Meopta Optika5 vs 6 or something else?

[Total_immortal]

Hi guys, new to the forum and after some advice on picking a scope for a Ruger American Hunter in 308 I have on order.

Looking for something under $1k that can be used for both hunting and target shooting at the range, nothing too serious.

I have kind of narrowed it down to the Meopta Optika5 3-15x44 or the Optika6 2.5-15x44 but can't really see the difference between these two? From what I can see on paper the Optika6 5 is lighter, has a better FOV and is 50% cheaper?

Some others I were considering were
Sightron S-Tac 4-16x44
Vortex Viper HS 4-16x44
Or the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14X40 SF, but it's about $350 over budget.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated thanks!

[bman940]

I think you would be happier with the Optika6 3-18X50 Z-Plus reticle. SFP or FFP, whatever you prefer. The 5 is a 1-inch tube, and that's where it saves a lot of weight. It is designed for hunting. The six is a 30mm tube and multipurpose, hunting/shooting, whatever you want to use it for. I have both, and I like the 50mm obj of the 3-18 and the exposed turrets of the FFP so that I can dial in shots or use bullet drops while hunting. Both are built with the same excellent Optika glass and European workmanship. The choice is yours, but there is no wrong answer.

[deye243]

I have an optica6 3-18 as well very big and heavy scope for a hunter rifle keep saving buy the Leupold and you can thank me later I have the same Leupold but with the adjustable objective my only extra advice would be if you are going to be hunting early evening if they still make the 50 mil objective model buy that one still nowhere near as bulky and as heavy as the optica6

[Total_immortal]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, unfortunately as it was my first post it took a few days to be approved and unfortunately I'm pretty impatient so I ended up ordering the Meopta Optika5 4-20X44 SFP Z-Plus.

Got it got literally half the price of the Leupold so was a hard sell to pay up double for that at the moment. Was really tempted by the Optika6 for only a couple of hundred more but felt it was just getting a bit big and heavy on what is already a pretty heavy rifle.

I have a Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10x40 on my Tikka T3 .243 light stainless so I can compare somewhat I guess and will report back on how I feel they compare

[deye243]

Congrats you will enjoy when you finally get it out and put it through it's paces I'm very interested to know the quality of the sight picture on 20 Power I don't know whether it's the glass they use these days in the cheaper models or whether it's just my eyes everything I looked through under $1,200 goes a bit milky for me above 16 power reason I am asking is a friend was looking through my scopes the other day and said they were crystal clear which rang alarm bells for me and my eyesight

[allan]

For your intended use, I think the 4-20X44 will be fine.

I have the Optika 5 in 4-20X50 & a couple of Optika 6 in 4.5-27X50 (All with BDC3 illuminated). For the money, the quality of the glass is pretty impressive. All of the adjustments function well and tracking is quite accurate.

I have all these scopes on range rifles so not prepared to offer an opinion on performance in a low light hunting situation. I use these side by side with Sightron STAC 4-20X50 (Philippines manufacture but a great scope for the money IMO) & Nightforce NX8 4-32X50 - Certainly don't feel handicapped by the quality of the Meopta optics.

Good luck with it - Tell us what you think once you have used it a bit!

[Total_immortal]

Got the scope today but haven't got the rifle yet to mount it. First impressions are damn I'm glad I went with the 5 over the 6, it's a very decent size and weight already, I wouldn't want any more for my use. Second impression is wow it's clear and bright! Definitely more so than my leupolds, I'm very impressed for the price.

With my quick time with it it seems a bit harder to get a clear view through it compared to the Leupolds, especially at the higher zoom levels. The image is extremely clear up until about 16x, gets a little blurry from there but maybe I need to play around with it a bit more? Overall I think the 3-15x44 would probably have been perfect but i think I'll still be very happy with this one.