Cheap $100 Scope

[2L8]

Helping a young guy find a lower budget replacement scope for an old Savage 110-FNS .30/06 (About 1990 production).

I've heard a few good things about Athlon and could pick up their Neos 3-9x40 for about $90 new.

Anyone have any experience with Athlon Scopes?

 

[jpr9954]

I have heard only good things about them. My son-in-law's dad who is an avid shooter has one on his .260 benchrest rifle. If it wasn't more than adequate, Jeff wouldn't have it.

 

[BeeMaa]

The reality is that the rifle is worth about $300. A good rule of thumb is to get a scope that costs as much (or more) as the rifle. Leupold makes a VX-Freedom 3-9x40 for $300 that will last at least as long as the rifle will. You can also find them in very good condition but used for about half that price. There is no denying the quality and customer service of Leupold. As for Athlon, I'll leave that to you.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I put the 4-12 version Neos on a .22 rimfire squirrel gun and for the money and that application, it's adequate. How it would hold up on an '06, don't know. Generally speaking, money buys you a longer shooting day.

 

[mdwest]

You can get a Vortex Crossfire II 3-9x40 for about $129... every now and then you can find them on sale for $119...

Its not a swaro or leica by any stretch.. but Vortex provides a lifetime warranty, and for the price point they are as good or better than anything else on the market (IMO)..

Ive got a Crossfire on a little Ruger American .308 that is my throw in the back of the UTV/Truck, knock around gun that I have killed many, many hogs with over the years... Its not going to be the first thing I pull out of the safe when I head out on a guided elk hunt or on a PG hunt in Africa.. but for the average everyday US deer/hog/whatever hunter its more than enough scope..

 

[thriller]

You can’t shoot what you can’t see. Spend money on glass, I know budget is a factor but I see many used scopes of nice quality come across here.

 

[TTundra]

The reality is that the rifle is worth about $300. A good rule of thumb is to get a scope that costs as much (or more) as the rifle. Leupold makes a VX-Freedom 3-9x40 for $300 that will last at least as long as the rifle will. You can also find them in very good condition but used for about half that price. There is no denying the quality and customer service of Leupold. As for Athlon, I'll leave that to you.

I swear an optics company started that 'rule/rumor' and it needs to go. Just not the case in reality. I have $150 (old revolution) scopes on $600-$800 rifles that are tack drivers at typical whitetail/Mulie distances. I have $800 scopes on $3000 builds that ring a 10" gong at 1200 yards all day. Look at what Michael recommends for his B&M rifles. All fun and games...but that phrase drives me nuts!

Higher prices on optics get you luxuries and incremental improvements in construction, repeatability, and optical quality...usually. It's up to the shooter to decide if they appreciate those differences or need them.

Like @mdwest said, give vortex a look
Decent scopes can be had for lower budgets and should anything happen, they'll take care of him.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Too bad Nikon quit making scopes. They were my go to cheapie.

 

[WAB]

I picked up a vortex diamondback in 3.5-10x for $50 a number of years ago. The local shop had a pallet of them and they were priced to move. It turned out to be a decent scope. I sold it on a rifle I didn’t want. In hindsight I should have bought them all. They are selling used for 3x what I paid new.

 

[One Day...]

The reality is that the rifle is worth about $300. A good rule of thumb is to get a scope that costs as much (or more) as the rifle. Leupold makes a VX-Freedom 3-9x40 for $300 that will last at least as long as the rifle will. You can also find them in very good condition but used for about half that price. There is no denying the quality and customer service of Leupold. As for Athlon, I'll leave that to you.

I swear an optics company started that 'rule/rumor' and it needs to go. Just not the case in reality. I have $150 (old revolution) scopes on $600-$800 rifles that are tack drivers at typical whitetail/Mulie distances. I have $800 scopes on $3000 builds that ring a 10" gong at 1200 yards all day. Look at what Michael recommends for his B&M rifles. All fun and games...but that phrase drives me nuts!

Higher prices on optics get you luxuries and incremental improvements in construction, repeatability, and optical quality...usually. It's up to the shooter to decide if they appreciate those differences or need them.

Like @mdwest said, give vortex a look
Decent scopes can be had for lower budgets and should anything happen, they'll take care of him.

I too received this pearl of wisdom when I got into my first gun-buying forays. This was in France in the 1970's and it was 100% true at the time when scopes were either German (Zeiss, Schmidt & Bender, Nickel) / Austrian (Habicht-Kahles-Swarovski) with good glass and solid steel construction, or early Asian manufacture with Coke bottle bottom glass, utterly unreliable manufacture, fantasist clicks, taking water like sinking boats, etc.

PS: we did not see a lot of American scopes in Europe in those days...

So, the rule/rumor WAS true and sound.

Move forward 50 years to modern Asian productions that use Schott glass, CNC machining of mechanical components and polishing of lenses, Western type Quality Control, etc. and that routinely produce entire product lines for even the biggest German names, and things are different.

I will readily agree that a current Asian production Vortex, Zeiss Terra, Burris, etc. (I too regret Nikon getting out of this market) is light years ahead of even good Teutonic scopes of the 70's and 80's in about any respect, and perfectly fine.

So, what was once true and sound, indeed no longer is...

