I purchased a tikka t3x in 300 win mag recently. I am planning a dall sheep hunt In the future( couple years), and am wanting to outfit it with a scope so that I can practice/ effectively shoot out to 500 yds. I know the gun can do it, I just need to outfit it so I can do it. Previously, I’ve never shot past 300, and my 3-9x40’s just barely cut it for precision accuracy.

Ive been doing lots of reading on best long range scopes, but most of those cover bench shooting and not field use, so I would like recommendation from the brain trust on here. I am looking for best quality for price recommendations, as well as best scope for this type of hunting since weight is an issue for sheep hunts.

Thanks!

If you’re going to spring for a sheep hunt of a lifetime don’t sell yourself short on glass. I’m personally a Leupold fan so I would suggest the VX-5 or VX-6 HD. I have the 6 in 3-18 and wouldn’t hesitate to take that trip or any other with that scope. It has repeatable turrets with zero stops on the windage and elevation. The glass itself is top tier. I’ve yet to see or hear of a review where it was outclassed optically. Various reticles available. I chose the firedot duplex since I don’t hold elevation or wind. For my money the only step up from this scope would be a Kales.


Nightforce ATAC is a great product that belongs on this list but I’m not a NF fan.

Big, heavy, and ugly with good glass, good reticle, and you can use it as a hammer as needed is the SWFA SS 5-20HD. It also has the best warranty you can get although you will not need it. I think everyone should own one. Maybe not for a sheep hunt if weight is a real consideration.

NightForce........only cry once. Hard to beat their reliability & toughness. Glass is great. You could go with either of the following:

NXS 3.5-15 x 50mm (30 ounces 30mm tube)
NXS 5.5-22 x 50mm (30 ounces 30mm tube)

or step up to the ATACR in

4-16 x 42mm (30 ounces 34mm tube)
4-16 x 50mm (33 ounces 34 mm tube)

I have not heard reliable things about the Leopold but I have no personal experience with it. Yes it's light, but if I recall it was something about the turrets that were getting negative feedback. Me personally I would go with the NXS 5.5-22 x 50mm. More magnification, larger objective and same weight if compared to the ATACR 42mm. I have it on my 7mm and love it.

What's your budget?

Do you care about weight since you will have to lug it through the mountains?

Never mind. Reading is fundamental.

If you’re spending that kind of money and need the best reliability of a lifetime hunt, I would go night force.

To keep the weight down, you could go with a 2x10x42 NXS at about 20 ounces, 30 mm rings

If you need more magnification the 4x16X42 atacr would be a great choice but comes with a 30 oz price tag, 34 mm rings

The Bushnell Elite Hunter also gets you up to 18x or so coming in about 26 oz or so but stays with 30 mm ring

I was thinking the VX-5HD in a 3-15 would be good since it only weighs 19 ounces. I just don't have any experience with their reliability.

Leupold Mark 5HD is my recommendation.

I see suggestions of the NXS 5.5-22. Single sample on each scope but with several people testing the SS 5-20 beat the NXS across the board. Both dialing perfectly. Clarity and brightness went to the SS. If going NF the ATAC is heavier but superior to either of the above scopes.


I have also heard the rants about dialing the VX-5 and the VX-3. Unfortunately I haven’t saw any real reviews just the “it don’t track” bandwagon on one particular forum. For the record with Leupold if you want repeatable dialing the CDS is fine. If you want correct repeatable dialing get the turret designed for it.

To your point, Leupold CDS are designed for hunting. It's made to occasionally dial for a shot. It's made to be light. It's not made for constant twisting.

Thanks everyone. My budget is AROUND $1k for a scope. I am being realistic on the cost, even though my banker (wife) doesn’t understand. Nightforce is it of my price range though, and I think I can get a scope that will perform how I need it without spending 3k.

I’ve been recommended the vx6hd in 3-18x44 by a couple other people also. . I like Leopoldo as well, and have some of their cheaper scopes on other guns. I suppose I will keep a look out for sales to try to get it a hair cheaper, as I am not is a rush. I have a Leopoldo marksman 3x9 laying around that I’m putting on it for the time being.

I have ran damned near everything out there..
In the 1k and under price point I strongly recommend the Bushnell LRHS..
Very good glass, rugged, good reticle, capped windage, easy to adjust zero stop (if needed to change at altitude)
Just solid scopes that work.

This is my recommendation as well. It wasn't available when I built my sheep rifle so I have a Mark 6 with low profile turrets and it is awesome! For what its worth I built mine for this exact same purpose and took my sheep this year at 515yds.

I don’t think the mark 5 hd is in the price range, although I’ve heard they’re really nice.

SWFA 5-20 or LRHS would work grea IMHO.

Yea I missed the $1k part. They are $1500 at liberty optics and they will run a sale at some point towards Christmas or new year and probably be at least 10% off

I agree with Cooker. I just started to run one but so far it has been very reliable and the glass is great even in low light.

