I just went through the list of my cartridge rifles, and the break-down is this:
31% have fixed-power scopes, from 2.5x to 10x, with 4x most common and 6x next.
15% have "iron" sights, which even at my advanced age I still shoot game with now and then.
The other 49% have variables, but about 2/3 are on what most people would consider varmint rifles. Many of the variables get set on the top magnification, from 7x to 10x, and never get changed. Partly this is because there are far more variable than fixed-power scopes available today, so it's a lot easier to buy a variable with the features you want, including reticle. Most of today's variables are also just as reliable (if not more so) than fixed scopes were back when I started using them on hunting rifles 50 years ago.
One of the things I've learned over the decades is that magnification over 6x isn't a big handicap for most big game hunting, partly because field of view has improved in most scopes.
What about the missing 5%?
