Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Let's talk 7.5x and 8x Fixed scopes

Who is using for deer/hogs, what rifle, and terrain hunted?

P.S. Leupold has the 8x42 or 43mm thru custom shop, has an AO (though rather it did not), target knobs, matte.......knobs and reticle I am sure can be whatever you desire.

Anything in fixed over 8x is too much for my use for a yote/deer rifle in open country but curious how smaller FOV would work out. Likely no issue if not in thick woods.

I can see making good use on steel and paper.

IF they'd do a non-AO w/M1 (perhaps a CDS option) and Duplex/Matte - think they'd have a winner - though not sure how many might appreciate it.

Really!? Did not know that....

For at least 6 mos....sorry I did not give you a heads up

It's must be a secret, once a guy at Leupold did not even know they had it! But they do...last I talked to someone there:

14.3 FOV
3.9 ER
12.5 length
14.4 oz

Re-checked my notes, 41 lens, 51 outside diameter due to AO.

a hog/deer rifle, I would assume being used in your neck of the woods, I have to question why the need for so much scope power especially in a package that will not allow you to turn it down. I have taken many coyotes in the 300 yard range and some beyond with my 3x9 set to 3x. with lower power I find it easier to find the target with both eyes open looking through the scope, and when the gun goes off I am more likely to have the target still in the scope OR find it again quickly. and all that is hunting wide open sage in the high desert. I can tell you a fixed 8x would be about my last choice in a scope for even hunting the wide open areas I typically hunt.

If I was hunting down south for deer and hogs and the shots seemed to be more moving through thick stuff at much shorter ranges I definably want a scope that can dial to 3x or maybe even less.

in your situation I think I would like a scope suited for hunting african dangerous game a 1.5-6x might just be ideal. since you like leupold this model

http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/scopes/vx-3-riflescopes/vx-3-1-5-5x20mm/

it also needs to be pointed out the FOV is 66% wider with the scope I am suggesting over the scope you are looking at. that huge disparity in FOV will make your rifle seem like it handles a LOT faster for getting off a quick shot. old timers liked fixed scopes because they thought it was less to break, BUT I have been reading gun forums for 10 years and I don't think I can recall a single scope failure that was traced back to the fact that the scope was a variable, for one the erector assembly controls if the scope is zeroed or not, not the variable power.

Cool!

CC - thanks for the input. I recall a yote hunter in Colorado who's favorite set up used 7.5x and 8x scopes. No doubt lower power works fine in many cases.

Where I could see myself using a scope on deer/hogs would be in open country, and we have areas here where you have that, yet it would be a 'specialized set up/rifle' that is not my 'all arounder' so to speak and more than likely on a heavy sporter rifle, as I try not 'over-powering' a rifle with more scope than can be reasonably steadied in the field. MOST of my hunts a 6x has done fine, or would have and it will always be my 'go to' fixed power scope for any 'all around rifle', where I hunt.

I could also see an 8x really shining in the woods I hunt, when the leaves fall off the trees, and I want to 'snipe' fox squirrels w/a 22, head-shooting them. The power might be welcome on those shots that are 50-70+ yds out.

Also it would do well on my 'non paper' targets I shoot at the range out to just over 400 yds. They might only be 2" wide and 5-6" tall.

My experience w/these were ltd. to an 8x36 non ao, PA for 300 yds, on a 222 carbine, and a 7.5x (PA set for 150yd) on a Sako Forester in 243. Both worked very well on Small live targets out to 300 or so (yet avg was 100-200). I had no problems getting a steady sight picture and they worked well on what I used them on, and at what ranges.

Anything further was usually taken using a varmint weight 223-220 Swift w/12x. For the smallish game - it worked like a charm as far as needed, though when experimenting w/an M8 10x, eye strain was an issue and the 12x gave better 'hit ratios' but again, I am talking of shooting black birds - by the dozens over extended ranges, crows, etc. - no prairie dogs here

On Deer/yotes/hogs I don't need the resolution of 12x for most ranges I would shoot. Occasional shots from 4-600 would be on coyotes, and a 6x or 8x would be enough, given a scope w/turret of sorts. No doubt a variable in 3-10 would cover alot of ground, but I like the simplicity of fixed scopes, and they just work well when matched up to an application. I just don't want or rarely find the need to vary the power on a variable and it seems to be a distraction or nuisance often - perhaps a personal thing.

