7mm Mag - Glass to grow into?

[Jakl]

I’ve recently acquired a 7mm Magnum Remington 700 BDL LH and need to pick out a scope for it. My only current strictly hunting setup is an older Savage 111 in 308 with a Nikon Buckmasters 3-9x on it (SFP BDC).

I live down in TX but I have had a few invites from friends in the PNW to go hunt and I just felt like I was not prepared for that sort of shot. Most of my time is either on a fence line over a feed plot or in a semi-permanent stand hunting whitetail in TX with the average shot under 150yds with nothing above 300.

I got this 7 Mag with the intent of having a rifle with more legs than my 308 and more forgiving at ranges at 500+ yards. That being said, I haven’t had much shooting experience beyond 300 yards and none of which has been in a hunting environment. I’d like to get a scope for this rifle that would give me room to practice and grow over the next year, maybe two, so I can have more confidence taking those longer shots against larger game up in Idaho and Montana.

I’m comfortable with Mils over MOA and prefer FFP when target shooting at 300 yards. Not sure that translates to hunting, but I appreciate holds that work at any magnification at above half of the scopes power and up (I haven’t found a FFP reticle that is useful below half of the max mag for a given scope, but I am open to suggestions on that too).

I’d like to stay under $1000. My initial thought was to get the Razor LHT 4.5-22 FFP, but Vortex’s reputation seems to be pretty subpar.

What suggestions do y’all have for a scope that I can get for this 7mm magnum to practice and grow with for the eventual PNW Elk/Mule Deer hunt?

 

[DakotaBPNW]

Bushnell LRHS2

 

[menhaden_man]

I put a SWFA 3-15 on my newer 7 mag after reading all the hype on here and other forums. Pretty happy with it! Shot a stud antelope with it on its first hunt.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Any swfa, lrhs/lrts/lrhs2, shv f1, trijicom closeouts all come to mind. There's rumors of new swfa models soon. you also might want to read the scope evaluation subforum in the long range hunting area.

 

[Jakl]

Bushnell LRHS2

I mean sure, I’ve had that on my list for a while but finding one has been next to impossible unless I’m just sitting here constantly refreshing the page waiting for one to pop up lol.

I put a SWFA 3-15 on my newer 7 mag after reading all the hype on here and other forums. Pretty happy with it! Shot a stud antelope with it on its first hunt.

I’ll check those out again! I looked at them initially and they seemed to be backordered often. Thanks!

Any swfa, lrhs/lrts/lrhs2, shv f1, trijicom closeouts all come to mind. There's rumors of new swfa models soon. you also might want to read the scope evaluation subforum in the long range hunting area.

The SHV F1 was on my short list. I really like what Trijicon has as far as quality goes, but they don’t seem to have much hunting oriented in Mil FFP. Is a 4ish to 16ish scope FFP and not some crazy tree reticle too much to ask? Haha

 

[gr8fuldoug]

Have you considered the Sightron S-TAC Series Scopes or the Element Titan ?

 

[Jakl]

Have you considered the Sightron S-TAC Series Scopes or the Element Titan ?

I have not considered, or event heard of, either. I’ll check them out!

 

[Pony Soldier]

I'm not in the running but I will share what I have. I purchased two leupold vx-2 scopes 4-12 power. Largely for the choice of the fine duplex crosshairs. For most of my life I have left the magnification at 4-5. Recently I moved it up to six but I am chronically old. I don't know what things have evolved but I have fallen, had a couple horse wrecks ( one resulting in a 15 bend in the barrel) and the guns still shoot true. I've had these for over 20 years. I would hope that leupold has not degraded with time.

 

[Jakedasnke]

Shop around and look for sales. Any reputable brand with the features you want at the $1k price point should be a good fit. Then I’d focus on finding good consistent ammo and start working on drop charts and verifying it at distance. Enjoy the process