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Thread: Scope Magnification SOP?

  1. #1

    Scope Magnification SOP?

    For those of us who are new to long range shooting, is there a standard practice or rule for what magnification is appropriate for the task? I understand with LPVO's the numbers generally correspond to yards. A 1-6 is good to 600 yards, a 1-8 to 800, etc. But for scopes like a 4-12, 5-25, 7-35... how much is too much? Is the first number the ideal starting point - like a 5-25 would be for 500 yards and beyond? I realize the the higher mag will mean smaller FOV and might mean missing your splash or trace.

    I'm building a 6.5CM but am reaching the point of analysis paralysis. With good scopes costing as much as they do... I'd like to get it right the first time. lol

    Thanks!

  2. #2
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    What is the min, max ranges your looking to shoot to and where will you live mostly. Ive not been a big fan of super magnification scopes. Their limitations at the top are often overlooked. With that being said, a lot of people have switched to using their scope as their spotting scope too. That is kinda interesting and where that big top number may come in handy.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by El Cid View Post
    For those of us who are new to long range shooting, is there a standard practice or rule for what magnification is appropriate for the task? I understand with LPVO's the numbers generally correspond to yards. A 1-6 is good to 600 yards, a 1-8 to 800, etc. But for scopes like a 4-12, 5-25, 7-35... how much is too much? Is the first number the ideal starting point - like a 5-25 would be for 500 yards and beyond? I realize the the higher mag will mean smaller FOV and might mean missing your splash or trace.
    What kind of long-range shooting are you doing?

    For specific disciplines, go to a match and ask around. Most competitors will talk your ear off about their preferences and experiences, and some of them will let you shoot their gear so you can see for yourself. Matches are also a great place to buy used gear that’s solid but not exactly what someone wants. These folks won’t sell you junk because it would hurt their reputations and they often sell at a deep discount. This is a great way to get good gear, grow into it, and form your own opinions.

    Surveys like https://precisionrifleblog.com/categ...-the-pros-use/ are helpful but remember that most “pros” are sponsored and the gear that sponsors give them is essentially built by hand and may be considerably different than what mere mortals can buy over the counter.

    Beyond that, a scope’s low end is tied to speed and the top end is tied to precision. The classic hunting scope is 3-9 because 3x is easy to use quickly in the brush and 9x lets the hunter pick out targets (or parts of targets) out to fair sporting ranges without forcing too many compromises in other areas of performance.

    You can get hits quickly at 4x and some hunters love 6x, so if you need speed, then 4-6x makes sense at the low end. Top end tends to be discipline-specific, but magnification increases weight, mounting issues, and other complications. Also, usable optical performance tends to decline as magnification grows--for one thing, brightness can drop off dramatically above about 20x, which is a drag in low light.

    Using a rifle scope as a spotter may work on the range but it’s unsafe if you’re hunting.

    Quote Originally Posted by El Cid View Post
    I'd like to get it right the first time.
    Pretty unlikely. Scopes are like holsters. What you like today may not be what you like once you get your feet on the ground. That may evolve again as your skills develop or you may lose interest in the one thing that made you think that a specific piece of gear was "best."


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  4. #4
    Mod Clusterfrack's Avatar
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    For me, the reticle and how it appears at 15-20x is the most important thing.
    Instructor/540 Training

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clusterfrack View Post
    For me, the reticle and how it appears at 15-20x is the most important thing.
    I’m primarily shooting PRS and PRS22. I’m normally in the same 15-20x range as CF and only go to the top magnification for zeroing. Mostly I want a reticle I can read for holds and corrections and a decent field of view for finding targets. A lot of this comes down to reticle design, but the biggest problem I’ve had with the higher magnification scopes (~35x) is a reticle I can’t read at the power range I want.

  6. #6
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate the responses and I recognize there is much I have to learn. As for how I will use the scope, I haven’t really decided yet. I did a Defoor Scoped rifle class earlier this year and was able to get my hits out to 1000 yards. That was with a 16” 5.56 and a 1-6 LPVO. I’ve taken a couple other longer range focused classes, including from Failuretostop. We have some long range facilities not terribly far away, but steel challenge consumes most of my time and money when it comes to matches. I haven’t researched PRS yet to see what’s around. For now this is just to test the waters and see if I enjoy it as much as I think I will. I have a .308 gas gun, but it has a 1-6 and is more of a walking around rifle. I’m building a 6.5CM gas gun, and this has me thinking about getting a more powerful scope that will allow me to get the most out of the cartridge.

