Hunting scope help

Hi everyone! Newb to the forum, been looking and reading for about 2 weeks.  Need help selecting a scope and mounts for some long range hunting.Getting back into the hunting game after 20 yrs gone, and due to health issue I can't hike mountains all day as before. I expect to have shots from 200-500 yards. Using a Rem 300 win mag. Price range of $500, or so, ( scope only) with varible power and decent in low light. I'm getting new glasses this week, so hopefully that will help the old eyes a little. Any and all recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the OT. u might try Nikon Monarch,Vortex Viper, What did you have in mind for what kind of scope any ideas?

Edited by hunterwingler - August/31/2011 at 23:01

Welcome planehunter! You're in luck as there are several great choices out there. I'll start off by suggesting Zeiss Conquest, Sightron Big Sky, Meopta Meopro, Minox, and even Leupold VXR. Start checking out specs and prices. I'm sure more recommendations will soon follow. Good luck.  

bugsNbows wrote: Welcome planehunter! You're in luck as there are several great choices out there. I'll start off by suggesting Zeiss Conquest, Sightron Big Sky, Meopta Meopro, Minox, and even Leupold VXR. Start checking out specs and prices. I'm sure more recommendations will soon follow. Good luck.

Being a returning hunter the scope choices seem overwhelming at times since I haven't any recent experiance with them.      Since I will be needing rings and bases, tube diameter is not important to me as long as it can take the 300 win mag recoil. I will also be doing some long range target shooting, so this rifle will see regular use outdoors. Here are the scopes I am considering, thanks for everyones input.

Any of those would serve you well and will all be pretty close to equal in the glass department.  I wouldn't want to go about 4x for anything I'd be hunting with but thats just personal preferance.  With aging eyes your probably gonna want the more high end to.  I'd look for something in the low range of 4 and high range of above 14.  One that you haven't mentioned that gets good reviews are the Minox ZA5s.  They make a 4-20 that may be a good fit for you.  The glass in them is suppose to be very comparable to the Zeiss Conquest lineup.  They even have a 3-15 that would give you a bit more on the low end too.

Personally, I like the Sightron. The glass is very good, they don't weigh a ton, they have a weathershield type lens coating (similar to the Bushnell Rainguard), their C.S. is very good and the rebate is always helpful. That said, any on your list will certainly suffice. 

I also think something in the 3-15 power range will be most use full for hunting. The ZA5 specs look very favorable along with the scopes already mentioned.