To get proficient at 500 yards you'll need to get proficient at dialing for elevation corrections, and gaining an understanding of what the wind will do to your POI. Yes, even with 300WM there's a chance the wind could play a significant factor in shot placement at 500 yards depending on the conditions. That means you'll need something with good repeatable turrets, and a reticle that will allow you to do some wind holds if necessary. Assuming you've got separate optics for IDing animals (spotting scope/binoculars), I wouldn't suggest placing a lot of emphasis on high end magnification. ESPECIALLY if you have to give up dependable turrets or general dependability to stay in your budget.

I've heard some of the new Leupold options are pretty solid, but personally I just couldn't bring myself to trust one on a once-in-a-lifetime hunting trip.... especially if I had to work my [censored] off to get to the top of a mountain first.

I will second the recommended Bushnell LRHS/LRTS. They're pretty light, decent glass, and the one I had proved to have repeatable elevation adjustments. It's got a very nice feature set for a grand. I didn't have one for long, as the glass just wasn't up to par seeing through mirage in the hot texas days. So I can't comment on long term reliability. Once again, for the hunt of a lifetime I'd probably be a bit uneasy trusting it (if only because I know a little more money gets you something you can trust no questions asked.)

Time and time again, NF scopes have proved to be the best balance of feature set, cost, and reliability for me. If I was humping up the side of a mountain to take a 500 yard shot, I'd probably be taking a NXS 2.5-10x42 in a set of Seekins rings. It's light and compact, 10x is more than enough magnification, and I wouldn't be worried about it being SFP with a 10x high end.

^^This is my position.

I don't think any hunter would ever regret owning an LRHSi. I'm a huge fan of Nightforce too but the Bushy is almost perfect on a hunting rifle.

Whatever scope you get make sure to test before hand. Some of the older Leuopold had bad designs (looking at you mark 6) but the new mark 5 turret is much better. Are there still some ones that come out with issues. Yes but their are far less.

In my experience scope issues usually manifest themselves at the start. Issues returning to zero, click not staying constant, etc. if you get those deal with them right away.

Nightforce is good, some of the higher end vortex (new pst 2 is getting some solid reviews) , Leupold mark 5. The quality of the scope will matter more than magnification.

Thanks for the continued responses. I've been doing a lot of reading and review checking, and will see when I get the money saved what I end up going with. I will need to go into Anchorage and look through some of them multiple times. But this narrows my focus on what to start looking through.

I've owned lower end bushnell binos and scopes, but never even looked through "higher" end glass by them, and I guess I have a mental block that they may have good glass as I think of them as lower quality in my mind because of my previous experiences. Time to change that thinking and look through them. And I realize Nightforce scopes may be great, but I can't afford $3k for a scope without getting divorced (and then I REALLY wouldn't be able to afford it!), so I will have to go for a good quality scope at a lower price point than that.

Because I live in Alaska, I hope this sheep hunt wont be a "once in a lifetime", but a semi-regular occurring hunt as I can do a DIY hunt for less than 2K with over the counter tags, although my success may be less. Just gotta hike further in than everyone else. I have been putting in for draw tags with higher hunter success rates, and hope at some point I will get one of those.

As for hiking up mountains, I hiked up 3 last year before finding a mountain goat I could shoot. Unfortunately my gun/scope combo weighed almost 13 pounds, which is why I am going for lighter gun and scope combo now. But I couldn't afford both the hunt and new gun/scope at the time- and I'd be darned if I would let a heavy gun stop me last year when drawing a tag (put in for it for the first time for fun not expecting anything, and ended up drawing). But, I don't want to do that again, hence why this build.

Check out vortex viper 2.5-10x32 post ffp. Be a great scope to try on that application

The trouble is, really good, robust scopes that are really good at shooting distance have some weight to them. To make them tough, and durable every manufacturer out there makes them gain weight. I'm not a scope builder, so I just look at it as that is the way it is.

So, I am of the opinion, that when weight is a concern, save weight on the rifle wherever you can, and there are many, many options. Saving weight on a scope, to get the work done, is out of the hands of the user.

Never, ever would I tote a Vortex rifle scope into the back country.

I'll second that one for sure!




Just don't get too caught up on using "glass quality" as a criteria for judging what's best in a scope. It's actually not on the top of the list for what makes a great scope for hunting. For instance, the only place my high end NF ATACR glass makes a difference is when I'm shooting in the middle of a summer day trying to see through mirage. The LRTS I used didn't have the nice color pop and clarity, but from a practical standpoint it isn't a limiting factor for hitting a target in a hunting scenario at all.



You don't have to have an ATACR to do what you're trying to do. The NXS line is still an outstanding hunting scope, with rock solid turrets and reliability that just can't be beat. With that being said, I wouldn't spend the money for a brand new one. If you take your time and watch, there are plenty of deals to be had on used ones. And I wouldn't be one bit scared to buy a used NXS.
Used NXS Example

I tell people all the time, if you can't spend ATACR money and you want to purchase brand new, just skip NXS and buy a SHV. For new scope prices, I don't see the extra money for an NXS being worth it over a SHV. The 4-14 F1 is really amazing for $1,250, but it's a little too chunky for what you're wanting to do. I would suggest the 3-10, which can be had brand new, with an illuminated reticle (suggested) for less than $1k:
New SHV Example