Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Returning to the 4x scope

I moved on from four power scopes about twenty years ago, the reason for which I have forgotten. They were sufficient for all my hunting needs including lots of deer, pronghorn, sheep, javelina, elk, caribou etc.
I guess that move to bigger more powerful scope was due in large measure to the old monkey see monkey do syndrome. All my friends were using 3x9 and some much more powerful scopes.
Well in retrospect all that these bigger, heavier scopes did can be summed up as nice but really brought little to the party.
So my go to 257 Roberts is back from gumsmith Kevin Weaver who restored to it’s pre-crash in the mountains state and I’m going to put an old, old Leupold M8 4x power scope on it, silly me!

Nothing wrong with that. On a hunting rifle I'd rather have a good solid 4x and a high end binocular than a high power variable scope.

I have several of those M8 4x and 6x scopes and I find them to do everything I need done.

There are a few of us bitter clingers out here, from whom they'll have to pry those 4x scopes from our cold, dead hands. I may actually a turncoat, though, since the last scope I mounted was a 3x Leupold.


Like MD regularly points out, though, the number of 4x scopes on the market (and the quality, thereof) these days speaks to how few we are.



FC

7mm-08 wears a 4.

If you’d like to test it out, just set your 3-9, or 2-7 at 4X And Leave it there for a day,
or the whole season. Just One less thing to fiddle with.

It really helps make visual estimations using the reticle for reference, so much more intuitive.
Not a bad thing within the scope of a 4X’s capabilities. 🥴

I agree. I have an older Leupold 4x on my Savage 99F in .243. It was the only scope I had that fit me on that rifle. I don't know why you'd need much more than that, especially in Eastern Woodland hunting.

A 4X and an M70 .30-06 seem to work well together.
Bob



A couple more 4x Lymans on Remington pumps. Still a pretty good scope

I need to see if the brow tines are broken off, which is a non shooter. Hard to see if the brow tines are broken off at 4 x at some distance. 4x16 is my choice, I can always turn the scope down. Often, you do not have the time to pick up a pair of binoculars and scan the buck.

Deep woods hunting is another matter.

I suppose an old school 4x may have a purpose but optics coatings, tech, smartly designed reticle, resins, and components have come a long long way in the past 20 years as has lighting technology like flashlights, headlamps and all lighting in general.

I'd like to see an box test of an old 4x Leupold against an Chinese Athlon. While at it put 500 rounds thru to see if they hold a zero once it's been set. May a bitbof high angle field position shooting in the mountains from each?

There's a lot of super low powered variable optics with low profile features that will work for folks and they are optically superior to old scopes of yesteryear. Why not just use a new 1-4x variable if you need low power? We have more choices now than ever.

Don’t feel bad, I think a lot of scope manufacturers moved on 20 years ago from 4x scopes.

I have an old weaver K6 with a post reticle. Traded or sold lots of rifles but that scope always stays with me. But now I need to find another rifle to put under it. That's the fun I guess.

My wife has a 4x Zeiss Conquest on her rifle. This year our daughter was using it for her deer. She made a 247 yard heart shot on her deer with it (a nice 4 pt.), but when it came to telling which deer was a doe and which a spike or forky at the same distance she had a lot of difficulty. I talked to my wife about changing the scope to a more powerful variable, but she did not like the idea at all. She will let me, but she is not getting rid of the scope either.

I have 10+ Leupold M8 4X’s and a half dozen Leupold M8 6X’s. All I use.

I have a couple fixed 2.5 Weavers one is on my .44 Marlin and the other is in the cabinet. One 4x Burris on my ar. Two 6x Leupolds. One is on a 700 .300 Savage and the other is, I am not sure where. All the rest are variables. I like the ability to go from hi to low powder. I hunt mostly open country any more so that is my choice. But when I was about 20 hunting in heavy brush, we jumped a bunch of deer. I was able to pick a hole in the brush with my B & L 2.5 to 8x and drop a nice fat one when it hit that little spot. Been a fan ever since.

I have an M8 4x33 on my Ruger 250 Savage, a Nikon 4x40 on a TC Omega, and a Weaver on a Marlin 22 LR.

I

I now have swung over to more fixed 4s and 6s than variables. I have mostly click adjust newer models.
but not all of them. I only have Leupolds.
The higher power with variables seemed appropriate for load testing, but I always was screwing the power
down to 5x or 6x when hunting so.....

Nothing wrong with a fixed 4….however, an “old, old” fixed 4 holds little advantage in glass, internals or weather resistance.

nice setups

I’ve still got a M8 4x on my old Rem 700 Titanium. It’s been a great backcountry companion for years. No complaints.