Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics 3-9 power vs 4.5-14 for big game

You probably don't want to read this, but, if you can't hit "big game" quarry with a 4x or 6x scope, you're probably too far away.

A 3-9x, 3.5-10x or 4-14x scope option is a moot point. All will work for "big game" hunting. If it was me, and those were my magnification options, I'd get the best quality lens I could afford in a 3-9x scope.

I picked up a Sightron Big Sky SII 3-9x scope this past year. I am very happy with it. It has excellent resolution, tracks perfectly/repeatedly and a well-thought out turrent knob design ( resettable with very finite clicks). Essentially it is the premium Big Sky SIII , but with a 1 inch tube.

I will.put it on my Win m70 Extreme Weather 30-06. I didn't need the extra magnification above the Leupold M8 3x that was on it for my Maine woods hunting, but I was always interested in the Big Sky SII - and found one at a favorable price. "Want" and "intrigue" outweighed "need" in this case.

Who knows? I'll probably go back to my Leupold fixed 3x, or a Nikon pre-Monarch fixed 4x scope on it (which has great glass in it), after I've played with the Sightron.

I don't need more scope magnification, I need more time in the woods.

Getting older sucks.
My eyes used to be very good.

Now I like a little more Xs for paper or varmints.
Under 300 yard deer stuff, 2-7x seems ideal.
Still hunt and treestands.

No bipods or shootin houses.
Less Xs make me more comfy.
Hell.a.reg 4 or 6X proly all I need really.
But....in the woods a 1 or 2x on the low end makes for quick gut piles.

A 3-9x40 Burris Fullfield E1 3-9x40 is 12.2 inches long and 13 ounces.

The 4.5-14x42 E1 is 12.6 inches and 15.3 ounces.

Less than 1/2 inch length, 2.3 ounces, 2mm at the objective (not some massive 50+ mm), (and a small side focus knob). Unless we’re talking an “ultralight” or woods rifle, why not get the extra magnification??

I have scopes in that power range, and use them on varmints... teaches you to shoot little targets.

That being said, at our local range, there is a rock out at 725 yds, that is about the size of a Folding metal chair.

Was over there the other day, and on a Rem 700 in 243, which had a $25 Tasco 4 power scope on top. Lord knows how long I've had that scope, but its optics are still plenty clear for me... Its got an old Stoney Point turret on top, and I think that was $20 or so back when they were around.

Knew the distance, and knew the elevation and the MV of an 80 gr SP.. Wind wasn't too bad...
Rest on a bench ( so that is a plus or cheating). Could see that rock just fine on 4 power, three shots, three times the dust flew off of it...

have been shooting little bitty sage rats, pretty much the length of this seating die sitting here on my desk., 100 to 150 yds...and probably getting a 85 to 90% hit ratio.. that was the last time I was over in Klamath about 3 weeks ago....when I was leaving, I noticed I had my scope set on 5 power the entire time...

I question if the 4 x 14 will give you that much more in the long run than what you have now...

practice shooting at smaller targets at the range, if nothing else and get your eye and hand to eye coordination use to it..

Shot a coyote out by that rock one time. with a 6 power scope on top a 223... had it zeroed on the rock....hit it first rime, but then it took a compensated second shot, to finish him off....he was circling biting his ass, where he'd evidently been hit with the first shot.

Rule of thumb is fitting entire animal in FOV at shortest range you kill them. If you kill them at 50 or closer 2x usually has enough FOV to swing thru a running animal.

Shooting with low mag scopes at distance is a different skill set than zooming in. Both can work. Depends on what you want to do. Average shooters are happier with zooming in on a hair than learning to hold on an animal.

There are scopes that start at 2x on the bottom and go up high nowadays. A lit reticle overcomes most of the deficiency of a busy ballistic reticle. So, you don't really have to choose if you're willing to spend the money.

I think the 24x would be better, Not!
Keep it simple Sir, 10x is all you need.
I don't dial but I sure ain't fuqking with a parallax adjustment.
KISS method will serve you well.

When Trophy hunting in Kansas, I may rattle in 7 bucks a day. Some stop at some yardage. I need to see if the buck has broken off a brown tine fighting. It takes power to see broken brow tines. So, 4x16 is a great choice, and there seems to be a world of difference between 14 and 16 power. Hunts are expensive, Real pisser to shoot a big buck sporting a massive rack, with a broken tine!

You get the IDIOT award for shooting that broken horn deer!

I shot a 360 lb buck in Kansas at 680 yards, he was so old, he had no brow tines...age. He still had a massive rack. I knew where the buck was traveling, and put a 8-32 black diamond on my 7 STW, he dropped on the spot, 140g Nosler C/T with Muzzle velocity of 3600. We hunt out of 15' ladder stands with prop for rifle.

We put a food plot at 500-550 yards here in the South, the stand is called the STW stand. No telling how many deer my brother and I have killed out of that stand with our 7 STW's, 6x24 Burris Light Seeker scopes with the adjustable light collector, and the 8-32 Burris Black Diamonds. Of course, these scopes are not low light scopes. Our limit here is 6-8 deer per year, and we use every tag, freezers are full o hamburger and cube steak, tenderlions, and meat for jerky.

Different kinds of terrain take different optics, and we have low light scopes for woods hunting.