Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics SCOPE CHOICE

Yeah, I guess the guys still using their Vari-x IIc's are really in trouble then.......... .....Maybe that's why I'd take one of the new VX3 4.5-14x40's (probably the one with CDS), use it and never look back..... : To answer the OP's original question......

Well I live out here where those critters are and there is a lot of good info in these opinions but what I didn't see is anybody making a point about FOV. I've hunted with the 6-18 and the 4-14 and VX II and VX III and Vari X II's and III's and on and on. Take a serious look at the real range you will be shooting....say 400 yards to toss out a number. 400/10=40 so on 10X an antelope will appear to you the same at 400 yards as it would be at 40 yards with your naked eye. To me, that's plenty of magnification for any hunting of that size and larger of animals.

That said, if you are trying to make it a spotting scope as well as a rifle scope you would love to have the large magnification but good luck holding that thing stead enough to see any difference unless you have a bi-pod or some sticks or something rock solid.

Next, FOV, try looking through an 18X scope out at an animal on the move, not easy at any range. Then you have the optics and their coatings and all of that. Bottom line to me, the VX II's are fine for hunting and the difference between them and "better" quality is there but not always that easily seen. Deer and antelope are not shot in the back of a closet so it's usually bright enough to not tell much difference. Yes, focus and focus depth are there but most of the time with them you also have time to adjust the AO.

My personal stuff that really gets used have a 4.5-14x44 and a 3.5-10x44 on them and they both are great. The ranging reticles are fantastic and take a lot of the guess work out especially combined with a range finder. My suggestion is get what you like to your eye, what fits your wallet, what fits your rifle (weight, length, eye relief, color, finish) and personally I would think your 10X variables are fine but I sure wouldn't argue with a 14X top end. Also, that side AO is the way to go but I was told by an optics professional that inside around 600 yards to maybe a little farther we don't really even have to have that. I like it but it's not a requirement to me.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Same here for the 4.5x14x40. I have the 30mm tube and 50 mm obj on another scope and would take the 40 mm obj any day. Just my choice but the 4.5 x 14 is a great scope.

My buddy has killed 3 muley bucks in the past 5 years wearing 590" of headgear....all with an old VXII 3-9x40. The VX2 is better.

This professional lacks real world experience.

Like one gun writer told me, lots of gun writers shoot with their type writers. Maybe we should add, lots of optics professionals observe with their computers.

Yeah, it is pretty funny sometimes.
I don't currently have any scopes on my serious big game rifles that aren't fully multicoated. But I own several, some which have only single coatings. In fact, my custom .280 is wearing an old 7.5X AO that is so old the serial number has no letters in it. Single coatings and old friction type adjustments on a full custom that wears a barrel that could have bought a whole rifle these days.
I guess I'm just out of step with the "in" crowd. Just helped a guy understand parallax and how to use his fancy $2000 long range scope to eliminate it. He couldn't thank me enough. Seems his new 300 RUM was only shooting 2 inch groups at 100 yds. Maybe the 3-4 inches of parallax his scope had might have had something to do with that..... E

E,

Your contempt for anyone who dares to spend more than $29.99 on a scope is a never-ending source of amusement to me. The guy had the money, so he bought a nice scope. We all have to learn how to do things at some point. Now he knows how to use his AO, or side-turret, whichever it is. You did him a favor, but your sanctimonious tone is misplaced and uncalled for. You're not better than him because he bought something he wasn't fully familiar with. You choose to hunt with the 6X loopies. He chose to shoot/hunt with something else. That really is as simple as it sounds.

Back to the OP.

14X is definitely enough scope to make any shot inside 600 yds. But 18X or 20X might be an asset as you inspect the trophy in that final moment before you pull the trigger.

I place a lot of importance on value per dollar spent, and I have recently been doing some work with a Vortex Viper PST 6-24X. This one belongs to a friend and is above my budget criteria, but the Viper 6.5-20x44 which Doug has available for $279 is not. I expect it to perform as well or better than the Loopy 6-18.

That's really interesting since that "optics professional" was a Zeiss optical engineer. Guess you know more?

It sounds like it. If optics engineers are like mechanical engineers then absolutely. I called a blower company to come to the company and get us more suction. The 100 H.P. motor had 20" diameter pulley and the blower fan had a 20" pulley. He told me we could put a couple 10" pulleys and get quite a bit more air moving. I told him to get lost.

I called an electrician and had him tell me the max amp usage of the motor and what was being used. With this information I left the 20" on the motor and installed an 18" on the fan. It worked perfectly.

Another time, in another city, when we were setting up a new plant the engineer wanted to run a four foot diameter pipe the full length of the building. Again I told him to leave. We started at the smallest opening and ran that size pipe to the next machine. At that machine we ran that size together to a common pipe. That pipe had the same cross sectional area as the two combined. We did this until everything was included and based on that we ordered the right size fan and motor. I knew from experience if the pipe is too large it fills with shavings and requires more power to accomplish the same job.

When we built a machine for a specific job the engineer told us what we could do. Again he was wrong. We ended up with the fastest machine of its kind in the country.

All this is to say I am not impressed with engineers in both the optics field, based on what you posted, and the wood working field. Like the gun writer sorta said, "They make stuff up."

cbennet this Campfire is full of experience but you can't go wrong with Leupolds no BS warranty if something goes awry....I'd get the VX3 and if you don't like it surely it would sell easily. Chances are you will like it.

Great! the advertisement to the right, from Cameraland with Steiner Rifle scopes...

now I want a Steiner 5 x 26 power scope for $3K when I live on a $69.95 Tasco Budget, courtesy of ObamaNOmics....

I've taken a couple of deer, off a rest, with a 260 Rem in a Ruger 77 package.. both were taken at 300 yds plus, with a 3 x 9 Leupold on top, target dot reticle.. set on 4 power...

was shooting 100 grain Ballistic tips at 3350 fps MV...

recoil was low enough, I never lost site picture via the scope..

3 x 9 plenty for deer...more power maybe for sage rats or prairie dogs.. but then again if I had a 4.5 x 14 offered to me... I wouldn't refuse it.. it would go on top of my 243 Win Heavy Barrel..in place of the 4 x 16 Weaver on it now..

This seems to be a question the OP can answer for himself by actually shooting with the scope.

Personally I would prefer the 3.5-10 that he's using.

Optics are chosen by looking thru them and finding what your eye favors.

The eye doctor asks each of us?:

What do you like, A or B?

Our eyesight acuity varies also. Some have 20-20 and others 20-25 or 20-13.

Select a scope that you and not someone else can see best with.

Count me in for the 3-10 as well. I've used both the 3-10 and the 4-14 Leo's a ton and it's a slam dunk which one I'd use. And the 6-18 wouldn't even rate a thunk.

Dober

With all due respect JG I'm for betting that having the right leases has more to do with this than which scope the fellas using...

Dober

Big difference in image quality in the one (yes, just one) that I had (I'm not a slow learner . . .). Image quality was not near the same as a 3.5-10 or an AO/SF scope. Anything above 10X needs the ability to focus the image at different distances IMO - and not with the eyepiece.

No dissing JG either but, Mark is spot on!!! Good ground is magic!

Do "Non Serious" rifles not shoot?

Do "Serious" rifles shoot better than "Non Serious"?

I have a decent collection of rifle and consider all of them "Serious"