Scope for learning Mils

[Rhettster433]

I am looking to get a mils scope for my 243win. I have only had one ffp scope and it has an moa bdc type reticle. I am not a huge fan of a tree type reticle but also have never used one to really know. I plan to use this scope for target practice mainly but the rifle is my main hunting rig also. Budget is 500-600. I really like the look of the Steiner h6xi 3-18 str mil despite being a tree reticle. Only the cross illuminated would help me i think. I have also looked at the new s2h scope but cant swing that much right now. Just got married and am in the middle of a reno job. The 3-15 or 3-18 range is preferred. Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Matt5266]

SWFA

 

[nm.otter]

SWFA 6x MQ Gen2 -- if you're patient. Inexpensive, will make you a better shooter, and you can easily resell it (quite possibly at no loss) in a year or two.

 

[MT762]

SWFA. Buy a 3-15, a 3-9, or a 10X fixed (cheapest option). Those are all commonly available here or on Ebay. I don't think they expected to sell 6X fixed scopes but that one sort of took off so it might take you a while to find one.

If you're shooting a 243 and looking to learn a 3-9 will be fine. I've personally killed a number of animals at 600 yards with 10x scopes... and so have tons of other people on here. Shooting steel, 10x gets you to 1000 yards just fine. The 3-9 SWFA will do everything you need. Or save a little more money up and get a 3-15. Or spend less and get a fixed 10x.

I've currently got 3-9 SWFAs on 4 rifles and I'm not really on a budget. They are light and they track and the reticles are useful in dim conditions.

 

[doc holiday13]

Bushnell LRHS-2 4.5-18 x 44 G2H reticle | G.A. Precision

New feautures for LRHS2

www.gaprecision.net

 

[Rhettster433]

I looked at the swfa but am not all that patient. I can be if necessary but prefer not to wait. The 3-15 is a bit out of range. I can really only spend what i can sell my current scope for. The 3-9 would go great on my 22 once i upgrade later. I thought about the fixed 6x but all my hunting is inside of 200 yards and most is inside of 100. I hunt private land in central Alabama with the longest shot possible being 360ish but i have not had any reason to put my tree stand as far from my green field as possible. I have looked at the Athlon Ares BTR 2.5-15 and like that reticle also. It is likely less expensive if found used. I dont need the toughest, greatest scope out there. I am not hiking long distances and potentially dropping this thing down a mountain. Its entire life will be spent in a safe or on the shooting bench. Hunting season is limited for me as far as chances to go sit so i am not really worried there either. Even then I have my old marlin 30-30 (grandpa’s gun) i can take if necessary. I learned to shoot with an old vx-2 4-12 and it has never lost zero or even seemed to. Based on the leupold trashing i hear, i am either very lucky or simply dont use mine as aggressively as everyone else.

 

[270-300]

Unless your affiliated with an agency that has standardized mil radians, there is no benefit for a recreational shooter to use this over minute of angle. Moa is a smaller increment and the scopes tend to have finer adjustments.

 

[Rhettster433]

Unless your affiliated with an agency that has standardized mil radians, there is no benefit for a recreational shooter to use this over minute of angle. Moa is a smaller increment and the scopes tend to have finer adjustments.

Well my hope is to start competing in nrl or prs in a few years once life settles down some so i figured might as well learn what i will likely use then. I go to church with a guy who shoots f class that is helping me get my reloading setup situated. I just enjoy learning new things. I will probably use another moa scope at some point and try to be proficient at both but my current setup is not what i was hoping for. I bought the burris veracity ph 4-20 as a way to learn dialing but still have the hud there as a guide. I really dont like the clickless turret though. Feels really odd, even as my first dialing scope.

 

[flyfisher117]

Unless your affiliated with an agency that has standardized mil radians, there is no benefit for a recreational shooter to use this over minute of angle. Moa is a smaller increment and the scopes tend to have finer adjustments.

can you share a few instances where that finer adjustment mattered in a field scenario?

 

[flyfisher117]

Well my hope is to start competing in nrl or prs in a few years once life settles down some so i figured might as well learn what i will likely use then. I go to church with a guy who shoots f class that is helping me get my reloading setup situated. I just enjoy learning new things. I will probably use another moa scope at some point and try to be proficient at both but my current setup is not what i was hoping for. I bought the burris veracity ph 4-20 as a way to learn dialing but still have the hud there as a guide. I really dont like the clickless turret though. Feels really odd, even as my first dialing scope.

I’m not the biggest SWFA fan boi in here. I got my first one before Rokslide ever existed and have always had at least 1 in the safe.

But.. your use case sounds perfect for an SWFA. Like mentioned above if you end up hating MILS or changing your mind you can easily sell it for very little to no loss.
Within the last week I have seen both 3-9s and 6x inside of your budget. The 6x was cheap enough you could buy it and an 8lb jug of powder and still come in under your budget.

 

[eric1115]

Unless your affiliated with an agency that has standardized mil radians, there is no benefit for a recreational shooter to use this over minute of angle. Moa is a smaller increment and the scopes tend to have finer adjustments.

This has not been my experience. MRAD allows much easier and faster wind correction and elevation correction, often without needing dope cards or ballistic calculators.

With a .243 as OP is using, he probably doesn't have a "quick drop" friendly trajectory, but wind is still much more intuitive to hold .1 per hundred yards per 5 mph or 6 mph of wind (depending on specific bullet/speed) than it is to do a similar MOA formula.

