So my father-in-law is looking for a scope for his .416 Weatherby

He has found a couple and asked me to get y'alls thoughts on them. If you have other suggestions that might be better than please let me know.

Millett 6-25x56 LRS-1 Tactical 35mm Riflescope

or

Counter Sniper

Thanks!

My first thought is why on earth does he need so much scope for a 416???

I dont know squat about either one of those scopes but I would bet he will have problems with inertia causing the scope to slip in the rings. Big heavy recoiling magnums and big heavy scopes usually dont mix well.

Do Not buy a Counter Sniper! They are no beuno.

I have a Millet in 4-16X. It is a whole bunch of scope for the money. And if that is all your funds allow, it is worth the money.

To echo what JCB said; spend the money on good rings and base. Every rifle I have wears a one piece base and good rings. By good rings I mean; Badger Ordinance and Talley Tactical. There are probably some other good ones out there, but I know those are also worth the money.

they are both supposed to be 50 BMG and 338 Lapua capable.....

He said he plan to use it for long range shooting, 300gr, 500-1000 yds

If you ran one of the high BC 450 grain+ match bullets, it might work. But you won't be able to feed from the mag, due to cartridge OAL length. The 300 grain RN flat base bullets would be the wrong bullet for long range because of it's very low BC. It's definitly an unorthodoxed caliber and set up. With that kind of recoil, I would not be spending a few hundred $$ on a scope. The scope is one of the most critical parts to shooting long range, and is not an item to save money at. I'd recommend a Nightforce scope 3-15 or 5-22 model, no more than 22X.

However, I'd recommend starting with a new rifle in a caliber more suitable for your needs. It will be much cheaper, and much less recoil so you can shoot it more often.

Agreed
a cheap scope will fail on a rifle in that caliber

It is not a matter of "if" it is "when"

I've shot the gun and the recoil isn't bad. This is what he said " it has a muzzle brake and does not kick anymore than a 30-06. I want the versatility of a single gun I can take for large dangerous game or long shots on something big such as moose or elk. Something like a 338 Lapua is a great long range gun for targets, silhouettes, etc, but not much to take hunting"

I'm with Chad there are better options for your task. A .300 Win Mag or 7 Rem Mag with 180 gr bullets will absolutely target shoot long range, even extreme range (beyond 1000 yards) and deliver tons of energy.

You "can" use it for long range with the right scope and some practice. But the round nose soft point bullets will have a very low BC, and drop very quickly and get beat up by the wind. It definitly would not be my first choice in calibers or bullet selection.

how low of a BC are you talking Chad?

Muzzle brakes put additional strain on scopes. When you scope a .416 Bee with a brake, you need to step up and buy quality optics.

That said ...

Why on Earth use the .416 Bee for long range shooting? I own and shoot a .500 A-Square and a .378 Bee (mauser, not mk v), so am reasonably familiar with recoil. The .500 A2 is virtually unusable from a bench, let alone prone. The .378 is shootable from a bench, but there isn't much fun to be had by the practice. I've never shot it prone, and I'm not sure that I ever will, although shooting from the sitting position is safe enough. Also, it's one thing to shoot 10 or 15 shots from sticks **accurately**, although that takes more practice than you might think, it's another entirely to shoot 40 rounds from a bench. This doesn't even get into the cost of brass and bullets. If you're already looking for a moderately priced scope, then you're shooting the wrong gun, as you will bankrupt yourself in short order paper punching with the big Weatherby cartridges.

Why not get a .338 Lapua, or similar?

It's not that you can't use the .416 for long range target practice; you can do anything that you want. But why?

Also, the "one gun for hunting everything" has certain limitations. A fast handling, ultra powerful rifle for dropping dangerous game at distances measured in feet is very unlike a rifle built for precision shooting at longer ranges. The design requirements produce vastly different rifles, even if the cartridges are the same.

Consider this: the 6.5-25 scope that you mentioned is totally unsuitable for dangerous game use, as it's useless at the short ranges where dangerous game is hunted. Beyond that, if the eye relief isn't superb, it might actually be dangerous to use in the field as it's much harder to control eye relief from field expedient shooting positions. The term "Weatherby eyebrow" exists for a reason.

In the real world, the closest that we've come is the .375 H&H and even that is something of a compromise at both ends of the spectrum. It's neither a .300 RUM for long range shooting nor a .458 Winchester for short range stopping ability; but it's a decent mix of the two.

If you put that 6.5-25 scope on the .416 Bee, you've thrown out dangerous game use, so you've essentially chosen to shoot precision targets with a rifle that's not designed for the task. The .416 is a fun cartridge and your uncle can have a good time shooting and hunting with it, but I honestly think that he'll have a much better time if he mounts a quality 2-7 lightweight scope and limits his hunting to 250 yards.

A 400 grain Hornady RN is showing a .319 G1 BC. The 350 or 300 grain will be less than that. A 308 Win shooting a 155 A-max bullet will have a .435 G1 BC, and that's decent. Anything less than .5 will loose velocity fast, and have lots of wind drift. If it's less than .4, lots of drop and wind drift. Since the 400 grain RN is close to .3, you get the idea. You can use it, but the question is why? It just doesn't make sense. With 110+ grains of powder, and a low BC, it's one of the least effecient ways to shoot.

Get a different rifle in 6.5mm, 7mm, or 308, and put the new scope on it. If you want energy at long range, look at a 338 Lapua. If you made the 416 a single shot, you could potentially shoot the bullets designed for the 416 Barrett. Those are match grade, high BC bullets. But there's no way it will fit in the magazine, or eject a loaded round since it's too long. You would have to develope your own load data, though.

Strongly agree...DO NOT BUY A counter sniper.

Ok My FIL has found these... would he not be able to load these with a custom load and maintain the .9 BC?

Yes, that's the type of bullets I was talking about. You can load those as a single shot. You will need to create your own load data and work up a good load using the 400 grain load data as a starting point. I'd look at H1000, R25, and Retumbo as the powders to look at. If you chamber a loaded round, it will not eject out of the action port, since it is too long. You will have to pull the bolt to get the round out. Technically, they should do very well. But you will not be able to feed from the mag, or eject a loaded round. But, it should work.

Something else I thought about. You need to check the twist rate of the rifle. I don't know what twist the 416 Wby uses. Look to see what twist is needed for the match bullets, and make sure the rifle has enough twist to stabilize them. (The Cutting Edge needs a 1:13 twist, since it's a solid copper buller, and longer than a lead bullet).

Also, look into the Rocky Mountain Bullets. George at RMB makes some good projectiles.

Link:
.416 RMB 450 grain bullet

It needs a 1:14" twist. If your rifle is a 1:14" twist (which seems to be a common twist for the 416 wby), the Cutting Edge bullet will not work. You will need to use the RMB. It's not how heavy a bullet is that determines the needed twist rate, it's the bullet length. Since the Cutting Edge bullet is a solid copper bullet, and copper is less dense than lead, a 420 grain copper bullet will be longer than a 450 grain lead bullet, and need a faster twist rate to stabilize it.

Thanks for that. I will pass the info on to him.