any recommendations on a scope?

With my limited knowledge of scopes it seems you can spend as much as you want. I've had good luck with Redfields. The one happens to be their "Tactical" version, and I have two Revolutions that shoot well.

I have always used Leupold Vari-X IIs on my 700s. I am very pleased with them. I recently purchased a Redfield Revolution 2-7x and put it on my Remington 722 in .244 Remington. Wow, was I impressed with the clarity and reticle of this scope. I think it is a great value at under $200 and made by Leupold and backed by their warranty. It has performed well at the range and also at a friend's farm that has two less woodchucks digging up the countryside.
Others love the Swarovskis and Zeisses. I just don't have that kind of money to spend on a scope.

I have Nikon scopes on my guns..and they've served me quite well.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

The last scope I bought was a mid-price Nikon and no complaints so far.

I can't see the value in spending more bucks than for a Leupold of the type you want. I wouldn't be afraid to try the Rifleman series, if you don't want to spend much. For anything except maybe a varmint rifle, a simple 2-7x variable is always a good choice - low, compact, lightweight, etc. For a varmint rifle, the 4-12x variable is a good choice out to 250-, maybe even 300-yards or so.

The Remington ADL 700 .270 I bought in 1965 has has a 4x Redfield: purchased and mounted in 1965 as well.

Never felt I needed anything more.

I've taken more than a few deer and elk with it over the years.

I've had a Burris mounted on my Remington 700 .270 since the late 70's. Good scope.

Yep ,,

( You going to hunt deer in heavy cover? Or 1000 yard bench rest competition ? )

Another vote for the Burris scopes. I particularly like the Drop Tine 4-12X42 that I have on my BLR 30-06. Excellent scope.

Bob

US Optics on my 700. Buy once cry once

I just put a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 3-9x40 on my M700 but haven't got around to sighting it in yet. It's got great clarity but I can't comment on anything else. My favorite scope is the Burris Fullfield E1 2-7x35 that I have on my Ruger Hawkeye. That's been a great scope, extremely clear and in the Ruger mounts holds zero after being removed from the rifle. I also like that the BDC reticle is etched on the glass so it can't come loose.

I have had a Leupold VXIII 3.5x10x40mm on my Remington 700 BDL for 25 years. I purchased it used, the lifetime warranty is transferable to whoever owns the scope.

A general "rule of thumb" for scope purchase is to spend about the same amount of money on the scope as you did on the rifle.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

I've used Leupold and Nikon on all of my rifles so far. Can't complain about either one, but the parallax adjustment on my Nikon is nice. My VX-II doesn't have that. However, my next scope is going on a Rem 700 as well and I'm going with the Vortex Viper PST Front Focal Plane. For the price you can't beat all the features of Vortex. And the same lifetime warranty as Leupold, so I'm expecting very good quality as well.

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I suggest one of the quality scopes. A friend bought a Ziess for our tactical shoots, it has a huge objective (front) lens and is very clear but the amount of adjustment for the cross-hair is limited. For the money he spent, he could of had a Night Force or a top end Leupold. If you will be shooting at multiple distances you should look at scopes with either adjustable objective or side focus. Quality first, then the size of the front lens are the things that determan light gathering ability, each of those things costs money! A dim scope is a piece of junk! I have around 20 Leupold scopes (mostly 6.5-20 Veri-X III) and 2 Night Force (4-22 NFX & 8-32 BR), 1 older 8-32 Burris and a 15x Unirtel. By far the beat glass is the Unirtel, but they have been out of business for years. It was stated above that a rule of thumb use to be, the scope costs as much as the rifle. I'm seeing $4000 scopes on $1500-2000 rifles at tactical shoots now. All this is to let you know, most of us would advise against the $39 3-9X blister pack special! Ivan

