Thread: Rifle and Optics Snobs

Originally Posted by 10-Ring

There seems to be a trend these days with many new hunters who think they,re going to shoot deer at say 600 meters with their .308 or similar powered cartridge and subsequently mount some huge Hubble type scope on it. Of course, the rifle is completely unbalanced and a liability to carry around. This big zoom scope idea is pushed by many retail sales personnel because big zoom scopes cost a lot more than a simple lightweight smaller fixed or lower magnification zoom scope. Long distance shooting is a skill that has to be mastered. Most newbies from.what I've seen, have no idea how far 600 meters actually is but they have convinced themselves that they are real hunters now and want other hunters to think they are hot shots. I suppose that could be a form of snobbery.

What you described is not quite "snobbery". More like "uninformed".

But one may say that insistence on shooting very long distances using under-powered scopes is also a form of snobbery

A 308 drops 3.2 meters at 600 meters. it requires 18.3 MOA or 5.3 Mil of adjustments. It is simply impossible to get that reliably on first short without a scope that has either reliable (and easy) dialing or accurate reticle marking. I hear people on the forum say they once shot a deer with a 3-9 or 4x fixed duplex no dial scope at 600 metres. I am sure it can be done but it definitely cannot be done consistently and reliably.

The most expensive part of hunting is time to do it. It is cheaper to spend 1K on an OK scope that get land you the hit at 600m than to waste the one trip of the year and miss that shot. To boast being able to afford to miss such shots is a much bigger flex.