Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What scope for 375 ruger?

I suppose if you're using a 375 because you just want to use it for medium to long range (like what 4-16x range is meant for), and you had a guide to back you, that's fine.

But practically speaking, if one is using a 375 for it's superior stopping effect on large dangerous animals potentially close, then field of view becomes exceptionally more important than max magnification. I've never heard of someone losing game because their scope wasn't powerful enough.

And a 375 if for big creatures with big kill zones. Or if you need 16x because you're an expert marksmen capable of 500+ yard shots, you're better off with a 30 or 33 cal as several of those will carry better effect at those ranges.

Moreover, all that weight in a big scope means more stress under recoil on the mounting system.

A 2 1/2-16X and a 3-18X have about the same field of view as a fixed 2 1/2 and a fixed 3X respectively.

Yep.

Excellent point.

As with most above I concur that a lower power variable or fixed in the 2.5-4x range is best. My 375 ruger wears a 1.5-4x African Monarch and it gets carried almost daily for about 4 months each year. It has been used to take grizzly bears at mere paces and elk at over 400 yards and scores of others in between.

I couldn't ask for a better setup. I could pack 2 spare leupy 2.5s and have less weight than the afore mentioned 3-18 scope. If I need to look for, or identify targets at range I use binoculars.

My Ruger Alaskan in 375 wears a Leupold VX3 2.5x8-36.

Most here would say you have 2X-3X too much. Aren't you ashamed?

doubling down on the stupid doesn't make you smart...

Yep x 2

375 H&H

Kiding about folks who don't agree with you is "doubling down on the stupid"? I should have known. But then being stupid, how could I?

Actually, I've found it is usually a lot quicker and easier to get additional rounds from the buttstock shell-holder than a pocket, when you need them. Valuable for those times when you aren't just after one animal. Handy when your rifle's not a repeater too.

This.

I realize you languish in obtuse and this is a clear case of just not getting it. Sadly I have to be pedantic for you to stand a chance of getting it, but I will try anyway.

Virtually any scope can be put on virtually any firearm and it will paste crosshairs somewhere. But the OP specified a 375 and that parameter starts limiting the scopes generally associated with varmint rifles. Why would you shoot varmint size critters with a very large caliber bullet?

Obviously most shooters would not.

So it is obvious the target will be larger when the rifle is used for what it is best suited. 16x becomes ridiculous quickly. Unless you want to pull your usual admitted stunt glassing with your scope....

As a DGR the notion that your brush is special is, well, it is special... the notion crap hanging off rifles does not get hung up is even more special. The OP asked about setting up a rifle of a particular capacity, not exactly a DGR, but that is part of what makes the caliber great. And starting into the pucker brush following a wounded black bear can be tense enough.

Why not put that 4-16 on a 22lr? It would be as perfect a fit as the 375Ruger...

Sitka deer,



I get it. You don't. The original poster asked about a 3-18X; which by the way includes a fixed 3X or a fixed 4X or a fixed 6X if he so chooses to set it and forget it.



Here you are showing you have not read my posts any better than you did the original poster here. I use binoculars or naked eye to find game. There is no way a 7X or 8X binoculars can show anyone the same amount of detail an 18X or more scope can once you find the game.



Did you know, according to manufacturer's records, there are many more "DGR" sold than there are dangerous game hunters. Despite going to Alaska twice I didn't hunt dangerous game. Do you think some folks buy a .375 and never fire it? I know one man who had several firearms he never fired. He just liked guns and had the money to buy them.



My bolt action .22 has a 6-24X40. With match ammo I fired two five shot groups at 50 yards of 5/16" and one 14 shot group at 100 yards of 7/8". My 10/22 has a 4-16X40. It regularly fires 5/8" groups at 50 yards with Yellow Jackets.



I agree. That's why one of the scopes I suggested was the very one you just suggested.

The OP didn't ask about shooting groups on paper.

smokepole,

He also didn't bring up .22 rimfires, but they were brought up in this .375 thread. Surprise, surprise. Did you expect every thread on 24hour to never get off topic?

Alas, my eyes aren't what they once were, making shooting rifles at 100-yard paper targets a bit more challenging than it once was. And 'small power' scopes don't help either.

But anyway….



The last three shots before I put the rifle away (to hunt) in early September…M70 Classic, Burris fixed 2.5X (purchased used here on the 'fire), 375 H&H (with hacksawed/filed 21" barrel )





Ruger #1-S 9.3X74R (purchased from a late 'fire member)- bone stock, Weaver 2.5x fixed (100 yards), 286 Hornady 2nds, IMR4831 (lots of it)

(I had both scopes set on "max" power and fully and carefully corrected for parallax ) {That's a joke, BTW. Both scopes have the basic three adjustments at the ocular, and elevation and windage at the crosshair.]

Now I'm ready to shoot charging bears in the eye!

Not my point.

You inadvertently circled around to the same answer Sitka was giving by describing an application where high magnification and a big ocular is useful--shooting tiny groups. The other being, shooting long range.

Neither of which is an application that's needed when it comes to what a .375 is good for.

So, given the downsides that people have pointed out, if a big ocular and high magnification don't buy you anything, why go there?

You keep saying "with a high powered variable you have a fixed low power if you want," which is incorrect. Probably anyone who's hunted with a high powered variable has at one time or another found it on high magnification when they needed low. I know I have.

Plus, the obvious fewer moving parts and less to go wrong that's in favor of fixed power.

So with the disadvantages of a large ocular and high magnification, why go there?

Gee, I didn’t know 18X would help me place shots more precisely at the ranges a .375 is normally used at, on animals a .375 is normally used on. Have shot a bunch of prairie dogs with the .375 H&H, but those were with an aperture rear and bead front, during practice for an all-iron-sight African hunt. Hit the majority out to 150 yards, but beyond that the percentage dropped.

Have shot a bunch of big game with a .375 H&H at ranges out to 300+ yards and never once missed (or misplaced) a shot due to “low” magnification, and just in the last few days shot a bunch of 100-yard, 3-shot groups under an inch with the 3x20 Leupold on my .375 H&H—with the dreaded Leupold Heavy Duplex.

Would love to know how much experience Ringman has in Alaska and Africa, where a .375 is most useful.

smokepole,



One year I decided to use the .375-.416 Rem Mag. I loaded up some good stuff and went to the range. I fired a group offhand at 100. It measured 6". I sat down and fired a group at 300. It was 6" also. A guy standing there asked, "How does it do from the bench?" I set up a target at around 475 and fired another three shot group. This one measured 2 7/8". He exclaimed, "That's a squirrel gun!"



You are forgetting most folks don't fire their .375's and some who do do fire them at long range at elk.



None of my scopes have failed. So the idea there are more moving parts becomes irrelevant with today's scopes.



Because the owner of the rifle wants to. And he can get a powerful quality product to go with his powerful toy. The manufacturer really doesn't care if you mount his 5-25X on a .22 rimfire, a .22-250 or a .460 Weatherby. He wants to sell stuff.