Thread: Close scopes

I've always been a fan of lower powered scopes, used a 3X Weaver for over 20 years on my first decent hunting rifle. Still have 2 of those Weavers, and my mate uses my third on his 22 and has no issues. I have shot out to 800 metres on steel using 3X, simply cos I could, you dont need high power, you need quality glass. Presently I have a couple of 1.5-6 Kahles and theyre brilliant scopes for up close and personal. Great FOV and dont lose any light gathering ability right out to 6X cos theyre a 42mm objective lense. And good visible European type crosshairs with the fine cross hair in the middle. Another option I would like to try is a VX5 in 2-10, but dont have any need for more scopes.
One of the issues with the lower powered variable scopes that have a smaller objective lense is that your exit pupil gets smaller and smaller as the power goes up, hence less light gathering. The optimum exit pupil for the human eye is 7mm, a 6X scope with a 24mm objective lense only has a 4mm exit pupil, so youre losing some of your light gathering ability up past 3.5X. The Kahles, Burris and a few others with the 42mm objective lense dont have this issue. And the VX5 would only start to lose light gathering ability after 6X.