new or used

[GRIMJIM]

I have a remington woodsmaster that I would like to put a scope on.
I also have a remington 11-87 that has a nikon prostaff scope on it that I like.
I have three choices in mind:

1-put the nikon on the remington and buy a leupold shotgun scope. (I like the 40 mm objective lense though)
2-buy another prostaff for the rifle.
3-buy a leupold for the rifle.

I am leaning towards #3 but that leads me to my main question.

Is the new lowend series of leupold (rifleman I think it's called) a better scope than the nikon prostaff, or should I look for a used leupold.

[drdougrx]

Hi Grim....My opinion...buy a new VXI series or a used VXII.  Leupold will fix whatever's wrong with it if anything.  Look it over...other than some ring marks you should be able to tell if the scope has been abused.

[eye shot]

Check out the new Redfields by Leupold. The price is right and they have Leupolds forever warranty.

[JimFromTN]

I would look into a used leupold.  If you go out to ebay, you can probably find a VXII (not vari XII) used for the same price as a new VXI or rifleman. 

[Arier Blut]

GrimJim, personally not a fan of the Leupolds. To pricey in my book for what you get.
Here are some numbers on light transmission.

Burris Fullfield II     95%.
Nikon Monarch        95%
Nikon Buckmaster   88%
Leuopold VXI           82-87%
Leuoplod VXII          85-87%
Leuopold VXIII         88-89%
Vortex Crossfire        90%
Vortex Diamondback 91%
Vortex Viper              95%

The bad part is Nikon and Burris do not have a no fault warranty. They can turn you down on warranty work by blaming misuse, abuse or accident.

[JimFromTN]

I thought the Nikon Buckmaster was 92% light transmission, or at least thats what they claim.  Sightron SIII claims 98% which I don't see as possible but thats what they claim.

[Arier Blut]

Jim you are right, advertised and actual are two different things. Let's say they have a lens that transmits 99.7%. Factor in the .3% over multiple lenses and you end up with 95%. Same thing with Nikon. One lens is 92% all of the lenses added up make it 88% on the Buckmark. All of them measure different ways. The only way to really keep them honest is to measure their lens ability and figure out what is lost from the front to back.

Some of them even measure light that can not be seen by the human eye to boost their numbers, let's say 130 nm. I don't know anything about scopes above 95%, that is out of my price range. Would imagine the top ones could do it. Sightron SIII glass is used in Leuopold vx-7, I have no idea about either. I wish the article I copied that from had Pentax. They use Burris glass. But I would like to know if the gameseeker is fullfield II glass.

[Luckyducker]

GrimJim, I will second Arier Blut's comment about the Leupolds being pricey.  Yeah, they are good enough scopes but I think you can get just as good of product without spending as much money.  I like Nikon and Burris scopes myself, and I have had several Leupold scopes but probably won't own any more Leupy brand.  You should check out www.natchezss.com , as they are always running decent sales on optics.

[GRIMJIM]

I ended up buying a Nikon prostaff on ebay.
Got a pretty good price on a brand new one and free shipping on top of it.
I have one on my shotgun and am pretty happy with it.
I have a buckmaster (4-14 I think it is) on my remington 7mm rum but that's too much magnification for the 30-06 I'm mounting this scope on.