from full scale left to right and back again. Once recentered, I shifted the rear dovetail adjustment to make it more centered so I would not have to use a lot of dial adjustment to zero the scope out for shooting. Even though this scope does have a wide range of adjustment as advertised (64 inches end to end at 100 yards), no reason to be out near the end of range. I am guessing that the Leupold mount was designed to help center in this manner, so I should have done this first (but didn't have the bore sighter at the time). I will hang on to the bore sighter through my next couple trips to the range and also remember to keep the wrench for the stock handy to make sure it stays tight. As a side note the holes for the bolts go clear through the stock and into the receiver. The receiver holes go all the way through to the chamber area, so if I put Loctite in there and it flows through it will be inside the chamber area of the receiver. Not happy about that, but that is not relevant to scope mounting and scope performance issues. Just makes it harder to evaluate the scope. I will work something out on that issue later.

Mrgman9999 · Guest

Basically I found that this particular Savage rifle does not like Winchester 180 grain factory cartridges/bullets. I have a friend who worked up various loads of 165 Grain bullets and I have purchased Federal "Fusion" 165 Grain ammo, all of which worked great. Rifle shoots consistent, the scope is very clear and I can see the bullet holes at 100 yards at 9X very distinctly, and is very bright. I would heartily recommend the Zeiss Conquest scope for those who can afford it. The clarity of this scope at 9X shows bullet holes I could not see clearly with other scopes at 10X, for what that is worth. Very Happy

Gary

misterquality03@yahoo.com · Guest

On two piece scope mounts,I have reversed the mounts(Put the front in the back,the back mount in the front) and have cured my problem.Hope this might help.