What scope magnification do you like to shoot and why?

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Most of my 6 decades of shooting was for small game and later deer in heavy bush. To that end I chose scopes for their minimum magnification (1.5 to 3 power) because field of view was the main concern. The upper end of the zoom range was only used for sighting in.

I still use lower power settings (up to 6 power now) for the plinking, pesting and small game hunting I do but I'm doing more tuning, testing and bench shooting these days and prefer higher magnification. Many of my scopes feature 16 and 24 power at maximum and I use those settings because there's no hurry, the targets will wait patiently while I get comfortable behind the rifle.

Cheers!
 
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I find that 10x is a good all-around magnification for pesting and occasional target shooting out to 50yd. I make my stick-on range tables for 10x. Changing magnification means changing the range table unless I'm using a First Focal Plane (FFP) scope that compensates for this. I like FFP scopes but only have two for now. Most of my rifles have Second Focal Plane (SFP) scopes that top out from 9 to 12x magnification. Those few that have more, up to 16 or 20x , get set to 10x for standardization and improved clarity, unless I'm shooting targets beyond 30yd from a steady rest in good lighting. For my modest optics, low to mid tier, setting to max magnification tends to reduce clarity.

Regards,
Feinwerk
 
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biggest use is for yard and garden pesting 20 to 35 yds
sfp, 12 to 14 power, zero @ 30 yds,,, old eyes need help shooting English House sparrows, to be sure they are Eng House sparrows and not other speices
don't care about chairgun or reticle lines ,,, I just use my sense of windage, ala JohnWayne
took over 80 Starlings this last cold snap and snow/cloudy weather,,, Weihrauch HW 44 in carbine stock, Optisan cp,, out the bedroom window
like shooting fish in a barrel , so easy,,, your personal use , determines how to use your scope,,,
competition is the arena of more advanced use of optics, I can miss a bird and no problem, but miss in competition, that's a no winner, no chix dinner
 
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I don't shoot past 100 yards with a springer. A 3x9 scope works fine. A 4x12 is dandy. Anything more is a hindrance to me.

High magnification scopes can get big, heavy and expensive fast. They generally have a narrow field of view. Some have complex reticles that make targeting difficult on some backgrounds. They work great at the bench or on a range. Not so much plinking and hunting.

I've always liked 4x @25yds and a dot on the target 3/8" in diameter. I've always thought I shot closer groups with less magnification. Locating and evaluating a target may require more magnification. For targeting and shooting a lower magnification works best for me.
 
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I prefer a max magnification of 20x. But with all my guns except the two that have FFP scopes on them, I use my full range of magnification all the time. Just depends on the shooting situation. Dialing a gun in, 16x minimum to 20x. Hunting? I’m all over the place. Woods? Always 6X out to around 80 yards. Just popped a squirrel today at 103 yards in the head on 12x. I don’t need to see the flea on its ear to make that shot. You just have to be confident. And that comes from not using a monster scope as a crutch.

If I was a competitive 100 yards BR guy, I would experiment with more magnification until I found what suited my needs. But right now 20X will let me shoot as good as I need to out to around 300 yards.
 
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Scope power needed is very dependent on what you target is and what results your looking for. If you want to shot small groups inside colored notebook paper reinforcement rings at 23 yards like I do 20x works. But when I started shooting some USARB targets with a tiny 10 ring 20x was not enough. So now I can go to 32x. If I was really serious about that target I would want more. Never forget if you always shoot say 10x or below.....You don't know what you don't know. I sat my brother in law down behind my TX the other day. Very experienced deer and elk hunter who thinks 9x is more than he would ever need. I had him look through the scope then zoomed it to 28x. Wow he said, can I see. He never knew. So his very first 5 shots at 23 yards out of a Springer produced 5 shots way smaller than a dime. I said do you want me to turn it bacek down, No leave it there. He's hooked.
 
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Kdog said:
March Majesta and High Master each 8-80x. I have one of each 😉

View attachment 540782
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First time I looked through one of these at a 500 yard match on a hot humid sunny day, I was surprised. The picture was not pretty but was still awesome. Those 6mm holes looked like they were a foot in front of my face. Nice. This was a few years ago, not one of the upgraded newer models but pretty impressive.
 
