Opinions for mountain rifle scope

kickstart my heart · Jan 13, 2014

So I picked up a Tikka T3 Superlite in .308 last week. My intention is to have a lightweight hunting rifle for stuff like high buck season, hunting areas where I'm hiking in for numerous miles, what have you. I think the rifle is advertised to weight 5.8 pounds. Bought some Talley lightweight rings for it. Now I'm trying to decide on optics. I want to keep it as light weight as possible (what would the point be in buying a light rifle and sticking a heavy scope on it). I'd like to have 8x-10x on the high end of magnification. I don't foresee shooting it beyond 400-500 yards.

Now after doing a little bit of looking around, I came across the Leupold VXII Ultralight 3-9x33mm CDS scope. I like the Leupold stuff I've owned in the past. I think that the scope is advertised at 9.8 ounces. It's also got the CDS which I like the idea of (had a VXIII with it on a custom 6.5 Grendel AR I used to own). I noticed today that Leupold also makes a VXIII 2.5-8x36mm scope that weighs 11.4 ounces. It doesn't have the CDS, it's a little heavier, but a few people have told me that the VXIII is "way better" and the 36mm will give me better low light shooting ability. Now I don't know how much that 3mm will make the difference or how much better the VXIII is versus the VXII.

So I'd like to get some feedback. Any of you owned both VXII's and VXIII's? Did you notice a big difference in image quality or light gathering. Is it worth giving up the CDS and weight to step up to a VXIII? Both scopes are priced similarly so I'm not trying to be a cheapskate. I just want to know if it's worth giving up the features I want that the VXII seems to have.

alphapygmy · Jan 26, 2014

I've hunted with a light weight setup for many year and use one of the scopes you are looking at. I use a Browning A-bolt 2 Micro in .308 with a VXIII 2.5-8x36. A previous hunting partner used a VXII with a 40mm objective and I could still see a few minutes before sunrise and a few minutes after sunset better than he could even though my scope has a 36mm lens. My 2 cents says it worth it considering the importance of the time at first and last light. I also had a VXIII with the 50mm lens and it was awesome in low light just hard to mount low because of the big objective. If most of your shots are long maybe the CDS would be the better choice but I personally like the best lenses I can afford.

scrub buck · Mar 20, 2014

You can't go wrong with either, but in your case i'd pick the VX2 Ultralight with the CDS.

Sgt Nambu · Mar 24, 2014

Go to a store and compare them! I also have trouble believing that 3mm difference in OBJ lens' could make a huge difference in light gathering ability, given equal quality. 'course I've been wrong before. LOL!!!

orygun · Mar 25, 2014

I have a VX-R with the CDS. It is not a lightweight scope like you are asking about, but my comment has to do with the CDS. It's the one thing I wish my scope didn't have. More than once during a hunt (especially in the western part of this state) I've looked to see that the dial has been spun. Buying an expensive scope and then having to tape a turret is kinda stupid. Still, I really like the scope and will tape it again if Leupold doesn't have a better solution.
Mine's a 40mm scope and it works so well in low light that my eye has to readjust when I put the rifle back down.