Thread: Going ‘old school’

there are some great slip on recoil pads out now that dont cost the earth......

I've used 2 1/2 or 3 x scopes for years, shot plenty of animals all the way out to 350. We tend to forget that the human eye is an amazing thing, and what it is capable of. Even with variable scopes I usually shoot on the lowest power, simply because I cant be arsed changing it up, and know that the rifle scope combination I am using at the time is perfectly ok out to 300 - 350 if I do my part. At a gong shoot last year I gave my 222 and a box of 20 reloads to an 11 year old shooter to have a play. Six or 7 minutes later she had emptied the box at the small 300 gong, 20 shots, 20 hits, and with a 2 1/2X scope. Some times its so much more fun just to keep it simple.

yip the redfield bearcub 2 3/4x scope was great untill it fogged up. the m8 4x scopes are my favourites on bush rifle and Ive seen them in 3x just never had the $$$$ when they were up for sale. trying to shoot that at 350-400 with less than 6x is a challenge.....just as well I dont hunt thar often. wallaby are often shot on the run at 5-175 yards if they sit still scope screwed up to 6 or 9 is nice but not essential. Im trying hard to hit something with basic crude open sights but so far no cigar.

Originally Posted by Dama dama

The thing for me is that I don't consider these "old school", just sensible sized scopes for general NZ hunting. But then I have no interest in shooting over 300m or so. So perhaps I'm old school after all.....

Yep very nicely put. And I like the 2x rule. Haven’t heard that one before. There is something about keeping it simple (well relatively simple a lot still goes into it).

Years ago I figure out I really like 2.5 power in the bush. So regardless of how low my scope goes (I use to have a bushnell that started at 1.75X), I always set it at 2.5. I do turn it up for longer shots if I remember too.