The hunting scope

It is totally personal preference. I guess some people feel more confident with a higher power scope in case there in a situation where they feel they may need it.

Personally I pick out the power of a scope in relation to the caliber it will be used with and what I will be using it for. I don’t see anything wrong with some one using a higher power scope such as 4-12, 4.5-14 even a 4-16 power scope as long as they use them effectively and don’t go around cranking it to full power and letting them rip at 500 yards when they are not capable of shots like that.

I personally use some 4.5-14's on a few of my hunting rifles like my antelope rifle where I am hunting it the wide open. On my elk rifle I use a 3-9 but hunt more in timber than open. I ONLY reload I do not buy factory ammo anymore and I shoot year round for practice and enjoyment.

I am kind of a gun and scope nut, I have used or owned everything from a cheap Bushnell to the high end Swarovski. And really like the Leupold, Nikon, and the Zeiss Conquest then there are a few I wish I never bought. There are a few others I would like to start getting such as the Meopta and I want to try the vortex Viper riflescopes.

Some people feel a 3-9 is all they need and that is fine for some people want a little extra power. There really is not much difference in hunting with a gun set on 3 power VS 4.5 power.

The problem people run in to, is when the person cranks the scope all the way up, and try to use the scope to spot something all the way across a canyon.

They never turn it back down and later an animal jumps up at 40 yards and it is on 12 or 14 power and they can't see nothing but a bunch of brown.


Personally I know what power the scope I am hunting with is on at all times in the field it may start at 3 or 4.5 power but if I get to an area where it fairly open I will bring it up to 5-7 power or so depending on the terrain. I would say that some people buy more scope then they need but also a lot of people do not shoot their rifles much before hunting season. I shoot year round and with many different calibers so for me I personally like a 3-12 or 4.5-14 on certain rifles. :1

I would have to go the personal preference route on this one. I have rifles with no scopes, I own a 1.5-5x I think ( it's a vx III Leupold and just can't remember exactly) I have some 3x9's in an old redfield and a zeiss conquest and several in that 4-15 power range from zeiss to Nikon monarch to Burris, I also have some higher in the 6x18 range. Anyway, the point is use what you want and feel comfortable with. My main hunting rifles all have the 4-15x range scopes on them with obj in the 40 to 42 mm range. You see I don't much care for the 50+mm objectives but I understand why a lot do. For my taste they seem too bulky, but that is my taste.

This topic has been long debated and surely will continue, but I believe that there is no "perfect" one size fits all scope.

This topic has been long debated and surely will continue, but I believe that there is no "perfect" one size fits all scope.

Totally agree with that %100

The first scoped rifle I ever hunted with was a 3X9 and that is all I own and have ever bought since. My dad keeps talking about getting a 4X on his rifle all the time as that is what he grew up with. I normally have my scope set at 3X to 5X when hunting, depending on the terrain. I have cranked it up to 9X for a shot at least once, maybe twice, but that was when I was sitting watching a large draw. What I thought at first was some sage brush turned into some deer. I looked through the binos when the sage brush wasn't in the same place as a few minutes before then cranked my scope up to 9X. Didn't have a range finder at the time but estimated the distance to about 400 yards. Adjusted the BDC to that range and one shot dropped the deer. I believe the only other time I went that high was a big deer I spotted from a distance but never got the shot off as I never got to see the head. I could live with a 4X but do like that I can adjust for longer shots and aim for the vitals rather than trying to just hit somewhere near the bread basket.

I am one of "those" that have more scopes above 10x than below, handguns included. The reason is for extra magnification. Being younger, I had the option of buying better optics for increased resolution or buyng lower end optics with mediocre glass but more magnification. I went the latter as I have a lot of rifles. I have a dozen varmint guns that get shot out to distances exceeding 1000 yards on occasion. Shooting a prarie dog or ground squirrel at 600 yards is much easier with a 20-24x scope than a 9x scope. I still kill the vast majority of my big game under 50 yards but I have the ability to do so out to distances above 400 yards.

