What scope do you use for 200 and beyond?

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Unless you got for high powered 3000+ scopes it will be hard to see 22 or even 25 holes on plain paper at 200+ yards. Just use cheap amazon splat/high vis targets and save yourself 3000 dollars. another thing could be focus, not easy at that distance but if the scope has shallow depth of field then you should be able to cut through most of the mirage and see better. A lot of scopes has long/deep depth of field which is good for hunting but terrible for cutting the mirage to see target clearlyBUT if the depth of field is shallow then focus wheel will be very sensitive.


I use crimson trace series 3 and 5 and Element Helix(not known for great glass) and I see splat targets fine at 200-300 yards but not seeing an ant on the 300 yard target sharp. Granted the CT 5 series I have is pretty good and can see 22 and 25 holes at 300 yards on white targets but mirage jacks it up still. 
 
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Yeah shooting long, you kinda have to rely on going by bullet impact on dirt to gauge where you are at, and for targets use splatter or larger reactive things like balloons or cams.

I can "barely " see the .177 holes on paper shooting 100 M with a 24 X scope ( white paper with 1/4" dots to aim at.

Even on 50 M and seeing holes in the black part of the paper are hard, i am for sure going to get some high vis targets at least for my long range shooting. for 50 M i think i will mainly shoot BR50 targets which do not have a that large black center part.



I would so like a 30 X scope, just not been able to afford one yet, i most often use the full magnification when i shoot long range, only on 10 - 25 M will i dial back on the magnification.
 
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Qball I do use the splat targets and they do help. But as you probably already know slugs don't make a splat like pellets do so the marks are still a bit hard for me to see. I do think you are right about the focus part at least with my case and the mirage. 

At the moment I'm debating getting the less expensive nightforce, which is the precision bench scope 12-42×56 or going with the nx8 which is a 4-32x50 so the magnification on the nx8 may not be bigger but the clarity hopefully would be. The 12-42x56 would probably be only good for the range. While the 4-32x50 would probably be a better all around scope. Just wondering what else could be considered for the lomg distances and well my eyes



Allen
 
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Allen, maybe try different splat targets? I have no issues with seeing 22 splats at 200 and 300 yards with Element Helix which has not so great class compare to anything you mentioned. Also getting the ocular adjusted to your eye makes a big difference. 

what I’m trying to say is before you go out and spend a bunch of money work on your current scopes to the max and maximize other solutions to your problems. By spending 2k on a NSX might not solve all your problem but it sure is nice. If you look at 2k range check out trac toric and delta strykr HD, at 1000 range check out brownell house brand target scope, it’s made in Japan and excellent scope/value. It’s super competitive in that under 2000 range so spend some time checking out all the options and there are a crap load these days. NS8 is a bit old and showing it’s age compared to the new kids on the block but still very competent. NXS is excellent but spendy. 


Edit: forgot to mention try not using max zoom because at max zoom the eye box on most scopes will get very tight so if you are off a little then image quality is not good and this is still true for very expensive scopes. So a cheek riser to ensure correct eye alignment is critical for precision shooting and good image quality. by using a little lower magnification level it usually helps quite a bit with slight eye alignment offset. And if you zero or dial away from optical center then image quality also degrades so maybe try to zero so where you normally shoot is optical center. 


example: if the scope has 20mils of elevation(norm for 30mm scopes) adjustment and at 200 yards you need 10-11 mils then use adjustable rings to zero at the very edge of your scope adjustment range so when you dial to 10-11 mils you are at the optical center where the scope is clearest. If you zero at optical center and hold over 10 miles you are still at the edge of your optical image at 2/3 zoom. 


If you do decide you need better scope the before you look at zoom range look at 34 mm scopes with 120 MOA of elevation adjustment first. At 200-300 yards with airguns you need all the elevation adjustment you can get. 




Good luck with your quest to solving the problem. 




 
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Thanks I'm hoping to go to the range this coming Monday again to try some slugs in 217 and 218. Hopefully be able to spend some time in the morning with the current scopes I have and if I can get them to focus a little better. I will also look into the scopes everyone has mentioned and see if they could be considered candidates for my eyes.



