Reasonable weight, robust all arounder riflescopes that work in low light?

[Kimmo H]

I'm putting together a lightweight 223 Tikka bolt rifle, that will be hauled around just about everywhere. Main use is hunting, ranges are usually from 25-400 meters, primarily for hunting grouse, roedeer, hare, beaver and some magpies, crows etc. A lot of use in very poor light late at night.

I'm having a hard time deciding on optics for the build. Everything that I've read to be robust weights a metric ton, and the scopes that seem perfect specificationwise are terribly weak and suspect to hard use.

I have owned and still own scopes from some of the top brands in Europe, including Zeiss, Swarovski, Leupold, Leica and Steiner, along with Vortex. I seem to be incredibly unlucky with riflescopes in general, as from the above I've had some issues with nearly every one of them. Varying from hair in the scope to loss of zero, poor parallax, poor illumination and so on.
The thing is that I am not hard on my equipment. Everything sits on good rings, gets cleaned and looked after, never bumped around on purpose and still I find myself questioning myself all the time if they stay intact through the year, and as I stated above, I've had issues with several of the "good scopes". Steiner has been idiot proof so far, I must admit that!

SWFA is not available in EU, Nightforce availability is poor and prices are high relative to other mfg, but I've not ruled NF out by any means. There is the 4-16x42 atacr for example that seems good, but it is on the heavy side and I haven't found much on how they work in low light.
Prefer MIL adjustments, if the scope has turrets they need to have a lock on them, illumination is a necessity, FFP is a plus but not a necessity, zoom range up to min. 10, prefer ~12-16, and I'd like to keep the weight down to around 600g (~1,3- 1,5lbish)

Any recommendations on what you'd be looking at? I know its a tall order, but asking the knowledgeable crowd can't hurt My search for a scope with that criteria has come up empty. Closest match has been a Leupold VX-5 3-15x44, one of wich I already have on a 17hmr. Love the scope in use, but it's been in for repair once already for not holding zero properly... Maybe I'll have to gamble and try my luck with another one?

 

[atmat]

I have owned and still own scopes from some of the top brands in Europe, including Zeiss, Swarovski, Leupold, Leica and Steiner, along with Vortex. I seem to be incredibly unlucky with riflescopes in general, as from the above I've had some issues with nearly every one of them.

You’re not unlucky — that’s par for the course on those scopes.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a recommendation other than SWFA, NF, Trijicon, or S&B — some of which you said are unavailable for you.

 

[TMKSHOOTER]

Look at the Trijicon accupoint series, excellent low light scopes.

 

[BjornF16]

Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10x56 if available to you…weighs about 20 oz (567 grams)

 

[redneckbmxer24]

S&B. Take your pick from the model that has what you want.

 

[Marbles]

S&B Klassic variable, something like the 2.5-10x56. At those ranges the limited elevation adjustment on the dialing turret should not matter. Weight is sub 24 ounces.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Based purely on the limited info I’d be hard pressed to not consider the Leupold vx5 s or vx6 s with the Firedot. I have both and like them. If anything becomes an issue I’ve found That Leupold had made it right.

The issue isn’t whether or not leupold, or any company will fix a broken scope for you. The issue is that the warranty dosent matter when your once a year hunt gets wrecked because your scope isn’t working.

Imagine flying up to AK or Canada after dropping a ton of cash only to get there and have a scope that won’t hold its zero and is acting unpredictably….that would be horrible.

 

[atmat]

Sure I get your point ( been there and done that. The warranty comment was not to imply that the VX5 and VX6 are not reliable So you’d better have a great warranty to handle a scope that is prone to fail. I’ve had both models survive things that would have killed most scopes. If price is no object then yes I’d agree there are more exotic choices, but I’ve never felt under scoped or any need to go easy on my scopes because they couldn’t take it. I’ve had SB, Leica, Swro, Ziess, etc and can attest to their superb quality, but have no uneasiness with the 5s and 6s.

Most of us are saying Leica, Swaro, and Zeiss are not superb quality either.

 

[Fastbackperry]

Hawke.

Frontier 30 FFP 5-25x56 Mil Pro

All models feature HawkeÕs new H7 optics with high zoom ratio, supreme clarity and light transmission. Supreme accuracy for rifle shooting, driven and hunting applications. Patented Exposed Zero Lock ÔNÕ Stop Elevation Turret. First Focal Plane (FFP). 30mm Mono-Tube Chassis. Side Focus...

us.hawkeoptics.com

A nice scope that seems to check your list off. I run one on a FX Impact M3 .25. Love it.

 

[Randfal]

I don't know if available there, but the Sightron 4-20x50 SFP S-Tac is a very good scope for the money. I have a lot of varmint rifles and can't afford to scope everyone with $2000 scopes. I currently own 3 of the 4-20 S-Tacs (made in Philippines, not China) and the feature very good glass, covered turrets that track very well and have held up very well to many hunting hike's bumps and bangs. Way under rated scope. I do not recommend their attempt to make some in FFP. They ruined those models I bought both the 4-20 and 3-16x FFPs and returned each one. Their eye boxes were smaller, and the reticle became useless below 12x. That was a flop on Sightron's part. But the standard 4-20-50 SFP scope is superb.