Posted: 4/2/2025 3:16:27 PM EDT
| What power scope are you running? I'm currently running a VX3HD 3.5-10. Bagged my first deer at 182 yards last year and felt a little under-scoped aiming at it. Debating on a VX5HD 4-20x52. The pigs I've shot have been roughly 20 yard shots so I feel like I still need a low power option and the 5HD fits that bill. I'm having a hard time justifying the upgrade, when I'm feeling like maybe realistically a little more practice might be what I need more than a new scope. |
Watching the kids shoot Pieeater's 1919 was great. Nothing warms the heart more than seeing a little kid kneeling in a pile of brass and links.-Pthfndr after the Nov 13th NorCal shoot
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| If your longest shot is within 250 or so then 9x is definitely more than sufficient. I’ve taken a 1-4x out to 600yds on C zone steel and made repeated hits without much drama. 9x should be very doable to about 500yds, though I’d definitely want a proper reticle and/or good turrets to do so. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a different scope, though! |
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Originally Posted By bluedog82: If your longest shot is within 250 or so then 9x is definitely more than sufficient. I’ve taken a 1-4x out to 600yds on C zone steel and made repeated hits without much drama. 9x should be very doable to about 500yds, though I’d definitely want a proper reticle and/or good turrets to do so. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a different scope, though! Good point about the reticle. I have a 1.5-5x-20 Leupold MR/T SPR that I've used on woodchucks at ~400yds. The reticle is super sharp, so I've never felt handicapped by the lower power on the high end. I've shot some of the best 1,000yd groups of my life with a Leupold 10x USMC mil-dot reticle. |
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Originally Posted By sgtlmj: Good point about the reticle. I have a 1.5-5x-20 Leupold MR/T SPR that I've used on woodchucks at ~400yds. The reticle is super sharp, so I've never felt handicapped by the lower power on the high end. I've shot some of the best 1,000yd groups of my life with a Leupold 10x USMC mil-dot reticle. Attached File |
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What exactly would you like to see improved? Everyone is different, everyone sees different, everyone wants different things, but there are very, very few people that would want a more than a 10x for a shot on a deer at 182 yards. Generally 2x per 100 yards is about what I consider "ideal" for me. Having that field of view to see your shot, where that animal goes to, what is around it, that's very important to me. A 10x scope at that kind of range can work, but you are giving up quite a bit of that field of view. Some people like 1x per 100 yards, and for larger animals such as deer or elk that can work great. According to the Leupold specs, that scope at 10x at 182 yards is only about a 20 foot field of view. That's adequate for the shot, but the second that deer jumps, he's out of view. You may or may not even be able to see it at all since the deer can be gone before the recoil allows you to get back on target. I always encourage new hunters to be conservative on their scope power, both because of the above reasoning, and because they have a tendency to choose too high a power anyway both before and during the shot. One hard learned lesson almost everyone finds out eventually is you always leave your scope on your minimum setting. If you get that 4-20x, and you decide to set it in the middle, say 12x, and you have to make a timely shot at 50 yards, you have severely hampered yourself. Even on 4x, at 50 yards you are limiting yourself, it's doable, but not ideal. It's not just just about pointing at the animal, if you get brush involved, or low light, too high a power washes out your vision quickly, especially if a little buck fever shaking is involved. Shooting pigs at 20 yards with a scope set to 4x is a recipe for failure. You wouldn't even be able to see the entire animal. Maybe if you had them under a feeder and you had a ton of time to figure out where his shoulder is, and figure out where to aim, but why do that to yourself? Instead I want you to consider this. Surely you can effectively shoot open sights or a red dot at 50 yards with no difficulty. A 4x at 200 yards is the same view you get with your own eyes at 50 yards. It's even easier though, since you get a fine crosshair to aim with, not a set of sights or large dot. There's also a problem with scopes with wide power ranges. The larger the ratio from your low to high power, the more difficult that scope becomes to use. Your eyebox gets smaller. Your eye relief changes from low to high power, and it only gets worse the more you go. Your depth of field gets worse, and even the reticles themselves can become an issue. You can get scopes with huge ranges like 1-10x, 2.5-20x, etc. but they come with drawbacks that become very apparent in hunting situations. Instead a tighter ratio is more forgiving. A traditional 3:1 is great, and a 5:1 is still a great choice for many too. I realize that is a lot of writing, but it's the best way I can explain the problems you will create if you go that route. Your problem almost certainly isn't power related. As I