Lets talk sheep scopes.

[SDHNTR]

The exposed turret thing is easily solved with a strip of electrical tape. Double back 1/8” on the end and it will give you a little tab you can quickly grab and rip off if/when needed.

 

[WCB]

One year on a sheep hunt I was using a VX3 because the weight appealed to me. I tripped and fell because sheep country is rough and it happens. I missed the same 11 year old ram three days in a row. Lots of climbing and hiking to relocate and stalk that ram three times. Got home without a sheep and my rifle wasn't even hitting the target. Got me thinking that the slight weight savings not only caused me more work in the way of hiking and climbing as compared to the effort saved by reducing scope weight, but it also cost me a sheep that year.

I also had a VX5HD on a other sheep hunt thinking maybe it was an upgrade in durability. Well the windage turret cap hit a rock while climbing through a gap in some large rocks because it was a tight squeeze. Luckily I had the sense to grab my wife's rifle when I stalked a ram and was able to kill it. Double checked that VX5HD and it had shifted zero by almost 6 minutes.

It's really too bad because the VX5HD line checks all of the boxes for what I like in a backcountry hunting scope, except for durability.

Now I've wised up and will be carrying a MARK5HD or a Nightforce of some sort for this year's sheep hunt. Yea, it seems counter-productive to put a heavier scope on an ultralight rifle, always under 6lbs for me. Yet at the same time it seems far more counter-productive to hike 50+ miles and come home without a sheep because your scope failed so you could save that extra 6 or so ounces of scope weight. Learn from my mistakes and carry a dependable scope and go kill a nice ram. Plenty of other places to cut weight that make more sense than the scope. Just my opinion. Maybe I just have terrible luck.

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You waited until you got home to shoot your rifle....I could see 1 miss...but after the second?

 

[NilsBackstrom]

My sheep grizzly hunt is srt for August 2023. I'm taking my fury 300 win mag. It currently weighs 8.25 lbs with a vx3 2.5x10 cds. I have had great experience with this setup but I'm not wanting put all my sheep chips on the cds turret. So I'm considering a few polar opposite scopes.
1. Nightforce nsx 2.5x10 I do like to dial even at short range. (Downside my rig will gain a half pound and be up to 8.75 lbs)
2. Leupold vx3i 4x14 with the boone and crocket hold reticle. I have an older 2x8 with b c reticle and like it, but I prefer to dial. ( plus side the scope weight is 13 oz and the rifle set up won't change weight.)
I have a self imposed hunting range of 400 at the moment.
What do you run, like? Interested in opinions. I have plenty of time but I enjoy overthinking things.

Not too much different than yours, but have been running the vx3 for year and this summer got the new HD in 4.5-14x40 CDS with duplex reticle. This is for my montana 300 wsm and I have shot it out to 500 yard and it is spot on. So will stick with that for a while.

 

[HornPorn]

Last time I checked, sheep hunts cost around $33K for a dall, $60K for a stone, $50K for a bighorn, and $70K for a desert.

Considering that you are spending your money and not someone else's, I'd take whatever scope gives you the most confidence to make the shot. If that means forum cool kid endorsed 25X with tacticool knobs sticking out everywhere with ballistic calculating, angle compensation, illuminated death ray 2.0 lazer beam crosshair, go for it..... if that is a 2-7x33 duplex from 1980, good for you....Everyone is real impressed. Style points don't mean shit on the mountain, especially if this is a once in a lifetime hunt for you. Do whatever you have to do to go up light, come down heavy. Good luck on your hunt!

 

[wind gypsy]

I have a fierce fury. Right now I have talley steel "vertical" rings and bases. I would have to buy new rings for 30mm tube. Talley also makes a picatinny rail witch could be necessary for a nxs 2x10

I'd ditch the vertical rings regardless of which scope you take. From Frank Galli:

During the June classes, we had many scopes go down. In one class, 5 out of 15 scopes failed to return to zero. We try to diagnose the problems, and when relating the stories, we often get the attention of the various manufacturers. They will call me directly when reading the posts on Sniper’s Hide, usually within minutes of me posting. The June class was no different. I was in direct contact with the companies explaining my observations.

