Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Load Development and Scope

Guys:

I'm curious: If trying to develop an accurate load for a hunting rifle which will ultimately wear a 4x scope, would you use a higher mag scope for development then switch to the 4x hunting scope for the field, or just use the 4x from the git-go?

Thanks

FM

I prefer to use a higher power for load work.

New rifle, or working up loads.......slap on my 36X or 40X BR scope. Target is a 1/8" dot. Takes aiming error out of the equation. Saves a lot of ammo and dicking around,



Lefty

I use 24x with a fine reticle of some sort for development . If your not able to see your exact aim point you're guessing to some degree.

At the range, the older I get the better I shoot with a higher magnification.........

Don't like them for hunting though.....

Higher magnification can be an advantage, but it really doesn't take all that much to do well by a hunting rifle. If you use a target appropriate to the reticle and you can't shoot 1/2 MOA with 10x it isn't lack of magnification holding you back.

All things being equal, you can shoot tighter groups with a high magnification, fine reticle scope, which is helpful when developing loads. Slap your hunting scope on when you get your final load. Whether it is worth the extra cost to have a scope dedicated to just load development is another matter, but it sure is nice having that extra sighting precision off the bench on a paper target.

Just use a 3-9×40 for everything and call it good. Why limit yourself with a 4x?

One man's opinion... you can develop a perfectly satisfactory accurate hunting load with the lower power scope of choice, start to finish. To augment precision, you can make a precise aiming black with a big Magic Marker and a ruler, the precise diamond shape is very satisfactory. Ken Waters was nobodies fool when it came to load development and evaluation.

Over the years I've gone through the load development with a higher power and have found that the load will rarely shoot better with the hunting scope back on than if I had developed the load with the hunting scope. That said I rarely hunt with a fixed power scope having 1-4, 1.5-6 and 2-10/12 s on my hunting rifles.

You also then have to deal with switching out scopes repeatedly.

Thanks for all the responses. This was discussed on another thread (regarding wind, I believe), but what would be the downside to doing the development at 50 yards using the 4x, then stretching to 100 for a final check? Would 50 yards be far enough to allow for evaluation of groups/loads?

No, not in my opinion. After 100 yards I use 30p for final evaluation, but I don't hunt with 4X scopes

I have shot as good a group with 4x as any higher powered scope. If you use the right target it’s not a problem. I usually hunt with 4x, but also 6x.

Even if I hunt with a variable, I usually set it on 6x or 4x depending on where I’m hunting.

When shooting prairie dogs, I will use higher power but there’s no need for it on big game.

In general, the average 20/20 eye can "resolve" an inch at 100 yards. This means is can tell the difference between alternating black-and-white lines half-an-inch wide. (Beyond 100 yards the lines appear gray, like zebras in the distance.)

Magnification allows resolution of smaller lines. In theory, a 4x scope allows us to resolve alternating 1/8 inch black-and-white lines, but this also depends on the quality of the optics, and light. Thus the error inherent in a 4x scope is about 1/4 inch.

The same principle applies to higher-magnification scopes: A 10x scope allows about 1/10th of an inch of aiming error, a 20x about 1/20th of an inch, etc.

Whether the shooter can take advantage of this is another question, partly because of wind.

If you're shooting a 4x in the field, how much precision do you need above and beyond what you are capable of discerning with the 4x? If a 20x scope helps tell the difference between a .75MOA load and a 1.25MOA load, is that really going to matter on a game animal when using the 4x as the "aiming device"? I know it's mentally helpful to have faith in accuracy of a load, but I'm not sure I'd fret it too much if it shoots acceptably for me at hunting ranges with my intended optic.

Well said!

I suppose it could also depend on if you're looking for minute of prairie dog, or minute of moose.....

All: again, thanks for the comments.

Neither moose nor prairie dogs in Florida, but what Loony doesn't want to wring-out all the accuracy potential of a rifle, regardless of game hunted?

As I pointed out in a post just before yours, the difference in aiming precision between a 4x and 20x scope is far less than between "A .75MOA load and a 1.25MOA load."

It's 1/4 of an inch minus 1/20 of an inch, which is .2 inch.

This sounds like an RLN article in the making: actual range test between a 4x and whatever the highest magnification you can get your hands on. That would be an interesting test, IMO.