Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics 8 x 56, the Cats Meow low light scope

Back in the early 90's the Europeans came up with the idea the 8 x 56 fixed power high end scope was the optimum low lights rifle scope. The 8 x 56 Khales seemed to be the rage at that time and many guys I know bought into the fad.

All these years later, I am tempted to try a Schmidt & Bender Klassic in 8 x 56 one but wanted to see if the hype regarding this being the ultimate low light rifle scope had merit.

It delivers the maximum exit pupil (7mm) that 99% of human beings can use to your eye. To get better you'd need a higher magnification, but also a larger objective lens. It has fewer lenses than a variable scope so less light is lost to reflection internally.

I have a Hawke, obviously not in the same class, but gives me an idea of what an 8x56 has to offer. Bottom line for me is that lots of more versatile scopes are plenty bright enough for any legal shooting here, and are lighter and smaller to boot. Maybe the 8x56 has an edge under moonlight or other times that aren't legal here. If that is something you can do, go for it. I'm gonna swap that 22oz bugger out for something a little more portable, maybe put it on a range toy of some kind. It is a very nice scope with an illuminated dot and extra crossbars below for longer ranges. For less than $200 on clearance from CameraLand, I can't kick.

Hawke Endurance 30 8x56 is the way I went and I wouldn't argue the idea. Or a 7X. The Hawke has a lit dot too. Have not decided how it performs in low light yet....

Good luck, let us know. I can't imagine not being thrilled with a S&B.

I spent the last light today in a mountainside stand that was thickly wooded, not a field. The entire day had been overcast...basically no "sunlight"... Legal shooting light was 1/2 hour past sunset. On a day like today light ends early, especially in wooded areas. I was using "ALPHA" glass but in a max power of 5x with 24mm objective, so an exit pupil of 4.8. The image was very clear and bright but the exit pupil was small. The ability to turn on illumination was extremely useful in the last few minutes.....especially the ability to control how bright the illumination was.

I'm a fan of fixed scopes....I'm a simple bastard. The idea of an 8x56 or 7x50 with an illuminated reticle (dot only) is a very attractive option for me.....especially if it were to come with the ability to dial repeatably and dependably for distance.

The illusive FireDot Mil Quad 8X56 Fixedfreaker.

S&B might make something.. I'll be honest and say I really don't want to go there, but they do....

Zeiss makes an 8x56 rifle scope that is a great scope. Expensive, like S&B and Kahles, but great just the same.

Swarovski and S&B make 8x56, plus zeiss and kahles evidently. Meopta makes a 7x56. They're all designed for hog hunting at night in europe under moonlight. They're the fixed power versions of the 2.5-10x56 & 3-12x56 that all these companies offer. They work.

My dad has an 8x56 Swaro on a rifle. I think he got it in the mid-late 90s and it is still hunting strong. Very useful for low light shooting.

I shouldn't have started thinking about this..... Looking at S&B's options, the 8x56 and 7x50 are both interesting. The 7x50 is not a small scope but is more compact than the 8x56 both on objective and length.

IIRC Weaver even made an 8x56

We've got great deals on Meopta 7x56's

S&B #836-811-862-73-94 10x42 P3 PMII only $1,699.99 this weekend.

Between hogs and axis deer, that can be shot 24/7, this idea is tempting.

I've got a pair of Zeiss 10x50 Victory binos, and at one point had a big axis buck come in range after normal shooting light. I could make out the body well enough in the binos, but the svelte 6x33 Loopey on the #1 Ruger was a no-go. An 8x56 bino and scope sound appealing, but the cost would be about what a quality NV scope costs...

My favorite scope is a S&B 1.5-6x42. It takes very little light for that scope to be all I need. A partial moon will do, a town within 15 miles and a low cloud deck will do. I could hunt all night under those conditions with it. This scope has a FFP reticle andit is a modified German #4. The combination of FFP with that reticle means I can see the treticle well in very, very low light and I do not need illumination which IMO just makes it more difficult to see the target. I have never looked through an alpha 8x56 in very low light conditions, and I cannot imagine how much brighter it can be. I have tried my S&B, my Swarovski, Zeiss and Meopta scopes all in 1.5-6x42 4-5 hours after dark looking at rabbits in a tree line at about 50 yards. They were all up to showing me the rabbits well enough that I could see the eyes, ears and head that I could head shoot them did I want to. There was some ambient light like I described above.

I prefer those scopes because of the bottom end 1.5x. It is common for me to need that to deal with close deer in brush where I just have to stay on them until I get a clear shot. Shooting at moving deer in that king of conditions is much, much easier to do it right with little or no magnification. To even use 6x in very low light conditions I need a lot more time, even with that outstanding FFP reticle. If I had more open country to hunt in I would for sure have an 8x56 from one of the alpha companies.

I was fortunate to hunt with one on a 2013 hunt with Ready. It had an illuminated dot, and the view was just fantastic. Mounted atop a Blaser R-1 Hunter, it didn't feel as out of place as I'd have imagined. Then again, that might just have been on account of I was overseas: "When in Rome", y'know.

I don't believe I took any "last light" shots, so I can't really say what game that scope would've allowed me to take, that another might not.

Still, I suppose if one has the coin, and intends to hunt in low light often, it'd be hard to imagine a better option.

FC

I have thus far avoided Fieldcraft threads....

Miles58, my experience is the same as yours. Must be my eyes but my old Swaro 1.5 x 6 x42 seems better in the low light test than my S&B 1.5 x 42. I am able to see back in the woods clearer and farther than other scopes in a text I did recently. One thing I learned, while the ZA5 Minox 2 x 10 x 40 is surprisingly bright and clear and one would think it is close to the the Alpha's during the day, it literally falls flat on its face in low light and the Alpha scope keep going strong well after the Minox is unusable. My Zeiss monocular at 7 x 50 though works well past legal deer hunting and that is what got me to re-visit the 8 x 56. The hogs in South Texas seem to have an internal clock that put them out in the open just past legal shooting time, 30 minutes after sunset. This happens consistently. If the 8 x 56 is better at low light than a variable power alpha scope due to fewer lenses, it would be worth the switch and also give me an excuse for building another rifle to accommodate the height of the big honker scope.

I have an old fixed 4 x 36 fixed power S&B that is most likely the clearest, brightest scope I have and it performs extremely well in low light. I have yet to find a scope significantly better than this old 4x and if you ever find one used, I would seriously recommend buying it. Problem is now, just not enough power for my old eyes. This is what got me to thinking if I could get 8 power with that kind of brightness and clarity in low light, it would be the cats meow.

I have never, ever, never found a 6x42 lacking. But you boys keep chasing them unicorns.

I prefer thermal or night vision for hunting hogs or coyotes at night. In conventional the Meopta 6x42 or Leupold 6x42 especially with a German #4 reticle works from end of barrel to way the hell out yonder in legal shooting hours for big game