Muzzleloader scope?

I have a cva optima V2 thumbhole wearing a Nikon Inline XR scope, but I'm kind of disappointed in the scope and possibly looking for a replacement.
IMO the field of view is very small compared to my vortex, other Nikons and Leupold scopes. The top bdc circle is so close to the crosshair you almost cant even see it. I played around with it at the range and hunting this past weekend and I just feel its lacking.

Now, a concern I have is the eye relief due to the thumbhole stock. I have very long arms and I was told the Inline XR scope was matched to this gun because of the long eye relief?

Any suggestions?

I have a Vortex Diamondback HP on my Encore with a thumbhole stock. I really really like that setup. Haven't had any issues with eye relief.

My three muzzleloaders wear the same scope, Leupold M8 fixed 6X. I can't think of a more user friendly glass. Forgiving eye box , over 4" of eye relief, ample field of view and ultra light weight. All of mine have been bullet proof. JMO but never saw the need for extra magnification on a rifle that has a range of 200 - 250 yards.

Bill

I have never been a fan of ballistic compensating reticles nor of CVA's thumbhole stocks for that matter. The Vortex Diamondback & Diamondback HP are very nice scopes for a very good price.

I’m not big into a busy reticle either for most hunting. I want to be shooting inside a range where I can ‘hold on fur’ anyway. With a M-L I really don’t want to be shooting past 150 yards, ideally under 75.

There are just to many variables at the longer ranges, 200 yards give or take. I also hunt a QDM type property in IL, which has distinct property lines. One needs to anchor that shooter buck when a shot is taken.

Here is a buck I took at 125 yards, he went about 75 after the shot. I use a Zeiss 3-9 Conquest on my 45 cal Knight Elite.

Nice buck Muskrat!!!

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the bdc reticles either. I have mostly sightron or leupold 3-9's std duplex on most of my ML ...they all are very clear with generous eye relief. I do like the Omega scope with the std duplex, if they made the newer version with that I'm sure it would sell alot. Not sure why they don't offer it.

I completely agree about the busy reticles. In fact i a Swarovrski Z3 on my 270. It had Ballastic Reticle. After missing 2 deer I took it off sold it and bought the same scope with regular cross hairs. Haven't missed yet. Those range compensating reticles worked great for me at the range when I was calm and had time to think about but fill the scope with hair and everything changed. Not saying it is no good just wasn't good for me. I have an Accurra V2, I put a Leupold VX3 2 x10 with 50mm bell. It gathers tons of light, at low power good for fast acquisition. In my opinion optics is the one thing that as you pay more and more the quality difference is noticeable. Other outdoor equipment I don't always see the return on investment.

If you want to drop a deer in its tracks, use a heavy bullet. I've dropped 3 cow elk in their tracks from 90 to 220 yards with a 405 gr. .458 in a Harvester sabot over 115 gr. of 777. Never had a deer move more than 5 feet. I sight in at 150 meters and it is 4" high at 100, and I can use the post (where the reticle gets thick) on a duplex reticle for 200 yards and I'll be 1" high, or use the crosshair near the top of his back, and I'll be 6" lower.

I like light weight scopes, so I use Leupold 2x7-32mm compact scopes. I've shot to 340 yds. (hi-power) and never needed more as far a seeing the target and hitting it. In 45 years, I've only shot one elk at the edge of darkness, and my scope worked fine.

ohihunter2014 said:

I have a cva optima V2 thumbhole wearing a Nikon Inline XR scope, but I'm kind of disappointed in the scope and possibly looking for a replacement.
IMO the field of view is very small compared to my vortex, other Nikons and Leupold scopes. The top bdc circle is so close to the crosshair you almost cant even see it. I played around with it at the range and hunting this past weekend and I just feel its lacking.

Now, a concern I have is the eye relief due to the thumbhole stock. I have very long arms and I was told the Inline XR scope was matched to this gun because of the long eye relief?

Any suggestions?

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I use a Zeiss 3-9 40 conquest. It's great.

I have all different kinds of scopes in all different price ranges. It depends on how much you want to spend. On the lower end the Nikon Prostaff’s and Vortex Crossfire II’s will definitely get the job done. I really like the Luepold vx2 3x9x40, the Zeiss 3x9x42 and the Vortex Diamond backs. Any of those 3 I can find at a good price I like a lot. I hunt in the woods where a 150yds is max and more than likely less than that. So I just prefer the regular style crosshairs myself. I don’t like the Christmas tree type. Lol