What power x are you using for 100 yards?

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I have 3 gun/scope combinations. FX Bobcat, Royale, Boss in .22, .25 & .30 respectively. I shoot 100 yards with all 3 and rarely, if ever, change my magnification on the .25 & .30 from 12x. Only reason the Bobcat is different is because it's set up for scope clicking with magnification on 10x. I never change that. Luckily enough, my eyes are in better shape than the rest of me 🤪. Have no problem seeing things clearly with my setups. I use Athlon, Discovery & Hawke Sidewinder scopes (again respectively) on the guns. Hawke is 56mm the other 2, 50mm. Love all my scopes but truth be told the Athlon has the best optical properties (Midas BTR, Gen2, 4.5x27x50). Not that the others are BAD by any means.
 
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@boscoebrea For myself a certain amount of light needs to be reflected to my eye in low-light situations most often occurring around dawn, dusk, in the woods beneath a dense canopy, or a combination of the aforementioned. Generally around maximum magnification the image quality diminishes on my mid-tier scopes. It is also when an acceptable amount of light is most desired because I am ranging landmarks or quarry. If there is not enough usable light transmitted, then my sight picture is too dark to determine if my parallax knob has my sight picture in focus. This increases the risk of parallax error and diminishes my confidence in my shot leading to frustration and me to not taking the shot.

From what I gather a larger objective lens and quality glass are desired to reflect an adequate amount of light to provide a better sight picture for longer periods of time under said conditions. I prefer at least a 50mm objective, decent glass, and an incrementally proportionate amount of illumination in a fully illuminated reticle to afford myself a better chance at shot opportunities in low light.

At 100 yards in the open a 50mm objective is fine in decent light. 12-20x mag works for me depending upon the target I’m looking at and how the wind is blowing. I’m not much of a long range shooter though.
 
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really depends on how "accurate" you want to get. Hunting and precision are tow totally different things. In Benchrest 50x or greater are common. I use 30-50x myself in benchrest at 100yds. 30-40x at 50yds. To each his own here, its all in what your comfortable with but aim small miss small and you can see small with 7x or 12x at 100yds.
 
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I like as much magnification as I can get at 100 yards. Most of my scopes max out at 24x or 28x so I use the full zoom. One other which maxes at 40x. So I'd say a min of 20x @ 100 yards for target shooting.

Also - bell size is hard to compare between brands. I have a March with a 42mm bell that lets in more light than a Discovery with a 56mm bell. Def not apples to apple comparison.
 
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As much magnification as I can get! Normally 24-26 power but my x50 scope is really nice for tiny targets.

The issue I run into is that ill shoot better if I aim small, so I'll back off magnification until I no longer see the shake. It works for me on pests but not as much on tiny paper targets.
 
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To answer your question directly, I use my maximum magnification (24 and 25 power) for shooting paper. Most of my homemade tuning targets feature a tiny (1/8") aim-point that I need to see at 40 yards.

And now for a bit of rambling on with my thoughts on scopes... 😁

For my plinkers and "short range" (sub 50 yard) hunting airguns I prefer modesty priced 3-12 or 4-16 power 44-50 mm objective scopes with simple moderate weight reticles. I'll sight in at the highest magnification then set to minimum for use. I find the glass on these scopes to be fine for this use.

Most of my "longer range" pesting/target PCPs wear mid priced Element Helix 6-24x50 and I'm very happy with them. A nice scope for general use, the turrets have positive detents and operate smoothly.

I have an Element Titan 5-25x56 FFP on my Panthera. While I like the scope itself, I find that the reticle is good at high power, it's too fine at low power. I now know that I prefer second focal plane scopes, the Titan will be my only FFP.

I tend to prefer a simple, uncluttered reticle of a thickness to is easy to see against a normal background of limbs and bush. Maybe not ideal for long range paper shooting but I'll accept that compromise.

As a gripe, I'm less than pleased with the mushy turrets on my Hawke Sidewinder and the reticle on my MTC is too fine for practical use. Buying airguns online has been a good experience, not so much with scopes. What ever scope you are considering, I strongly suggest that you actually handle and look through the scope before making a purchase.

Not so apparent when looking at the stats, the size and weight of these big objective scopes can be a surprise as well. Not a problem for a hefty bench rifle, definitely a consideration on a walkabout hunting rifle. If you are not shooting in low light (early morning, late evening) conditions, a smaller scope might be fine for you.

Just my 2 cents.
Cheers!
 
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