    All of my scopes currently are LPVO’s in a range of quality/cost. This was in part because I wanted something I could use for all the things and ranges longer than 50 or 100 yards are harder to find than they should be. I was able to look through some of the higher mag scopes in the Defoor class, and have an idea of the reticle I want (Mil-XT). I’m also pretty focused on NF glass for now. I just found it interesting that they have ATACR’s in 7-35, 5-25, 4-16, and 4-20 but they also offer the NX8 in a 4-32. Seems like you get more capability from the NX8 but that probably means I’m missing something. Lol! Especially since it’s a smaller tube.

  7. #7
    G26 MAFIA Noah's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by El Cid View Post
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate the responses and I recognize there is much I have to learn. As for how I will use the scope, I haven’t really decided yet. I did a Defoor Scoped rifle class earlier this year and was able to get my hits out to 1000 yards. That was with a 16” 5.56 and a 1-6 LPVO. I’ve taken a couple other longer range focused classes, including from Failuretostop. We have some long range facilities not terribly far away, but steel challenge consumes most of my time and money when it comes to matches. I haven’t researched PRS yet to see what’s around. For now this is just to test the waters and see if I enjoy it as much as I think I will. I have a .308 gas gun, but it has a 1-6 and is more of a walking around rifle. I’m building a 6.5CM gas gun, and this has me thinking about getting a more powerful scope that will allow me to get the most out of the cartridge.

    All of my scopes currently are LPVO’s in a range of quality/cost. This was in part because I wanted something I could use for all the things and ranges longer than 50 or 100 yards are harder to find than they should be. I was able to look through some of the higher mag scopes in the Defoor class, and have an idea of the reticle I want (Mil-XT). I’m also pretty focused on NF glass for now. I just found it interesting that they have ATACR’s in 7-35, 5-25, 4-16, and 4-20 but they also offer the NX8 in a 4-32. Seems like you get more capability from the NX8 but that probably means I’m missing something. Lol! Especially since it’s a smaller tube.
    It’s all beyond my full understanding, but the zoom ratio of the scope is tied to “soft” features like clarity, light transmission, eye box and eye relief, etc. The much wider ratio of the 4-32 *probably* hurts it in soft features compared to a tighter range. That is the same reason a 1-6 often has a better eye box, exit pupil, 1x etc than a 1-8 let alone a 1-10, which are really high magnification ratios.

    Gizmos and features *can* sometimes be used as selling points or crutches to conceal a lower level of basic usability in terms of soft features.

    ETA: NF is probably a lot less guilty of this than most companies, it is far more common in budget optics. It’s a FFP so it’s automatically better! It’s a 1-8 or 1-10 so it’s automatically better! It has a very fancy reticle so it’s automatically better! Stats on paper can never tell the whole story and “feature packing” can be deceiving.

  8. #8
    Supporting Business CS Tactical's Avatar
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    [MENTION=9095]El Cid[/MENTION] there is good information above and the subject will go into more than I can type Whenever you have some time, feel free to call me at 916-628-3490 - Richard
    CS Tactical
    For the best pricing on Optics please PM or call 916.670.1103x2
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    Nightforce, MDT, Vortex, XLR Industries and more...
    www.cstactical.com

  9. #9
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    ^^^

    Absolutely call Richard [MENTION=12312]CS Tactical[/MENTION]. He was very helpful when I was buying and needing to discuss some options on the scope and mount I wanted.
    Last edited by EricP; 07-30-2024 at 12:19 PM.

  10. #10
    Site Supporter HeavyDuty's Avatar
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    I highly recommend taking advantage of [MENTION=12312]CS Tactical[/MENTION] Richard’s expertise here - that’s what I just did.

    My use case is a 6.5 Grendel 18”. My local club has ranges out to 500, plus I have occasional access to 1000+ at the family ranch out in rattlesnake country. I don’t expect to be hunting with it (although now that I think about it taking hogs at the ranch is highly encouraged.) Almost all of my longer range shooting is on plates. Short term I’ve had a SWFA 12x mounted up on this rifle.

    A few months ago I called Richard, at that point we were thinking about a Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18. This past weekend I was up at Scheels in DFW and had a chance to handle that scope plus a Mark 4HD 6-24. (And a nosebleed priced tactical Zeiss, but I digress.)

    After talking through things with Richard again today I went ahead and ordered the 6-24. He made a very good case that I would likely find myself hanging aground in the 20x sweet spot, and I agree with his thinking. Based on past experience with a Nikon 4-16 on my VSSF I’d probably always have the 4.5x18 cranked to 18x, this will give me some breathing room.

    Waiting for Brown Santa. Thanks, Richard!
    Ken

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