Thread: Who loves magnification?

I know there are a lot of people that say you can shoot to 400 with a 9 power or less but man isn't it way easier with a 14 15 or more.
Personally I love magnification. With the Vx6 I can not just aim for the shoulder but aim for a point on the shoulder.
I think as long as you have a low enough low power around 3 x a scope with a high to end is a massive plus.
What are your opinions?

Yep I like to crank it up.

depends on what you are trying to put a hole in.......

Yes is the answer. I've upgraded my centrefire scope to 14x and only really shoot out to 200 metres. I will upgrade my 22LR scope to a bigger magnification than that in due course. A bunny's head isn't very big at 100 metres. It's personal preference, everything is a compromise, but I like magnification.

Ive just taken a 3x9 off main hunting rifle...put a classy 6x on it...for a month,one hunt and it came off and a fixed 4x went on her...and I cant see it coming off anytime soon.

I'd say "it depends". I have a couple of target scopes that go up to 27x and 32x , but on the occasions when I shoot my hunting rifles on the range I can get pretty good results with 7x

The guys who shoot with double apertures and slings can shoot way under moa with those (at round targets to be fair)

My next hunting rifle will probably have a max 6x on it (due to scope mounting factors) but I'd be confident of placing shots well within a 6" vital zone out past 400M with it.

High magnification is a problem when the light is really fading, you have to dial back then. I'd say a guy with a a max of 7x or 9x who is prepared to practice a bit is not going to be limited at all. A bloke I used to hunt with in Otago shot rabbits at 300+ yards with a 220 swift and a 2.5x scope - he seldom missed.

I usually set the power on the 17HMR at 8x, but up to 18x if it gets out over 100 metres and not off the shoulder, the 204 I run an 8 - 32 power and use the same way. My 6.5 and 223 run very simple but good quality 3-9x ok on the larger animals. I shoot with prescription progressive lenses that give me better than 20/20 vision and I am very fussy about being able to see!

My hunting rifle wears a 2.5-8x............all my others wear bigger glass.

Ironically they wear all the things I have had my hunting rifle thinking bigger was better.

Popcorn thread ....

I've tried to standardise all my scopes to 3-12x.

No doubt I, myself, can shoot better on animals if I can see them better. I'm just more critical about where the crosshair is actually sitting. I hold it still. I hold it in the right place.

The example of a 220 swift with a 2.5x (why would you do that ?) is a classic, where the kill zone is pretty much the silhouette of the rabbit and if you can have the crosshair anywhere on it you will succeed. The opposite is an airgun where the pellet barely expands and shot placement has to be in the right part of the eye or the animal will walk. Even at 15 or 20m, 12x or 16x is the responsible way to go.

Also, no doubt, I can often get very passable paper groups on lower power. But for animals in their environment, more mag just makes it easier. You want it to be easy. It's also possible to do better sight in and trajectory DOPE if you can use a higher power, on the range.

Note that scopes over 10x need parallax/focus adjustment, which adds a whole nother dimension of scope setup error potential. So, the 3-9x40 and 3.5-10x40 are the best scopes to start on.

The drawbacks of having wound on too much mag are:
1. searching about for the sight picture. This happens if your scope is only 40mm obj. If exit pupil is <4mm then you need a really good well placed cheek rest on your stock
2. searching about for the target. Even if my scope is high spec with a competitive field of view number, I often struggle to locate the animal or steel plate when changing line of fire if the power is over about 8x.
3. focus is limited on the highest power but winding back by 20-30% often gives a much sharper sight picture. This mostly applies to very close shooting like a finishing shot but also to hurried shooting when I've got my parallax knob in the wrong place.

Too little mag can cause problems with spotting the animal but mostly encourages me to think its a difficult shot and that anywhere in the chest is good enough.

Finally, I have a theory that the middle of a scope's power range is where it is designed to be most efficient optically, for light gathering, for click adjustment, for zero retention, for reticle subtension and so on. If that mid power is a number like 6x or 8x that enables fine shooting, that's ideal.

So "carry it in the middle and wind it high when you are about to shoot" is my approach.

I worry more about what the lowest power setting on a scope is than what the upper power is, have shot most of the deer/goats I have with a 3-9 so now when I now have have a 1-8 on a hunting general purpose rifle I consider that a upgrade. But I do love me some 25x power if I don't need that low end on a particular rifle.

I have pushed my ultra mag at 1400m with a x12. I did not fill underpowered ( in caliber nor in magnification :-)

And I like x20 to x25 for magpies at around the 300m mark

I mostly have 3-9 scopes and run them at either 6 or 4 power. Reason being they are not excessively heavy or large and that magnification range will get you from 20 metres out to several hundred, more magnification doesn't make you shoot better you can just see better

Originally Posted by muzza

Strange - no-one has mentioned the "wobble" factor. As you crank the magnification up , every little shake and movement of the rifle is exaggerated immensely.

If you are bench-resting with bags it isnt a big deal but on a hunting rifle in the real world its a major drawback at anything much over 10-12 times magnification.

The wobble is there whether its a 2 or 42 powder scope, you just can't see it with the 2 power scope

I have found 14 max power is more than adequate on a hunting rifle out to & beyond 1000 yards

2-12 or 3-15 seem to be pretty much perfect for any situation especially when you can dial them if required

I love being at about 14 - 18x nowadays. I do find as I start creeping up above that it becomes too much, especially on a FFP
scope where the reticle starts getting thick. When I zero my 243 I always cringe at 9x and trying to decipher if I am in fact centre on the small dot at 100 haha.

More magnification generally means more size/weight. A 2-20x the size and weight of the 3-9 on my bush pig would be great but if there is such a thing I can't afford it. 9x is plenty for what I use that rifle for.
The 3-15 on my 7mmRM is a good compromise for that rifle and the distances I expect to shoot.