Thread: Scope power for hunting

I'm the opposite to most if I'm using my bipod and the animal is unaware of me I crank up the power sometimes even to x28

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With a 10x swaro that I dial with a practiced accurate load i am proficient with neck shots out to 450 yards. beyond that the 10x is ok at 550 yards. 600 being my self imposed limit.

I used to swear by 2 or 3 -12x for up close to far, but as the body & eyes age I’m now favouring 15 - 18x at top end, especially with firedot reticle

I've gone from fixed 4x to 3-9x to 4-16x, and now back to 3-9x.
They seem to cover anything from 30m to 150m very well. I rarely shoot past 100m anyway, as stalking closer is 80% of the fun!

all of my scopes that I would use for longer shots are 2.5x10x40's. Never seemed to think I was at a disadvantage but I don't shoot far. furthest shot was a fallow at 280m.

My current Burris is a 3-9x40 and it's been sufficient for me to shoot out to 300m on fallow BUT older eyes say they'd like just a touch more mag and a touch more light gathering so I'll be upgrading to a Burris 5-12x44, not a massive jump but enough for me to get a better look, especially when the light starts to go, even if I dial back a touch to take the shot to maintain a better FOV, cos I'm buggered if I can ever get my eye from behind the scope to see what's occurred in a timely manner.....

12 power... because 3-12x50 is the goldilocks between magnification range and objectives. 50mm for that first and last light shot, 3x for the bush on the way up, 6-10x for the tops and 12x for head shooting a mountain hare. I do have a 4-16x44, because Mrad and FFP but I don't hunt with it above 10x. I also have and love the zeiss duralyt 3-12x50, it lives on a rifle that sees a little less use.

I use a .270, only really keen on shooting out to about 300

What are you thoughts on a good all round scope magnification? not just for tops but the bush too

thanks

for bush a bottom of 1 to 1.5 is great for those sub 30 mtr shots, but just generally not practical as unless you stump up for a high quality euro scope you can't get more than 6x top end.
so I would suggest a bottom zoom of 2 or 3x that lets you get up to a 10 or 12x zoom which covers most medium range shots to 3-400 mtrs.
My bush rifle has a 2-10, would like a 1.5x bottom but cost comes into it. I could live with a top end of 6-8x as I limit that rifle to 300 mtr.
My 243 wears a 4-16, the 4x is a bit much for bush work but it's mostly used for farm/bush margin shooting.
Z

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

So was the gong

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Come drop of some wasp killer and give it a go!
I have some closer gongs I can put out for your 25 cal!
Come to the taihape nzda Sunday if your bored!

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Originally Posted by andyanimal31

Come drop of some wasp killer and give it a go!
I have some closer gongs I can put out for your 25 cal!
Come to the taihape nzda Sunday if your bored!

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Shit I would but I'm hunting.
I loved the last one

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Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

Shit I would but I'm hunting.
I loved the last one

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Should a good day!
Was going to go for a quick hunt last night but started raining.
Might be tonight's job!

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I have a March 2.5 - 25 and find it rarely gets wound past 15-18 for longer shots. But I find a 10x top end too low past 3-400m, a bit more zoom is good for the old eyes.

For the bush it's the other way around a scope with a 1.x bottom end is great.

Magnification is an asset in an alpine environment. I reckon 12x is nice, but anything more than 4-5x would do for the shooting. Question is are you shooting just to kill whatever or are you looking for a good trophy?
Parallax is especially present from 10x upwards, and needs to be taken into account on longer distances...
Spotter is nice, and for Thar the 20-60x65 HDs are often looked upon as the holy grail?
I find it heavy to carry it around.... so I chose a different approach.
Put a Swaro 3,5-28x50 on my rifle. Mint glass. 650grams. That is hardly a heavy scope. I found it VERY practical for Tahr. I could use my scope as a "mini-spotter" and have a really really good look at bulls, when my spotting scope was not brought along.
In Europe, where we have been hunting fex Chamois for generations, the most keen trophy hunters often carried a "booster" to fit on one of the bin eyepieces, (or even on scopes) so they could increase the magnification by 2-3x and do more selective hunting.
But if you only kill for meat, whatever says bang would do...