High Magnification Rifle Scope instead of Spotter?

[COSA]

Anyone ditch their spotter and just use a their 25-30 power rifle scope instead? I realize it's not going to be as good as a big spotter, but I imagine it wouldn't give up much to a compact spotter? Figure I could save 6 lbs not carrying a spotter and tripod.

 

[Cant hit em]

Anyone ditch their spotter and just use a their 25-30 power rifle scope instead? I realize it's not going to be as good as a big spotter, but I imagine it wouldn't give up much to a compact spotter? Figure I could save 6 lbs not carrying a spotter and tripod.

Never ever ever ever ever glass with your rifle scope.

 

[Wrench]

Sounds like a good way to get shot at.

 

[ChrisAU]

Never ever ever ever ever glass with your rifle scope.

^

 

[JG358]

Never ever ever ever ever glass with your rifle scope.

What he said!

 

[rklein]

I will agree with the above posts about muzzle safety. But, I know tolerances on scope rings/quick detach mounts, etc have come a long way. You might be able to use some quick detach rings, to then attach your rifle scope directly onto a tripod head. Just a thought...

Edit:
To clarify, if you were able to get quick detach rings that would not affect your zero by removing/reattaching then this might be a feasible option. I don't know that I would trust this from an accuracy perspective, but it would eliminate the muzzle safety issue with your question as originally asked.

 

[CCH]

If you did the above and removed it from your rifle. Otherwise you are violating some of the most basic safety rules there are. I have been glassed through a scope and was not pleased.

 

[tdot]

Anyone ditch their spotter and just use a their 25-30 power rifle scope instead? I realize it's not going to be as good as a big spotter, but I imagine it wouldn't give up much to a compact spotter? Figure I could save 6 lbs not carrying a spotter and tripod.

Are you talking about searching for animals with the rifle scope? Or simply that last confirmation look to confirm that an animal is the right animal for you?

As mentioned above, it's a horrible (stupid) idea to actively glass with a rifle scope in search of animals.

I'm not a fan of having huge glass on my rifle. But if I had a 14x scope and 8x binos and I'd already found the animal and was simply confirming the number of tines, etc. To confirm legality, etc. Then I would do that. But I certainly wouldnt put a bigger scope on my rifle just to achieve that.

And if I was just confirming what was making the brush move 1000 yards away, I sure as the hell wouldn't be using a rifle scope.

 

[tdhanses]

Horrible idea unless you plan to just carry an extra rifle scope in your bag for this.

 

[Boxerboxer]

If you did the above and removed it from your rifle. Otherwise you are violating some of the most basic safety rules there are. I have been glassed through a scope and was not pleased.

Even if you removed it from the rifle to make it safe to do, it would still suck because of the long eye relief.

 

[dakotaduner]

No no no. Please do not think of a rifle mounted scope as a spotting scope for all the obvious reasons.

 

[Trial153]

WTF?

 

[Rob5589]

I hope you are referring to a scope not mounted on your rifle. In that case, the eye relief would make it a pita. If you're talking about the scope on your gun, you should know better.

 

[Ben RT]

If you're speaking of saving 6lbs by not carrying a spotter and tripod, then how would you plan to stabilize the scope?

I've known guys who have packed a variable power scope to use in place of both binos and a spotter. It saves a lot of weight, space, and can be relatively inexpensive, but doesn't work to great for any serious glassing. I also knew one guy that had a dummy stock (no action, barrel, etc) with a scope attached to it (like at some sporting goods stores) that he would use from his vehicle. I've also seen quite a few guys glass with their rifle mounted optics and not even bat an eye about it.

Either way, I think you would lose some desirable qualities like a field of view, brightness, and clarity (especially at higher magnification). If it's all you can afford, then it could be made to work if you're able to hold it steady somehow. If it's about saving weight and you're truly not going to have it mounted, then you're better off buying a small spotter. I think quick disconnects will always have a bit of variance every time you remove and replace -- maybe not enough to worry about at close ranges anyway.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[shedfinder7]

I believe it would be a great thought and one way to save a ton of weight but would not work out at all. Maybe buy a backpack spotter like the nikon that is so light if weight is the main concern

 

[COSA]

Totally understand the feedback... I use my binos for glassing, only a spotting scope for verifying an animal is worth going after.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Totally understand the feedback... I use my binos for glassing, only a spotting scope for verifying an animal is worth going after.

Keep using the spotter as intended, use the rifle scope for shooting.