Rogue River Spotting Scope

[Joe Kent]

Does anyone have personal knowledge of this scope? I am considering buying one for long range shooting. We currently use Steiner 20 power Big Eyes but want a higher power scope with Binoc. eye pieces. It has gotten good reviews, but I would still like to hear from someone that paid for and uses them.

 

[Joe Kent]

Anybody? Does anyone have any knowledge of this scope?

 

[n4zov]

You will find some comments here:

Rogue River Super Scope

I would check out some of the birding sites for comments also. Bird enthusiasts are far more demanding and persnickety about their optics than hunters and shooters ever thought about being!

 

[Joe Kent]

n4zov, thanks very much. It was great advice to direct me to that web sight. I found it very informative. Thanks again and all my best, Joe.

 

[Jellybean]

$2500 for a spotting scope? Makes me feel sort of cheap for buying a Barska.

 

[Joe Kent]

Jellybean, no need to feel cheap. It just depends on what you need to see. Most popular brand spotting scopes work fine if you are using them at 3or4 hundred yards, it's when you are shooting or observing at 1000+ yards that the quality of glass makes a major difference. Also the over riding feature,at least for our use, is the binoc. eyepcs. and the ability to go up to 60 to80 power without eyestrain for longer periods of usage. When you get into really long range binoculars, $2500. is somewhat "bargain basement". Really nice Kowa's are several $1000. more than the Rogue River. If you would ever see our group working on the 1000 yard Prairie dog shoots, you would think we were a German Artillery unit what with the old style range finders.

 

[Jellybean]

Joe, I've only been prairie doggin' twice, and loved every minute of it. The guy I went with uses the; "take a shot, watch the dirt kick up and use Kentucky windage" technique of range finding. If I ever get back out there I'd like to try a little technology. My longest kill was about 825 yds. with a custom .221 Fireball.

With cheaper optics I've found that they are pretty clear until you get to the highest magnification, then they get cloudy. So I buy them at a higher magnification than I need, then set them somewhere lower than the highest settings. I tend to loan stuff out and never see them again, so I usually buy cheap.

Sure sounds like you guys know how to have a good time though.

 

[Joe Kent]

Jellybean,the best part of our western prairie dog trips is going with good friends who generally see life much the same. We tend to not listen to the news, start the day, just as dawn is breaking, with the local ranchers at the neighborhood cafe ,who will quickly fill us in with what's going on with the idiots in Washington{ that's something else we all agree on} and then head out to the prairie for a long day of shooting. We generally shoot at our regular ranges of about 2 to 6 hundred yards for 2 or 3 days and then spend one day setting up and shooting at 1000 to 1500 hundred yards. At the end of the day after cleaning guns and for that matter ourselves we sit out in front of the motel and enjoy some adult beverages. The only disagreement that we have for several days is what is truly the best long range caliber and what make or brand is the best rifle. After several great days with good friends, it's back to the world and our daily lives. We at once start planning for the next trip. Since this is the Smith&Wesson Forum, I should mention the fact that we all carry revolvers in calibers starting with 4, loaded with snake shot. I also can attest to the fact that an out of shape 61 year old man can still jump straight into the air while drawing and firing his 696 at a slithering, rattling mass on the ground below him. There are some that might add "screaming like a girl" but pay them no mind , my voice is much deeper. All my very best, Joe.

 

[SWID]

Joe, if you don't mind me asking, what rifle are you using, and if you load you own what is that? I've been shooting at 500 yards but I want to try longer.

I guess a Leupold scope just doesn't work at that range.

 

[Joe Kent]

SWID,on the contrary,most of our rifles are equipped with Leupold scopes, with most being 30mm tubed MK4 8.5x25 mildot or varmint ret.. The advantage of Leupold is the factory will custom make elevation knobs for whatever bullet and load you use. The really serious rifles have those scopes with power boosters on them. 25 power is still a little weak for 1000+ shooting at 12in. targets that blend into the background. As for rifles, we four shooters take somewhere between 20 and 30 guns. The bulk of the shooting is done with Remingtons and some Savages. Calibers will always include, 223, 204,22-250, 243, 6mm Rem.,as well as "walking around" calibers of 25-20, 32-20, 17HMR, as well as 17 Rem. For the long range part of the trip, we use 6mm ,243, some of the bigger 30's. The current thought is to build up some rifles in the 6.5 calibers. The 300. Mags are just too punishing on our shoulders to do much shooting and quite frankly what we are shooting at does not shoot back so the end use power is not as important as it might have been in the past. As far as loads , Berger VLD bullets in the appropriate calibers and Varget powder with Federal primers are quite popular. We also shoot a fair amount of factory ammo with Winchester, Hornady, and Blackhills being the most popular{ it helps to be close friends with a major ammo dealer}.

 

[Joe Kent]

SWID, I should have also mentioned that we all shot a fair amount of hi-power rifle matches in our younger more "salad" days and are very comfortable out to 600 yards and as you might quess not to uncomfortable out to a 1000. , the big difference is we were shooting at know distance ranges. Long range shooting is just plain fun and I envy the people who live in the open areas where it can be done on a more regular basis. All my very best, Joe.

 

[Jellybean]

Great stories Joe, I can almost smell the sage brush now. My friend that I went out to Wyoming with knew some people that lived in Douglas. We'd hang out with them when we weren't shooting, really nice folks too. My first time out we got to do some long range shooting although my .221 was having trouble out past the 800 yard range. My friends .22-250 was a bit better.

My second trip was just after a plague had wiped out a lot of dogs in the public areas we had shot in before, plus there was a shooting restriction in place. A local rancher asked us to shoot some on his property, which we did, but they were only about 250 yds away and it wasn't a challenge. After we put a hurt on them we spent the last two days of our trip shooting jackrabbits all night. I wished I lived out there.

 

[SWID]

Thanks Joe, I just have things like VariXIII and I. I'm surprised that the lighter bullets work at those ranges.

I think I'll stick with my paper targets, the ones with the big black circles in the middle.

 

[Joe Kent]

SWID , in the 6mm rifles we use 95 grain VLD , it' kind of like a spear. It does not blow the dog up at distance but just puts a neat hole in them. Not really different than the 190 grain 30 cal. Remember, it's not about terminal energy, just accuracy. Most of the lesser calibers top out at 350 to500 and some of the 22-250's will carry up out to600 to700 if it's not too windy. As I mentioned earlier, we are going to start using some of the 6.5 calibers in the up coming months.

 

[Jim Watson]

One of our BPCR shooters has a Rogue River on a big heavy shop-made stand. It is a very nice outfit, good glass and low eyestrain with the binocular eyepieces. I haven't seen them all, but this is a good one.

 

[Joe Kent]

Jim, do you know what power eyepcs. are on your friend's scope?