Hunting Scopes

JohnE · April 18, 2012

A friend of mine in South Africa is looking for a scope for his newly acquired .308 WIN hunting rifle. He's currently thinking along the lines of Nikon's Prostaff 4-12x42, 3-9x40 or 3-9x50 with either Mildot or BDC reticules.

Questions are:

1) are these any good and will they take the shock loadings from a large calibre rifle?

2) is there anything better in this price bracket that you'd recommend?

3) where is good to buy these things in the UK? He's asked if I could import one for him as prices seem much lower than SA!

I know next to nothing about scopes (my shooting is almost totally of the old school small hole at the back, larger hole at the front variety!) hence asking the above so any advice would be welcome.

Cheers

John

Chris-NZ · April 18, 2012

Dunno about the UK but try here:

http://www.natchezss.com/optics.cfm?contentID=opticsType&opticsType=9&opticsClass=3&powerCategory=0&powerRange=0&objective=0&reticle=0&tubeDiameter=0&finish=0&mfg=NK&mfgName=Nikon&category=20

I have three 3-9x40 "refurb" Prostaffs I got for about US$108 each and they're mint. Have one on a centrefire and it's handling the recoil fine. Despite being "refurnished", they were mint and I suspect had just lost their orig packaging.

This zoom range would be fine for SA in a .308- the hunting styles I saw while over there means that nearly everything is shot under 300yds

Chris-NZ

Tank · April 19, 2012

If it's any help i have a Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14 x 40 and i find it very good for the money. I picked it up second hand for not alot and despite having a small objective lense it does well in low light. Nikon make bloody good cameras, clearly they do the same with their scopes!!

JohnE · April 19, 2012

Thanks for the advice guys. I've passed it on. Any more welcome!!!

Looks like he's going to go for a 3-9x50 ProStaff from Optics Warehouse as it seems to be the best deal I can find so far (aside from the refurbs of course!). He's also going to a hunting expo in Jo'burg this weekend to see if he can get anywhere near UK prices but I suspect he won't!

Cheers

John