My original thought was to put the Leupold on the Bergara and the Anthlon on the Fierce. The Bergara is an Arkansas deer gun and the Fierce is a Western State gun, but would be still used to hunt deer in Arkansas. I recently started reloading and having fun testing new loads. Makes me want to spend more time at the range, so I may start using the 308 as a range gun as well. Would the Athlon be better suited for range practice with the higher magnification? There is a weight difference. The Athlon is about 8 oz heavier. Part of me wants the lighter scope on the carbon rouge and the other part thinks I need some more weight. Thoughts?
Great choices and guns. I have had the Athlon Helos and a Leupold VX6 HD. I would personally put the Leupold on the Western hunting gun 280AI and put the Athlon on the 308. I live in Texas and hunt in west Texas. The clarity is great on both, I still give the edge to the Leupold. Plus the heavier scope is better for range use.
Just my 2 cents.
Personally, I would put the Athlon on the western gun—the 280AI. When bunting out west, magnification is really helpful. Even though I would probably only be in 12x or 14x magnification to shoot an animal from longer range, it can be really helpful to zoom in to 20x on a group of deer to analyze the racks and positively identify which deer you want to shoot. Then I zoom out to actually take the shot.
Multiple times, I’ve seen people with something like a 4-14x who couldn’t see antlers to know which was a buck and which was a doe. If there is brush behind the deer to mask the antlers, and you’re at 400 yards, it can be tough to see.