General Categories > General Firearm Discussion
Long Range Scope Opinions
kozball:
Question to all the "long gunners" out there.
Can you get too much scope? What power do you like?
I will soon be getting a Savage FCP-K in 308 win. This has a 24" barrel with comp and the accu-trigger. Great reviews out of the box. My hope is to be able to hit 18" x 24" plate at 600 yds and nothing closer than 200 yds or so. My 55 yr old eyes aren't as good as they used to be, and I don't have access to anyone that has a long scope.
Thanks for your thoughts.
wallace11bravo:
Is this strictly competition, tactical, target, or hunting? Or some combination thereof?
For the max range and caliber quoted:
Hunting: someone else can chime in
Target: As high of a power as you want, but keep in mind with extremely high powers, such as 40x, even your heartbeat can make the POA jump.
Tactical: 10-15x. Could go as high as 22x, but I would not recommend. 15x works well for me out to 1,100, a good balance of magnification and ability to acquire targets without searching or having to dial back. Variably power is nice, but not necessary. For most people, myself included, the variable power adjustment almost never moves. Therefore a FFP is basically pointless as well. For what you are wanting to do, a fixed 10x would be plenty sufficient.
Competition: depends on the type of competition. If it is F-class; same answer as for target. If you are talking about tactical comps, dialing in and out under time and pressure, mil-ranging, rapid target acquisition; same answer as the tactical.
The only thing a magnified optic, or a relatively higher magnification, actually does is give you a more finite point of aim. It does not make the weapon or the shooter more accurate.
Also, consider what direction you want to take this. A barrel can be trued or changed out, a receiver can be trued, a stalk can be bedded or changed out, but once you've bought glass, that's it, until you can afford new.
Make sure you get one with adjustable parallax for the ranges you are talking about (not to be confused with focus) Get dials that match your reticle, and badger ordinance rings and base. Align, lap, level, torque, loctite, plum test, box test, bore-sight.
Brands:
Nightforce (my personal favorite)
US Optics
Schmidt and Bender
Swarvoski (spelling)
As a general rule, your glass should cost twice as much as your stick. Buy once, cry once.
SemperFiGuy:
--- Quote ---Can you get too much scope?
--- End quote ---
Yewbetcha!
I once had a 24X scope on my Remington XB40 .22-250 prairie dog rifle.
It was like looking through a soda straw. Could never get it lined up on anything. Wavy mirage effect all the time on a hot day. Even thinking about it now, all that eyestrain pain comes back in a rush.
Switched to a 3X12 variable. Usually used it around 9-10 power. Worked great. Like most of my equipment, it was better than I was.
sfg
wallace11bravo:
Oh yeah, Mirage. The higher the power, the heavier the mirage (excluding environmental factors)
Eyestrain is different for everyone. Parallax control, good glass, and proper eye relief can help out quite a bit.
bkoenig:
If you don't want to spend a lot of money I've been happy with the Bushnell 3200 10x fixed power. I slap it on my AR for target work/prairie rats. It's not nearly as clear as the Leupold 1-4 I usually have on that gun, but for about $200 it's a pretty good scope. Doesn't have adjustable parallax, which is a downside. It does have mildot reticle and resettable target style turrets.
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