Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles At what distance do you feel you need a scope?

I recently bought what I feel is a perfect hunting rifle and one of the reasons I like it so much is because it has iron sights. It's a 30-06 Husqvarna and weighs 6 lbs. It shoulders like it was made to fit. I shot my first animal with it at 85 yards. I spotted it at about 300 yards but that was outside my ability with the sights so I worked to get closer and ended well.

But, that has be thinking should I have a scoped rifle?

Depends on what you want. I'd not one to be a thing inside of 200 yards with an open sighted gun I'm good with.

I like scopes in the thick stuff though. Open areas are much easier with open sights, which seems to counter how most folks approach things.

Much easier picking out a lane in the brush at 70 yards with a scope than any open sight.

I much prefer scopes on rifles even on close shots for the reasons that Steelhead mentions, finding lanes and openings in the brush. I tried the peep sights on my 1895G and got good out to 200yds with it but I never had the confidence with it in the woods because I try my best to shoot through holes not through sticks when hunting. It now wears a 2.5x20 Leupold.

Put a good receiver sight and a blade front on that HV and you will feel comfortable with shooting a longgggg way.

I shoot deer with 1.5-6x42 scopes mostly. Mostly they stay at 1.5x, and I can shoot them as well as irons. I use them like steelie. I use them to reach out. I am older now and my eyes just aren't what they used to be, so I am ever more dependent upon them. I won't be going back now.

To do what?
If I want to punch one in the ear I want a scope at 25 yards+.
If I'm punching lungs I figure I'm good to a couple hundred.

Twice I have killed deer in the woods at 13 short steps. For me I guess I need a scope if I am going hunting.

Scopes don't help you shoot better. They help you see better. On a target range, with a black bull against white paper, I can shoot effectively hundreds of yards. But in the field, my target can easily be much harder to see. Heck, in bad light, I might not even be able to see the front sight.
It doesn't take much scope to really help one see better. Even the 2.5X scopes help alot. E

Around my mid fifties I found I need a scope at all distances. But as stated by previous posts, there are several reasons to use a scope besides distance. Low light, more accurate bullet placement and having your sights and target on the same focal plain are just a few.

That's entirely up to you and your eyesight. My eyes suck, so I feel I need to use a scope to reliably make clean shots. I owe it to the animal to do so..

I have all of my rifles scoped. My vision is not what it used to be!

My vision is WAY better than it used to be since I had cataract surgery. I wouldn't think of going hunting, at any range, without a scope on the firearm .

Scopes are so rugged and dependable and inexpensive anymore, there is hardly any downside to them, except if you want to worry about the extra weight they add.
One huge advantage of a scope is that they allow you to shoot accurately in low light, like early morning or late evening, when animals tend to be most active.

Royce

Like most, I'm far more comfortable with glass than with irons and 98% of my hunting is with glass. That being said, this season I'm going to do a little more hunting with irons. I have several stands that I can carry two rifles into. Yesterday, I checked the sights on three of my iron sighted rifles, a model 1895 .405, a 71 .348 and a Husqvarna Mauser 9.3x57. The lever guns wear Lyman peeps while the bolt gun has the factory open sights. I'll alternate carrying one of the open sighted guns, along with a scoped gun, and if a good clear, easy shot at 100 yards or less presents itself, I'll reach for the "irons". Just tired of having these fine rifles sitting in the safe and not seeing the forest.

Bringing 2 rifles, that's silly.

I hunt some every year with irons, and apparently my eyes are still good to go for that purpose even at 62. But I also think a lot of hunters think their eyes aren't good enough for irons anymore mostly because they haven't shot much with irons for a while.

I don't hunt with irons because I think they're better than a scope. Instead I hunt with them because it's fun, in several ways. In fact one of the things I'd forgotten about hunting with irons was relearned about a dozen years ago on an all-irons safari in Africa, where I took a Cape buffalo and five head of plains game. I relearned that hunting with good, rugged iron sights was more pleasurable not just because of the hunting, but because there wasn't any damn worry about cleaning scopes, or worrying if they'd get knocked out of alignment, or suddenly go batschidt. Instead I just went hunting.

As far as the distance where I "need" a scope, it isn't so much distance as overall conditions. On that safari the six animals were taken at ranges from about 75 to 225 yards, and the only miss occurred on an impala where I hurried the shot, because some nearby giraffes had spotted me and were getting nervous, which made the impala nervous. I got nervous, and simply pulled the shot. But all the others went where aimed.

Have killed a few other animals at 200-225 with irons over the years, but my longest was 350 on a bull caribou. Conditions were right (open country, decent light, stationary animal, prone position) and the shot was actually pretty easy.

Limiting yourself to carrying just 2 is silly, maybe I'll pick up a golf bag and carry all my rifles like clubs, maybe use one of my boys as a caddy!

With my aging eyes, sightes are harder to focus...expecially when light fades.

I've killed deer that I could see in my scope that I would have never been able to shoot with irons.

Yep, can't kill at the last second of legal light etc etc. but I don't care.

As JB said, I do it because it's fun. If the animal wins, then the animal wins, I don't care. No big deal to have to pass up a shot.


This was 15 minutes before sunrise. If it mattered I couldn't tell.

I also add that I shoot via open sights probably 5 times as much as I do scoped rifles these days.