Allen
 
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And you are totally correct I have a bad habit of taking the scopes to max magnification the Hawke sidewinder 8-32×56 at 32 and the Crimson Trace 5 3-24×56 at 24 (not 25
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) . It's funny you mention optical center. This last outing after I found out I had a 20MOA rail I just put the adjustable rings flat with no tilt!
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Allen
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I LOVE the CT 5 3-24 scope!!! Just so you know it has 120 MOA of internal travel or about 35 mils!!!! VERY FEW scopes has that and the glass on that scope is sublime! You have to go to NXS, Trac Toric or Delta Strykr and other newer high end precision scopes to get better glass and internal adjustment combo. HOWEVER the zero stop system limits you to 20 mils if internal travel due to its design(can be overcomed), for the most part if you shoot good BC slugs that's all you need to get to 300 yards. Again, if you shoot at 200 yards that scope is edge to edge clear with zero issues. Half of 120 MOA is 60(optical center) plus 20 from your rails meaning you have close to 80 MOA or 23 mils depending on your zero range which is plenty for 300 yards but it's getting close to the edge so maybe add a little(another ~20 MOA) tilt to your adjustable rings so at full 20 mils needed for 300 yards you are not close to the edge of adjustment/optically and while closer up is still very clear thanks to the glass quality and wide range of inernal adjustment that scope provides. 



Again glass on that scope is SUPERB! But at 24x it's pretty damn hard to get eye alignment spot on all the time especially without a good cheek riser so try about 20-22x which is much easier to see. Honestly the reticle is tad thick at 24 anyway thanks to 8x zoom range which is a waste of money feature so I rarely use 24x. The ocular adjustment is fine and takes time to get it right but so are all the other high end scopes so take your time and watch some videos on it from YouTube, you might have to adjust a touch more for the range you shoot the most which is also normal. You have a REALLY good scope(the reticle is debatable) but with all good scopes it take quite a bit of time and effort to get it to dialed to your eyes. 



Also not sure how old you are but sometimes it's better to use reading glasses due to older eye's ability to focus close. As we get older it's much harder! If you have a hard time getting the ocular adjustment right then reading glasses might be your answer/savior. If ocular is adjusted too much the optical quality degrades/distorts also. 






 
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So I did go to the range today. Lol dunno why as the winds were so variable at 200 yards the 30 gr slugs were going about 4 to 5 mil to the right then as soon as I thought I got the hang of it, it changed! 😅

But the Crimson Trace 5 scope was very clear and I was able to see the marks it made on the steel targets even though the .22 could not knock over the larger targets with one hit. 

Screenshot_20220606-200642_Gallery.1654571266.jpg


I dunno what I was doing before but I was clearly able to see them today.

I still had some fun. I was able to knock over about a dozen bunnies and finally after hitting the chicken a million times knocked it off the railing. Lol

Allen
 
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For me I love a long eye relief, forgiving eyebox and a accurate parallax. These options for longer range are a must. Not necessarily need ED glass but minimum HD glass. CA doesn’t really bother me too much at the edges, but would prefer to not have it. I have been fortunate to enjoy many different scopes in many price ranges. I have found that I have settled on the Athlon Midas Tac 6-24 (30mm) and the Athlon Midas Tac 5-25 (34mm) as my two longer range options. I can easily see .22 holes on paper at 200 yards. Glass is excellent with very little CA at full magnification and I can cut through a lot of mirage and ground heat waves pretty well. Turrets are great with no mush and track perfect. The reticle is great, not too fat, not too thin and not too busy. I use these when I am not going to use any Night vision add ons, don’t work well with Athlon because of their lens coating, so I have a few scopes with lower power, different lens coats for that.

You can spend more and not get more easily in the scope market. I have found I can’t beat the Midas Tac unless I get above $1000-1300 such as the Tract Toric 4-20 (which is the best scope at $1250 made today).
 
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