My Take on Dangerous Game Scopes

Mark458 · Sep 19, 2026

Philip Glass said:
Here is a video where I discuss my journey in finding the ultimate DG scope. Bombs away!

I'm definitely late to this party but I'm going to throw my opinion out there along with everyone else. Love the video and I mostly agree with your take on scope choice, but I believe the title of the video is a bit misleading. The reasoning for your scope choice is based in large part on the hunting of plains game animals. "The best scope for the one gun safari rifle" I feel would have been a more fitting title.

I love the idea of a one gun safari rifle and a 2-10 power scope or something similar is great for dangerous game and plains game. I'm a big fan of the Leupold vx5 2-10 with the Firedot reticle. I just returned last month from a buffalo hunt and that is the scope I have on my 404J. The glass quality is the same as the vx6 ,only difference in the vx6 is the higher power range and if that is what you need then it would be worth the extra money it costs.

One must consider what is on the list of desired trophies and are you going after them with only one rifle. For someone who is only going after buffalo or elephant with a large bore rifle and has another rifle for everything else I personally would have a 1-6 power scope on my rifle. I love the Leupold as well as the Zeiss 1-6 with Illuminated Reticle. I do feel going down to 1 power is a better option when following up buffalo in the thick bush. I can definitely aquire my target faster with both eyes open on 1 power as opposed to 2 power.

I know the Swarovski is wonderful glass, but I personally haven't found the need to spend an additional 2-3 thousand dollars. I know many will disagree, but Leupold and Zeiss have worked great for me to this point. Maybe if my eyes start to fail me a bit I will look at the more expensive options.

Thanks again for putting the video together and your input in trying to help everyone have optimum success in the field.

Riflecrank · Sep 20, 2026

That sort of forehead relief should be tolerated only on rat-caliber rifles.

Altitude sickness · Sep 21, 2026

Shockeys biggest problem here is the distance from his right hand to the trigger being too close and the LOP 2” too short. Also look at the butt. 2” or more are above his collar bone.

Riflecrank · Sep 21, 2026

Jim is just scoping the target here with finger off trigger, not ready to fire, picture was just to show his rifle-scope's forehead relief:

Here is an actual shooting hold of the rifle:

Jim heals well, and the latest Shockey Forehead related to above shot was minor:

I have seen about a half-dozen more bloody ones in his videos, mainly from his TCA Encore rifles that are notorious for poor forehead relief.
I have one of those Encores in .458 WIN MAG, heh-heh-heh.

Laniarius · Sep 22, 2026

I agree that one needs to be careful about eye positioning, but there are variations in how one naturally mounts a rifle. I tend to tuck my head back a bit, and it's very repeatable. I don't think I have unusual proportions (6 ft and heavy, lots of guys my size). It just feels unnatural for me to crane my neck more forward. The standard LOP on a Model 70 Safari works fine for me.

I think most would consider my setup to be begging for scope eye, but I've never come close with the positioning as shown in the photo. It works for me. 100s of rounds fired off-hand and on sticks for practice at home. Only two rounds fired while hunting, but that's because I've only done one trip with it and the focus was for my sons to hunt so I only shot one animal.

To get the scope back that far, it limits me to a straight tube for my Model 70 in .375 without using a one piece rail, but a 1-6x is good enough for me. (Trijicon Huron; note that the eye relief is longer than Trijicon advertises; they understate it for some reason.) Like what @Riflecrank said, maybe it wouldn't work with something heavier than a .375 and I'll figure it out if I ever need to. Anyway, the scope is consistently about 4" from my eye, maybe a bit less.

This is my eland from July of this year with Aru Game Lodges in Namibia.

Philip Glass · Sep 25, 2026

Mark458 said:
I'm definitely late to this party but I'm going to throw my opinion out there along with everyone else. Love the video and I mostly agree with your take on scope choice, but I believe the title of the video is a bit misleading. The reasoning for your scope choice is based in large part on the hunting of plains game animals. "The best scope for the one gun safari rifle" I feel would have been a more fitting title.

I love the idea of a one gun safari rifle and a 2-10 power scope or something similar is great for dangerous game and plains game. I'm a big fan of the Leupold vx5 2-10 with the Firedot reticle. I just returned last month from a buffalo hunt and that is the scope I have on my 404J. The glass quality is the same as the vx6 ,only difference in the vx6 is the higher power range and if that is what you need then it would be worth the extra money it costs.

