Ideal Magnification Range - sub 1000

[Outdoorsman12b]

Hey folks,

I have always fell in the less is more crowd for optics keeping my mag ranges under 12x on 4XMM objectives. It has served me well but there is a ton of guys on here using 25X 50MM optics. For shooting game at ranges sub 1000 yards what are the tangible advantages of bumping up to that magnification range?

Am I handicapping myself at extended range with 12X?

 

[Rich M]

Back in the day, the higher magnifications weren't available. Nothing wrong with using 25x if you got it.

 

[wind gypsy]

How close to 1000 you talkin? I don't shoot enough anymore to feel good about any shots over 800 and typically less than that. For that, 12x is fine IMO. If I were shooting 1000 I'd want at least 18x.

Depending on the rifle and recoil, I find more value in a wider FOV and ease of spotting impacts that come with lower magnification than I do being zoomed in more. There's still no denying that having a finer detail of you POA is a nice benefit with more magnification.

Other compromises that can frequently come with a high top end:

1. Bigger / heavier scopes
2. lack of a lower x bottom end for close or unexpected encounters
3. Compromises that can come with high zoom ratios (finicky parallax, lower exit pupil diameter (finicky eyebox), shallow depth of focus), FFP reticles that aren't ideal at either end of the zoom spectrum.

 

[Aaron Warpony]

just my opinion, I grew up always shooting a 3-9x scope and they work just fine, but for my eyes, I was limited to shooting under 300 yards at small targets. bigger scope means more weight, something to consider. Aim small miss small is my method. an elk looks just fine in a 9x at 300 yards, but if I tried to shoot a coyote or small target at 500, i struggled. For most of my hunting, i don't like anything under 14x and prefer 16x. I also don't like anything under 44mm objective because of light gathering. i think that the low power range of a scope is highly underrated too. the lower i can get the better, and i don't like anything more than 5x in case for close shots, running shots, possible bear meeting. for a sheep or goat gun, I know some guys like the smaller powers, objectives, but that is entirely a weight thing that is a specialty gun made for that purpose, most guys hunting west can afford the ounces. to me the perfect scope would be a ultra lightweight 1-22x with a big objective haha maybe someday.

I don't think i will ever buy a scope under 12 power ever again
Here's my general thinking for what my eyes like *must be good glass

9x big game under 300 yards, small game to 200 yards
12x big game to 500 yards, small game to 350 yards
16x big game to 700 yards, small game to 500 yards
22x will shoot farther than your gun can, i've shot my target gun to a mile with this power but it was a 6x6' target (target size really matters, guys like to brag about hitting at distance, but most wont say how big a target or how many times they missed between hits)

Some guys are really good with the lower magnifications, i like to have the higher magnification for smaller targets. I like to have the crosshairs on a target, not blacking it out haha

 

[Outdoorsman12b]

Thanks for responses so far. To help steer this thread the focus should maybe not be on 1000 yards but normal hunting distances up to 1000 yards.

From above what I am pulling out is that the higher magnification will give me a more precise aiming point as the listed advantage so far. To question that based on my experience shooting at these ranges so far:

1) At lower magnification I get a better FOV which helps me with spotting impacts.
2) Mirage is a huge inhibitor from using higher magnification and only doable in ideal conditions.

So how much advantage of going to 25X is a shooter going to actually realize?

 

[Aaron Warpony]

good points, Sometimes i scale my scope back to 10x if the mirage is bad, etc, but i sure do like to have the option of 16x. 4- 12 or 16x for big game hunting is ideal i think for budget, practicality. If i can't get within 800 yards of big game, I'm not gonna shoot at it. Most calibers run out of effective kill energy before or soon after anyway. FOV is nice sometimes for sure. If you feel good with a 12x, then i would stick with it. But if you ever feel like you would like a little more, you can try it and always just dial back to 12x. I would vote against 25x unless it is a varmint gun or a target gun, they get heavy, big, and yeah sometimes you don't wanna use the higher mag anyway. Good luck with your research

 

[ChrisAU]

I really like 3-18, 4-20 scopes. Having said that, the bull in my avatar was taken with an SWFA 3-9 at 375 yards. Elk are big. For deer at 400+ I like having 15x or so.

 

[MallardAddict]

I like a 4-16 as an all around hunting magnification. I do have some scopes up to 25x but typically only use those on hunts I’m not going to carry a spotter on. Turn up the scope on known game in place of the spotter to evaluate but typically turn it back down to around 12-16 to shoot.

 

[Goose2345]

I’ll go against the grain here and make maybe a rookie opinion in I want as much magnification as I can have. In example 6.5 saum wears an nx8 4-32 at ten pounds 28 nosler wears a 7-35 atacr at 9 pounds. I know people will say you don’t need that much scope and there right but what I’ve come to realize is when I can zoom in and aim at a small Point I personally make more hits beyond 500 yards. Not always can I use max powers hence the reason they build variable power scopes lastly another reason I’ve come to like high power scopes even tho there bug and bulky alit of times I can save the extra weight by not having to carry a spotter because I have one basically attached to my gun! Just what works for me

 

[CApighunter]

Some rushing in the 3-18 or 4-16 range is ideal for me.