We found the biggest contributor to the problem was vertically split rings. I know right, who would have guessed? I was never a fan of them, they aren’t precision. They started out as affordable AR rings and then somehow morphed in to go to precision rifle equipment. I never advocate inexpensive for the sake of cost, as you get what you pay for in this case. Stuff designed for the AR crowd is not my idea of quality in the context of a precision rifle. The Airsoft stuff used is worse.

No this does not include the ARC rings, they are not true split rings which were the root of the problems. Since that class, we have paid more attention and in July we replaced two sets of split rings and loaned a good scope to a shooter with a third set. Clearly, they are turning out to be an issue.

Don't Snipe the Messenger

The Rise of the Obstinate Sheep Creek Lodge Bear It’s been said, more than once for sure, that ownership does not equal competence. Just ask all the guys who have wrapped their $100,000 sports car around a telephone pole. Sure they owned a Lamborghini, but the first time they kicked it in the...

www.snipershide.com

 

[KINGSNAKE]

I'd ditch the vertical rings regardless of which scope you take. From Frank Galli:

Don't Snipe the Messenger

The Rise of the Obstinate Sheep Creek Lodge Bear It’s been said, more than once for sure, that ownership does not equal competence. Just ask all the guys who have wrapped their $100,000 sports car around a telephone pole. Sure they owned a Lamborghini, but the first time they kicked it in the...

www.snipershide.com

Good to hear. When I bought the vertical ring in 2018 my options were pretty limited on a fierce so I bought what was aviable. I ordered a scope from Doug at cameraland this morning. 2.5x10nxs. I went with this scope for one reason and one reason. Alone. It's rugged reliable reputations. As far as dial vs hold I can do both and practice both with the same scope to make a decision before the hunt. I'm probably gonna have to run a rail on this gun so I should have lots of ring options.

 

[Jake Larsen]

Check out Huskemaw. Lighter weight dialing option, and rock solid. They've got a great custom turret system also if you want to go that route. Also have holdovers for backup if you're into that.

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[SDHNTR]

I'd ditch the vertical rings regardless of which scope you take. From Frank Galli:

Don't Snipe the Messenger

The Rise of the Obstinate Sheep Creek Lodge Bear It’s been said, more than once for sure, that ownership does not equal competence. Just ask all the guys who have wrapped their $100,000 sports car around a telephone pole. Sure they owned a Lamborghini, but the first time they kicked it in the...

www.snipershide.com

Is he talking about Talley vertically split rings? If so, I’m confused. He’s saying they were originally designed as inexpensive mounting options for AR’s? Huh?

 

[wind gypsy]

Is he talking about Talley vertically split rings? If so, I’m confused. He’s saying they were originally designed as inexpensive mounting options for AR’s? Huh?

It's not brand specific, vertical rings compress the scope tube asymmetrically and can cause problems, especially with tracking. I think he does detract from the message a little with the "cheap ar rings" sidetrack.

Here's a video that illustrates how they work or dont when they cant deform a tube in a weird manner:

 

[KINGSNAKE]

Yikes

 

[QuackAttack]

Don’t leave a $30k+ hunt to chance. Go with the NXS all the way. You not only need to be concerned with RTZ while dialing, but also durability in the field. Of course people have had luck with Leupolds for years.. but many have not as well. I’ve personally had the other scope you mention, a VX3 4.5-14x40 CDS, shift POI by 6” at 300 yards after dialing to 600 and back. Now I run 3 of the NXS 2.5-10’s.
You only need to look at some of the scope evaluations on this site to see how often even VX5’s lose zero to know that your are taking a chance by going with a Leupold for dialing and hard use.


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The Army Sniper Day Optic is a Leupold and gets dialed constantly with measured impacts recorded in a data book. It tested as good or better than all other optics tested in the M2010 and recent PSR procurements.

Im not disagreeing with you, but Leupold makes excellent turrets on some models.

Those optics are on rifles that jump regularly in airborne units. No issues…

 

[wind gypsy]

Those optics are on rifles that jump regularly in airborne units. No issues…

I don’t doubt that they tracked well, more curious about the zero retention. Do you have personal experience or first hand knowledge that they have no issues in that application?

