Building a SBR 300 BO with a 8.5 barrel. Will be used for hunting, punching paper & maybe home defense. Trying to decide on optics and I'm a fan of Vortex. Thoughts on Vortex Strike Eagle or PST 1-4 for this application?
I have a 10" 300blk that I use for everything you just described and it has a viper pst 1x4 on it... You'll be happy with it if you do decide to go with it I think, especially for hunting and some plinking!
Just to offer a counterpoint, I really don't think you're going to gain much from the better PST glass if you're shooting at 300 BLK distances. By that same logic, you may not really need the higher magnification of the Strike Eagle. I personally like the reticle design of the Strike Eagle, but that's just me.
I have have the strike eagle on my 16" in 223 and am very happy with it. I wanted the extra magnification. Using it on 1x is very quick and easy. Reticle is very bright if you turn it up. I've never needed to turn it up all the way even on bright days. I don't have any experience with the pst but I'm sure it's very good too.