WOW, there are a lot of 223 scopes

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barometerbilly

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I finally made my decision on which rifle to buy. I am buying a Tikka Stainless Varmint in .223 with 1-8 twist. I have been toying with what caliber to buy 223 or 22-250. Now I am looking for a good piece of glass for it. I went to BPS today to look for a good scope designed for a 223. WOW, was I surprised. There are a ton of scopes out there designed specifically for 223. I am leaning toward a Nikon BDC 600 but I am not a fan of the circles that Nikon uses for there BDC. I am however really liking a Vortex scope I found even though it was not designed specifically for 223. Any suggestions for a decent scope for my rifle.
 
Its a fad...a good scope is a good scope, and doesnt rely on gimmicks. Forget the BDC crap, especially the caliber specific designs.

My go to budget scope go to is the Leupold Mark AR. While it is marketed as a 223 scope, the only BDC attribute is the elevation turret, which is also marked in mils. For a few bucks, that goes away, and you are left with a very solid VX-2 class scope, with very good turrets.
 
Originally Posted By: liliysdadIts a fad...a good scope is a good scope, and doesnt rely on gimmicks. Forget the BDC crap, especially the caliber specific designs.

My go to budget scope go to is the Leupold Mark AR. While it is marketed as a 223 scope, the only BDC attribute is the elevation turret, which is also marked in mils. For a few bucks, that goes away, and you are left with a very solid VX-2 class scope, with very good turrets.

The MK-AR and use the MOA marks. OR, a VX-2 with CDS and use MOA settings. The 223 specific turrets will only truly be accurate in a small window of circumstances.

MOA or MIL adjustments, balistics calculations and go forth and killeth stuffs!
 
Originally Posted By: liliysdadIts a fad...a good scope is a good scope, and doesnt rely on gimmicks. Forget the BDC crap, especially the caliber specific designs.


Very good advice!
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I hate the BDC reticle with the circles . You see a ton of used ones for sale people think they are cool when they see it but find out they don't like it either.
 
Check out the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 4.5-14x44mm. Great scope for under $300, and in my opinion better than both my Nikon P223 and Nikon Coyote special. I was hesitant to try one at first, but glad I did!
 
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Originally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: liliysdadIts a fad...a good scope is a good scope, and doesnt rely on gimmicks. Forget the BDC crap, especially the caliber specific designs.


Very good advice!
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This is not very good advise. It is excellent advise! Those silly circles Nikon came out with are in my opinion the dumbest reticle idea ever. I do like mildot reticles but never trust the ballistic charts they are based on. No way one formula can be accurate for all .223! For gods sake just the bullet variances are between 40 and 70gr. And I don't know about you but just hitting a man sized silhouette is not near good enough for me. If I can shoot nice little groups, that instills a lot of confidence come hunting day. You simply have to do your homework. Know a lot of people that zero a goofy scope like we are talking about at 100yards and believe the bullet will strike where the scope says it will at longer distances. Pure [beeep]! I question the safety of this. [beeep] its fraudulent.
 
I am one of the people who thinks the scope should cost as much as the gun. I bought a new Colt CAR-A3 HBAR Elite Friday and put my Swarovski Z3 4-12x50 w/ Ballistic Turrent on it that night. Zeroed it in six shots yesterday morning and the last 3 were between 1/4"-3/8" at 100yds. First group was 6" low and I adjusted it up 24 clicks and it was exactly where it was supposed to be no more adjusting needed.
 
For shots out to 300 yds., simple crosshairs in a duplex reticle work best for me. Small mil dots can help at long distance if you practice with them and know the trajectory of that particular round. But the BDC is waaaay too busy and distracting from the field of view for me to be comfortable with.
 
Originally Posted By: DawgCatcherCheck out the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 4.5-14x44mm. Great scope for under $300, and in my opinion better than both my Nikon P223 and Nikon Coyote special. I was hesitant to try one at first, but glad I did!

I own three of these scopes ( .22-250, .220 Swift and 270 ).
Clear with Mil dots and up to 14x magnification
Great Optics,...Highly Recomend !
 
