Good All Around Scope

[MMH]

Need to get a scope. Will be switching the scope between a 700 SPS Tactical in .308 & my heavy barreled AR-15. Some hunting, mostly target & plinking. Thinking about a 4 - 16 x 44. Looking for a moderately priced scope.

All suggestions welcome.

[Mr White]

I'm not an expert on optics by any means, but I have a Nikon Buckmaster 4-14 40, and its a great scope. Very clear, side paralex adjustment, lifetime warranty, I love the mil dot reticle on mine, but other reticles are available. They're mostly right around $300 but if you look around, you can find them for about $270.

Mine lives atop my Rem 700 .243. This gun gets double use as a deer rifle in the fall and a varmint gun in the summer. The Nikon works well for both. The 14x is nice for those distant groundhogs.

[Water-Man]

Take a look at Mueller. They are good scopes.

[S&W 10mm]

Guess it depends when you say moderately priced. For example, for you it might be 300 for me it means around 500. Id pick up a Leupold if it was me and your looking at 500 bucks. IMO they are the best bang for your buck. Now I have a Simmons on my deer rifle right now and I like the scope, its just not as good at taking in the remaining light at dusk as the Leupold does. Bushnell, Simmons, and Leupold is the only scopes I would buy at 250-500 bucks, above them I have my favorites as well but thats a whole another price bracket there my friend.

[MMH]

What about 'cheap' scopes. In my heart I know you get what you pay for, but, I'm looking at a A1 Optics 6-24x50 w/ illuminating rangefinding recticle for under $100. Anybody have experiance w/ these?

Guess it depends when you say moderately priced. For example, for you it might be 300 for me it means around 500. Id pick up a Leupold if it was me and your looking at 500 bucks. IMO they are the best bang for your buck. Now I have a Simmons on my deer rifle right now and I like the scope, its just not as good at taking in the remaining light at dusk as the Leupold does. Bushnell, Simmons, and Leupold is the only scopes I would buy at 250-500 bucks, above them I have my favorites as well but thats a whole another price bracket there my friend.

[Bama Man]

Optics manufacturers are in abundance now, so it's hard to determine who is best, and especially best for the bucks.
I love Weaver and Leopold and would consider them as some of the best ever manufactured.
Best for the buck would probably be Simmons though, as they have so many models and price ranges. I have never bought a BAD Simmons scope, and I have bought many of their inexspensive models in just about every optic range they have.
The 4-14 model seems to be the generic replacement for the 3-9 models, and these can be has by Simmons at a very reasonable price.
Best of luck in your search.

[S&W 10mm]

What about 'cheap' scopes. In my heart I know you get what you pay for, but, I'm looking at a A1 Optics 6-24x50 w/ illuminating rangefinding recticle for under $100. Anybody have experiance w/ these?

Well, theres always mixed opinions on scopes under 100 and most under 200 bucks. For instance, the glass falling out, once you zero it in you knock it once and its off, that sort of thing. Now the way I see it is this, if you bought a 100 dollar scope and it does one of the things I just said how are you going to sell it? Get your money back? You will end up having to save up more money and will buy a bit more expensive scope because you will have hard feelings over it. Like I said thats whats happened to me but there are some people that have had great experience with those type of scopes and can probably outshoot me (maybe ) Anyhow, buy what you can afford, if you can put up 150 bucks now next month you could probably put up 300...see what I mean?

Like I said thats my opinion/luck with them.

[S&W 10mm]

Optics manufacturers are in abundance now, so it's hard to determine who is best, and especially best for the bucks.
I love Weaver and Leopold and would consider them as some of the best ever manufactured.
Best for the buck would probably be Simmons though, as they have so many models and price ranges. I have never bought a BAD Simmons scope, and I have bought many of their inexspensive models in just about every optic range they have.
The 4-14 model seems to be the generic replacement for the 3-9 models, and these can be has by Simmons at a very reasonable price.
Best of luck in your search.

Agreed, I was thinking Simmons would be his best bet as well.

[Suburban]

(Simmons?) 44Mag on the lower end. Sightron in the medium to high end. That's not to say that there aren't others, but that's what I have used and been happy with.

I hear good things about the Super Sniper scopes. I think you can only get them through SWFA. I don't know if they have one in the magnification range you want.

[kg32a]

Opticsplanet.com has great prices on scopes. I recently bought a Bushnell Legend 4-12x42 for $158 with free shipping, no tax. I mounted it on a Ruger 77/22 and I really like it so far. The clarity is amazing and the Legend series is just below the Elite and shares some of the same features. I've had great luck with Bushnell scopes and have used them for 20 years with no problems.

Simmons was recently bought by Bushnell so they are closing out many of the Simmons line of scopes. You may be able to find some good deals online.

Also, I agree that you get what you pay for. Find the scope that you like and then hunt the best price for it.