All,
I am in the process of setting of my first dedicated high power silhouette rifle and am in need of a new scope. I am wondering if there is any of the scopes listed below I should stray away from. Last year was my first year of shooting silhouette ( with my hunting rifle), and I went through 1 cheap scope and had a dud for the second "mid range" scope that had to be sent back after the elevation turret was found defective.


I will be shooting a rem 700 6.5x55, and I am currently considering the following scopes:
Weaver Grandslam 6-20AO: Total Adjustment 25" @100 yrds
SII 4-16 AO: Total Adjustment: 50
SII 6-24 AO: Total Adjustment: 40
Bushnell 5X15 tact elite: Total Adjustment: 40

I have looked at the grand slam locally and like the optics, but the amount of elevation adjustment is concerning. Also have seen the Bushnell first hand, and it had great firm clicks, but have heard some questionable commentary on it. Finally I have a SII Big sky 3-9 on another rifle, and like the scope, but I can't seem to find what is the difference between the Big Sky and the SII scopes. Any help suggestions would be appreciatted. Also is there anything else I should be considering in the $400 price range.

The $400 price range puts you in the used Leupold arena if you look hard enough. I have two Leupold target scopes that I was able to pick up at different times for $400.

Of the ones that you have listed, I'd definitely choose an Sightron SII Big Sky 6-24X silhouette scope. The Big Sky models, as far as I know, are a new version of the SII scopes. I had an older version of the SII 6-24X and one of the older model SII fixed 24X scopes. I was very impressed with the adjustment system but the glass wasn't great. I've mounted and sighted in two of the new Big Sky series scopes for friends, one of them being the new 6-24X silhouette scope with the dot reticle. The glass in the Big Sky models were much clearer than the ones that I had before. The glass in those seemed to be a step above the Weaver 24X scopes that I'm using for silhouette now, and possibly on par with the Leupold FXIII silhouette scopes. I didn't have them there in hand together to compare directly, though, so I can't say. I would probably avoid the Grand Slam scope for the very reason that you mentioned. There are a select few scopes that are used by most competitors in silhouette because they're the only ones that have stood up to the game. There are an assortment of others that are used because the competitors had them already, but for purpose-bought scopes, the list is pretty small. The Sightron SII Big Sky 6-24X is the only one of your list that is commonly bought specifically for silhouette, if that is indeed the one you're considering. I don't think it's in the $400 category, though. If you're considering one of the older models before the Big Sky series, I'd advise against it due to glass quality.

Jason,

I have a SII Big sky 3-9 and I can't help but smile every time I look through it. The glass is very good. The 6-24 scope that I was referring to in my post was a straight SII, not the big sky version. I have not seen any of these in person or the 6-24 big sky for that matter. The 6-24 SII is running around $415 vs $663 for the Big sky version on Midway. The only noticeable difference in the spec that I can find is the SII has 1/8 inch per click adjustment and 40 inches of total adjustment, vs 1/4 inch adjustment and 60 inches of total adjustment, and the dot size is different. They both have the Zact 7 coatings. I wonder if there is still a big difference in scope clarity when going to the Big Sky since they have the same optics coating?

I can't say for sure for the non-Big Sky scopes sold now, but I can say for sure that the difference between the SII 6-24X that I had was not nearly as clear as my friend's 6-24X Big Sky scope.

If you are considering a Sightron scope, I strongly suggest Chicken George ["George"'] to give you a quote. He saved me $100.00 on the Sightron's SIIB62442SIL if I bought else where and that was delivered to my house 3+weeks ago. Would you prefer 1/4 MOA or 1/8 MOA elevation and windage adjustment? Good Luck