30mm vs 1 inch

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I want to hunt antelope one day. The scope I have on the gun that I will use has a "ballistic" reticle. I will will practice enough with it to know what to expect. 400 yards isn't a chip shot and beyond that, it gets substantially more complicated. Bullet drop is easy to factor for. Crosswinds are hard to read and compensate for. At 400 yards a 500ish BC bullet will drift 8ish more inches in a 20 MPH crosswind than a 10. Winds are rarely steady. A little human error along with mother nature throwing a gust in at the wrong time, and the shooter is all but guaranteed a miss, or worse a bad hit. Then shooter error comes into play. I have done pretty good shooting from field positions, but not as good as on the bench. You never know what field position you'll end up shooting from.

I don't have a lot of open country experience. 3 years in Alaska in the pre-rangefinder days. Holdover out to an estimated 400 yards with most chamberings isn't too hard, though I did make some mistakes in range estimation.

 

[Powell]

I remember asking this same question years ago to a buddy that worked for Burris. I was debating between the Signature line w/1" tube and their Black Diamonds w/30mm. He told me the internal parts were the same between the two. There for the light transmission and FOV would be the same. Only gain was turret travel, weight and price. I know that my not be the end all be all answer for all manufactures. High end glass is harder and harder to find in the 1" breeds. Swarvo makes some killer 1" scopes tho.

That being said, I have 1", 30mm and 34mm tubes. I've had a 40mm IOR and it was fine too.

If you are not going to twist turrets 1" would be fine. A lot is the look you are going for. Lot of people don't like the look of the 1" scopes. I think they look a little odd if you are running a 56mm OBJ with tall rings and a 1" tube.