Thread: Hunting Scope Magnification

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

IT DOESNT CUT LINE OF SIGHT AT 100YARDS...as curve shows it will be above line of sight...the darker line with 0 beside it....

That graph is for a zero of 200m yes?
Do another one with a zero of 100m.

I have bought a 4-14 scope for my rabbit gun
must be my age showing.

Originally Posted by jakewire

I have bought a 4-14 scope for my rabbit gun
must be my age showing.

Rabbits are pretty small

I want my best, highest magnification scope on the rabbit gun!

I’m a bit confused with the ageing eyes needing more magnification .
I’m in my fifties and over the last 10 years my eyes have deteriorated to the point where I need prescription glasses.
I don’t need more magnification to do/see what I’ve always been doing .
The rifle scope is an optical instrument that when setup/adjusted properly mitigates any eyesight degradation.
3 power is 3 power and 12 power is 12 power no matter what isn’t it ?

Currently have a 3-15x42 which covers all my bases but would happily run a 2-10 or similar. Depending where I am shots are 10-400+ so need versatility (although I haven't shot a deer over 150 away in a loooong time)

Originally Posted by Ground Control

I’m a bit confused with the ageing eyes needing more magnification .
I’m in my fifties and over the last 10 years my eyes have deteriorated to the point where I need prescription glasses.
I don’t need more magnification to do/see what I’ve always been doing .
The rifle scope is an optical instrument that when setup/adjusted properly mitigates any eyesight degradation.
3 power is 3 power and 12 power is 12 power no matter what isn’t it ?

Who cares each to there own.
Small targets magnification helps......far away targets magnification helps.
Personal preference is just that it's "personal"
I've shot reds at 340 yds with a 10x scope but I can tell you for me "personally" I'd prefer 12-14 power for that distance.
The last hind I shot at 450yds 20x was not too much sure I could have made the shot with a 12x scope but the extra zoom wasn't a handicap.
If I had to have 1 scope to do it all yup a 2-12 would be pretty much ideal no argument there, but I don't.
Sounds like you've answered your question though, now begins your misdion to track down a vx6 2-12 or swaro z5 equivalent

I feel for me my 2.4x12 swaro is perfect for bush and out a bit further, the 50mm objective gives me a nice field of view too.

Originally Posted by dannyb

Who cares each to there own.
Small targets magnification helps......far away targets magnification helps.
Personal preference is just that it's "personal"
I've shot reds at 340 yds with a 10x scope but I can tell you for me "personally" I'd prefer 12-14 power for that distance.
The last hind I shot at 450yds 20x was not too much sure I could have made the shot with a 12x scope but the extra zoom wasn't a handicap.
If I had to have 1 scope to do it all yup a 2-12 would be pretty much ideal no argument there, but I don't.
Sounds like you've answered your question though, now begins your misdion to track down a vx6 2-12 or swaro z5 equivalent

I get what your saying.
I suppose I was just commenting on why do ageing eyes need more magnification.
I suspect that those people probably have come to “ Like “ more magnification than actually “ Need “ more magnification due to eyesight problems.
As you rightly say “ each to their own “

Originally Posted by Gibo

I feel for me my 2.4x12 swaro is perfect for bush and out a bit further, the 50mm objective gives me a nice field of view too.

Your Swaro naturally has a very good field of view, that's an appealing part for the brand regardless of objective size. You get a very full ocular at correct eye relief due to the excellent eye box on the Z3 & Z5.

Having experienced slowly deteriorating eye sight over past 10 years I’ve moved to higher top mag scopes in general, so 2 or3 -10, 12,15 or 18 for general all round hunting. But I think equally important or more is optical quality of glass. And the other feature I really rate is the firedot reticles.

As mentioned above glass quality is more important than actual magnification for a hunting rifle in my opinion. All my scopes on my rifles apart from one are 1-4 or 1-5x. The exception is a 3-15vx5. Even for distance shooting glass quality is far more important than magnification. Give me good glass at in a compact 4 or 5x any day over average glass in some moon scope.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Having experienced slowly deteriorating eye sight over past 10 years I’ve moved to higher top mag scopes in general, so 2 or3 -10, 12,15 or 18 for general all round hunting. But I think equally important or more is optical quality of glass. And the other feature I really rate is the firedot reticles.

I agree with the quality of glass .
As my eyes have gone south I’ve found that what others refer to as good “ low light “ glass is better for me even in sunlight.
I think it has something to do with contrast and shadows .
I run Kahles / Zeiss / and Meopta scopes now , it’s a shame but Leupold doesn’t work for me anymore, well not the ones I’ve tried anyway.
I haven’t upped my magnification, but have upped my low light performance.

For me a number of things have changed over the years
1. The quality of variable power scopes
2. The zoom range possible

I used to like fixed power scopes for reliability. With early variable scopes everything was 3 x Zoom Range (so 3-9 or 4-12 etc). I liked around 3 x power for bush hunting. These days having 5 x or better zoom range is common and reliable.

I can’t be bothered with Parallax adjustment as it’s just another knob so my current scopes are 3.5-10 and 3-12.

In saying that with a range finder and dialing allowing longer shooting ranges I can see the benefit of a higher magnification scope and the dream is the 3-18 Swaro or 3-15 VX5. I think either is the perfect NZ scope and Stagstalker’s new set up or a carbon Tikka 284…. the best NZ mountain rifle setup

Originally Posted by Gibo

I feel for me my 2.4x12 swaro is perfect for bush and out a bit further, the 50mm objective gives me a nice field of view too.

As far as I know, the field of view is influenced by the distance from the shooter’s eye to the ocular lens (eye relief), the size of the ocular lens, and the scope's magnification.
A larger objective lens diameter will not change the FOV.