2) Inherited Old Winchester Model 70 .243 bolt action (Labeled Sears Model 53) with cheap 4x Bushnell scope.

3) Have few hunting skills. Hunt behind Los Angeles in the Angeles National Forest. Ranger friend locates fool proof spot for me every year.

4) Normally shoot deer at under 50 yards.

5) Everyone at range tells me I need to get 3X-9X Leupold or other good brand. Will make big difference.

6) For my style hunting, will actually make difference?

I have a DPMS Panther AR-10 .308 rifle at home and I was wondering if I took it to Africa with me. If I went on an African hunting safari in the savannas with it and spotted a herd of African Cape Buffalo and I was to approach it to a distance of 300 yards away from it. Then the dominant Cape Buffalo bull decided to attack me and charged towards me…….I then began to shoot at it……

Will my .308 rifle have the power to stop the charging threat?

Where would I have to shoot the attacking Cape Buffalo?

How many .308 rounds will it take to stop an attacking Cape Buffalo?

Additional Details:
I will be using .308 caliber 150 grain Hornady Custom SST hunting ammo and I have 10 (20 round) magazines with me. Plus a Leupold Mark IV scope mounted on top of the DPMS Panther rifle.

I own one Leupolds, two Burris Fullfields and a Nikon Monarch. The Nikon goes to 16x and I want to replace it with something a little better. What I mean by a “little better” is that at it’s highest magnification the “sweet spot” (eye location) is unforgiving and the image is dimmer and lacks contrast. All of the other scope I own perform well at their top magnification but top out at 9x & 10x.

Though I own a Leupold, generally I believe they are over priced. Great scopes, but I think the same quality could be had for less money.

I’m particularly interested in your experience with a quality model that performs well at it’s highest magnification – something over 17x. The highest magnification is the “money shot”, as far as I’m concerned.
$600 is not firm.

Many US scope manufacturers have been around for years and years. I consider Sightron to be the “new kids on the block”. Starting in 1994, just 16 short years ago, they have come a long way and have made a substantial footprint in today’s sporting optics market. Sightron, located in Youngsville North Carolina, is earning a reputation for the high quality of their rifle scopes. They are no doubt raising the eyebrows of king pins like Leupold, Nikon, and Burris. Dollar for dollar, the reliability, durability and repeat performance of a Sightron rifle scope cannot be ignored. Simply put these rifle scopes equal precision optical equipment. They are designed, tested and retested for sportsmen by sportsman.

Sightron holds the patent on ExacTrack. It is the most revolutionary breakthrough in modern shooting history. This Windage and Elevation Adjustment System, features an exclusive erector tube that keeps a positive, flush point of contact, from zero alignment through even the most dramatic adjustments. In other words, you will never experience drift.  Sightron scopes are as durable as any scopes on the market today because they are built on one piece, one inch aluminum main tubes. The lenses feature the Sightron’s “ZACT-7 Revcoat”, 7 layer coatings. The scopes are nitrogen filled, waterproof, fog proof and shock proof.  It is well known that these great rifle scopes can withstand all the harsh environments that any hunting situation may present. All Sightron scopes provide excellent viewing capabilities, with extremely crisp, clear, undistorted images.

Sightron has a rifle scope to suit every hunter and budget and they all boast the famous Sightron lifetime warranty.

Today Sightron offers three impressive lines of rifle scopes. The Sl Series, the Sll Series including the “Big Sky” and the Slll Series. They also manufacture some of the most durable, high quality and comparatively priced binoculars and spotting scopes on the market.

Sl Series – These scopes feature multi coated objectives and ocular lenses for superior performances. They have the unique 720 degree focus system. Generally speaking these are the less expensive of Sightron’s lines.

Sll Series – These are the most popular scopes and Sightron offers more available models than the SI and Slll lines. Sll and the Sll Big Sky series have features found in scopes costing hundreds of dollars more.  This is Sightron’s mid-range line and generally more expensive than the Sl series scopes.