One must consider what is on the list of desired trophies and are you going after them with only one rifle. For someone who is only going after buffalo or elephant with a large bore rifle and has another rifle for everything else I personally would have a 1-6 power scope on my rifle. I love the Leupold as well as the Zeiss 1-6 with Illuminated Reticle. I do feel going down to 1 power is a better option when following up buffalo in the thick bush. I can definitely aquire my target faster with both eyes open on 1 power as opposed to 2 power.

I know the Swarovski is wonderful glass, but I personally haven't found the need to spend an additional 2-3 thousand dollars. I know many will disagree, but Leupold and Zeiss have worked great for me to this point. Maybe if my eyes start to fail me a bit I will look at the more expensive options.

Thanks again for putting the video together and your input in trying to help everyone have optimum success in the field.

Thanks much and I do agree that Leopold works great. I have many of them and the higher end ones are what I drooled over in magazines as a kid. All I could afford back then was the bottom end. At this stage and from what I’ve been able to do I have to say the Z8 is worth the money. I know it’s a lot more! I totally understand the expense But honestly the Z8’s I have almost seem like cheating they are just that good.

LeftySixgun · Sep 25, 2026

I recently mounted a NightForce NX6 1-6x24. Seems to be an outstanding scope 375 H&H M70 as a DG rifle scope. I won’t be hunting any DG on my trip
I have 2 Weaver 1-5x24 DG scopes also. I prefer the more open reticle of the NF vs a duplex. The NF reticle is a near copy of the Zeiss #56.

Clodo Ferreira · Sep 27, 2026

Laniarius said:
I agree that one needs to be careful about eye positioning, but there are variations in how one naturally mounts a rifle. I tend to tuck my head back a bit, and it's very repeatable. I don't think I have unusual proportions (6 ft and heavy, lots of guys my size). It just feels unnatural for me to crane my neck more forward. The standard LOP on a Model 70 Safari works fine for me.

I think most would consider my setup to be begging for scope eye, but I've never come close with the positioning as shown in the photo. It works for me. 100s of rounds fired off-hand and on sticks for practice at home. Only two rounds fired while hunting, but that's because I've only done one trip with it and the focus was for my sons to hunt so I only shot one animal.

To get the scope back that far, it limits me to a straight tube for my Model 70 in .375 without using a one piece rail, but a 1-6x is good enough for me. (Trijicon Huron; note that the eye relief is longer than Trijicon advertises; they understate it for some reason.) Like what @Riflecrank said, maybe it wouldn't work with something heavier than a .375 and I'll figure it out if I ever need to. Anyway, the scope is consistently about 4" from my eye, maybe a bit less.

This is my eland from July of this year with Aru Game Lodges in Namibia.

View attachment 794267

Hi,
To me that scope position is calling for a nice crescent scar in the front head...!!!!

Philip Glass · Sep 27, 2026

Laniarius said:
I agree that one needs to be careful about eye positioning, but there are variations in how one naturally mounts a rifle. I tend to tuck my head back a bit, and it's very repeatable. I don't think I have unusual proportions (6 ft and heavy, lots of guys my size). It just feels unnatural for me to crane my neck more forward. The standard LOP on a Model 70 Safari works fine for me.

I think most would consider my setup to be begging for scope eye, but I've never come close with the positioning as shown in the photo. It works for me. 100s of rounds fired off-hand and on sticks for practice at home. Only two rounds fired while hunting, but that's because I've only done one trip with it and the focus was for my sons to hunt so I only shot one animal.

To get the scope back that far, it limits me to a straight tube for my Model 70 in .375 without using a one piece rail, but a 1-6x is good enough for me. (Trijicon Huron; note that the eye relief is longer than Trijicon advertises; they understate it for some reason.) Like what @Riflecrank said, maybe it wouldn't work with something heavier than a .375 and I'll figure it out if I ever need to. Anyway, the scope is consistently about 4" from my eye, maybe a bit less.

This is my eland from July of this year with Aru Game Lodges in Namibia.

View attachment 794267

I love Aru!

Philip Glass · Sep 27, 2026

Personally I find the whole "getting scoped thing" to be a LOP issue. Jim Shockey was mentioned (rightfully so due to the history) and he is very tall and has long arms. Taller than me and I have a 15.5" LOP. Most of my guns look stupid, at least the wooden stocked ones, due to the many black spacers installed by my gunsmith. I've never been scoped or even close to being scoped. I can only surmise that it is the correct and very long LOP on my rifles.
What say you?

