What scope

MSant

MSant

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I recently bought a savage xis in .223 for fiddling around with. I maybtry my clubs 400 yd eventually. Mostly i am ising it at 75-100 yds.
I am not thrilled with the factory scope, but otherwise quite like the rifle.
What scopes would be a decent value for the money to upgrade without breaking the bank? I am thinking under $500 since I only paid $300 for the rifle
 
Under $500 and clear glass = Athlon Midas or anything above the Midas when on sale. You might be able to find an Ares on sale. I wouldnt go below the Midas.

I have seen some Meopta Optika6 on sale for around $500. Meopta glass > Athlon.

How much you paid for the rifle shouldn't define your scope budget. Go for a scope that can do what you want and meets your requirements.

If you are only using the scope for plinking, you should skip illumination, skip locking turrets, skip super complicated reticles, skip buying a scope designed to survive a drop from a helicopter. All that will save you a lot of money.

Vortex has been having a lot of sales recently, I think new Gen scopes are coming out. A PST 2 on sale would be a great option.

I am sure we will start hearing about Thanksgiving sales soon.
 
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MSant said:
I recently bought a savage xis in .223 for fiddling around with. I maybtry my clubs 400 yd eventually. Mostly i am ising it at 75-100 yds.
I am not thrilled with the factory scope, but otherwise quite like the rifle.
What scopes would be a decent value for the money to upgrade without breaking the bank? I am thinking under $500 since I only paid $300 for the rifle
Click to expand...
the stock rifle comes with a 3-9x40 scope that makes plenty of sense for the primary use case of this rifle. if you wish to extend it to 4-16x you may, but be careful of how much weight you going to put on top of it if you expect to carry it around.

brand does not really matter that much in 2024 as long as you go with anything well established and scope is in the $200-$500 bracket. to go more than $500 can make sense if you are into scope jewelry and want to brag about it more than to shoot with it. :)

say, if you put that on a savage, i do guarantee an instant success and an automatic 1/3moa groups. :)
 
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What scope ?
This is really tied into end use and expectations.

My friend has the axis 223 with the vortex crossfire II
The scope is good and holds zero
The reticle subtension is 1 moa on 9x

Hes running 50 gn nosler tipped at about 3400 fps and set the scope PBR point blank range. He can hold center on 5” plates from 50 to about 275 yards and constantly get hits. The MOA reticle helps for going out a bit more. Slight hold over to 350
I like the reticle its like a hybrid of a old school 30/30 scope and some 1 moa spaced hash marks.

At the $500 price point there are a good amont of nice scopes

As mentioned : stay away from all the gadget filled scopes at that price point.

Dont cheap out on the mount/rings and use good screws. Loctite 222 is tour friend.


Decide what 90% of tour shooting will be and target type.

Scopes in that $500 or less range that I have and have held up
Mueller , SFWA , Hawke, athlon
Also finding NOS scopes from years past can get some great deals.

My dad taught me how to range estimate and holds with a old school 30/30 reticle

Once you get a scope learn what the reticle can do . Subtension

If tour shooting paper and shooting for tight groups get tour scope impacting close to center.
After that pick a aim point and just shoot for groups. Leave the turrets alone.

When I practice Im not trying to hit the X im looking for consistent groups. I will hold on the X

The axis is decent rifle for its price point.
My friends will drift if he shoots to quickly
The twist is 1/9 so theres a wide window of bullet choices if you reload
 
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