New hunter needs some advice

[Urbanhunter]

Hey,

Thanks for checking out my post. I am a relitively new hunter. I live and hunt in New Mexico. I was drawn last season for deer in Red River, NM and was able to take a decent buck with the Remington 700 in 270 I bought from walmart. I was just drawn again this season for the same area.

Ever since my first time out, I was hooked. Now I read a lot of hunting material and talk to people I meet about hunting and I have some questions. My walmart 270 came with a scope. It has the Remington "R" on it, so I'm thinking it is a private label scope, but can't find any info on it. It is a 3-9x 40. A lot of people I talk to say get a nicer scope, which I'm not against. But Is this really necessary. I took the buck @ 50 yards or so, so it wasn't much skill invovled in the shot, but I want to be really prepared this year. I have about $200 to invest in a new scope or should I just buy more ammo to practice? I only get to get out to the range a couple of times a year. If you think I should upgrade my scope, What should I get?

Thanks

[Hunting Man]

Hello and welcome to the site. My best guess is you have a scope made for the Remington brand logo. Most likely a lower end Bushnel, Tasco, Simmonds, ect. The issue is, how well does it shoot? If you can put three shots into a 1" group at 100 yds without flyers, I would say stick with what you have and practice with it. If you are getting erratic patterns and have made sure all is tight then I would replace the scope. The problem is $200.00 won't get you a lot of scope anymore. You could look at Nikon Pro staff, Bushnell XLT but you may not be getting much more scope than you currently have. For another 50.00 you can find some better scopes. Tough decision. The old thought is, if it ain't broke don't fix it. You can always improve later down the road when additional funds are available. Thee only other thought is if I had a trophy buck hunt and a cheap scope let me down I'd never kick myself enough times. Good luck!

[daddus1]

Welcome to the site UH. The new scope? depends if you think the one you have will fulfill the needs you have. As you go along you will pickup little pointers and stuff that should usually guide you, but there are guys on here much wiser than I so just hang in there they'll help you.
daddus

[WisconsinDeer]

Nikon Prostaff, Bushnell Trophy, and Redfield Revolution scopes are all under $200 and are very good scopes. Much better than what came with the rifle I'm sure. Good rings for the scope are also a must. Here's a short list of scopes to check out -

Redfield Revolution Rifle Scope 3-9x 40mm 4-Plex Reticle Matte - MidwayUSA

Bushnell Trophy XLT Rifle Scope 3-9x 40mm Multi-X Reticle Matte - MidwayUSA

Nikon ProStaff Rifle Scope 3-9x 40mm Nikoplex Reticle Matte - MidwayUSA

Weaver 40/44 Series Rifle Scope 3-9x 40mm Dual-X Reticle Matte - MidwayUSA

[BruceBruce1959]

If your hunting spot doesn't require 300 - 500 yard shots then most likely the scope you already have will work well for you.
I would suggest shooting as often as possible to try different ammunitions, some factory ammo will shoot better than others in certain weapons.
Good Luck

[WisconsinDeer]

Originally Posted by BruceBruce1959

I would suggest shooting as often as possible to try different ammunitions, some factory ammo will shoot better than others in certain weapons.
Good Luck

Big +1 to this.

[Urbanhunter]

Thanks for the advice. I agree I should, but I have a job, wife and three little girls who think otherwise. I will probably get to go out once before The season starts in October. I know I will be kicking myself if the scope fails me when I'm out there. Today I dropped into my local gunstore and checked out a Leupold Rifleman 3-9x40 for $200, and a nikon Prostaff BDC reticle 3-9x50 for $209. The BDC reticle looks cool, but I'm not sure if it really works. I will make sure to check out theother scopes recommended. Any thoughts on the two I mentioned?

[turner]

The two scopes you looked at and mentioned are light years ahead of the one that came on your rifle, no doubt. The problem with a scope is that we don't know it's gone "south" until we miss something with it, either an animal or a target. I decided my hunting time was not worth having to worry of such bad chit.

I'd mention one other scope for you. The Leupold VXI 2-7x33. It's a step up from both the Leupold Rfileman and the Prostaff (I own all three) and iffin you order it from Cabelas, they'll ship it for free and with $25 worth of extras thrown in.

Will you miss the difference between a high power of 9 and one of 7 ?. Simple answer, NO!

[WisconsinDeer]

I've heard that you should avoid lower end Leupolds like VX1's. Have you found that to be true?

[Hunting Man]

It's hard for me to think Leupold has a bad scope. I have a rifleman 3x9x40, VX-2 3x9x40 and while I don't tear up the range they are great scopes. The old Redfields Widefields have never let me down either, and can be bought on E-bay for 125-160.00. I have yet to shoot the Pentax 4x12x40 on the 250 sav but the clarity seems very good. I need one more scope for the Win 88 in 308 win but not sure what? Just might be a fixed power scope! I do prefer larger obj lens for max light transmission as my eyes are not so great anymore so I tend to like 40-44 mm and you get slightly better early/late light gathering quality. These generally can use med height rings. I don't own a $1000.00 scope but wish I could have just one to put on a favorite rifle, not going to happen though!