Any other coyote hunters want to chime in using 8x or less at longer ranges how that worked for you? Good or bad? Curious to hear. Thanks.

I love those scopes!!!

Over the last twenty years or so I have acquired two of the M8 8X AO's and one M8 7.5X non AO, plus several M8 6X's, one long tube M8 4X, and a M8 12X AO. As I have also somehow acquired more rifles than I actually really need, I have "justified" this in my own mind (and that of my wifes!) by finding different "niches" for rifle/scope combinations.

For example, also living out in the wide open West, all of my lightweight carrying/climbing rifles wear the 6X's. My 4X will soon ride a 358 Norma Mag that I just obtained. My 7.5X sits on a little 218 Bee and makes a great little varmint scope with its fine crosshairs. Similarly, the 8X is on a 264 Win Mag Westerner that I almost exclusively use for long range target shooting and antelope at range. I've taken a few shots at shorter ranges and it works OK, but certainly not it's "niche"! My 12X sits on an old 722 .244 and makes a nice but specialized long range varmint/target/antelope rig.

The thing I like about the Leupy 7.5's and 8's is that while maybe not as versatile as the 6's, they seem (or at least the ones I have owned) to have finer duplex crosshairs (?std.) for target and long range work and seem no larger or heavier than the 6's (42mm anyway).

I've been using the Stoney Point Turret caps on my 8 and 12 with success even though they seem to be hated by some. I'm considering going the M1 route on the 8X and 12X scopes, and CDS on the 6X's and maybe the 7.5.

I'm not opposed to variables and have several. As most of my rifles once again have become more "specialized" for me, I don't find myself turning the power ring very much any more... I'd rather spin turrets instead!!!

Doing more closed in "Eastern" or "timber" hunting, or needing one rifle to "do it all" would certainly change things.

I've still got a 7.5XAO Leupold that's been used on a couple of rifles.
It has a fine duplex and with the AO, it's at home shooting small varmits or making small groups. It's at a distinct disadvantge trying shoot running jack rabbits at under 50 yds. For that, either of my 3 6X42's work much better.
I hope Pat, Scenarshooter chimes in here. He likes 10X S&B's on his big game rifles. I'd like to hear why and how he uses that scope for big game. E

I've thought about using one of those on one of my coyote rifles but probably won't. Mostly because what I have works just fine. I hunt coyotes in pretty open county and have 3-9's on both rifles. They are almost always on 9x. I usually try to get incoming coyotes shot before they are inside 100 yards though.

If I was going to set up an older (pre-64, 722, etc) rifle for varmint work and needed a scope for it I'd be looking hard at those 7.5s just because I think they'd "go" better.

LT- agree, rather spin turrets that a power knob anyday, feel it would be a better ROI

Only time I had a problem w/a 6x on deer, was one about 300 yds, Texas Heart Shot, Heavy Duplex was NOT highly regarded that doe - but it worked on an 8pt WT later in the am about 115 yds, and again at Dark Thirty on a doe around 40 yds in heavy cover.

No doubt for all around I like a std. duplex, Can't complain enough about Leupy stopping the duplex in their Matte 6x's and using the Wide. They work, but I prefer a std.

Ralphie, I'd be 'content' w/those old 7.5 w/modern coated lens, matte, and M1s, no AO.

When calling what would be an 'avg. distance' or is there one when you tend to shoot, and under 100 do you just crank down?

E - one thing I won't forget is a former shooting/hunting partner telling me, 'You shoot that Sako 243 better than most other rifles' and it had a 7.5x. We had been 'experimenting' with all types of rifles, calibers, and scopes. It worked well for me and my hit ratio was solid - being a Sako did not hurt

Thanks.

Avg. distance would probably be somewhere around 150 yards. I don't crank down if they come in closer. I don't find it hard to get on them even on 9x. The reason I try to shoot them before they get too close is too much can go wrong then. When they are close it is so easy for coyotes to hear, see, smell, or just "feel" something wrong. I see quite a few that come in to 150-200 yards pretty easily and then stop to look things over. That is when you want to shoot them.

I hear ya. Thanks for sharing.