Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Are four and six power scopes still useful

Dang,,,, what do you do, shoot animals with that or just drop it on 'em?
lol

My hunting rifles wear 6x Leupolds. I prefer it.

TOugh to beat a Tikka T3x 30-06 with a 6x S&B sitting on it for all around deer and possibly Elk Hunting.

I started using a 4x and 6x in probably 2004. Haven't killed any big game with a variable since 2003.

I was shooting a 3 gun match saturday and while getting going on a stage the RO asked me to make any necessary adjustments to my optics. Sort of grinned inside. I don't know how to adjust the 3x Leupold.

I started with a fixed 4 power at age 14. That was a long time ago and I only have one variable but it's always at 6x. My last new scope was a fixed 6x. Where I hunt 6x really works well.

This is a little off the topic but I recently found a nice old Weaver 4x with a crosshair dot. I love that dot, wish I had found one years ago. I am hoping to find another one for an old Rem. 760 but they seem to be popular in the "vintage" scope market.

Mule Deer, Were you the guy who came up with one of my favorite lines, "How small are your deer anyway?"

I can see them just fine with 4X as far as I care to shoot. Though the last couple hunts I used a 6mm Rem with a 4-12X (set up for varmints obviously) because I really like the rifle. Scope on 4 or 6X.

Rodger!

nighthawk,

Ha! Can't remember writing that, but my friend D'Arcy Echols, the well-known custom riflemaker, once phoned me and opened the conversation with, "Just how small are the #$%^* elephants we hunt these days?" A customer wanted D'Arcy to build a .458 Lott that grouped both softs and solids into half an inch at 100 yards.

I once did mention that today's deer are now apparently the size of prairie dogs, because so many deer hunters believe they need half-inch rifles.

Apparently that includes me. Last fall I hunted mule deer with two rifles, both chambered for trendy 6.5mm rounds. One was capable shooting 1" 3-shot groups at 300 yards, and the other capable of putting 5 shots into 1/2" at 100 yards. I killed a buck with each rifle, one at 101 yards and the other at 159.

Plan for the worst, take the best!

Yup.

I had a 3X Leupold on my ,375 for years and never thought I was under scoped. Upon returning from my first Safari I replaced it with a 3-9X Trijicon. I really liked that illuminated green dot. On my next trip, I used the scope to it's variable power advantage. I really liked it. Carry it around at 3X though.

Me too, me too. It's just fun. Present favorite deer rifle is a 6mm Rem commercial Mauser set up primarily for varminting. I'll claim ½ but it's probably closer to 1. Truth is I like it because it's easy to carry and easy to shoot. Actually the sporterized Springfield my gunsmith uncle built for my grandfather with a full figured Fajen stock and a 4X Daylite scope (amazingly dim compared to even today' cheap scopes) works just fine in South Dakota. Shot my first deer with it. But today I think it needs wheels.