Been on a few sites looking. Figured I’d ask the ALdeer scope specialist
Going on daughters 700 SPS youth Gundoc tricked out
Wanting a good low light, lightweight, low profile mount.
So far I’m looking at Leupold vari x III 2.5-8x36 and Swaro habicht 3-9x36.

Anybody got one of these they are wanting to part with pm me. Suggestions are always welcome.

Happy 4th to all!!!!

Trijicon 3x9 Accupoint with green dot.

I have that Swaro on a 10/22 that I built and tricked out. Amazing little scope, and it only weighs about 12 oz.

I have an old school leupold 2x7x28 ultralight on a Ruger compact 243. Mounted on low rings. Sweet little setup. It’s smaller than a 10/22. Easy to carry, easy to swing, works great in a shooting house, and has successfully stacked up a ton of deer. I love that rifle.

I have two old Leupold vari x III’s 3.5x10x 50 on my daughters guns. Absolutely bomb proof and great scopes. Somebody had one on here a little while back for sale.

[quote=fr8-shkr]I have an old school leupold 2x7x28 ultralight on a Ruger compact 243. Mounted on low rings. Sweet little setup. It’s smaller than a 10/22. Easy to carry, easy to swing, works great in a shooting house, and has successfully stacked up a ton of deer. I love that rifle.

That’s what I originally had on it and then I put it on my Ruger .22 bolt action

I’ll second the Trijicon option or find a Zeiss conquest or the Meopta of the same vintage. Hard to go wrong there.

Swaro

If lightweight, compact and low light is a priority it will be very hard the beat a VX-3 2.5-8x36. It’s a little known fact that this scope has the highest light transmission of ANY scope that leupold makes. Lightweight, compact and affordable (relatively) to boot.

This is absolutely a false statement.

You might want to take that up with Tim Lesser, Leupolds VP of product development. He’s publicly announced it multiple times, at the expense of their more expensive options.

Here’s an excerpt from the the backcountry hunting podcast a couple years back.
“And so that scope is extremely lightweight. It also, this is something a lot of people don't know, is it provides the highest light transmission out of any optic we make.”

From Backcountry Hunting Podcast: Leupold Riflescopes: Behind the Scenes with Tim Lesser, May 20, 2022
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backcountry-hunting-podcast/id1455406581?i=1000562750614
This material may be protected by copyright.

I heard that podcast as well. He did make that statement.

have a couple leupy vxr 4-12x40 and am partial to the 30mm tube and the ballistic firedot. they sit nice and low in low rings

Why would he make that statement when Leupold claims that their VX5/6 and MARK V scopes have their twilight max lens coatings for their best low light performance?

Either their marketing is wrong or he's FOS.

My guess would be the little 2.5-8x36 is an optimal design and has less lenses in it to eat up light. Higher zoom ratios and side focus require more glass, and regardless of the coatings, each lens eats a little light. Either that or he's FOS.

It wouldn't make any sense for just the 2.5x8 scope to be better than the rest of the VX 3 HD scopes with the same coatings and construction, which makes me believe he's FOS.

I wouldn’t say he is FOS. He is just commenting on something that someone probably told him or he really likes that scope for his application and wants it to be more than that to really is. My gosh! That is about 50% of the people on here! Not a lot of accountability in what people say here. However, there are a few in here that really know their stuff! When those people drop a message here, I try to listen.

Truth on the scopes is that there truly are a lot of amazing scopes available in the market today. I have even been humbled by one or two that turned out to be much better than I expected. This coming from an absolute confessed scope snob. Narrow it down to 3 scopes and then swing buy a store that has them all and see what you think. Of all the great characteristics of these modern scopes, the clarity is the most important to me. I like a crisp, clear image. I have found that if you get that in daylight hours, you will also get great light gathering in low light conditions.

Back in the day when Var-X III was the top of the line , the 2.5-8 X 36 was supposed to be the best low light , light transmitting of any Leupold . I don't see how that holds true now though, the VX5 and 6 should be better. I replaced a 2.5-8 with a VXR 2-7X33 Firedot . It 's no doubt brighter or I wouldn't have swapped it.

First, the Leupold 2.5-8x36 is a very good scope and I have had several through the years and still have a couple. But I started getting away from Leupold about 20 years ago primarily due to the fine duplex reticle that I could not see in low light. The old Zeiss Conquest 3-9 had a much better reticle and a slight edge in low light performance for just a little more $$ . Those scopes were discontinued about 10 years ago so I looked at the Swarovski Z3 scopes. Better than the VX3 or Conquest scopes in every way IMO except for eye relief which is slightly less on the Z3. And the Z3 is available with the best hunting reticle of all in the 4A reticle.

I hear ya ,the 2.5 - 8 my son has and the one I swapped out both had been sent back to Leupold and had heavy duplex installed. Why Leupold never offered Heavies in the 2.5-8 is a mystery . Heavies were available in 1.75 - 6 , 3.5-10 and 4.5-14. I asked a Leupold rep and he had no idee why it wasn't offered.

To the OP's ; original question , a VARI-X-III is at least 20-25 years old; I have one I bought new in 1987. Nice little scope; but no comparison to a Swaro AV/Z3

Unfortunately, Leupold stopped making reticle changes in their custom shop several years ago. They also had a great German #4 reticle they would install. Wish I had sent in all of my old Leupold scopes years ago for a reticle swap.

If you’re looking at a leo., you may want to consider a meopta. They have great glass. If you want the best, swaro. and Zeiss are hard to beat, until you really step up in money.

Treelimb, since you're looking for a lower powered , used Leupold a Vari-X III or VX III 1.75-6 is a great choice . My son started with one and they are very clear , compact scope . Great for younger hunters and mountain / woods guns .

There aren't many, if any, scopes that beat Schmidt-Bender in terms of clarity, light transmission, and availability of very simple, very effective hunting reticles.

Light weight is not going to be a characteristic of any S-B scope, but your great-grandchildren will still be hunting with it when you are long gone. I have one that is over 35 years old. Extremely bright, dead clear, and it has been used to kill hogs on a greenfield at midnight. I think it weighs 24 ounces, or about double the small Swaro you mentioned.

It's worth every ounce.

S-B that’s the money I was talking about.

Thanks for all the good info…
Found a Swaro 3-9x36 with 4A reticle

Should serve us well.

You can actually buy new ones in their Klassik line for less than a Leupold VX5 or VX6. They start about $1100