Slower cartridges (.223 with 77s, 6mm ARC/Dasher, 6.5CM, some .308 loadings, etc) often have a trajectory that lines up as follows:
100 - 0
200 - 0.5
300 - 1.0
400 - 2.0
500 - 3.0
600 - 4.0
Every 10 yards is another 0.1 so 330 would be 1.3, 480 is 2.8 etc.

With lots of cartridges, I can make hits out to 600 without touching a dope card or ballistic calculator, doing drop and wind in MILs in my head faster than I can look at an MOA drop/wind chart.

My only regret in switching is not having done it sooner.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I looked at the swfa but am not all that patient. I can be if necessary but prefer not to wait. The 3-15 is a bit out of range. I can really only spend what i can sell my current scope for. The 3-9 would go great on my 22 once i upgrade later. I thought about the fixed 6x but all my hunting is inside of 200 yards and most is inside of 100. I hunt private land in central Alabama with the longest shot possible being 360ish but i have not had any reason to put my tree stand as far from my green field as possible. I have looked at the Athlon Ares BTR 2.5-15 and like that reticle also. It is likely less expensive if found used. I dont need the toughest, greatest scope out there. I am not hiking long distances and potentially dropping this thing down a mountain. Its entire life will be spent in a safe or on the shooting bench. Hunting season is limited for me as far as chances to go sit so i am not really worried there either. Even then I have my old marlin 30-30 (grandpa’s gun) i can take if necessary. I learned to shoot with an old vx-2 4-12 and it has never lost zero or even seemed to. Based on the leupold trashing i hear, i am either very lucky or simply dont use mine as aggressively as everyone else.

The 10x SWFA gen2 will do everything you need it to do. I used an SWFA 10x with my .25-06 for woods hunting whitetails with successful shots from 80 yards off hand to 200 yards resting on a side view mirror. I’ve been playing musical scopes around here. I sold a few rifles this winter and then sold off the scopes I had on them. The only scopes I miss are the SWFA 10x ones.

If you buy a new SWFA 10x gen2, I am so confident that you will like it, that if you don’t like it upon receipt, I will buy it off you for the sticker price (new, opened box). That puts you out only the shipping cost. And if you mount it and try it out, but don’t like it, I’ll give you $350 for it so long as it hasn’t been abused.

 

[Rhettster433]

The 10x SWFA gen2 will do everything you need it to do. I used an SWFA 10x with my .25-06 for woods hunting whitetails with successful shots from 80 yards off hand to 200 yards resting on a side view mirror. I’ve been playing musical scopes around here. I sold a few rifles this winter and then sold off the scopes I had on them. The only scopes I miss are the SWFA 10x ones.

If you buy a new SWFA 10x gen2, I am so confident that you will like it, that if you don’t like it upon receipt, I will buy it off you for the sticker price (new, opened box). That puts you out only the shipping cost. And if you mount it and try it out, but don’t like it, I’ll give you $350 for it so long as it hasn’t been abused.

If you are serious about that offer i guess my only option is to start trying to sell my current scope and make it happen. The more i think about it the more it makes sense as i have other rifles to use if i hunt in my hardwood stand where longest shots possible are 60ish yards.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

If you are serious about that offer i guess my only option is to start trying to sell my current scope and make it happen. The more i think about it the more it makes sense as i have other rifles to use if i hunt in my hardwood stand where longest shots possible are 60ish yards.

I’m dead serious about my offer. If you want to discuss it further, feel free to PM me.

 

[Chris in TN]

can you share a few instances where that finer adjustment mattered in a field scenario?

Can you share a few instances where that alleged speed difference mattered in a field scenario?

 

[BigMiss]

The 10x SWFA gen2 will do everything you need it to do. I used an SWFA 10x with my .25-06 for woods hunting whitetails with successful shots from 80 yards off hand to 200 yards resting on a side view mirror. I’ve been playing musical scopes around here. I sold a few rifles this winter and then sold off the scopes I had on them. The only scopes I miss are the SWFA 10x ones.

If you buy a new SWFA 10x gen2, I am so confident that you will like it, that if you don’t like it upon receipt, I will buy it off you for the sticker price (new, opened box). That puts you out only the shipping cost. And if you mount it and try it out, but don’t like it, I’ll give you $350 for it so long as it hasn’t been abused.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Can you share a few instances where that alleged speed difference mattered in a field scenario?

Chris,

Not every thread has to turn into MOA vs mils. And certainly not in a thread where the OP wants a scope to learn mils.

If someone wanted to learn Spanish, would you try to convince him that he should learn German instead?

Please, just knock it off.

 

[flyfisher117]

Can you share a few instances where that alleged speed difference mattered in a field scenario?

I didn’t make that claim and it’s not a claim you will find me making any time soon.

 

[Chris in TN]

Chris,

Not every thread has to turn into MOA vs mils. And certainly not in a thread where the OP wants a scope to learn mils.

If someone wanted to learn Spanish, would you try to convince him that he should learn German instead?

Please, just knock it off.

So why would you say that to me but not the guy I was replying to?

I wholeheartedly, deeply agree that not every thread has to or should turn into mil vs moa.

 

[Chris in TN]

I didn’t make that claim and it’s not a claim you will find me making any time soon.

Then we're on the same page on both issues. Any theoretical speed advantage of one system is meaningless; any theoretical accuracy advantage of another system is meaningless. People should pay their money and make their own choices.

ETA: Also, we should mercilessly mock both sides for taking themselves too seriously.