Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Are four and six power scopes still useful

Am I the only one who still uses fixed power scopes? I have 3, 4 and 6 power scopes on all but one of my rifles. Having hunted from Alaska to Mexico I have never felt that my choice of optics has inhibited the hunt. Their reliability and clarity suit me just fine. Anyone else or am I a dinosaur?

I have more fixed power than any others.

I like the variables set on 6X.

Nothing wrong with fixed power scopes.They usually are lighter and stronger then a variable.

Fewer moving parts equals being tougher. I currently don't have many fixed power scopes. I usually zero at higher power and then scaled down to 4x or 5x for hunting. Way too many people buy a high power variable and used it as binos. I hate seeing a guy sweep past me with his rifle as he is scoping the terrain.

4X and 6X scopes are absolutely the greatest.

Absolutely a dinosaur.

But in good company. IIRC, a German WWII sniper stated that a 6x would take him to 1000 meters. I don't have that book with me but again IIRC, he said a 90% hit probability with a 4x to 400 meters.

This is me.

A 6x42 just always seems "good" to my eyes.

Nothing "wrong" with a 4x or a 6x. Different tools for different games. They are great for hunting deer but I wouldn't want to shoot F-class with them.

Nothing wrong with 4x or 6x scopes my .35 Whelen deer rifle wears a 4x scope, the biggest buck I have ever taken was shot with a rifle equipped with a 2.5x scope with post reticle.

Have two variables and a pile of fixed power scopes. Don't have much use for the V's or anything more than 2.5X.

Partial to 4X myself. Most of my variables are set at 4 or 5.

preferred

I agree with you Desertranger, 100%

I do have some variable scopes going up to 9X on some of my hunting rifles, but they nearly always stay at 3X or 4X. I do favor 3X and 4X fixed power scopes when I can find good ones. Weaver stopped making their K4 resentfully and I am hopeful that Leupold will not do the same with their M8 4X. I know there are some others out there, but finding a good quality fixed 3X or 4X is getting hard to do. There are some made in Europe and I hear a lot of good things about many, but the price is quite high. There are several pieces of Chinese junk (called scopes) which we can still get, but they are unworthy of a good hunting rifle.

The industry seems obsessed with selling gadgets and all manor of things that are 99.5% useless for a hunting rifles in 99.5% of the shots a real hunter will take in his life. So why are we force fed all the gizmos? Those that like such things can buy them by the car load, but for those of us that love a strong, clear fixed power sight (what any scope truly is......A SIGHT) we are now having to haunt yard sales and pawn shops to find what we really want.

The industry seems to demand everyone buy a target scope or so-called "tactical scope" (showing the use of salesmanship to the ignorant. Tactics are actions, not objects)

Quite a few folks here use mostly fixed power scopes, me among them. Most of my hunting is done with a fixed 6x, though I also have 2.5x, 3x, and a 12x fixed power scope. Hmm, a 20x too.

Have a few variable scopes, but I do most of my shooting and hunting with fixed power scopes. They work just fine.

Guy

A better title for this thread might be, "Are variable scopes really necessary on a hunting rifle?"

It's interesting that when a trend hits the shooting industry, everything else is now outdated, obsolete, and causes bullets to bounce off 125 lb deer.

Used to be you needed a .300 Wonder Magnum to kill a deer, then it was synthetic stocks, now its scopes that outweigh the rifle. Frankly, if you can't kill a game animal cleanly at normal ranges (less than 400 yds for you snipers) with a 4x or 6x scope, perhaps you no longer belong in the field.

This idea that a .338 needs a 6-18x Vortex Super Sky Spotter is simply ridiculous.

6x42 have worked fine for me for my use for several decades. I have a few variables but they seem to migrate to the shelf while the Meopta MeoPro 6x42 migrates to my rifles. If I did long range shooting, I would probably have a different perspective. I have had variables get in the way when I have them on the wrong power. This is my fault but it can't happen with a fixed power.

4x and 6x are usually more than I need. I do have a dandy Leopold 2.5x, but what I really like is a 1-4x variable.

Agreed. I have several variables, mostly 2-7x and one VXIII 2.5-8x. Switched to straight 6, 10, and 12x on my groundhog rifles, straight 4 0r 6x on the game rifles. Haven't been even slightly handicapped. I like the looks, the clarity of view, and the light weight the small scopes provide.

I have used mostly fixed power for hunting for most of my hunting life, but right now I have 3 variables and 1 fixed power scope on my rifles.
My philosophy these days is to equip my rifles to be enjoyable in the conditions that I use them the most. So even though I do a lot of back pack style hunting(big game), I do very little shooting while I’m hunting. Probably 99+% of my shooting is done at the range. So I want my rifles to reflect that because I have a lot of fun shooting.
In my hunting situations, I could get most of the shots easily done with a 4x or 6x set and forget scope. I want my rifles light enough for carrying, but at the range is where the bulk of the shooting happens so I want gizmos and features.
I’ve settled on NF NXS compacts because they have features that work properly for having fun at the range without being too heavy or bulky, and also work great for the relatively few shots I take at animals. I think there is no down side to having a feature rich scope like this for hunting, but there is a very big upside for having fun at the range.