Handgun Scopes.

[Murphy]

I have a friend in need of a decent handgun scope. Back in the late 90's, I owned a couple of T/C Contenders and kept up handgun scopes. He's asking for my advice on a decent one these days and I haven't a clue other than Leupold. I was using one back then along with a Simmons scope that held up well for the cartridge I was using it for (7-30 Waters).

The long and short of it. The firearm is a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum. He's not one for heavy loads, mostly 240-250 grain bullets at a little less than factory velocities. Oklahoma whitetails aren't all that tough, nor large. He's hoping to find a decent 2X7 variable powered scope. Leupold scopes are off the table due to cost.

Any suggestions from the group? I know you get what you pay for, but I'm almost sure he'd balk at anything in the $300 plus range.


Murphy

[M-Tecs]

I am not a normally a Burris fan, however, the Burris handgun scopes have been very good for me.

https://www.scopesnskies.com/gun-sco...20More%20items

https://theoptics.org/best-handgun-scopes/

[megasupermagnum]

I wouldn't even consider a scope like that for a 44 mag revolver. I'd put an Ultradot on it. I have a Burris 3x, a good one from when they were made in USA on my new to me Competitor Corp. "pistol" in 350 rem mag. I don't even like it there that much. For shooting from a deer stand over a field with deer 75-200 yards away it's probably fine. Inside of 75 yards would be tough, and if they were moving at all it would be extremely difficult to use. I'm probably going to put a Leupold RDS on it. They are not too expensive, but the 34mm rings for it sure are. The Ultradot has a 2moa dot which is perfect for a revolver shooting 0-100 yards.

[ohen cepel]

I was going to say Ultradot but Mega beat me to it.

You can find used Leupold pistol scopes out there for around $200 if you look.

[45DUDE]

I put a 2 1/2 x 7 Burris on my 29-2 when the scopes first came out. I sold the 29-2 a couple of years ago and now the scope is on my SRH Ruger.

[Kylongrifle32]

I have a BSA 2-6x32 mounted on my Contender in 7x30 Waters. This replaced a 2x Leupold after 30 years of use. For me the 2x Leupold made everything look two times farther away. Lol
The BSA has a limited field of view but works well for deer versus trying to pick up a groundhog at 100 yards.

The 2-6 Burris are nice scopes I have 3 of them mounted on Contenders.

For the Redhawk I would recommend an old school 4x Tasco World class. They have a 30mm Tube and give good light gathering and field of view. They show up quit often on the auction sites.

[pietro]

.

FWIW, for years, I used a .454 Ruger Super Redhawk successfully on deer, with an inexpensive Tasco Red Dot tube sight, zeroed out as far as I could keep my shots on a 6" paper plate (100-150yds).

I did, however, hunt/shoot it from my treestand's shooting (support) rail.

[megasupermagnum]

I have a BSA 2-6x32 mounted on my Contender in 7x30 Waters. This replaced a 2x Leupold after 30 years of use. For me the 2x Leupold made everything look two times farther away. Lol
The BSA has a limited field of view but works well for deer versus trying to pick up a groundhog at 100 yards.

The 2-6 Burris are nice scopes I have 3 of them mounted on Contenders.

For the Redhawk I would recommend an old school 4x Tasco World class. They have a 30mm Tube and give good light gathering and field of view. They show up quit often on the auction sites.

I've never used your stated scope, but a Leupold 4x 28mm scope has a field of view of only 9 feet at 100 yards. That's basically unusable on a revolver. For comparison, a basic 3-9x rifle scope, set to 9x has a FOV of about 14 feet at 100 yards. Can you imagine shooting a deer with a rifle scope set to 9x at 50 yards? Now at arms length with a shaky handgun with almost half the FOV, on a moving deer? I would never willingly do that. I would just shoot open sights. A 2x scope is bad enough.

[M-Tecs]

For offhand shooting I prefer 2x or 3x or a red/green dot. Lots of dots are too large for my applications. I currently only have one revolver scoped and that is a Single Six Hunter convertible with a 2-7x on it. It's perfect for my application.

My XP-110R's have 3-12x or 2-7x. My Contenders have 2x, 4x, 2-7x or 3-12x. The only power I don't care for is the 4x fixed. Offhand I see too much movement and it's not flexible enough for my other applications. I rarely take an unsupported hunting shot with a handgun, but I have killed 4 or 5 whitetails with a Contender in a 357 Herrett offhand unsupported with a 2x Leupold. My 222 Rem Contender and my XP100R with the 3-12x are solid 300-yard performers on prairie dogs with a rest.