Originally Posted By: ncyotecallerI am one of the people who thinks the scope should cost as much as the gun. I bought a new Colt CAR-A3 HBAR Elite Friday and put my Swarovski Z3 4-12x50 w/ Ballistic Turrent on it that night. Zeroed it in six shots yesterday morning and the last 3 were between 1/4"-3/8" at 100yds. First group was 6" low and I adjusted it up 24 clicks and it was exactly where it was supposed to be no more adjusting needed.

Guns are cheap. Good glass isn't imo.
 
I don't know which BDC reticle they are refuring to. If it is the one with circles only it seems like there are a fair no. of shooters can't get use to them. For fast shots at targets of varying distance I've herd good reports by some. I have 2 of the BDC reticle With the small circles and mildot. A little busy. They could have done away with the mildots as one can interpret the half distance between the circles easy enough but the circles do the job. Allow for quick referce point that accuratley puts you on target. If you range certain points before you call it does the job quickly as coyotes don't often give you a whole lot of time to range them then dial in your scope then shoot. They offer the M223 with BDC and spot on turrets both so you can dial in your specific loads also if you choose. Glass is excellant. Only complaint is the exposed turret can be rotated occasionally by accident under the right conditions. I just look to make sure they are zeroed before I start to call.
 
take a look at vortex crossfire hog hunter 3x12x56 with a 30mm tube and v brite reticle for 300 dollars and i agree BDC reticle is to busy
 
You may not like the BDC circles while shooting paper, but they work pretty good on Elk moving at 400 yds! It was designed as a hunting scope where a dead Elk is your quest, not 1/2" group.
 
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I really like the BDC, mildot reticles. If you use the software and have a chronograph they are really accurate. I have pushed my rifles with them out past 400 yards and made accurate hits using the hold over points in the scope. I killed a doe with my 6.5 Grendel at 468 yards lazer ranged using the dots in my reticle as a hold over point of impact, worked perfectly. If you think you can just strap on a BDC scope and its lined up your wrong, but if you do any research on it at all and use the right bullet speed, BC, wind speed and direction, along with the proper POI at your base distance they can be "spot on" pun intended...
 
I sell scopes and firearms for a living and mount most of the scopes we sell. IMO caliber specific scopes and AR scopes are total BS. I think the scope companies take a regular scope, add the name AR or something similar and then jack the price up by $75.00 to $150.00.

As an example take a Nikon P223. Not a knock on Nikon I picked this scope randomly. The P223 is supposed to calibrated to .223 ammunition at a certain velocity. If you don't chrono your MV you have lost the game before you even started. You can also take ten AR's of the same make and model, shoot the exact same ammo out of them and have a pretty wide range in MV between rifles. Your rifle can have a slow, medium or fast barrel. And different lots of ammo will have different velocities. And different brands of cartridges with the same weight bullets will have different velocities. The stated MV of cartridges is normally derived from rifles with longer than standard length barrels. And of course there are all of the different bullet weights. When you factor in all of the variables I don't see how a caliber specific or AR scope can do what they are supposed to do.
 
I've never been a big fan of busy reticles or target knobs on a hunting rifle, just one more thing to screw up a shot on some nice fur. I just keep my shots under 300 yards and use enough gun to hold on fur the whole distance.

That said I'm putting together a little rifle to deal with PDs in my daughters pasture and will be stretching a 6x45 out a ways. I picked up à 223 designated scope. I just took it to the range and shot it at a bunch of different ranges and made a cheat sheet to tape the stock. With the 300 yard dot it shoots 1 1/2" high with 55 gr NBTs and 2 1/2" low with 55 gr Nosler FB SP. Just get out and shoot it and find out where the dots shoot for your load and your good to go.
 
Originally Posted By: liliysdadIts a fad...a good scope is a good scope, and doesnt rely on gimmicks. Forget the BDC crap, especially the caliber specific designs.

My go to budget scope go to is the Leupold Mark AR. While it is marketed as a 223 scope, the only BDC attribute is the elevation turret, which is also marked in mils. For a few bucks, that goes away, and you are left with a very solid VX-2 class scope, with very good turrets.

Agreed, other than Mark AR scopes use multicoat 4 glass, which makes them equivalent to VX-1 scopes with better turrets. VX-1 glass is very nice, but vx-2 is noticeably better.
 
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