Leupold vs Swarovski vs Ziess

I have looked through and shot through all of them, and have an old Ziess Davari and a couple of Leupold's. I would like to get a new scope to replace the Weaver K6 on a 22-250 I just acquired. What do y'all think about the above three brands and why one over the other. I tend to lean to Leupold strictly on price, but this is a forever scope as I will never get rid of the gun.

Which Zeiss would you be looking into getting?

It really depends on you. As far as glass Swaro has the best in my opinion. So top of line of list Swaro, Zeiss then Leupy. I would stay away from Zeiss Conquest line...

It wouldn't be a Swiss conquest. They are junk imo

Kinda depends on how much you want to spend.

A Leupold VX3i is a very good scope at a very reasonable price if you don’t dial. I have some version of a VX3 on several of my rifles - and I don’t plan to ever take them off. It’s kinda my “standard” riflescope. I have older Zeiss Conquests on a couple of rifles but hear the newer ones are not nearly as good as mentioned above.

It goes up from there. I just put a Swaro ZX5 on my old .270 and am happy with it. Hear raves about the Z6s and new VX6 HD from Leupold.

I recently bought both.....Swaro Z5 and Leupold VX-6HD. I sold the Swaro about a month after I bought it and got a second VX-6HD. The glass is better IMO, the scope has better features, is more well built, and was brighter to my eyes. Also has a 30mm tube rather than 1” like the Swaro. Also, the Swaro came with a crappy scope bungee cord for the covers while the Leupold has much nicer screw on flip up caps. Also the Leupold has locking turrets and easier adjustments and came with illuminated reticle. I just wasn’t impressed with the Swaro for what it costs although it is about 3 oz lighter.

Also recently bought a VX-5HD which is a great scope as well, but with a few less features than the VX-6.

After looking through a Zeiss I ruled it out pretty quickly, it did not compare well at all to the other two.

Looks like DocHorton summed up all the answers for this thread.

Not really....I would like to hear which specific Zeiss model Doc looked at that would not compare favorably with that Leupold and that Swarovski.
If it was a Terra or the latest rendition of the Conquest HD5 ( not the brand new V6), I can understand.
The higher end Zeiss HT, Victory and the older Diavari are definitely alpha glass that can hang with any of the top end stuff.

It is difficult to make a recommendation to the OP based solely on a caliber designation. Rifle could be a dainty sporter or be plumbed with a truck axle.
When I hear 22-250, I think small targets at distance which would beg for a higher mag scope with a fine reticle at minimum. Then to decide if reliable tracking is necessary or if this will be a set and forget proposition.

Budget would be helpful too. A lot of difference between $500 and $1500+.

I have a vx 6 and can't stand the dang thing but love my z5 running real close to my Burris which I do like better other than weight

I don’t remember which Zeiss it was, but it was in a similar price point, within a couple hundred dollars. It was significantly heavier and I just wasn’t impressed. I also looked at Vortex HD LH. In the end I went with the VX-6HD, twice and a VX-5HD. I also think it was a noticeable upgrade over the previous VX-6 model and I looked at both. These were all purchased and compared in the last 4-5 months. For what I wanted: nice mag range, clarity, brightness, IR, lightweight, features....it suited me the best. I didn’t consider any scopes that weighed 2 lbs as that was much heavier than I wanted and ruled out some other nice scopes. Also, I found the VX-6HD on Gunbroker for about $300 less than other retailers.

I would like to see the budget for Duckkiller as well. The newer Swarovski x5 series is excellent when you are comparing it to a Leupold vx6hd and lower line Zeiss offerings. I have had the Zeiss Diavari 6-24 and the Newer VX6HD line in the past but now own two X5i’s due to glass and turrets. The repeatable turrets and the great low light on the x5i’s made it the winner by a long shot. Then again it is a $2500 dollar scope so budget is pretty crucial for the comparison.

I had a Conquest on my 22-250 until this year when I moved it to my dad’s .30-06. When we bought the scope, we were leaning Leupold VX3. I looked through both side by side and found the 44mm Zeiss to have a better picture and light gathering than the 50mm Leupold.

I believe the Swarovski to be the best glass of these three, under $3000.

Then again, I’m also the guy who bought Nikon over Vortex ($300 price point) for the same reasons.

I would be willing to spend up to about $1,500 on it. It's on a Rem 700 classic made in the 60's and is a factory gun with no tweaking yet. It was an inherited gun. Want to be able to shoot small targets out to about 400 yards with it and a 14 power max magnification.

After reading some of the other comments, you just have to compare like priced scopes. Comparing a $2500 scope to a $1500 scope doesn't make sense, nor does comparing a $600 scope to a $1000 scope.

If your budget is $1500 then you are looking at VX-6HD, Swaro Z5, or Zeiss HD5/V6. I think the answer will become obvious once you look at those three and compare the glass and features, and those are the exact three scopes I compared when I purchased mine.

At the $1500 price point it would be between the Swarovski and Leupold for me. If I was looking to dial elevation for targets, I would go with the leupold. If the scope were going on a walking sporter, mainly for hunting, with shots limited to 400 yds, I would go Swarovski with either the BRH or BRX reticle for the lighter weight and quicker target acquisition and handling.
If I could include the high end Zeiss, the Victory HT would be my choice over either.

I’ve looked through a ton of Swarovski scopes. There’s no question they have alpha glass and I would recommend them to others. For whatever reason I don’t see as well through Swarovski as I do Leupold. I’m the only person I know that is that way. I see as well or better through a VX-3i than a Z5 and I know the Z5 has more expensive glass.

For one not on your list : http://www.meoptasportsoptics.com/us/

They make bad [censored] scopes & some of the top of the line euro glass scopes are made by them and then rebranded. Don't hurt to look

Make that two people. Reason I sold my Z5 and bought a second VX-6HD...brighter and clearer to my eyes. Maybe we are the only two though.

For the 1500 price range it’s hard to beat the Leupold VX6HD.