Scope advice

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JCSC

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I am currently building a 6.5 Grendel that I hope to shoot regularly at mid range 100-600 yd. Ultimately, I would like to learn about shooting distance,doping scopes and the final hope being to connect with a 1000 yd target. I have decent confidence that this rifle will shoot, provided I didn't get a lemon for a barrel. If it is not 1/2-3/4 MOA out of the gate, I know that no glass will help.

When it comes to scopes I have limited experience with anything quality. (quality being my 300$ Burris 4.5-14), I am familiar with all the names in the game, such as Leupold, Nikon and higher up the scale.

I am no judge of what one would consider good glass. My Burris has held zero for years, has good light transmission and has been a very solid hunting scope, compared to multiple other tasco, bushnell, etc. shotgun and 22 LR scopes, typically close range Ohio hunting scopes.

My question for advice revolves around what I would need and where to start reading. I would like to understand the use of turrets, but then my small amount of study lead to mil vs MOA, focal plane reticle locations, 20 MOA mounts, etc.

I consider myself a good shooter, reloader and knowledgeable with weaponry, but this is not a road I have ever went down before. My 270 shoots 600 yards. Move a few mil dots, check the wind and let it rip. Easy enough.

Here is what I believe I know so far....1000 yds is a different game.

Spend the money on glass and not magnification or objective size, although 14X seems like it would be needed for the distance. Turrets and side focus are cool, but may not lend this to be a viable hunting rifle if I chose to take it hunting one day.

I was recommended the leupold Mark AR MOD 1 by a friend, another article said Bushnell Tactical 10x40, Millet Buck Gold, Nikon prostaff 4-12 x 40 and a UTG! Vortex looked very appealing for the price, which as a starter would be $300-500 max. For starter, I mean that if I move up later I can always use this scope as an upgrade to the 100$ scope on my 22-250, but I would like to shoot the Grendel before I have to save up months for glass and a rather expensive catilever mount.



Sorry to be long winded. I would like some advice from someone that knows the game.
 
The older you are, the more important the quality of the glass is. SWFA is turning out to be at the low end of what can work for me.

I use Steiner for binoculars on the water, and would not hesitate to trust the glass to be good in a Steiner scope.

My most recent experiment is a Valdada scope. The jury has not yet voted.
 
You are going about this all wrong.

Trying to research the subject, understand things before dropping a ton of cash on goodies, thinking in terms of incremental improvements... What's that all about?

The way this normally goes is that you buy some version of 6.5 (you got that part right, but didn't get THE 6.5) and then tell everyone how much better it is than any other cartridge (preferably WITH CAPS LOCK ON), then name drop a bunch of parts that you intend to bolt on it to shoot out to 1.5 miles right away. Then challenge anyone to say anything that could possibly contradict or disagree with your assertion. This is usually followed by all toys being tossed out of the pram and the OP stomping off with lower lip out.

You see, that's highly entertaining.

This sober and pragmatic approach of yours, seeking advice, doing research, setting realistic expectations... Well, it just won't do:rofl:

Sounds like you are headed in the right direction at a sensible pace. Good luck.
lol lrdgco you nailed it.
 
Haha. At first I read half your post and couldn't figure out where you were going with those comments.....

Is THE 6.5 a creedmoor? That one may be on the list eventually, when I start a ar10 platform gun.

I will say I jumped the gun a little bit, in that I bought ammo before I bought the barrel. (pun intended)

Nothing fancy here, but some seriously precise handloads (after load development) and cross my fingers that the Odin DMR barrel was cut from a good batch.

Just one additional question. If one were to buy a fixed 10x SWFA scope for instance, what is the minimum distance it would be comfortable to shoot? Would I still have a decent 50-750 yd optic?
 
Haha. At first I read half your post and couldn't figure out where you were going with those comments.....

Is THE 6.5 a creedmoor? That one may be on the list eventually, when I start a ar10 platform gun.

I will say I jumped the gun a little bit, in that I bought ammo before I bought the barrel. (pun intended)

Nothing fancy here, but some seriously precise handloads (after load development) and cross my fingers that the Odin DMR barrel was cut from a good batch.

Just one additional question. If one were to buy a fixed 10x SWFA scope for instance, what is the minimum distance it would be comfortable to shoot? Would I still have a decent 50-750 yd optic?
i shot deer 3 years ago with the 10x at less then 20 yards.
 
I've had little issue with making hits at short range with scopes in the 9+ range. not target grade accuracy, but plenty good enough for field shooting.
 