said, everyone is different and sees different, but 10x is not your problem. It's like shooting at 18 yards with your naked eye. If that is an issue, more power is not the solution. So what specifically were you unhappy with? Did you feel you couldn't make the animal out clearly in low light? Again more power would only make this worse. The higher the power with the same objective lens, the smaller the exit pupil, which will reduce the ability for your eye to see the light. Generally 5mm is consider a healthy eye dilation, younger people may be larger, older may be smaller. For a theoretical maximum light transmission you want your scope exit pupil to be as large or larger than your own eyes pupil. Anything smaller is only reducing the amount of light you can see. For example, a scope with a 40mm objective lens set to 10x power would have an exit pupil of only 4mm. Set to 8x, it would be 5mm. A scope with a 56mm objective lens set to 20x would have an exit pupil of only 2.8mm, a very poor choice for low light hunting. Even if you turned it back to 15x, it's still only 3.73mm, still a poor choice for low light. Another problem I've seen is some people never set their diopter, which is the most rearward eye piece. There's a lot of videos out there on how to do this. The gist is it sets the focus to your reticle. The problem is your eyes can focus if you give them a second. People may look at their reticle and after a second it appears crisp, then focus on the target and it appear blurry until it gets in focus, but you don't really get both clear at the same time. If you set the diopter, you are not forcing your eyes to work around the mis-adjustment. You want both the target and reticle to be crystal clear at the same time. |
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No flames intended. You're asking for input, I'm trying to help . 10x at 182 yards is plenty. A whole lot plenty. Just my opinion, but one based on 25 years of big game hunting. Most of my scopes run 1.5-6x. muzzle loader has a 1.5-5x. all time favorite deer rifle has a 25 year old Leupold Varix 3 in 1.75-6x. It's taken a boat load of big game at ranges often running 175 yards. Used a Bushell Elite 4500 in 1.5-6x to shoot a cow moose in the head at a laser ranged 292 yards... If you only shoot deer at 300 yards from a static blind, a high mag scope is fine. Youve got minutes or hours to pick up the deer in the narrow field of view. And you can rest the rifle on the blind so you don't notice the shakes... Have to shoot off hand? You're going hate a 14, 15, 16x scope. If it's close range the field of view is narrow. And forget dialing up and shooting off hand. Are you're going to see is trembles and shakes and cross hairs dancing all over. Which is why so many guys are trying shooting sticks, and tripods and rests. And by the time you're all set up, the deer walked off. . Sometimes "more" is not better. I think this applies to scopes. If you're western hunting, glass a deer, have time to set your pack, get prone, settle in , etc, a 12,14,16 can work well. For most deer hunting, 10x is about the most magnification most people can use off hand, impromptu, leaning on a tree, etc at most ranges. Other opinions may vary . This is the best input I have... Apparently, I'm not alone in this idea. Delve into actual in use military sniping rifles. Many wear a fixed 10x. And these scopes are plenty for delivering accurate fire at ranges of 600, 800 and more yards. |
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All my hunting rifles wear a dope sheet on the ocular lens. If I don't have a milrad reticle, I dope it out in inches. This particular deer rifle is wearing a Zeiss Conquest 3-9 which plenty for my forested area. Attached File |
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| This is all great information. I think you guys all nailed down my final sentence in the OP that realistically I think I need more practice. Buck fever is real, shooting in the field is much different than at the range, and I think I just need to spend some time in the upcoming months shooting in the field from various positions. I hunt blacktail on the west coast, and it's real common for guys to have high power scopes and take long shots. I'm definitely not there yet. |
Watching the kids shoot Pieeater's 1919 was great. Nothing warms the heart more than seeing a little kid kneeling in a pile of brass and links.-Pthfndr after the Nov 13th NorCal shoot
| 182 yards I wouldn’t even move it off of 3.5x. A 1-4 is more than sufficient for that kind of work and if you have regular 20 yard shots as well it would be a better choice than what you currently have. So I’d go the opposite direction in magnification for an upgrade. |
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Everyone is different i personally use a SHV 4-14x50mm F1 on my main deer rifle. Distinguishing a doe from a spike is critical where i hunt most of the time state laws and all…. I certainly have some low power optics for woods hunting. Alabama I shot a big bodied spike at a 130 yards with an 8x paslx on my 444marlin this year……. The land owner making the call with binos telling me it was a doe he wanted culled……legal by state law but not what he thought it was. If i would have been using my nightforce i could have easily seen those spikes |
