I have a 300 BlackOut Mini Fix in jail that is in need of a scope. I don't need a $3k Nightforce ATACR 5-25×56, but I also don't want a $35 CenterPoint from Walmart. What is a good scope for the Mini Fix? The 300BO isn't a long range cartridge, but I am not a poor that has to watch every cent. The plan is to use this to deer hunt, with a maximum range of 125-150 yards. The rifle wasn't cheap, so I want a commensurate scope. My budget will be about ~$1k, but would go higher for the right optic.

Mine looks like the picture below. Help me spend my money.

Trijicon everything they make is tough. I have a 5x25x50 clean glass great scope it was over 1k, but they have great stuff for 1k.

An ACOG on that would be pretty badass.

This is what I'm thinking... a fixed power prism.  I'd lean toward a Primary Arms 5X, but of course an ACOG would be awesome.

150yds is LPVO territory… but LPVO’s suck for light gathering which is important for picking out deer from trees near first or last light.

track down something lightweight with excellent glass and a bigger-than-LPVO onjective.

Razor HD LH 1.5-8x32
Razor HD LH 2-10x40
Leupold VX-5HD 2-10x
Leupold VX-6HD 2-12x
Trijicon Credo 2-10x36
Trijicon CredoHX/AccuPoint 2.5-10x56
SWFA 2.5-10x32 Ultralight

All these are quite lightweight ~$1k scopes. You can save a lot of weight mounting if you go with rings; 7075 aluminum with recoil lugs is the way; Seekins, vortex PRS, Vortex Pro Series, Nightforce, etc…

The Razor


Light Hunters are discontinued, so you’ll have hunt around SH and Rokslide, but exactly what you’re looking for in a lightweight mid/shirt range deer scope; weight, razor glass, hunting reticle. I had a 2-10x and it was great.

Leupold is probably the best glass/weight ratio up there and excellent turrets to dial with.  Their choice of (useful) reticles is slim, but if you really want their custom shop can swap reticles.

Trijicons are good glass. The 56mm objective is pretty much king of low light low/mid power variables.

SWFA Uktralight is king of lightweight low powered scopes at 9.5oz with a crazy low price considering SWFA’s reputation for great image.  Then again it’s very spartan to get that weight and price; Japanese glass, no illumination, fixed parallax, capped turrets, cardboard box.

If I were you and could live without illumination, I’d go Razor LH or SWFA and not look back. If illumination mattered most, VX-5HD/6HD.

Your budget doubles mine… but I am hunting this year with a PSA 11.5” Upper. I have the Leupold 1-4*20 Freedom with the Pig plex. On our less than 100 yard food plots, it’s been fine for me paired with 10x25 Nikon binoculars.

I’m shooting 300BO110 vmax and the doe I took for meat went less than 40 yards . Tons of blood/lung matter.

With your budget, you will be fine!

I have a couple of the Leupold pig-plex scopes and like them. On another 300 BO bolt gun I have one of the older Nikon 300 BO scopes, and that has been good for hunting. It has very good light gathering capabilities, I am just looking for a more modern hunting scope.

I have been looking at some of the suggestions that Millennial made, and am looking hard at the Trijicon 2.5-10x56, the concern with that scope is the large objective along with the weight, may make mounting difficult. A good, lightweight, light gathering, scope may be a unicorn by trying to get all three requirements. It appears to me that all of the newer scopes are getting heavy. The Mini Fix is pretty lightweight, and my goal is a lightweight package.

the Athlon Helos BTR gen 2 2-12x42 might be worth a look

it's in your price range and would probably fit your mini fix pretty good ,  it's only drawback is it's weight at 25 oz.  it has a good reticle though that's useable at low magnification compared to some other scopes

the new leupold 2-10x30 mark 5HD would also be a good fit for that rifle but it's above your price range in the 1500 to 2k area , it weighs in at 24 oz

an eotech would be awesome on that rifle without affecting it's balance or weighing it down , you could always throw a magnifier on for longer shots.  i was looking at the athlon to put on a ruger ranch i just picked up but ended up putting a spare eotech i had on it so i could shoot it and don't think i'll be taking it off , it's just so light and fast.  it also leaves plenty of room for manipulating the bolt

Gen 1 viper  2-10 second focal,  illuminated reticle
 
   I've been looking at these but I'd like to physically hold one before buying.    

I would go with a trijicon 1-4 in a reticle you like. I prefer the chevron. Shoots like a red dot on low power and good enough inside 200 yards.

     This is the most appropriate to me in looks and function   Illuminated 1-4

Trijicon Credo 1-8 in MOA is being closed out at Euro Optic for 899

https://www.eurooptic.com/Trijicon-Credo-HX-1-8x28-FFP-w-Red-Green-MOA-Segmented-Circle-30mm-Satin-Black-R.aspx

I have a 3x mini ACOG on mine and it’s perfect. And if you’re looking for a can, SilencerCo’s Harvester EVO sounds really good with subs.

I have a lightweight 5.56 AR I built specifically for deer hunting( I live in eastern NC. The deer are small. Moving on.) that weighs under 7 lbs loaded with a 1-6 swampfox arrowhead. I use it for the same range you're talking about. It's perfect. Just enough magnification to identify part of a deer peeking through brush without being a giant, heavy scope to get on my nerves while walking through miles of public land. I can still see well enough even under tree cover that I could take shots on deer before or after legal shooting time.

Obviously, you can pick a higher quality optic than I did but my point is a 1-6 is great for this application.

I’m happy with my razor 1.5-8 they pop up every so often for 500ish.  The glass quality to weight is hard to beat but it isn’t illuminated as already mentioned. The leupold would be my next pick.

Acog is never a wrong answer imo. But for a hunting setup a 1-4 or 1-6 would be better. The Trijicon 1-8 I had was a pig

The ones I have looked at so far are:

Razor HD LH 1.5-8x32 - Discontinued, though there is one on Ebay
Razor HD LH 2-10x40 - Discontinued, I couldn't find one
Leupold VX-5HD 2-10x - These are worth looking at though they are on the heavy side
Leupold VX-6HD 2-12x - 12 power is higher tan I want and they are on the heavy side too
Trijicon Credo 2-10x36
Trijicon CredoHX/AccuPoint 2.5-10x56 - It will be delivered on Monday, 56mm should gather some light
SWFA 2.5-10x32 Ultralight - These are out of stock, but I signed up for notification

I have a number of LPVOs, but I want something with a little more power on the top end and a larger objective lens for low light. The ACOGs are good sights, but I don't know how they do on gathering light. I need to get one and find out.

I found a deal on the Trijicon 2.5-10 so I will go with that for now. I am 5 months into my 90 day electronic Form-4 transfer for the Mini Fix, so I still have time to keep looking at scopes.

My choice would be trijicon accupoint 1-4.  Tough, light, right on budget.  Great glass.

I put a 3x Primary Arms Micro Prism on mine. It smokes the Mini ACOG IMHO.
With subsonic 300 BLK I didn't feel the need for more magnification.

C_DOES review of the optic.

I went with the Trijicon Credo HX 1-6.



I used a QD mount to make it easier to breakdown/pack.  The Trijicon high rings are a good lightweight option.

Edit:  I also wanted to try a 5x prism optic with a 300BO reticle (Sig Bravo 5) but couldn't get good eye relief (doesn't mount back far enough to get good sight picture).