When I hunted whitetails back east we had an antler minimum for our group. We could shoot all the does we wanted but if you shot a button buck it cost $100. The higher magnification allows me to look very closely at the heads and tell if it has nubs or is a doe. Since we shot an average of 5 deer per year, it could add up very quickly. Also, I can use the scope to count tines on the deer. Unlike here in the west, we did not get a long look at a deer to see if it was a shooter buck or not. In gun season they were on the move. Higher magnification lets me see if its a shootable 8 pointer or a 7 pointer that is not on the menu and will cost me another $100. Yes we use scopes for identification but safely. Not to identry a brown spot, but which deer it actually is. Glassing with binocs or spotter is useless when you can only see 100 yards.

Most guys dont know that for every X you get another 100yds distance to shoot, with a 4.5-14x you should be able to shoot and hit at 1400yrds. YES. Well you know that aint gonna happen for 99% of America except for the best bench resters and snipers. Having a 50mm or 60mm scope is just plain insane, even for COlorado. It adds two lbs wt to your gun and who wants to lug all that up and down these 12500' mtns. All a man needs is a 2-7 or 3-9. All this stuff about increase light gathering is for night shooters out car windows. Its all tv hocus pocus. I have several big game rifles with 1.5-5x scope on and they NEVER miss. And the 5x is good to 500yrds if I can do my job. My long range rifle has a Nikon 3-9x40 BDC and is laser straight to 600 yrds. This big scope stuff is just marketing craopla unless youre a benchrest shooter or a paid sniper. I mean why gather more light when you cant shoot til after daylight anyway??? Better off to put your money in that 2-7 (Leupold makes em 24/7/365 ) you want or the 3-9. I've seen guys in the elk woods with a 200.00 Savage rifle and 2500.00 Swarovski scope. They apparently have watched wayyyy too much tv.

i'm with silver tip on this, u dont need a huge scope, ur usually not gonna crank it up past 6, i dont think money or quality should be judged, swarovski scopes are sick, anything in that cost range better be worth it, zeiss and leupold are also awsome scopes and i own both. I have a 1.5 x 5 on my 308. and i can put 4 shots in a tooney at 150yards, then i have a 3.5 x 10 zeiss on the 300weatherby, best all around gun on the market, and now i'm gonna get the browning x-bolt in 300win, gonna put my 3 x 9leupold that i took off the weatherby, and i'm putting it on the browning.

I think shooting out past 350 is a risk anyway, to many factors can make the situation go wrong, a flinch on a shot at that distance makes u miss by 10ft. I have shot and hit a metal garbage can top at 610 yards, just to see if the weatherby could reach that far. And like silver tip said with gathering more light, when do u ever see a deer at longdistance right before daybreak... never cus u cant see that far in the dark. My opinion is to shoot within a distance u feel comfortable at, u could have the world record anything out at 700yards, would u shoot, i know i wouldn't, why risk wounding that animal, u would feel terrible and u know it. U can always get closer, just takes time and patience.

My 2 pennies.

"younggun" wrote:I think shooting out past 350 is a risk anyway, to many factors can make the situation go wrong, a flinch on a shot at that distance makes u miss by 10ft.

So, what's the big deal? If a flinch will make you miss by 10 feet, you will cleanly and clearly miss the animal entirely. No wounding involved.

My opinion is to shoot within a distance u feel comfortable at, u could have the world record anything out at 700yards, would u shoot, i know i wouldn't, why risk wounding that animal, u would feel terrible and u know it.

You said it perfectly there. Shoot within your limitations. Not everyone has the same limitations. I know I am not the best shot in the world, but I do know my limitations. Odds are they are not the same as you or others. If I was sure of where my load would hit at 700 yards, I have no problems shooting a world record or a flathead/cow at that distance.

Guns are not the limitation at long range, the person pulling the trigger is. You should watch a high power service rifle competition. The USMC shoots modified M16s at 1000 yards. This is with open sights also. The little 223 Remington will indeed shoot to the 1K line. No, I am not advocating using a varmint gun for big critters.