Thread: Who loves magnification?

3-10 for me, 5-600y on an animal, havnt done it for a long time, doesn’t come of 3-4 these days

Originally Posted by MB

I have the same setup. In my humble opinion, it is a good all rounder. While it maybe master of none, it will cover most eventualities.

I've always that that was a good scope but that is let down by the 4.5 power being a little high at the bottom end

Originally Posted by Remmodel7

I've always that that was a good scope but that is let down by the 4.5 power being a little high at the bottom end

I had one and agree. Not so much the bottom end power but lack of FOV at 4.5x. Didn't suit my sort of hunting.
Couldn't go to a fixed power either. I find I am changing the magnification a lot depending on where I am.

My NZ hunting rigs are:
223 = 3-10
308 = 3-9
7WSM = 2-12
7RUM = 3-18

Last year I had the chance to do some prairie dog shooting in Sth Dakota, using a variety of rifles/calibers/optics, with shooting ranging from ~50-500 yards. Despite most of the scopes having top end magnification of x18 or more, I found myself using no more than x12 for most of the two days of shooting - combination of FoV and mirage meant I didn't use more magnification much (often I was using <x10). Given the size of the targets, and my lack of varminting background, I was surprised by how little amount of magnification I could get away with and still shoot accurately.

I've been toying with the idea of putting a higher magnification (up to ~x20) scope on the WSM, but have decided its good enough for now (out to ~600).

Originally Posted by 10-Ring

I'm sure scope manufacturers and retailers love higher magnification scopes; more profit for them.

Some of the youngsters I've come across who have a huge, heavy, high magnification Hubble type scope on their lightweight 7mm/08 or .308 ruining the balance and handling of such a rifle. Of course they're going to shoot deer at 600m or more easy as pie because the guy in the shop who sold them the scope told them that's what they have to have to be successful deer hunters.

I once passed a couple of young guys going up the umakari with massive packs chocked to the brim and both carrying big bull barreled lam stocked hubble telescoped cannons. They were about halfway up and one looked like he had allready blown abiut 3 gaskets and the other looked ready to turn around. We passed them, ducked off the track shot, gutted and packed a deer then passed them again on the way down.

Would loved to have seen them once they got to the top, would have been to buggered to hunt I reckon

I like having a yarn to guys like that and letting them hold my kimber montana
you can see the gears start moving inside their head
you dont need to go that light but it certainly helps when you are trying to talk yourself into keeping on climbing

Originally Posted by Bagheera

...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.

When I was 12 I was given a then ancient, sad looking chinese air rifle and 500 pellets as some kind of "coming of age" gift by my father. I remember shooting at about 15 yards, open sights at home made paper targets and struggling a bit with my accuracy. One night in a gloomy mood I asked dad if the barrel might be worn or the sights needed adjusting.

He nary said a word, took the rifle and sat down beside me, settled in and proceeded to shoot the staples off my target page. No sling hold, no tripod, no super magnification.

Definitely showed me what you can do with so little and a bit of dedication!

Having said that, if you can't see it you can't shoot it. Big zoom has its place, and in a target practice sense knowing how much of a wobble you've got really opens your eyes

I have the 3-15 'scopes I use set on 4 all of the time while hunting, and then if I get a longer shot I wind the mag up until things "look right" (I don't take any notice of what particular power). Haze, light and field of view factors all kick in as you wind up. Ive found that the power I take the longer shots on is usually around about 12. Seldom 15, unless there is good light and the air is clear.

The higher power can be a bugger too after a shot and the deer start running around.

Originally Posted by Sarvo

Here a Q for you all
My neighbor who will be 80 this year and has shot a lot of Deer on his daughters Station next to Molesworth over many years and other parts of South Island
He says he always shoots with his scope on full magnification being 9x on most his scopes and maybe a 7x on one
He went form a 3006 to 223 and 243 in later years
Most if not all is open country shooting

What are your thoughts on that ??

Surprise no comments on this ????

I don't 'love' magnification but, unfortunately I now need it! My normal tops rifle (Husqvarna .30/06) has a Zeiss 8x, my .223 has a 4-12x trajectory compensating Nikon, My short range subsonic .300 Blackout has a Leupold 2-7x, and my two long range rifles have a Vortex 4-16x (.30/06) and a Sightron SIII 6-24x (.338 Lapua). The high magnification ability of the two long-range rifles can be a pain when trying to spot targets because of the very narrow field of view, so I spot at about 8-10x then crank up to full power to shoot. My .22 only has a 4x32 but I only use it below 100 metres with subs.

Originally Posted by Sarvo

Surprise no comments on this ????

Why? You just stated all of the criteria. Mature very experienced shot who knows the area well and no doubt the range in an environment where he doesn't really need low power and probably doesn't take shots too close anyway

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Why? You just stated all of the criteria. Mature very experienced shot who knows the area well and no doubt the range in an environment where he doesn't really need low power and probably doesn't take shots too close anyway

Sorry should have been clearer
But he uses 9x shooting here at 30-50m
Very different to me/my style

Love glass - I use 2 scopes on my main rifle a 4.8-35 and a 3-12 - swap them as required (Proper mounts of course)

I prefer to go for optics that gather the most light over magnification, so more the lower end of magnification. But i'm also too poor to afford high-magnification scopes with larger objective lenses!

.223 has a 2-7X33 it sits on 5. It might go to 9 to view then back to 5.

.300 Blackout has a Bushnell Dusk to Dawn 3-9 X40. Sits on 5.

Don’t do long range. A long shot for me would be 150m. So don’t really need magnification


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