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.270 Wby with a NXS 3.5-15x |
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Light weight and does everything I need it to do. Cheap Tasco scopes worked for me when I had young eyes. Now over the hill, I enjoy nice but budget friendly glass... VX-Freedom 3-9x40 Hunt-Plex https://www.leupold.com/vx-freedom-3-9x40-hunt-plex-riflescope |
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Originally Posted By thederrick106: Light weight and does everything I need it to do. Cheap Tasco scopes worked for me when I had young eyes. Now over the hill, I enjoy nice but budget friendly glass... VX-Freedom 3-9x40 Hunt-Plex https://www.leupold.com/vx-freedom-3-9x40-hunt-plex-riflescope That scope in the CDS model with Tri-MOA reticle is one of my favorites. Probably my favorite low cost hunting scope. I'm not sure it's really worth it to change though, his VX3HD 3.5-10 is is a solid choice as it is, I would not recommend going to a VX-Freedom 3-9x, it's so close in power, and a downgrade in glass. Even better I think would be the Mark 3HD 3-9x40 with firedot TMR reticle. It's twice the price of the VX-Freedom 3-9x40 CDS Tri-MOA though. It's also a tiny bit heavier, but one of the lightest 30mm tube scopes I've seen, and the illuminated reticle may come in real handy in dark conditions. I wish they made it in a 2-7x model. |
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Originally Posted By fgshoot: That scope in the CDS model with Tri-MOA reticle is one of my favorites. Probably my favorite low cost hunting scope. I'm not sure it's really worth it to change though, his VX3HD 3.5-10 is is a solid choice as it is, I would not recommend going to a VX-Freedom 3-9x, it's so close in power, and a downgrade in glass. Even better I think would be the Mark 3HD 3-9x40 with firedot TMR reticle. It's twice the price of the VX-Freedom 3-9x40 CDS Tri-MOA though. It's also a tiny bit heavier, but one of the lightest 30mm tube scopes I've seen, and the illuminated reticle may come in real handy in dark conditions. I wish they made it in a 2-7x model. If I upgrade, it'll be to the VX6HD at this point. The 3-18 should cover me in any situation I put myself in. The firedot reticle looks like a nice bonus too. For now though, I ordered a 6" steel target, and will be practicing with that out to 300 yards in hunting scenarios, and will decide on a new scope down the road. |
Watching the kids shoot Pieeater's 1919 was great. Nothing warms the heart more than seeing a little kid kneeling in a pile of brass and links.-Pthfndr after the Nov 13th NorCal shoot
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| A couple of my rifles have Vortex 2-10x Vipers. I think that's the best all-around scope for me for this region- grassland, riparian areas, and timber up in the mountains. I really like a lower magnification on the low end for close-in shooting and wide-angle scanning. 10x on the high end is more than enough for 500 yards on in. |
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Fixed Fuddleys scopes are all you need. 2.5x, 3x, or 4x at most. The compact ones are lightweight, like the older Leupy M8 compacts. Lot of safari guys run them on the hard-kickers. If you’ve got vision like Mr. Magoo, well, …. you’ve got issues. |
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A fixed 2x can be a great handgun scope. If you were really had for cash, I can think of a lot worse than a fixed Leupold 4x for a rifle. Besides that, I don't see why anyone would choose a fixed power today. I gave it a try recently with an SWFA. It sucks, plain and simple. There's so many high quality variable scopes out there, and there is not one advantage I can think of to a fixed power scope. Even weight doesn't appear to be an advantage. The Leupold M8 4x appears are around 9 ounces. The Leupold VX-Freedom 1-4x is listed at... 8.1 ounces, so as light if not lighter. The M8 did have a larger objective lens for the higher magnifications, but it doesn't help much for the 4x and lower power. The 1-4x has a 20mm lens, which gives it a 5mm exit pupil at 4x, which is the most an average person can use. If you live out west, a fixed 6x was a classic big game option, but again I really fail to see one thing it does better than a 2-7x. |
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I'm using 2 Vortex LHT 3-15's and a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10x56. Also have a Bushnell LRTS 3-12 on a semi-auto 308 that will hit the field some this fall. I like the 2.5-10, 3-12, and 3-15 mag range. I figure 3-9 was the gold standard for 50 years, so staying close to that on the low end, and getting more on the top end is great. Plus I like the 12-15 power for sight in and practice. I can see my bullet holes and make scope corrections without ever leaving my chair. I also like a little zoom when I break the shot "aim small miss small". I think I use about 6x for the 100yd shots and was somewhere 8-10x on my 160yd shot last year. Would be easily at 10x mag at 200yd on whitetail and anything over that is probably full mag, though I have yet to have an opportunity over 200yd. |
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Originally Posted By Moultrie: 3 or 4 power is fine at the low end. I've shot deer under my stand with a 4-16 before. I know some old timers that shot a fixed 6x their entire lives. |
