Lighted Reticle Scopes For Dawn and Dusk, Deer & Bear Hunting

My birthday is this Thursday October 6th, and I will be 64 years old. I find that hard to believe sometimes, however I guess I got here the same way everyone else who has passed that milestone did...............ONE YEAR at a time.

It is a fact of life that the 64 year old eyes are not quite as bright and sharp as they were when I was 21. For that reason, I am not as big a fan of open sights as I used to be when i was younger. I can still shoot a Peep sight fairly well as long as the aperture is big enough. In fact on those with a screw in insert, I like to take the insert out and use it as a "Ghost Ring" sight as your eye naturally centers the front sight anyway. I also prefer the peep sight on my bow set up to be on the larger side.

To go one step further, I prefer a scope on my rifles and deer shotguns. I really prefer AN ILLUMINATED RETICLE, OR RED DOT SIGHT OR ILLUMINATED DIAMOND SHAPED RETICLE.

Whether or not I am on a bear hunt or a whitetail or moose hunt etc., I LIKE illuminated reticle or red dot set ups.

I think possibly one of the best out there are the various reticle options used by Trijicon. These scopes do not use a battery, but rely on adjustable, self illuminating tritium triangle shaped reticles (being the most popular). The AccuPoint series is probably the most popular and they can be purchased from a number of sources for around $765 at the time of this BLOG POST. These scopes are rugged and have great fully multi-coated glass and edge to edge clarity. They are also very rugged. I know from reading Craig Boddington hunting adventures, that he likes them and to me that is a STRONG endorsement.

I also am a fan of Muller Red dot Scopes and own two of them. One of them is a 2X7X32 red dot with 1/4 min clicks and 3.25 inches of eye relief and the other is a 3X9X40 red dot with 1/8 min clicks and the same 3.25 inches of eye relief. The 3X9X40 sits on top of my Savage 30-06 and the 2X7X32 sits on my TC Encore 209/50. These can be purchased from EBACO.com (E. Arthur Brown Company) for under $150 each.

I also own (2) Bushnell 3X9X40 Elite 3200 scopes with rainguard and the firefly reticle. These are also great scopes for the money with bright clear optics, the rainguard feature worth its weight in GOLD during a rainy week of hunting. Eye relief on these runs closer to 3.5 inches.

A surprisingly good quality scope I picked up for my Marlin Model 336 lever Action .35 Rem is a now discontinued Simmons Pro-Diamond illuminated reticle scope in 1.5X5X32 persuasion. It features an illuminated Diamond reticle and multi-coated optics. It is a perfect fit for the .35 Rem and is compact enough to retain the handling qualities and ergonomics of the Marlin Lever Action. Natchez Supply was selling these at one time for around $95 each. I wish I had purchased 5 or 6 of them.

I recently put a Burris Fullfield II illuminated 3X9X40 LRS Ballistic Plex Reticle. battery operated scope with various intensity settings on a Ruger Mdl 77 .350 Rem mag. I have found this scope to have bright clear optics, multi-coated lenses and the Lighted reticle gives a precise aiming point in fading light. Currently available from SWFA for $279.95. The one pictured below with the LRS Ballistic Plex is what sits on my .350 Mag. I LIKE IT. Keep in mind that most ballistic plex type scopes must be sighted in dead on at 100 yards and only work as they should on the highest power in this case 9X

Burris 3-9x40 Fullfield II Rifle Scope Stock # - 200157 Matte LRS Ballistic Plex 1" Digital Dimmer

Try an illuminated reticle scope. I don't think you will be disappointed. Dan

And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; …"
Samuel Adams
quoted in the Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789, "Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State"