"Then remembered I, the word of the LORD how that He said, "John indeed babtized with water; but ye shall be babtized with the Holy Ghost" Acts 11:16 KJV
To continue on with my feelings concerning hunting scopes, I think that for big game hunting, one does not need to go any larger than the popular 3X9X40 magnification. This of course is the most popular scope on the market today and almost every manufactuer makes at least one. Set at 3X you have adequate field of view for most big game hunting, and I can't imagine anyone needing over 9X for shooting at big game under 300 yards. I have this type of scope on two or three different rifles. Truth be known however I rarely shoot at anything with it set above 5X. On a moose hunt in New Foundland a few years ago, I took a moose on the first day in camp with a Ruger Model 77 .300 Winchester magnum. That particular rifle wore a 3X9X40 scope and as I recall I shot the moose at somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 yards give or take. I always keep the settings on the lowest power available and in this case shot the moose from a prone rest off a steep mountain side with the scope set on 3X. It never occured to me that I should crank the scope up to 9X for the shot. I made a one shot clean kill and the moose traveled perhaps 25 yards max.
I think the 4X12X50, 4X14X50 , 6X20X50 scopes etc. have their place and that is on a long range varmint rifles for western shooting. I must have shot a bazillon woodchucks as a kid with a Sako .222 Remington topped off with a Bausch & Lomb Balvar 8 scope in 2.5X8 power. This particular scope had the adjustments in the base and not on the scope itself. I never felt under powered with that scope and shot a lot of woodchucks on the far side of 200 yards and out to 300 on occasion. I never should have let that rifle go and many times wish I had it back in the safe.
To close with a little history:
Variable scopes were developed somewhere in the 1940's
Waterproofing came along in the 1960's
Fully multicoatings came in the early 1970's
The amazing thing is that one can buy a fully multicoated scope, that is rugged one piece construction, waterproof, fog proof, completely sealed, & will hold its zero and has excellent optical quality for under $350 in today marketplace.
Dan
www.deer-hunting-information.com
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