Slll Series –  The Cadillac of the Sightron S Series.  They offer the long range series featuring 30mm tubes for extra strength and better light transmission. They are more than twice the thickness of many other scopes in the same class. These scopes are preferred by many big game hunters. This is Sightrons top of the line S series and is generally more expensive then the Sll models.

At 54 years old, I have hunted most of the United States for big game. My son has now come of age and enjoys hunting with his Dad. In the fall of 2009 we bought him his first big game rifle, a 7 mm-Mag and decided after everything that we had learned about Sightron’s quality that it was time to give them a “shot”.  We equipped his new rifle with the Sightron Slll Series, 3.5-10×44, long range, mil dot reticle, scope and off to northern Arizona we flew. As we expected conditions were horrible, and the snow was deep, but we had an excellent hunt. On day four, he shot his first mule deer, a nice 4×4 rack, but by no means a trophy. I have always been a diehard Leupold man. I own many firearms and I have always equipped them with Leupold scopes but I must admit, I was absolutely amazed at the quality, durability and excellent viewing clarity that this Sightron scope provided.  I may just go as far as to say that I am now a Leupold AND a Sightron man. I thank Leupold for a lifetime of hunting memories and Sightron for a future of brand new ones.

Leupold rifle Scopes are known for their superb quality and craftsmanship.  There also the leader in the optics industry, producing top quality rifle scopes.  As Leupold popularity grows it’s no surprise why these premium rifle Scopes targeted by counterfeiters.  Counterfeit leupold rifle Scopes have been popping up in the world market left and right. Here are some sure fire tips on how to spot a fake leupold rifle scope.

Only buy from trusted web sites

When buying a new leupold scope make sure the web site you are buying it from is a trusted or authorized Leupold rifle scope dealer.  Trusted websites will often go out of their way to prove they are an authorized Leupold dealer.

Trade web sites – avoid big trade, OEM, or manufacturing websites that provide B2B services.  Web sites like AliBaba.com, globalsources.com and tradekey.com are great for finding OEM manufacturers but will often list fake leupold rifle Scopes for sale.

What to expect from an authentic Leupold

Authentic Leupold scopes have a few distinctive markings that most fakes will not have.

Objective Ring – Authentic Leupold rifle scopes will have a thin objective ring with the company’s name etched on the ring itself. Counterfeits usually are missing this ring or will have the ring but not the etched writing.

Packaging – Often time counterfeit leupold scopes have similar packaging to the real thing but often lack one item, the warranty information. If you’ve purchased a Leupold scope you think could possibly be a fake, check for the warranty card information. It’s your missing it than you most likely have a fake leupold scope.

Leupold Serial Number – All of Leupold’s products come with a serial number. If the Leupold scope doesn’t contain a serial number then it’s a good chance the scope is a fake.

Always try to ask the seller for the serial number before you purchase the rifle scope. Once you have the serial number, call or email Leupold customer service to verify if the rifle scope is authentic.

The rifle scope is obviously a great invention, and like most inventions it was born out of necessity. Most great inventions evolve from someone finding a need for something and figuring out how to make it work. The evolution of the rifle scope began when people started attaching telescopes to rifles to maximize viewing capabilities. This idea was of course very primative and did not provide the desired effect. The first verifiable use of a telescopic sight on a pistol dates back to 1834,but attempts to create a workable rifle scope were unsuccessful until 1880 when August Fielder managed to build the first telescopic sight that really actually worked. This was the predecessor of all modern day rifle scopes. In 1907 a German immigrant named Fred Leupold set up a small shop in Portland Oregon repairing survey equipment. Several years later when he met inventor John Stevens, the marvelous company named Leupold and Stevens was born and still exists today. It was around 1930 after a failed hunting trip, that Leupold began making his first rifle scopes. The small company survived World War I and the great depression but it was  the Second World War that changed the company forever. Working with the US Army and Navy, the engineers at Leupold learned the secrets of waterproofing and durable construction that would change the world of optics forever.  The engineers learned that by introducing nitrogen gases within the scope that the optics would remain clear, waterproof and fogproof… for a lifetime.