For what you are describing, I would recommend saving a LITTLE more and purchasing a Vortex Viper HSLR 6-24x50. It’s not my favorite scope nor favorite brand, but it’s the only one near your price range I feel good about recommending.

Realities of low magnification: in every thread like this, some joker comes in and talks about guys shooting 600yrds in service rifle with iron sights, or 1-4x optics. Or about guys shooting 1,000yrds with 3-9x scopes. What they don’t mention is target size. Those Service Rifle targets are 6ft across. Guys shooting 1,000yrds with low magnification scopes are typically talking about massive targets as well, 24” gongs, full size IPSC’s, etc. When you start really talking about asking your rifle to do work for you at 1,000yrds, and in more realistic conditions where you might not have an aiming black that’s 3 ft wide, magnification is your friend.

They also neglect the fact they’re just shooting those targets, not reading mirage at range to improve their impact percentage, not spotting impacts/misses to call corrections, etc.

There’s a reason most competitive long range shooters use a riflescope with a top end magnification over 20x. Most precision rifle competitors do “typically” stick around 15-18x for most stages, to accommodate the time component of the game, and to relieve some of the aesthetic of high mirage on our targets. Given a solid prone position on a long range target in a low mirage condition most of us will go ahead and crank in a bit to take advantage of the magnification at hand.

The “problem” most guys cite about shooting high magnification at short ranges is just bunk from guys who don’t really know how to run their rifles. I’m not a very talented or highly skilled shooter, but I’ve been shooting moving coyotes at short ranges with high magnification scopes for decades. I shot my buck last season with a 6.5 Grendel wearing the Vortex Viper HSLR I mentioned above with the scope at ~18x, once standing at 32yrds, and hit him again on a dead run at ~30-35yrds. If I can do it, it can’t be very hard - aka, if I can do it, anyone can.

For all of these reasons, you couldn’t give me a fixed power scope for any type of long range shooting.

Realities of objective size: Nobody wants a big, clunky scope on top of our rifles. But we often need them, for good reason. When you bump the magnification, you have to bump the objective diameter too. The human eye can only constrict to about 2mm - if your scope’s exit pupil is smaller, your scope will appear dark. So those few 6-24x40mm scopes out there with 1.7mm exit pupils tend to go dark any time you’re over 18-20x for most shooters. Alternatively, a 6-24x50mm is much brighter clear up to 24x.

Other long range shooting keynotes and common urban myths:

Reticles - lots of guys claim they don’t like “hash marks” on their reticles, claiming it’s confusing or distracting. There’s more information on the dashboard of their car which they drive every day than on any reticle, so either they’re thoroughly confused every day, or they’re just making up crap that sounds good on the Internet. Most reticles will have 1mil or half mil stadia, meaning at 100yrds, the major gap is about as big as a deer’s heart. Not really anything in your way. I’d be embarrassed to say I was “confused” by a milling/moa’ing reticle - it’s like saying you’re confused by a ruler. What that “ruler” lets you do, however, is measure the deviation of your impacts. If you’re consistently hitting off the left side of a target, you can quickly reference the POI against a hash mark, and either just put that hash on the target and re-engage, or measure the offset and dial the correction.

Knob turning - graduated turrets can be invaluable. If you’re shooting a Grendel at 600+, you’ll be advantaged to have graduated turrets which track well, and advantaged to know how to make use of them.

@JCSC - If you want to learn a bit more directly about long range shooting and how to efficiently use the gear to do it, shoot me a PM. We can go through some very specific info to get you rolling.
 
Thank you for the very detailed reply Varminterror. I will do some reading and digest your post. Much appreciated. Thanks!
 
Both of the scopes I linked to below are a lot more than you want to spend, both will be far better than anything like them in the $400 range, and both are very good deals at the sale prices. You won't be sorry you bought them later, nor will you have/feel the need to replace them (IMHO of course)

I bought the Vortex Viper PST 5-25x50 Gen II and am very impressed. My nephew shot it in a PRS match not long ago and did not feel handicapped and made hits out to 1K (Only running out of time kept him from doing it to 1200)

I have a Steiner T5Xi 5-25x56 and like it a lot as well, so feel confident the P4Xi is a good scope.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Vortex-Viper-PST-5-25x50-EBR-2D-MRAD-FFP-PST-5257.aspx

https://cameralandny.com/shop/tags/...b5e0-0136-2c97-00163ecd2826?variation=1857314

Always shop carefully, and buy glass so it hurts a little.
 
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