First, what caliber is it and what is the intended use? That should determine what kind/power scope to put on it. Is it a heavy barrel .223 or 22-250 that you intend to take for Prairie Dogs out at 500 -700 yards? If so you need up to a 20X or more and "good" glass, such as Leupold, Ziess, etc. If it's a standard barrel, and in .223 or similar and you plan for coyotes and other local varmints, probably a 4-12 power will suffice, and maybe you could get by with a little less quality in the glass. If it's a larger caliber to use for deer sized game you won't be taking more than a 200 yd. shot so you can get by with a 3-9. If it's a heavy caliber like a .416 Rigby, to be used on dangerous game, you probably only want a 2X or 3X scope, but the highest grade rugged glass you can buy. My theory is to match the glass to the purpose, but always buy quality. Also, don't skimp on the mounts, get a full bridge mount, and heavy double screw rings. Cost a little more, but the first time you drop it on a hunt you will be glad you did.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

First, what caliber is it and what is the intended use? That should determine what kind/power scope to put on it. Is it a heavy barrel .223 or 22-250 that you intend to take for Prairie Dogs out at 500 -700 yards? If so you need up to a 20X or more and "good" glass, such as Leupold, Ziess, etc. If it's a standard barrel, and in .223 or similar and you plan for coyotes and other local varmints, probably a 4-12 power will suffice, and maybe you could get by with a little less quality in the glass. If it's a larger caliber to use for deer sized game you won't be taking more than a 200 yd. shot so you can get by with a 3-9. If it's a heavy caliber like a .416 Rigby, to be used on dangerous game, you probably only want a 2X or 3X scope, but the highest grade rugged glass you can buy. My theory is to match the glass to the purpose, but always buy quality. Also, don't skimp on the mounts, get a full bridge mount, and heavy double screw rings. Cost a little more, but the first time you drop it on a hunt you will be glad you did.
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I concur with these statements. We need to know the chamber of that new 700 and just what you plan on doing with it in the future. You do get what you pay for in optics, 98 % of the time. Do not buy cheap to put on a new 700 Remington. I have about 15-18 Leopold's that I have accumulated in the past 45 years of all ages and size. All have preformed without any problems, but the Two Ziess scopes I hunt big game with are a noticeable superiority at dusk and dark that their equivalent new scopes in Léopold. Check weight for your purchase if you have any plans to carry your rifle in the field.

It is the 700 308 sps tactical with the heavy barrel. I intend to target shoot and possible hunt with it. Looking at a Nikon M308 or might try a Nikon P-223 BDC 600 4-12x40

Before you commit, check out Vortex. Great glass, clear, and economical to boot. Currently have a Vortex on an old Rem 35. Nikon on my 700. Planning on a switch to Vortex for the 700 this summer.

A scope with BDC (Bullet Drop Commentator) is matched to a specific Bullet or Ballistic Co-efficient at a specific velocity. So a BDC for 223 will most likely be almost worthless for a 308 Win. If they make one for 308 you need to know with bullet weight ( usually 155, 168, 175 and now 185 grains, these are the standard long range target loads), The target ammo velocities are pretty much standard. I use Sierra's 155 "Palma" bullet at 2900 Feet Per Second (a little faster than normal) with good results to 1050 yards. The Hornady A-max bullets in 165 and factory ammo with the same bullet is very good ammo (I started y current gun with 5 cases (1000 rounds) this ammo, and kept 2 cases in reserve. This ammo was what I zeroed the scope with, then we (three shooters total) put 20 rounds in the same hole! The outside diameter was smaller than a dime. This was off a rest and at 100 yards. My original tactical rifle was a 700 PPS with a fast twist, it likes Fed 175 grain Match and Military 173 grain match, but hated 168 match and ball 147 grain.

Once you get the rifle set up and zeroed, you should be good to go for out to 500 yard. windage and elevation are pretty straight forward. At around 600-800 yards things change. The math and charts are still good, but reading the wind and other tricks come in to effect big time. You will need good equipment. Save your money and buy best quality the first time around. Have fun! Ivan

I have found that most BDC reticules are not what you want for any target shooting. You want a fine center crosshair to "Precisely" aim at the center of a target. A BDC center is usually a circle big enough to see a deers chest cavity. Not nearly precise enough for any target shooting. Nikon does make fine scopes, and I have one on a Rem 700, for 500+ varmint shooting, it is a 6.5 -20 Monarch with a fine crosshair.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Ok I'll add a couple of pictures to the thread. I prefer the Leupold scopes now, it was Redfield in the 70's. I only shoot open field out to some distance so I have become really attracted to the Leupold VariX-III series, 30 mm tube, 50mm front lens and side focus parallax adjustment. A nice ballistic chart for my factory premium ammo out to 800 yards is taped to the stock.
This is not a good brush gun but I really like the setup for my situation.
Steve

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Birds like shiny new toys too.

