"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" Phillipians 1:6 KJV
A few notes on choosing a rifle scope:
First and foremost a riflescope must be able to hold its zero. If it won't hold a zero, it is less than useless. You can't miss fast enough to bring home the venison.
We want good optics, light transmission, contrast and clarity in our scope. We do not want the brightest scope available for two reasons:
a. The human eye can only use about 5mm exit pupil
b. The brighter the scope (all else being equal), the larger the objective lens must be
The larger the objective lens, the higher you must mount the scope to clear the bbl. This makes it difficult to get a good sight picture without craning your neck and lifting your cheek off the stock.
I like low power and moderate power variables. For most big game hunting situations, a 2X7X32, or 2X8X36, 1.5X4.5X32, 1.5X6X36 etc is all the scope you will ever need, even for shots out to 300 yards. For many years growing up, the standard recommendation for big game was a fixed 4X or 6X scope and that included western long range shooting. As mentioned on my website, I killed 27 whitetails with an Ithaca 12 gauge using a Weaver K2.5 scope. I don't ever recall being handicapped by it.
The lower power scopes give you a larger field of view, faster target acqusition, and higher percentage hits if a running shot is made. The 1.5X6X36 Bushnell Elite 4200 with Rainguard is in my opinion almost a perfect combination of a scope giving one a large field of view, all the brightness the human eye can handle, plenty of adjustment for windage and elevation, and a better sight picture in rainy conditions, which can be mounted low on the rifle and making target aquisition very fast under field conditions. This is rated in some articles as a ****/4 star scope and it can be had for under $350 from Bear Basin Outfitters. Two other scopes I would look hard at for about the same price are the Weaver Grand Slam series in 1.5X5X32 listed by Bear Basin at $289 and the Burris Signature Select 1X5X6X36 also listed at $333 from bear Basin. All three of these scopes are rated as 4-star scopes and it boils down to which one do you like best for less than $350.00.
These scopes will in my opinon serve you well for 90% of all big game hunting anywhere and will not break the bank to do it. If you have not visited Bear Basin Outfitters on line, check them out today.
Dan Wafer
www.deer-hunting-information.com