Today Leupold and Stevens is a family owned American company with 100 years of experience. Their modern day state of the art facility  employs over 600 employees in Beaverton Oregon. The Leupold engineers design, machine, assemble and test all of their optics within this facility. Only the finest material known to man are used for production of their optics especially the lenses and they are of the highest grade quality that is demanded by Leupold engineers.  In addition to rifle scopes Leupold also offers a fine line of binoculars and spotting scopes as well.The products produced are made to last more than a lifetime and they are all backed by the famous Leupold Lifetime Warranty. They set all the standards that other optics manufacturers strive to achieve. Leupold optics are world renowned for their ruggedness, absolute waterproof integrity and their superior optical quality. Leupold offers a vast line of rifle scopes with both fixed and variable powers and many types of reticles. They have many different lines to chose from, sure to please any rifleman. The name Leupold is one of the most trusted, respected, and known names in the outdoor and hunting arenas worldwide.

Leupold has recently issued a counterfeit warning to its customers cautioning them to be on the lookout for counterfeit Leupold scopes that are illegally being imported from China. These fake reproductions bear many of the marks of the a genuine Leupold, making them very difficult to distinguish externally from authentic Leupold products. Recently many rifle scopes have begun to arrive at the Leupold headquarters for service. Obviously these products were not manufactured by Leupold and are not covered by the Leupold lifetime warranty. Leupold uses serial numbers on all of their optics so if one finds a suspect they can simply contact Leupold at 1-800-LEUPOLD to verify the authenticity.

To me I feel that a Leupold scope is the best scope for the money and I have many of them. I own 9 hunting rifles and they are ALL equipped with Leupolds. I personally thank Leupold for my grizzly bear  and dall sheep from Alaska, my mountain lion and elk from Arizona, my black bear and mule deer from Colorado, and the 13 trophy whitetail deer from right here in Pennsylvania. Through many conditions, from rain and snow, to blizzards and fog, to tripping down mountains, and banging around on horseback, my Leupolds have NEVER let me down under any circumstances.  Thanks again Leupold for a lifetime of memories!   

Robert Manack writing as “Outdoorcrazy”

The joy of watching things up close cannot be described; you will be able to see every small detail clearly as though you are within touching distance. When buying a pair you must think of quality, long lasting, good grip, ideal weight, and lens power. Before you buy ask about what kind of prism and lens the binocular has, plastic lenses are more expensive than glass and often have coatings that enable you to see even in low light conditions. The functionality of a binocular depends on factors like lens size and quality prism quality; lens coatings; adjustable and easy to use settings.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Know your need. Read all about binoculars their power and uses.

2. Determine how often you will use a pair and what its cost is. Think about it should you spend valuable dollars to satisfy a whim and then let the pair reside in your cupboard?

3. Surf the internet and make a study of the different brands. There are so many options available; Canon, Bushnell, Nikon, Steiner, Leupold, Olympus, Meade, Vanguard, and more. Weigh the pros and cons of each kind and read unbiased reviews.

4. Always make the effort of taking a survey. Comparison shopping is a mantra that is being followed world wide. Get quotes from different sites.

5. Check out auction sites too. Very often designer glasses are sold for almost a pittance at auctions. Here you could even buy a second hand binocular.

6. If you have patience then wait for off season sales this is when binoculars are sold at discounted prices.

7. Always check what the lens specifications are and about warrantees.

8. Since binoculars are specialized items it is best you buy from online stores that specialize in binoculars. Only specialists will be able to answer your questions and guide you on what kind of binoculars would be ideal for your needs.

9. Be sure to ask about whether the pair you are buying are waterproof and also whether they can be use at night. Only a few models have night vision capabilities.

10. While purchasing online be sure to check payment gateway securities and shipping time. Find out where the binoculars will be shipped from and also about what happens if there is breakage in transit.

According to experts the most common tip is to buy the most expensive binocular you can afford.