Time to replace scope?

[ElevenBravo]

Getting a little trigger time in as the weather was pretty decent today. Took the wife's Ruger 30-06 out to zero it for the new loads and realized that while the scope on it (Nikon Buckmaster) has been an accurate and dependable scope, the reticle and turrets don't really lend themselves to shooting past whatever the zero is at. So far hunting with it, she hasn't had to shoot past 100 yards. The reticle has dots but it's not a BDC or ranging reticle. All the dots are equally spaced and the gaps are huge. I can hit steel out to 300 with it but point of impact on a 14" target is anyone's guess. At 100 yards, it's shooting cloverleafs.

Interested in hearing what the typical shot distance is for game in Limpopo. Right now I have her scope zeroed for about 1/2" high at 100 yards for a 150gr Barnes traveling at 2900fps, so that should give it point blank out to 200 yards-ish.

 

[Elkeater]

Sounds like a mil dot reticle. Likely a second focal plane scope which means the mil dots (measuring mil radians) are only accurate at the max power setting if you wanted to use it to actually shoot out to longer ranges.

Anyways I’ve been to Limpopo once. Shots were mostly inside 100 yards with a couple of exceptions and the longest shot our group took out of 22 animals was 210 yards on my daughter’s springbok.

If you’re looking for a new lightweight hunting scope specifically for Limpopo I might suggest the new 3.5-10x42 Zeiss V3 or even the 2.5-8x35 V3. Of course various leupolds and swaros and Zeiss, etc. will all do the job.

What exactly are you looking for in a scope?

 

[Andrew62]

I’ve hunted the Limpopo province numerous times, and I agree with @Elkeater, typical shots will be 50-100 yards.

Lots of great scopes out there, I’m a huge Leupold fan, and this year I picked up a Swarovski Z5i in 2x10 to take to the Limpopo in two weeks.

 

[ElevenBravo]

Sounds like a mil dot reticle. Likely a second focal plane scope which means the mil dots (measuring mil radians) are only accurate at the max power setting if you wanted to use it to actually shoot out to longer ranges.

Anyways I’ve been to Limpopo once. Shots were mostly inside 100 yards with a couple of exceptions and the longest shot our group took out of 22 animals was 210 yards on my daughter’s springbok.

If you’re looking for a new lightweight hunting scope specifically for Limpopo I might suggest the new 3.5-10x42 Zeiss V3 or even the 2.5-8x35 V3. Of course various leupolds and swaros and Zeiss, etc. will all do the job.

What exactly are you looking for in a scope?

yeah, it's a mildot reticle (took me a while to even find that reticle listed) on older SFP glass.

This is her workhorse rifle, I'm not looking to put a Nightforce or another Leupold Mk5 like on our precision rifles. Probably decent Vortex glass if it's decided that the Nikon isn't going to work in Africa.

Zeiss makes nice glass, but I have a problem with them and not looking to give them more money right now.

 

[Elkeater]

yeah, it's a mildot reticle (took me a while to even find that reticle listed) on older SFP glass.

This is her workhorse rifle, I'm not looking to put a Nightforce or another Leupold Mk5 like on our precision rifles. Probably decent Vortex glass if it's decided that the Nikon isn't going to work in Africa.

Zeiss makes nice glass, but I have a problem with them and not looking to give them more money right now.

I can understand having preferences on companies. I would suggest looking at the Leupold VX-3 line perhaps. Just good simple workhorse type scopes. The cds dial on some models can be handy if you take the time to set them up correctly.

As to vortex, I love their warranty. I hate the fact that I seem to have use that warranty a lot. For the same price as mid tier vortex glass you can get into the VX-3 line. Just my opinion though.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Getting a little trigger time in as the weather was pretty decent today. Took the wife's Ruger 30-06 out to zero it for the new loads and realized that while the scope on it (Nikon Buckmaster) has been an accurate and dependable scope, the reticle and turrets don't really lend themselves to shooting past whatever the zero is at. So far hunting with it, she hasn't had to shoot past 100 yards. The reticle has dots but it's not a BDC or ranging reticle. All the dots are equally spaced and the gaps are huge. I can hit steel out to 300 with it but point of impact on a 14" target is anyone's guess. At 100 yards, it's shooting cloverleafs.

Interested in hearing what the typical shot distance is for game in Limpopo. Right now I have her scope zeroed for about 1/2" high at 100 yards for a 150gr Barnes traveling at 2900fps, so that should give it point blank out to 200 yards-ish.

I have found that a 3-9x scope with a simple duplex reticle on a .30-06 and zeroed at 2.5 inches high at 100 yards is pretty much perfect in both North America or Africa. It will be on at about 200 yards. A center of the chest hold is good to about 300 and a hold at the hair line out to 350. Unlikely to need to shoot any further while on Africa. The farthest shot I've taken in Zimbabwe was about 300 yards on an impala ewe. She died right there. I happen to.like Leupold scopes, but I have also used Burris. Better glass on more expensive scopes, but I really haven't felt a need. The elaborate ballistic calculating scopes don't seem to have any value in most big game hunting situations in my experience.

 

[Altitude sickness]

You will have so many opportunities when hunting the game farms of the Limpopo that you don’t need to shoot past your comfort zone.

Know your effective range and pass up shots past that range.

 

[AZDAVE]

The one thing about Nikon scopes is that they are just a plain flat tough scope.

The longest shot I have taken in Limpopo is 165 yards. And it was just ridge to ridge on a klipspringer that was on the other side a small canyon that was deep than wide. all others were under a 100.

Also I would humbly suggest that you better have asked you wife if she wants her scope replaced? and If so Take her to the counter of where ever you plan on buying the scope and have the clerk lay out several scopes and explain each scope, she gets to look through the options, and let her decide which one she wants. Ask me how I know

 

[Halligan1975]

My longest shot, by far, in Limpopo was 225 yards on an eland. As others have said, most shots were less than 100.

In this case, unless you just really want to upgrade the glass, I'd raise your point of impact at 100 just a bit (maybe 1.5 " high at 100) and run it.