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JEFFPPC said:
Scope power needed is very dependent on what you target is and what results your looking for. If you want to shot small groups inside colored notebook paper reinforcement rings at 23 yards like I do 20x works. But when I started shooting some USARB targets with a tiny 10 ring 20x was not enough. So now I can go to 32x. If I was really serious about that target I would want more. Never forget if you always shoot say 10x or below.....You don't know what you don't know. I sat my brother in law down behind my TX the other day. Very experienced deer and elk hunter who thinks 9x is more than he would ever need. I had him look through the scope then zoomed it to 28x. Wow he said, can I see. He never knew. So his very first 5 shots at 23 yards out of a Springer produced 5 shots way smaller than a dime. I said do you want me to turn it bacek down, No leave it there. He's hooked.
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Your brother in law is right. 9x is all he will ever need for deer and elk.

When you "sat him down" on a target range to prove how good a 20x scope was you missed the point.

Take that same scope into elk country and you will see why 9x is plenty in THAT situation.

You can shoot patterns as well with 4x @ 25 yards as you can with 20x. You just can't use 20x following animals in the trees. A higher magnification may be better for seeing trace, wind signs, misses, etc. but it won't produce smaller groups by virtue of making your target appear larger.

Groups under dime size @ 25 yards are no problem with iron sights. Groups .25 ctc are no problem with 4x. More magnification may help targeting small spots. It's not going to help hit them at pellet gun ranges.
 
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My limits are 24x. My Uragan 2 King wears a 3-18x50mm. At 50+ yards I will zoom in to max magnification. Set Parallax. Do the head bob and weave to make sure nothing is moving. Then I back off down to about 10 or 12x. This give great depth of field and 0 parallax error. If you are shooting at 60- 80x magnification, you adjust your parallax until it's perfect. If that gun moves 1 inch , your parallax will be off.
At those high magnifications, you have 0 depth of field. It's already bad enough 18x-20x-24x. The higher you go in magnification the less depth you have and any movement of the gun can throw this extremely shallow/narrow parallax, off.
 
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I have a 2-7 on my Prod and I like it for that gun. But my most frequent purchases have been 6-24. 6X for hunting/pesting and 24X for targets. But my 8-32 is a little better for targets and my 10-40 significantly better. So maybe I should use 3-12s or 4-16s and just switch for serious target work. But I probably won't change out scopes. 6-24 is a pretty good power range for air rifle scopes. I never have wanted to turn the scope lower than 6X and 24X is nice to have sometimes.
 
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Bedrock Bob said:
Your brother in law is right. 9x is all he will ever need for deer and elk.

When you "sat him down" on a target range to prove how good a 20x scope was you missed the point.

Take that same scope into elk country and you will see why 9x is plenty in THAT situation.

You can shoot patterns as well with 4x @ 25 yards as you can with 20x. You just can't use 20x following animals in the trees. A higher magnification may be better for seeing trace, wind signs, misses, etc. but it won't produce smaller groups by virtue of making your target appear larger.

Groups under dime size @ 25 yards are no problem with iron sights. Groups .25 ctc are no problem with 4x. More magnification may help targeting small spots. It's not going to help hit them at pellet gun ranges.
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Well Bob, put 5 bullseye, your choice and shoot a 5 shot group at each that measure center to center .25 or less for the agg and you will be my hero, I predict you can't do that. I will give you 3 trys. Let us all see it. We shot spring guns but you use whatever you want.
 
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JEFFPPC said:
Well Bob, put 5 bullseye, your choice and shoot a 5 shot group at each that measure center to center .25 or less for the agg and you will be my hero, I predict you can't do that. I will give you 3 trays. Let us all see it. We shot spring guns but you use whatever you want.
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Again, you've missed the point. A .250 5 shot group at 25 yards is mighty rare with a springer. But it will happen as often at 4x as it will at 20x.

Yes, higher power works better for targeting. But if your target is properly sized a higher power won't make you shoot a smaller pattern at springer ranges. You can shoot within your rifles limitations at 25 yards using much less magnification or no magnification at all. Whether you prefer to do that is a matter of personal preference and ability.
 
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Using less magnification does not make it impossible to shoot small groups at short range or well on 30 yard challenge targets but it makes it more difficult. If you examine the spreadsheet of results you will find a few very good targets with lower power scopes but most of us are using 24X or more. It just improves our chances of a good target.
 
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