Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Tell me about a fixed 6x in the woods....

Rugged is overhyped to the hilt around here. I'm a hunter first and a bench rest guy much less so. I might shoot 100 rounds through my deer gun every year, most of my shots in the real world will be less than 100 yards. At this rate how many years should I expect from the 3.5 x 10? Everything is a compromise, a fixed 6 is not the better mouse trap if you expect a lot of action close. Never understood why that is so difficult for some to grasp.

I find it difficult to grasp because I have found exactly the opposite to be true. I even run a couple fixed 6x Compacts on mountain rifle rigs and a few 6x36s. The 6x42 is better IME because it does everything faster. The Compacts take a little getting used to but when ounces count and shots run to the leisurely they work fine.

I have broken 6x42 Leupolds and my son broke the reticle in one just a few months back by putting the rear ring too far back and making it as tight as it should be... There are no scopes that cannot be broken and the 3.5-10 is one of the very few variables I consider useful.
art

Haven't read the entire thread, and so regrets if this was mentioned earlier.

Fast target acquisition in the woods is really pretty easy with a 6 power, or almost any scope, if you keep both eyes open. It takes a little practice, but then it is very effective.

Also, keeping both eyes open when shooting frequently allows you to see what the animal did at the shot.

And I love 6 powers for both woods and prairies.

Steve

I'll EASILY put my eyesight and resolution against yours, any day, at any range.

I would NEVER make that offer re: hearing (as mine sucks), but eyes? Yeah, no problem.

Oh, and you couldn't be more off-base if you tried.

Awaiting the next whining PM as to how I'm being mean, or demeaning, or some other crock of chit...

I think the last straight six Savage_99 tried came off this page:



That would be about the same era when hitting a buck somewhere with a Sierra varmint bullet (and not finding it) has him convinced today that a 223 and a TSX is woefully inadequate for all deer hunting.

I guess we are both confused, as I don't see why anyone would need a variable that goes to 10X for shots less than 100 yds. unless you were hunting mice.

As far as durabilty is concerned, if you shoot enough, you'll break one. Any scope can die, but I've never killed or seen a 6X power killed because of recoil. Seen some variables croak though.

Variables certainly have their place and I use them as well, but for most big game hunting up to 400 yds. I don't see them as a must have.

If I want to get a closer look at what I'm seeing, I grab the binos.

YMMV.

You know maybe I am missing something, not sure. I've tried an fx3, didn't hate it by any means.

You make a valid point regarding 10x, don't need it and you're right about that however I don't mind the extra power off the bench. This year was the first time I used all the magnification on the buck I shot. He stepped into my lane at 260, I ripped him through the lungs and he ran out into a thicket at 300 at which point I increased the power to 10 and gave him another one. Did I need 10x to shoot again? Not really but it worked as I picked a small opening to shoot through. Could have also made the shot with a 6x? Yes.

All good stuff and I appreciate others thoughts.

..........Finally, a reasonable explanation!

..................Good! Then you can be my shrink and prescribe some hormone therapy too. Come to think of it, my tittys are hurting just a little.

Us girly men need all the help we can get!..............LOL!

I`ll buy yer round trip tickets. You`re certainly welcome to come down here and offer your services and expertise for my re-hab. Can`t think of anybody better than you for that job....

Mathman,

You found my scopes all right!

At the lower left of the Lyman page is the Wolverine. I still have the one in 6X that was my first scope. It has fine crosshairs. I shot my first two deer with it and later many chucks and pests. While the 222 is gone the old scope is still in a drawer.

I also have a number of All Americans including one 6X. Thats not on a rifle either. I liked the Lyman 4x for game hunting but I use variables now while a few of the old All Americans are still in service.

The Supertarget spot is also an old standard here.

No sense in hunting deer with a 222 if you have something better is there?

True. If I had a fast twist 223 slinging the TSX, I wouldn't use the 222 either.

I have a FXII 6x36 w/ LRD reticle on my Tikka 270 and it works fine. I jumped this years mule deer while he was laying in the sage brush at about 30 yards max, no problem finding him in the scope and dropping him in his tracks.