... although, although... it still makes perfect sense to me to put a $1,000 scope on a $1,000+ rifle because the glass chemistry and coating still reflect (pun fully intended) the price paid

As to the $3,000 scopes with 6x or 8x eye boxes that get you 6x or 8x in a DG scope with 28 mm objective, or monster 20x or even 30x in a PG scope with 40 to 60 mm objective, I must confess that I miss the point... I have yet to understand why a DG scope would need more that 4x, especially with a very narrow objective that does not gather enough light to exploit more magnification without the image getting too dark at dawn or dusk; and why a PG scope would need more than 12x (I was going to say 6x but will grant that 12x can have its usefulness on small PG at 200 to 300 yards). Oh well, modern marketing has me soundly defeated

 

[WAB]

Totally agree, the rule of thumb is of little to no use. IMO, the Swarovski Z8 1-8x24 is one of the finest hunting scopes in the world. It costs about 1/3 the price of a Rigby Highland Stalker. What do you do, mount 3 of them?

 

[BeeMaa]

@WAB- sorry mate, I'm not on board at all. When you are talking rifles above $10K, a scope that cost $3K-$4K is not a big stretch. Buying a rifle that cost $300 and spending another $300 on the scope...this is an investment that could pay off with food on the table for a lifetime. Food that someone with a rifle that worth $10K sitting in the vault (with a $4K scope) isn't worried about.

That being said, Vortex is a lower cost option and a company that stands behind their product. A 3-9x40 scope from them can be had for $150-200.

 

[Rob404]

Helping a young guy find a lower budget replacement scope for an old Savage 110-FNS .30/06 (About 1990 production).

I've heard a few good things about Athlon and could pick up their Neos 3-9x40 for about $90 new.

Anyone have any experience with Athlon Scopes?

I tried an Athlon Scope, it was a POS

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I have a Vortex 4-12x44 I just picked up NIB on GB for $88. Something like that for what you intend would probably be fine. The particular seller seems to sell a lot of them. I begged off on maybe five or so other auctions that went higher than I wanted before I won this one. Be diligent if you have a firm ceiling; you'll find something.

 

[JimP]

The thing with scopes is a lot like other optics, you get what you pay for.

I have had friends who have purchased cheaper models and after the first hunting season you'll find that scope in the garbage. I have one friend who lost a chance at a huge bull elk because of his scope, it was hitting all over the place and he shot two boxes of ammo trying to resight it in.

My suggestion is to look for a name brand on Ebay or in the used market. Redfield who is manufactured for Leupold is a good start but even they start out around $200. Vortex is another good entry level scope with a great warranty.

 

[TTundra]

@One Day... Absolutely, times change and advancements in manufacturing along with it. Completley agree the optics world even 20 years ago was a light year away from what it is today.

The no longer made redfield revolution by Leupold for $150 was a steal and had the construction quality and repeatability, just not the level if glass for some of the longer, later, or early shots. Mine has taken quite a few Whitetails and Mulies from 30-300 yards. Sits on a $700ish model 70 30-06. There are plenty of options that can give a lifetime of dependable work for the criteria needed at less than half the rifles value in many cases.

This has been hashed out here on numerous threads. There is an appropriate tool for the job and the skill level of the hunter or shooter. If you appreciate and can realize the finer things, spend the money if you have it. Though, you do not need to spend excess out of peer pressure thinking that if you dont you're setup wont work or will fail you.

 

[WAB]

@WAB- sorry mate, I'm not on board at all. When you are talking rifles above $10K, a scope that cost $3K-$4K is not a big stretch. Buying a rifle that cost $300 and spending another $300 on the scope...this is an investment that could pay off with food on the table for a lifetime. Food that someone with a rifle that worth $10K sitting in the vault (with a $4K scope) isn't worried about.

That being said, Vortex is a lower cost option and a company that stands behind their product. A 3-9x40 scope from them can be had for $150-200.

OK, let’s try coming at it from the other end. My first deer rifle back in the 80’s was a M70 in 7x57. I was a poor college student and I put a Leupold fixed power scope on it that was 1/2 the price of the rifle. I bought the fixed power to get the best glass I could afford. That combo piled up the critters. Again, the rule of thumb did not work at all. I think a better guide would be to buy the best glass you can afford and forget some marketing guru’s brainstorm that it should cost roughly what the rifle cost.

 

[2L8]

Thanks guys. I decided to just give him something I had laying around.

The winner is... Sightron S1 3-9x40.

It's still NIB. At least it's not Chinese (Made in the Philippines). It seems decently put together and I've seen worse glass. Guess we will see if it will hold a zero.

 

[R.M.C.]

Just my two cents but I'd take a used Leupold over anything else in that price range. I've found a couple on gunbroker for little over a hundred bucks lately. Got a VX 1 3-9x50mm that was never mounted on a gun for $138 with shipping. Can't beat their warranty

 

[flatwater bill]

One of the most difficult things to evaluate in a riflescope, is durability. Even professional reviews often look only at the features and image. If you are going to use the rifle only at the range, what difference does durability make? But if you're going to hunt, that is another matter. A friend (with unlimited resources) and I have developed a series of repetitive stress and drop tests for scopes. The most durable by far are Nightforce and Leupold. But they are not $100. Best of luck in your purchase...............FWB