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Originally Posted by tom turner Topgun, the Vari-XIII series is a no-compromi$$$e scope and really not needed by many. However, the Vari-XII series is the way to go. Invest a little more than the Rifleman and, in the long run, I assure you that you won't regret it!!! |
Tom!!! Thank goodness you dropped in on this. :) I have pretty much exhausted my limited knowledge on this subject and you really made some fine points about hunting optics, namely the rule of thumb (which I have heard, but had forgotten) that you should spend as much money on the scope as you did on the rifle.
Dad always swore by that Leupold 3x9x40 Vari-X II that he had mounted on that sporterized/customized Mauser. I have witnessed him nailing many a prairie dog with that rifle at 300 + yards, and that's no BS. He was always a better rifle shot than me anyway. As he got older and his eyes started to go a bit, I finally got to where I could outshoot him shooting blue rocks (clay pigeons), but I never got to where I could best him with either a handgun or a rifle, not that I didn't try.
I was starting to catch up to him on that when he passed away.
Anyway, back to the subject, I was just on a drummers' forum trying to convince a kid that he would be better off saving up some cash and buying the Sabian AAs and AAXs that he really wants rather than the B8s that he can currently afford. This is much the same kind of thing.
I remember reading the American Rifleman review on the Leupold Rifleman Scope and I recall that their chief complaint was the adjustment knobs and the fact that they don't click, they just move, and it was easy to over adjust. That's one nice thing about the Leupold Vari-X series. If you are sighting in with a sight-in target, all you have to do is find where you are shooting, up down left or right, count the inches from center, and count clicks, four per inch at a 100 yd zero. (I don't know the official name of this target, but it's the one with the big diamond in the middle, four little diamonds in the corners and the whole thing is put on a grid of 1" squares) With a good bench rest and known target distance, it doesn't take much to get that rifle zeroed.
This has really given me the itch to go shoot again. One day I'll put together a nice rifle for myself, or maybe Mom will eventually give me some of Dad's collection. If that ever happens, there are several nice rifles there and finding one of them to baby and tweak shouldn't be a problem.