In the past I had a FX-III 6x42 on a T3 30-06 I used to own shot several whitetails at under 60 yards, the only time I wanted a lower power scope was shooting pigs that jumped up at less than 15 feet...but most likely any scope would have been too much at that range

Like most on here, I have wrestled with scopes....endlessly...and have concluded it is to be part of my optical destiny to reside in a constant state of confusion regarding scopes.....

I have broken variables, so I regard them with a cocked and skeptical eyebrow....I have used them to some advantage so like them at the same time.

I have turned a single 4X leupold to rattling rubble after app 3000 rounds on 300's and 338's,seen Burris go cockeyed,and seen the ocular lense fall out of a Nikon.

I have broken fine European optics,killed running bounding deer in the woods,(so close I could spit on them) with a 4X;ditto a 3x;and stretched a lousy 4X to the 450-500 mark more than once on game.

I have had old scopes like Lyman All-Americans and fixed leuppies last so long I wondered when they'd quit....and expensive Euro's quit after 80 rounds....so, yes ruggedness is important to me, because my rifles do not reside in the safe til hunting season, and get shot, year round.

I have been mesmerized by the gin-clear resolution and precision of stuff like Zeiss, Swaro and S&B...

So scopes make me nervous.....

I fully trust few of them,and I can never decide what is best;so I put them on,......fixed, variable, leupold, S&B....whatever....and go hunting.Aside from mechanical failure(once)I have managed to kill whatever came along....even though I might have been over, or under,scoped for a given situation..

The most importan thing a scope can do....is remain sighted in,and put bullets where you need them to go.EVERYTHING else is secondary....JMHO

Bob,

Believe me, I know where you're coming from--partly because I've had more than one variable break on a hunt, and seen several others do it.

All of which is why I make at least one iron-sighted hunt each year--and afterwards often wonder why I don't do it more often. It's such a please to not even think of what might be going on in my scope's innards, secretly. Irons are so much more honest if something goes wrong!

As far as needing a high power variable for the bench just adjust Your bullseye to the power of Your scope of the moment. No problem shooting 1/2 in. groups with a 6x and smaller if the rifle and load and I'm capable on that day. I find I'm using more fixed 6's all the time. I also use 2.5x8 leupolds but my hunting guns carry nothing bigger.

To all,

I have had only one scope 'fail' in the last 57 years. A Lyman 4X All American fogged up on a rainy day in 1968. Lyman fixed it and its back in use.

I prefer variable scopes and have never had one fail in any way. Most of them are Leupolds with some Zeiss and Kahles.



Here is a pic of some of my rifles taken a couple of years ago. From the top the scopes are: Kahles, Leupold, Leupold and Zeiss.

"I have had only one scope 'fail' in the last 57 years. A Lyman 4X All American fogged up on a rainy day in 1968."

Thinking you don't really get out much...

JB: An ironsighted rifle is almost a necessity to have in the northeast here for certain conditions,and I remember a good buck I'd have killed in a downpour if I'd had irons instead of a scope....there are times.....

One thing for sure...if a guy spends enuf time with irons, he won't dwell too much about whether a 4X is "enough scope" when he picks one up!

I like 6X a bit more now than I used to,especially in more open country,and a couple of rifles (my Roberts and Mashburn)now wear them and I have no plans to change.I think they are a good choice for a curmudgeon like me who was very firmly stuck on the toughness of a fixed power and wants a bit more optical power in open country.

Just a general observation that I mentioned to JWP and RinB yesterday.....I have now had the Summit on 5 rifles IIRC;and every one has been a tack driver....all factory sporters,and it now sits on my ugly 7RM.Yesterday,flopped prone at 300 it shot (another)small group at 300 yards(I should post it)......I am beginning to suspect it is more than just pure luck and am wondering if the optics/mechanics have something to do with it..I run it between 6X(mostly)and 10X (500-600 yards).I can find no paralax in the system at those powers,and it is as honest a variable as I have ever owned.

Glad to see you're gett'n it

More than one grain of wheat there.