What is the absolute best rifle scope available for long range shooting?

[NM Rancher]

I'm waiting to hear this guys! Zeiss is great , I have one, Nikon Monarchs are good.... I don't have a Night Force? I've heard a lot of good things. I shoot all ranges from plinking to 1000 yards. With a 300 win mag. scopes I own are... 2 nikon Monarchs on a 7 rem mag, the other on a 300 win mag, Zeiss 3x9 conquest on a 700 bdl in .243. Also have a few Weavers on some old rifles, like them fine, but I'm looking for a scope I can see the center ring with at 1000 yards. I don't have 5 or 6 grand to spend either!

 

[taliv]

depends entirely on what type of shooting you're doing

for f-class, i like the nightforce benchrest 12-42 model

for tactical shooting, the USO 5-25x TPAL or the S&B 5-25x. They all have pros-cons so it really depends on what you need it for as to which features you would use or not use

edit: that's just my opinion. obviously opinions will vary and hensoldt, premier and a few others make scopes of similar quality, but it is not hard to make the case for USO

 

[sniper762]

I have used the leupold m3a scope on the army's m24 rifle in f-class matches and my self built mauser with a bsa scope. The m3a sells for 1000 bucks and the bsa is 100 bucks. I shot similar scores at 1000 yard matches with both setups.

 

[Zak Smith]

Hensoldt, S&B, USO are the top 3 IMO


article | Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting, Part II - Optics



article | The State of Optics for Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting [2009]



article | The Hensoldt 4-16x56mm: How does it stack up? (abbreviated version)

 

[alphaco]

Best long range scope.

I can only tell you that my brother Lynn used a leupold mark 4 on a .50 cal sniper rifle and at 1,000 yards (certified) won three world championships and still holds the light gun (50-5x - 7/6/2002) record. This was at the www.FCSA.org shoots a NRA's Whittington center in Raton, NM He also held the 5 shot tightest group record, I do not remember the number for the spread, but around 3 inches. He used a Leupold Mark 4 with a mil dot reticule. They have an outstanding warranty. If you are familiar with mil dot vs others, it makes the hold over for multiple ranges and wind drift compensation much easier. If you google for Leupold Mark 4 you can check out the prices, around $1100 and up.

good shooting

 

[helotaxi]

The best shooters don't always use the best gear and the gear certainly doesn't make the shooter. To determine what is the "best" you do have to constrain that somewhat. The scopes that Zak highlighted are probably the best long range tactical scopes, but I doubt that you'd find any of them on the line at a long range benchrest or F-Class competition just like you won't find an F-Class or long range benchrest appropriate scope in a tactical match. Different types of shooting call for different types of optics and without knowing the type of shooting it would be impossible to tell you what is the "best".

It sounds like you're looking at something more geared toward fixed distance long range shooting which doesn't need lots of adjustment or mil-dots and it sounds like you're more after optical quality. One of the Nightforce Benchrest series of scopes is probably going to be your best bet. The problem with any scope at that range, especially out here in the New Mexico desert is mirage and there's nothing that the scope can do about that. I would lean toward a variable power scope for that reason. Friday was a perfect example. At 20x and only 300yds, the 3" dot I was shooting at was little more than a shimmering, amorphous blob.