How much zoom do you like on a 500 yard hunting shot?

[PathFinder]

Not over 8x, closer to 6x most of the time.

 

[ChrisAU]

I’ve taken a few animals with a 3-9 at that distance give or take, but I do find myself liking 10-12x now.

 

[Wrench]

This rifle has a 2-8×32mm zeiss with target turrets. I routinely shot our steel course with it. Moa sized targets were in trouble to the 800 line.

 

[MallardSX2]

I would set on 12x.

 

[270-300]

Ive made ine 487 yard shot on an animal. Was an antelope. I set my scope at 16x. It does go higher. Im not against long shots. I just rarely need more than 200 yards here in wyoming. Even the open flats of carbon county. The next year after that 487 yard shot, I shot a mule deer on the same ridge at 85 yards. Which is the long way of getting to my next point, you can always made do with less mag, but when your scope has no low end and the elk comes walking through at 60 yards your screwed.

 

[270-300]

This rifle has a 2-8×32mm zeiss with target turrets. I routinely shot our steel course with it. Moa sized targets were in trouble to the 800 line. View attachment 1025797

Ive kind of settled on 2.5-10 for big game and 4-16 for varmits. So im right there with you.

Im sure someone else who thinks he is the only one in wyoming who hunts and uses the internet will tell me how every shot on game here is 1,500 yards and it takes a 30x scope to be in the game.

 

[270-300]

8x is plenty to kill big game out to 500. Leupold is the red flag in the equation.

Why do you not like leupold?

Im bot bashing you, I have one leupold on a rifle, seems solid, i appreciate its made just a thousand miles away. Optically though, I have scopes half the price that are just as clear and more bright.

 

[EdP]

I don't dial so I'm usually on max magnification for shots beyond 250yds and using the BDC subtensions. I have no problem putting good hits on the lifesize steel coyote gong at 500 yds at the range with my .30-06 and 3-9 Leupold. Never had a failure to hold zero either. I'm not a Leupold basher like so many on here, but if I was going to buy a new scope it would be a Trijicon.

That's right, I'm not shooting a CM or PRC or going after moose with a .223, and my scopes are not all NF or SWFA and I still kill stuff. I guess that makes me an enigma on Rokslide, but I am pretty old.

If you don't dial you need to consider the loss of field of view with the high magnification scopes because you are pretty much committed to the max magnification for shots beyond your max point blank range. I have found 9x to be the minimum and12x to be the max I want on my big game rifles. The extra magnification of a 16x is not going to help you make a better shot on a deer at 500 yds but it will make it harder to find that deer in the scope for a follow up shot if needed.

 

[Kaleb]

Because of where I live and hunt animal shooting at 500 is very rare for me. I can count on one hand how many deer I have shot hunting in the 400's. Culling is different and sometimes purposefully set up at that distance. I think it's always been 9-10x but that's because the scope I've used the most is a 3-9. I'm sure if I was using a different scope at the time I might turn it up a little bit more.

Shooting steel I normally turn them up but it will still range from 6x to 15-20x depending on which rifle I pick up.

 

[Jake Larsen]

These responses

What are you concerned about? That the dial is non-locking?

8x

On the Leopold, do some searches on here about that topic. Many many users have had very bad experiences with Leupolds. They are great scopes on paper, nice weight and bright glass. But unfortunately the scope internals have big issues with reliability. There’s literally dozens of other posts/in depth discussion on this issue, so there’s no reason to have it again in this thread.

Also, check out the “drop test” evaluations under the optics section. Rokslide has a quite robust history with the topic of reliable scopes, which is why you’re getting these responses


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Macintosh]

The higher the recoil, the less magnification. On what I consider a hunting-weight gun I would not accept anything with more than 10-12x magnification on a 2fp scope. A little more flexibility on a ffp scope. But Im not shooting above 10-12x at 500 yards except on paper or with an extremely heavy/low recoil rifle (prs rig or similar). Imo the “need” for more magnification based only on moderately long range (<500) shots at a 10-18” target is mostly in peoples heads.
There could be “special cases” where a particular very specific use case it makes more sense to have and use higher magnification, but I think thats going to be the exception rather than the norm, and may be harmful in other more common situations—so as a general rule Im erring toward higher magnification doing more harm than good.

 

[mt terry d]

What bullet and velocity? Killed an elk at 410 this year with a TMK so Interested in your experience.

77 TMK terminal velocity 1970 fps

 

[Chris in TN]

It depends on lighting and recoil and numerous other factors. Shooting freshly painted white steel with the sun behind you is easy enough on 4X at 500. Move the sun and change colors and stick the animal in some same-colored brush, and I like having the option to go higher.

My longest shot on a game animal was 451. I used something like 14x. Dialed elevation, no wind, started with scope on 18x and went back to ~14x for a brighter image with more FOV. Didn’t see the hit (recoil) but did see which way the animal ran. He didn’t go far.

I shot last night right at dark at 550 a few shots. 8x was the minimum that allowed me to square the reticle on the target. 14x made it much easier to hold into the wind (about 1.5moa of wind and my first shot was a marginal hit as I underestimated). Even on 14x shooting weak side, I could easily spot hits (or, could see the plate swing on impact - couldn’t see the actual poi because it was near dark).

Everything is a compromise and I don’t think there’s a single answer set in stone. Also, guys with poor vision will be more sensitive to magnification and will likely need more minimum magnification but might be less able to handle too much magnification if lighting is poor.

You really do have to figure these things out for yourself. There’s no single universal answer here. I’ll just say that I personally see 18x, maybe 20x, as an absolute ceiling on any hunting rifle (hunting defined by how I hunt which might differ from you), but others may prefer 12x or 25x and as long as they use it in practice enough to know how it works for them I’m fine with it.

A few years ago I was elk hunting with a guide whose brother was guiding on another nearby ranch and that guy’s client missed a chance at a really nice bull at ~100 yards because he had a fixed 20x scope on his long range rifle. Oops. Don’t be that guy.

 

[Rockpicker]

At 550 I’ve used 10x on deer. Could have turned the mag ring more but didn’t need to.