Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles At what distance do you feel you need a scope?

These days I need a scope for anything past the end of my barrel.

Neil

I don't think I'd do go past 100 yards. only open sight rifle I have is a 30/30 and at 100 yards I don't have the tightest groups. So I will limit my self to that until I can shoot better with a different better gun.

With the buckhorns on my TC sidelock coupled with it's rainbow trajectory with the big conicals I shoot I limit myself to 75-80yards.

My high powered rifles that wear Lyman and Redfield aperture sights and Sourdough post fronts I have no issue shooting 250-300 yards on stuff I'd shoot that far away with any other rifle. Sighting in so the bullets land on top of the post at 100 yards allows me to shoot some pretty decent groups with irons and gives me the confidence to know I can make hits well past common "woods" ranges.

I'm not very old but I don't have really good vision either. Getting away from bead front sights and buckhorn rears opened up a whole other genre of rifle for me when I discovered post fronts and peeps with the aperture removed. I enjoy shooting and hunting with irons so much I've built a couple rifles that are stocked for irons and have no holes for mounting a scope. I've also bought or traded into a few that aren't drilled and won't be as long as I own them. I hunt with all of them and enjoy it. I've even went as far as making a peep for my Marlin 39 on my lunchbreak, it's all friction adjustments with no lead screws but it looks pretty good and works as well as anything for zeroing it and leaving it.
The Mrs and I are flying out for a long weekend of bear hunting Friday evening, my guncase will have my Remington 30 Express 30/06 in it with a Redfield peep, Whelen sling with hook eye swivels, and most likely a box of 200gr Partition handloads. I'll let you know how it turns out but I'm betting that if I get within 250 yards there'll be dead bear pictures.

Good luck TK.

i have a good friend thats closing in on 60yrs old that has hunted his whole life with a win 94 with open sights. he's killed some real trophies with it over the years.

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THIS!

guess I am in good company...

Like some of the other folks who posted here I need a scope at any distance. Age related - I am 54. That said I like fixed power scopes in the 4x to 6x range for regular hunting/shooting. Doesn't need to be high power.

Jwall, that's my problem with true open sites. But with an aperture (or peep) site, the fuzziness of the ring doesn't matter. Your eye will automatically put the bead in the center of the ring. If you haven't tried one, you should give it some consideration.

I have a minor correction for distance but the amount is enough so I can only focus on my M-14 front sight using a corrective lens. The rest of my firearms it's a choice of clearly seeing the front sight or or the target/animal. Scopes work best for me.

It REALLY helps when you have an eye doctor (Opthi...what ever the hell they call it) who is a shooter. When I described my problem, he immediately knew what to do.

I use bi-focals that work really well for seeing as well as shooting, Close range reading requires extra lenses, but sights are not a problem. I discovered my sight problem when I ran out of adjustment in my scopes. Damned....you think that was a problem??

Just recently....in my back yard (I have a 100 yard range in my back yard).....I found I could clear 10 beer cans quicker than my younger cousin with open sights. I can't see the righting on the cans like I used to but I can still see the cans just fine (30 years younger doesn't make enough difference).

At 100 yards...minute of beer can is good enough..... and it's good enough on game too.

This is my position on this issue as well. I used to be just flat deadly with iron sights but today is a new day and I feel I need low power big tube optics.

I have a Leupold 1.75 x 6 on my big magnum and a new Vortex 2.5 x 10 with a 30mm tube on my 270WSM. I like them both. But I have fixed power scopes and use them with confidence. For me its simple - if I cannot see well then what good is it.

I have a nice 4 x 12 Vortex with a 1" tube I am thinking of selling because it is just to hard to live with. It would be great for hunting Antelope or long range Mule Deer but I just do not do that much hunting like that.