Scope for PA Deer Hunting

[MMH]

... Something up in the $300 range (IF you can), like a Nikon Buckmaster, Bushnell Elite 3200, etc. They're great optics for the money and they won't fail you. Hope that helps, and that's just my opinion.

Sounds like you described all the things I'm looking for. Probably looking for what I want to hear LOL.

Anyway, what do you think about the BSA 4-16x44 Stealth Tactical w/ an illuminated mildot recticle? A lot of features for $200, but is it just a high end 'cheap' scope?

[Tomcat088]

Sounds like you described all the things I'm looking for. Probably looking for what I want to hear LOL.

Anyway, what do you think about the BSA 4-16x44 Stealth Tactical w/ an illuminated mildot recticle? A lot of features for $200, but is it just a high end 'cheap' scope?

I will preface all of this by saying that I have no experience with some of the "higher end" BSA optics. I have shot quite a few BSA scopes. One of my best friends that I always hunt and shoot with (we share rifles pretty much interchangeably while hunting) has a BSA on his .22-250 AI. This was long before they had the new scopes lines they do, so this was their higher end $125 scope. We banged it around in the pickup, on window sills, and all kinds of things for 6 years and it held zero. Like 2 months ago it finally started acting "funny". Sometimes it will dial to zero and shoot it, other times the zero chases and shifts. So I'm going to call it dead, but for the price of scope that it was, he got his use out of it.

Now with that said, I have never shot or even looked through their stealth line. My buddy's was the only mil-dot version made then and I think he got it on sale for $79.99 or something like that. Either way, the optics weren't that great, and you could tell from looking at it that the mil-dot reticle was not what the standard measurements subtended to. It was also illuminated, and that did work quite well as long as you remembered to turn it off and keep the power low. If you turned it up to the higher numbers, it was so bright it completely turned the entire sight picture red at night.

If I had to throw a guess (it's only a guess), out there for the new stealth line of BSA, I'm going to say that the glass will be slightly better (not a bunch). It will have more features than the others, which is mainly what you're paying for. It probably won't dial out to distance and back reliably, and it probably has plastic or aluminum internals (not good for long term use). I would guess (remember, only a guess), that it's probably a "higher end cheap scope". If it was myself personally, I would save up another $100 and get something like a Bushnell Elite. Features are nice, but most of the time, they're just "cool features". In the end, I would personally want better glass and reliability, than a bunch of cool gadgets that won't last. That's just my personal opinion though, and others might disagree.

[MMH]

...I would personally want better glass and reliability, than a bunch of cool gadgets that won't last. That's just my personal opinion though, and others might disagree.

Not so much looking for 'cool' features, but do want the 4 - 16 magnification range, a 44 objective & mildot reticle. I know I can get a 4 - 14 & 40 objective in a better brand scope, but not the 16 upper end or 44.

[kpw]

Not so much looking for 'cool' features, but do want the 4 - 16 magnification range, a 44 objective & mildot reticle. I know I can get a 4 - 14 & 40 objective in a better brand scope, but not the 16 upper end or 44.

Tomcat is spot on. Good glass will give you better results regardless of 4mm of objective diameter. As well, the difference between 14x and 16x is minimal and I'd much prefer 14x thru good optics than 16x thru the bottom of a Coke bottle. YMMV