LeftySixgun · Sep 27, 2026

I agree that LOP can contribute to the ole scope eye. I would like my rifles a bit longer but then keeping the, shouldered and running the bolt effectively becomes an issue. If my DG rifle was a double, then I’d have it fit more like my Beretta O/U shotgun that has a 14” LOP.
I did look for scope that had the longer eye relief so I atleast had a chance to shoot them forward on my bolt rifle. Seems to have worked out well so far. She has only touched my brow once and that was when first started shooting off the bench.

MLindsay · Sep 27, 2026

I have had 4 scopes on my 500 A2, 2.5 Leupold, 1.5-5 Leupold, 1.5-6 Nikon Slughunter and now a Bushnell 6500 1.5-8. All have not failed with the Bushnell being the best. However non to me get on target as quick as the 4c reticle of Meopta that I have on my 35 Whelen. The dot finds the target Super Fast. I have coming in a Hawke frontier 30 fd 1-8 L4A FD reticle, it is their 4C. Will report my findings

Clodo Ferreira · Sep 27, 2026

Of course, the scope position is related to the lenght of pull.
I chose to loose some field of view to be ABSOLUTELY SURE the scope NEVER touch (or even get too close...) my forehead in ANY shooting position. Not always is posible to "think" about it in some hunting shooting situations.

Riflecrank · Oct 3, 2026

Clodo Ferreira said:
Of course, the scope position is related to the lenght of pull.
I choose to lose some field of view to be ABSOLUTELY SURE the scope NEVER touch (or even get too close...) my forehead in ANY shooting position. Not always is posible to "think" about it in some hunting shooting situations.

Worth repeating.

Hedge774 · Oct 3, 2026

I have my own "Ignorance Kiss" from helping my buddy sight in his Savage 110. Of course, he mounted the scope without even really knowing what what this process involved would be..mmm

BTP-KennethWRoyce · Oct 6, 2026

375 Ruger Fan said:
The human eye becomes the limiting factor, particularly as we age. That limit varies, but for 60+ old geezers, it's around 4 to 5mm exit pupil. .

True, and 7mm if you're young(ish). That's why so many binos are made with a 7mm exit shaft (6x42, 7x50, 8x56, etc.).

Rare Breed · Oct 7, 2026

I have to say after buying the Swarovski Z8i in 1-8-24 it is without question the best glass I have bought for my Rigby 404 Jeffery

pc3 · Oct 7, 2026

Rare Breed said:
I have to say after buying the Swarovski Z8i in 1-8-24 it is without question the best glass I have bought for my Rigby 404 Jeffery

I have this exact scope on my cz550 .416 Rigby and my god its clear....I have heard they are not as durable as the SB exos 1-8x24.

I'd like to try an SB exos 1-8 and see how it compares to my Z8 1-8

Dakota Hunter · Oct 9, 2026

The Exos is excellent ! I have one on my Heym Martini 416 Rigby .

TOBY458 · Oct 9, 2026

I’ve used 1-4x20 Nikon, 1.5-5x20 Leupold and 2-7x33 Leupold on DG in Africa and Australia, plus a lot of PG along the way.
On my 375 rifles, I’ve come to really like the 2-7x33. I’ve never felt handicapped by the lower end being 2x or the higher end being 7x. Plus they are very handy little scopes.
On my 458, I’ve only used the 1-4x20 Nikon so far. As I’ve only used it as a dedicated Buffalo/Elephant rifle.

That being said, I just ordered a Leupold VX-5 2-10x42 to try out on one of my 375s. Other than it being a physically heavier/bulkier scope than I’m used to on a DG rifle, I think it will be nice having a bit more light gathering capability and perhaps a bit more magnification would be handy at times.

My Take on Dangerous Game Scopes

Mark458

Riflecrank

Altitude sickness

Riflecrank

Laniarius

Philip Glass

LeftySixgun

Clodo Ferreira

Philip Glass

Philip Glass

LeftySixgun

MLindsay

Clodo Ferreira

Riflecrank

Hedge774

BTP-KennethWRoyce

Rare Breed

pc3

Dakota Hunter

TOBY458

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