4-14x50 or 5-25x56 for Elk?

[Headwatermike]

I crossposted in Optics, but figured I'd ask here since I mainly hunt for elk nowadays.
I have a 28 Nosler and am between a S&B PMii 5-25x56 or a Nightforce SHV F1 4-14x50.
The S&B has been on my .308 rifle and have used it for my NM elk hunts, but it's overkill for most applications. Works great in West Texas and for plinking though.

Any thoughts or opinions? Obviously the S&B is much heavier lol

I wouldn't elk hunt with either myself, and what you have for breakfast will make a bigger difference than this choice as to your success.

 

[Arminho]

I wouldn't elk hunt with either myself, and what you have for breakfast will make a bigger difference than this choice as to your success.

Man, I totally agree.

Reading all these posts has been so insightful, thank you to everyone. Basically, there's not a right or wrong answer for me, hah! I see it both ways and have decided to try both solutions and see what works for me. This is where the R8 and their quick detach mounts have always excelled, it made it so easy to rock both scopes on the R8.

 

[Arminho]

Those scopes are in pretty different price ranges. The SHV F1 has some design compromises that Nightforce needed to make to get down to that price compared to the S&B or NX8s or ATACRs. The SHV F1 has been reliable for me but apart from that I don’t love the scope. I’d buy the S&B or a more expensive Nightforce.

Any scope with a max mag around 14x or 16x has been fine for me on a hunting rig for shots further than I’d ever post to a public forum. I never turn my scope up past that mag on a shot because it cuts my FOV so low that it’s much harder to find the animal on a follow-up shot, if needed. YMMV.

The SHV was one of my first big money scopes and has served me well, but the S&B is on another level. I dropped my rifle on top of a mountain in West Texas a few years back, the sling attachment somehow unattached as it was on my shoulder. Boom, fell right on the scope. Huge dent in the objective scope ring.
Nailed a javelina at 325yds 5 min later, guess it held true. S&B replaced the ring and checked the scope out for free, great customer service

S&B way too heavy IMO.
Don't need a big #*& scope to take any NA game animal.
I have a 4-16x50 which I think is a bit much.
One of my favorite hunting scopes is 2.5x10x44.
FWIW

It's soooo heavy. My R8 and the PMII combo is about 14.5 lbs. :/

Neither of those will work. You need at LEAST a 300 win mag

I was literally waiting for someone to come in and say this! LOL

Nope, less is more when shooting from field positions. If you can always get prone and your rifle never moves and the animal drops in place, sure, run the scope up to 20x.

Typically, guys get in trouble using too much mag. They want to pick out the hair on the elk they wanna hit. They pull the trigger, and there's a big event that occurs and they lose the elk. It's only moved 20 feet right, but because you're zoomed in on 20x for a 750 yard shot, you've lost him. You have to turn the mag down and then back up in order to find him. If they were prone, sure maybe they could've stayed on him. But it's usually pretty rare to find a place where you can easily get prone. In fact, if I think back from all my kills the past few years, I can't think of one instance where I (or anybody I hunt with) even had the option to go prone. The minute you get off your belly, all bets are off the table, and a wide FOV and modest magnification will gain you more than anything. When you're rested on shooting sticks in a seated position and the gun goes off, you move off target the same amount as when you were on 20x, but your FOV allows you to not lose the elk, but see that he's moved down and right that 20 feet because you're not zoomed in on hair number 5,486 on his left shoulder.

Just run a scope on a modest magnification, and realize you don't need to shoot "1/4 MOA all day long when you do your part" to hit an 18" kill zone on an elk. You're putting holes in vital organs, not shooting cloverleaves on the shoulder. If you can hit an 18" plate at a distance, that's all that matters for a practical elk hunting application. If it's mule deer, bump that down to 12"

If we were talking coues deer, then it's probably a little different, but I won't opine there since I've never hunted coues.

I will definitely be practicing at lower mag the next year just in case.

I wouldn't elk hunt with either myself, and what you have for breakfast will make a bigger difference than this choice as to your success.

Wiser words have never been spoken.

 

[Flyjunky]

Never heard that before.

Now if you're shooting targets.. Yeah I get that. 10x is all you need for shooting 1k yards because at 1k your target is the size of a car, not moving, and not in some random shaded angle.

20X max. . My current 20x scope is not great magnification at 20x. if the scope happens to be a 3x- or 4x- at the start but overall my preference for a scope ends in 14-18x max

I've never understood the 10x is all you need at 1000 yard mantra. Sure, you can get it done but the precision in your poa is not what I want. Like someone said above, aim small to miss small. I will commonly shoot at 15-20x above 800 yards and if you have good form you shouldn't have any problem spotting hits or staying on the animal.

 

[Marble]

Nope, less is more when shooting from field positions....

Typically, guys get in trouble using too much mag. They want to pick out the hair on the elk they wanna hit. They pull the trigger, and there's a big event that occurs and they lose the elk. It's only moved 20 feet right, but because you're zoomed in on 20x for a 750 yard shot, you've lost him. /QUOTE]

I have seen this happen several times. This year, my buddy tried to shoot a bear at 300 yards,and he turned up his scope to 16x. He couldn't find the near in his scope, then he did and it all went down hill. He's very inexperienced, but smart. He won't do it again. Then, when the bear reappeared, he did the same thing again....

When i shot my elk this year, one at 300 the other at 350, I was on 5x. My buddy asked me what me what power I was on, which is a smart question to ask for a new hunter.

 

[bradpeterson345]

Many factors there. Long shots or open country? Is weight crucial for the particular hunt? I would personally take the larger scope

 

[MallardAddict]

Most of my hunting rifles are scopes with something in the 4-16 range as I find that a good compromise across the board. I do have several that use scopes that have 20-25x on the upper end for specific types of hunting but the extra weight is something to consider.