I agree. Check out the Vortex line of scopes.. A while back I purchased a Vortex Viper. I liked it. Then picked up a Vortex Viper PST, because it had more of the features I wanted for long range shooting.. Liked it so much I purchased another PST..

Of course it's hard to go wrong with Leupold or Nikon either.

Do lots of reading,, figure out what features you want and need. What you are going to use it for.. caliber ,, range ,, target turrets ,, zero stop, side focus, moa of vertical adjustment, etc. etc.

I wouldn't want my 6.5-24x50 Viper PST for a heavy cover deer rifle or a heavy caliber dangerous game gun. But I wouldn't want a 1-4 Leupold for my long range bench rifle.

Then spend enough to put a good scope with the features you want on the rifle.
Look thru a $39.95 scope ,, then look thru a Nightforce. There's a reason one costs $39.95 and the other cost $2000 + ..

I have that rifle, and bought it for the same reasons you did.

I wanted a scope with relatively high magnification for punching paper but also low enough for the woods around here. I chose the Bushnell 6500 Elite 2.5-16x. The 6.5x magnification ratio piqued my interest and I started to read about it on forums that tend to be rather brutal in their reviews of optics. Not much bad to say and quite a bit of good. A lot of scope for $700.

Installed Badger Ordnance base/rings and been quite happy with the setup. I've often considered replacing the cheap Hogue stock, but the dang thing shoots sub MOA with Fed 168 GMM and I'm not sure I want to fix that.

Happy scope hunting.

I use the Bushnell banner scope with the mechanical BDC (bullet drop
compisation). The vertical turret you dial in the distance. You dope the scope. It goes from 100yards to 500yards with no error. You install the dial ring to match the bullet weight your using. It's for a 30 caliber rifle 308/30-06. I refuse to use anything else but the mechanical turret with the BDC option. I use the Bushnell older model scopes with this mechanical BDC option since '94 with no problems. All my 30 caliber rifles have this Bushnell scope with the BDC option.

BSA offers a BDC TURRET scope for the 223.

I will never use the cross hairs with the distance dots. There not adjustable to your bullet weight. So it's not exactly correct for the bullet drop.

A long time ago I switched to Leupold. I also have some Nikon's. Both are good. I think the new Redfield would be nice, I sorta want to try a new one but don't have a gun that needs one.

I have a 4.5 16X Pentax or Nikon on my token REM 700 in 25-06.

And a high dollar 6.5 20x Nikon target scope on my AR Target MAtch.

I have 7 or 8 scoped Centerfire rifles, most have Leupolds, VX II and VXIII. I have a couple of Nikons. My wife likes the Nikon on my Kimber 84 in 7mm 08 better than the Leupold 2x7 I put on her identical rifle.

I once worked at a large LGS part time, I sold lots of scopes. I sold enough Leupolds to get some free ones.

The older Leupolds were adjusted to zero for your gun and left alone, they did not have repeatable clicks. Some models or maybe all do now. Older Leupolds are still great.

What I would do when some one was outfitting a rifle with a scope is, I would see what was in their budget, get out several models in that price range and go to the front of the store. I'd set the scope and let them look through them, most often a Leupold or a Nikon would get purchased. Sure some had larger budgets and Kahls, Zeiss etc would get bought.

And FYI, I have a pair of Kahls binoculars, austrian i believe, pricey, not much better if any than my wifes $150 dollar Leupold binocs. So one does not have to break the bank. The only difference is setting up and glassing for long periods, the Kahls don't give you a headache.

Figure out what you will use the gun for and at what ranges, figure out a good middle range or better scope and go look at them side by side.

FYI, I have hunted with scopes since the early 60's, I carry my scope at 4 power all the time. It is all one needs to 500 yards. If there is time you can usually spin it up to about 7 power on long shots. Did that twice on Does last deer season at 500 yards. But if it is close the wider field of vision is much more important.

Yes when young I messed up a few times by carrying it on 9X and the deer came out in my lap. All you see is individual hairs.