[farmbif]

years ago I put a silver Burris 2-7 atop my SRH. its a great scope, clear and sharp edge to edge and has never needed to be re zeroed.
for 100 yard shooting the real scope cannot be compared to little compact red dots with 3 or 4 MOA dots, pay $800 -$1200 for a gun. why not invest another $300-$400 on proper optics

[TurnipEaterDown]

I have used Burris & Leupold scopes on several handguns, and for hunting I personally like the 2x for my use and up to 3x. Rested, up to 5x.

Of what variables I have used (2 Burris 2-7 posi locks) the eye relief diminishes as the power is increased, and I generally limit use at higher power to bench.

The Burris units can be found readily on auction sites, and have a lifetime warranty no matter who owns. I find that if I troll and am patient, they make a nice budget friendly option. I think I never paid more than $150 for a used Burris pistol, variable shotgun, or variable rifle scope (even the 3-12 I bought).

I do have a variable Simmons pistol scope on a EER no-gunsmith mount on a Yugo 24-47, and somewhat hated it for hunting. With Any considerable light behind the shooter the visibility through the scope nearly vanished. Reflection issue. I built a "backwards" sunshade for it, as it is my rainy weather / 'beater of beaters' gun. Bench, it's a good cheapy. I don't have sun behind me. I somewhat like using a true beater from time to time. Call me odd...

Some of the red dots I have had (which I do use) have had various minor problems that can be overcome. Large dots (one I have is about 8 minute), limited brightness (wash out in sun), poor light transmissibility so low light becomes an issue, etc. Surely there are good ones, but if going that route, my experience would be to avoid budget items for hunting where the light level & position can not be controlled.

[BigboreShooter]

Murphy,
Your selection of handgun scopes these days very limited! Leupold 2x is probably the most rugged, but is discontinued. It also has very little actual magnification. With the selection available,I would pick Burris 2x.It has more magnification than Leupold and is readily available.
I been using scopes on my hunting handguns for years.If use them a lot, they all break. Burris does stand by them.

BigboreShooter

[loveruger]

Che k out utg have one on gp 3357 ok so far 300 200gr with h110.

[rintinglen]

UTG 2-7X32 1" Handgun Scope, Long Eye Relief, PDC Reticle
A fellow club member has one of these mounted on a Ruger SBH Hunter. He was doing some good shooting with it at 50 yards while I watched. 3-5" groups were the norm, but he had one that looked to be just over 2". I'd hang that on my garage wall.

[murf205]

I have a 2x Leupold on a SRH 44 and it has held it's zero with a death grip for 25 yrs. I also had a 2x Burris on a SBH 44 that never had a hiccup in the many rounds of stiff loads I ran through it. I have been told by several people that the Weaver pistol scopes were good but hard to find them now. I have a 2x Simmons on a 686that is still hanging in there with no shift in zero but they do not have a stellar reputation, but I didn't hang mine on a bazooka either. The late John Gallagher used to chide me unmercifully for using scoped hand gun but I told him to check back with me when he got over 60 yrs old. Sadly he didn't make it that far.
Correction: John was just shy of his 61st birthday when he passed

[Rockzilla]

Leupolds here, 4x EER on Contender 10" Bull BBL 30 Herrett, 2x 357 Herrett 10" Bull BBL..
4x on 375JDJ (anchored on) still works great, 4x XP100 221FB

-Rock

[elmacgyver0]

I have an Encore.
15-inch .223 Reminton barrel.
15-inch 30.06 barrel.
and lastly a 15-inch .44magnum barrel.
I have cheap NcStar scopes on them.
I have figured that if they fail, I can always replace them with premium scopes.
So far that has not been neccessary.

[wilecoyote]

I have doubts about its real usefulness, maybe am me, but since about twenty years ago my LER Weaver 4x hasn't broken yet, despite being mounted on a K98k Mauser first and then on a Silhouette 29-3_

[stubshaft]

On my heavy kickers (50 Alaskan, 300 Win. Mag. and 500 S&W) they wear nothing but Leupold 2X, my medium pistols (308 Win. on down) they usually wear Leupolds with a couple of old Weavers thrown in. I have broken too many Burris, Simmons and Redfields to even bother considering them again. JFTR - I have sent back 3 Leupolds to be repaired too.

[Brokenbear]

Leupold 2X M8 several on eBay for less than $200 buy it and never have to look back


Bear