 

[HuntnPack]

I prefer something with 2.5-3 on the bottom end & 18-20 on the top end. This works good for me as all around hunting use.

 

[hunting1]

I like the rule of divide the magnification in half ( 10- power 500 yards, etc.) There are a lot of great hunters and shooters who run 6x SWFA's etc, but I like at least 10 on the top.

 

[ghostmoney]

I want the highest magnification I can get with keeping my rifle weight where I want it. I run NX8 4-32 and probably wont ever put anything else on my rifles. 32x is nice when doing load development and is also nice when hunting game at longer ranges. If you have multiple animals and you glass them up with a spotting scope then switch to the rifle I can zoom in to 32x to confirm the target animal. I have had my target animal be the last one and in the time I got my rifle setup and ready it had moved into the middle of the group. I was able to zoom in to 32x and confirm which one he was and then dropped my magnification down to 18x to take the shot so I could watch through scope.

 

[CTXhunter]

My thought process comes from my limited experience. My first ever PRS stage was 5 targets at 600 and the 5 at 1100. I was using a borrowed setup with something in the 30x mag top end. I felt the need to be all the way zoomed in to hit at those ranges, and when I got on the gun I spent about 10-15 seconds just trying to find my targets and when I shot I couldn’t see my impacts. Other shooters explained that I just needed to work the zoom a little better. DUH so for the rest of the match I stayed around 15x or less, saw my impacts, found my targets, and had a generally more enjoyable shooting experience. More mag is never a bad thing, but it is not always a good thing either. I think too much mag can be a beginners mistake for sure. I just recently got my hands on a leupold MK5 in the 3.6-18 and I have been thoroughly enjoying that scope and think it will be an awesome compact hunting scope. Moral of the story, lower mag with good glass can be very effective at distance!!

 

[Hill Difficulty]

My 2 cents is 1x of magnification per 100 yards distance as a rule. My highest mag variables are 10x and 12x that are plenty at 1,000 yards (most of my scopes are 6x fixed). Anyway, I'd much rather be proficient at 10X max magnification at 1,000 than thinking I need 20x or more. And as CTXhunter's post describes, getting caught without FOV is never worth compromising.

 

[khuber84]

16-20x for target ID, horn judging. Keep a spotter of 20-40x on hand. I shoot prs with a kahles k624i, I rarely leave 8-10x even when shooting targets out to 1400y.

 

[IDMONK]

For deer size game 1X magnification per 100yds. ( 3X @300 ect.). US military used a 10X scope for 1000yd + shots for a very long time. You will appreciate the field of view on a lower mag scope more often than a telescope you can spot the rings of Saturn with in a hunting scope. If it is a 100% dedicated LR gun with 0% chance of short to medium range shots then by all means go big. My target range guns wear big glass my hunting rifles wear 10ish max power, don’t seem to struggle with 1000yd shots. YMMV.

 

[Tullis94]

Here is how I look at scopes magnification. Lets assume you are hunting solo and taking a long range shot. Watching impact is VERY important in this situation.
If the scope is FFP then I really don't care to much. I can turn a 24x scope to 15x and spot my impact much easier. This means my scopes reticle values are still accurate. The lower power also makes it easier to keep the animal in view if a follow up shot is needed.
Now, if the scope is SFP I want my max power to be in the 15x area. I hold for wind and do not dial when hunting so it is important for my reticle to be accurate. This means I am shooting at max power. For reasons stated above I much prefer lower magnification in a SFP scope.

 

[slowelk]

Some rushing in the 3-18 or 4-16 range is ideal for me.

I agree with this. That said I do have a 5-30 scope on a 300 WM that I really like.

The "military snipers used to use 10 power scopes to shoot 1k" is so tired. Can you do it? Absolutely, but are there better options? Absolutely. These same snipers you're referring to also used to wear either heavy cotton or heavy wool uniforms, but we don't seem to recommend that to other hunters anymore. Technology has improved so much, and today we can have higher mag ranges that allow similar, if not better fields of view and optical clarity.

 

[IDMONK]

I agree with this. That said I do have a 5-30 scope on a 300 WM that I really like.

The "military snipers used to use 10 power scopes to shoot 1k" is so tired. Can you do it? Absolutely, but are there better options? Absolutely. These same snipers you're referring to also used to wear either heavy cotton or heavy wool uniforms, but we don't seem to recommend that to other hunters anymore. Technology has improved so much, and today we can have higher mag ranges that allow similar, if not better fields of view and optical clarity.

Higher magnification comes at a cost, FOV and the ability to stay on target specifically. Not to mention eye relief, and the ability to offhand shoot in a time crunch. A Hubble telescope will not make you or your rifle more accurate or deadly. You may find the opposite. High mags have their place, on a 100% dedicated LR rig maybe. My hunting rifles have to perform well at 50yds and 1000yds. Versatility is awesome.