Mark 5 is going to do better than the vx series that was considered here.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Sample size of one but my 3-18x50 VX6HD (on a 300 WM T3X) has been man-handled by multiple baggage carriers (yes, Pelican cases can be severely damaged), been to the Alaska Range and Kodiak for Dall/grizzly/mountain goat, multiple months in the field (from the desert floor to steep gnarly mountains), dropped multiple times, knocked over multiple times, smashed against trees and boulders while in a scabbard on mules, and even took a hit hard enough to sever the throw ring screw. Zero issues with tracking and maintaining zero. Like I said, this is a sample size of one.

With all that said...
If you are just starting one of many "once in a lifetime" hunts just grab a good rifle (ex: Tikka T3X stainless) and put the bulk of your budget on optics and top it with a Nightforce NX8 (magnification of your choice) or Nightforce ATACR (4-16 or 4-20) and just call it good.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

The Army Sniper Day Optic is a Leupold and gets dialed constantly with measured impacts recorded in a data book. It tested as good or better than all other optics tested in the M2010 and recent PSR procurements.

Im not disagreeing with you, but Leupold makes excellent turrets on some models.

Those optics are on rifles that jump regularly in airborne units. No issues…

I’ve never heard of that optic. It must not be available to the public. I guess it shows that they do know how to build a robust scope, but that technology and ‘know how’ doesn’t really trickle down to consumer products in the way that Nightforce build quality does. I hope that the riflescope drop test that is taking place here on the slide will find some Leupold scopes that stand up to hard use. That VX6 mentioned above would be a fantastic scope if we had a some decent data showing that it would return to zero after being bumped around.


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[Mykolaivka887]

I fall on, drop, slam, bang or hit my Leupold rifle scopes several times, each and every year. For me, this is a typical thing and it frequently happens every year, over the past 60 years.

Only once in all those years of super abuse did I ever have an issue with one. That particular issue happened to occur when I was scaling a cliff hand-over-hand in the Chugach in 1975 and the rifle came off my backpack and plummeted 300 feet into a gorge. Consequently, the horizontal cross-wire inside the scope came loose.

Other than that one incident, I never had any other issues related to knocking a Leupold scope off zero.

 

[KINGSNAKE]

I'd ditch the vertical rings regardless of which scope you take. From Frank Galli:

Don't Snipe the Messenger

The Rise of the Obstinate Sheep Creek Lodge Bear It’s been said, more than once for sure, that ownership does not equal competence. Just ask all the guys who have wrapped their $100,000 sports car around a telephone pole. Sure they owned a Lamborghini, but the first time they kicked it in the...

www.snipershide.com

I am looking real hard at the apa rings. I have read a lot of good reviews on them
And I like how Clean they look.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I fall on, drop, slam, bang or hit my Leupold rifle scopes several times, each and every year. For me, this is a typical thing and it frequently happens every year, over the past 60 years.

Only once in all those years of super abuse did I ever have an issue with one. That particular issue happened to occur when I was scaling a cliff hand-over-hand in the Chugach in 1975 and the rifle came off my backpack and plummeted 300 feet into a gorge. Consequently, the horizontal cross-wire inside the scope came loose.

Other than that one incident, I never had any other issues related to knocking a Leupold scope off zero.

You have any that are illuminated? I have three and the damn battery covers have fallen off on hunts with each of them.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I’ve never heard of that optic. It must not be available to the public. I guess it shows that they do know how to build a robust scope, but that technology and ‘know how’ doesn’t really trickle down to consumer products in the way that Nightforce build quality does. I hope that the riflescope drop test that is taking place here on the slide will find some Leupold scopes that stand up to hard use. That VX6 mentioned above would be a fantastic scope if we had a some decent data showing that it would return to zero after being bumped around.


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I specifically mentioned a sample size of one with my VX6 HD. It’s been an awesome scope and I have no plans to replace it. But I can grab another VX6 HD and it could very well be a dud.

Form’s testing has been enlightening. Some of the scopes are failing under fairly benign conditions. It’s enough to raise some doubts.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

You have any that are illuminated? I have three and the damn battery covers have fallen off on hunts with each of them.

No, I don't use electronic devices, -- including illuminated rifle scopes -- for big game hunting.

 

[SDHNTR]

No, I don't use electronic devices, -- including illuminated rifle scopes -- for big game hunting.

No rangefinder? Aren’t you a guide or something?