Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Why no love for low power hunting scopes

A VX-II 2-7 has been great (if not overkill) on a 62 year old Remington pump 22 for gophers and muskrats in North Park. Muskrat hunting starts tomorrow, just before all of the water ices over. It makes great fur strips for "bunny" style flies, and maybe the bigger fish take them because they look like baby muskrats??

Just a thought: I’m not buying a scope with the thought that it might help me see horns better than the next scope. I’ve got binos and time or I don’t…..but that’s just not why I pick a scope. It’s why I pick other glass…..just not a scope. If it helps, cool. If all it does is put reticle on meat, just as cool.

Tell him or her to zero that rifle at 200. No CDS necessary with that round untill 250/300 yards or further .
To me that sounds like a newb mistake and no trigger time in off season

Nikon Monarch 1.5-4.5x20
Got it here on classified for a great deal

I've had good luck with the various 2-7x33 Leupold offerings. They may not be top-tier, but they work fine for me atop medium/short range rifles like bolt action carbines, lever guns, and even some semiautomatics. There is a Ruger 77/44 on my bench right now that is about to have a scope installed. It'll be a simple Nikon Prostaff 2-7 that I bought a year or two back. Again, not the finest of scopes, but fine for a .44mag carbine that's only going to be shot out to 100yds or so.

I do agree with the notion that this scope category has become increasingly overlooked in the last decade or two. Seems that everything is either moving toward the LPVO straight-tube scopes or larger, heavier, high-magnification 42+mm hunting/tactical scopes. The market for a smaller hunting scope in the 2-7 category is occupied by only a few models and the manufacturers must consider that to be enough. I wish Leupold had not quit making the 2-7 VXR. Folks seem to love them, and now they bring an arm and a leg.

Over a lifetime of haunting the thick deer woods in eastern Appalachia I've never felt let down by low power straight tubed scopes. For my hunting rifles and my style of hunting, where I hunt, I'm a set-it-and-forget-it kind of guy. Heck, I'm comfy relying on Lyman 48 receiver sights on a few of my deer rifles for that kind of work.

My target/varmint rifles are another story, and being the nostalgic traditionalist that I am, the old offerings by Unertl/Fecker/Lyman/Litschert of 16x-20x suit me fine. (Don't ignore anything by Unertl - they made world class optics that can hold their own with all but the most sophisticated stuff of today.)

It was zeroed at 250 which is near the MPBR with the load being used. I agree there is no need for a CDS until 275 or more and unless you're a very seasoned longer range hunter, the risk of a missed shot or worse a wounded animal, in my opinion, isn't ethical hunting. The shot at 140 should have been a no-brainer....perfect weather, shooting sticks, more experienced than I am at hunting.

For some its hopeless. Should have taken the shot for them. 3140 and nothing to show. Maybe to much gun.

I guess I never thought "for some it's hopeless" is a reality. Thanks for the wake up call.

Because I'm half blind and low power ain't enough anymore

3-9×40 is the go to for me. I would like to have a couple quality fixed 4 power though

Can some one please define the common consensus on what a low power scope is, probably tough to do. I always thought nothing over 3x power was low power and after that a 4x up to 10 power was mid power.

My little Leupy 1.5-5x20 with the German #4 reticle is a low power scope to me because of its lowest setting. I know in 55 years of my mediocre hunting career I have leaned towards low and mid range scopes because I trust they will handle up to 500 yard shots on Alaskan moose and caribou.

My wife's Mod. 94 Big Bore .356 Winchester wears the 1.5-5 and is light, fast and the big #4 reticle helps in low light.

Most of my deer hunting is done on the prairie where I have taken deer out to 375 yards. I usually have my scope set at about 4 power. I wod like to get a low power to put on a 338 WM for bear. I am afraid the AR Scopes will not take the recoil.

Problem with all these AR scopes is they're heavy for what you get, and the tub length sucks for use on an '06 length action. For those of us who enjoy reasonable scopes it seems time has passed us by. Last week I was with a 20 year old co-worker looking at a rifle in a display case equipped with a Leupold 1.5-5. This kid is a hunter and reloader who owns a fair number of rifles. He looked at the gun in the case and said "What's wrong with that scope? It looks weird." I told him it's one of the best scopes ever made for hunting in the woods and not cluttering up a rifle. He responded with "Hold on, only 5 power? That sucks!".

Ignorance drives scope buying decisions for many of today's customers.

Hey "pabucktail". Please tell the young that for 12 years I used a Leupy 1.5-5x20 with a Duplex reticle on a very accurate Ruger Mod. 77 and it worked fine on lots of moose, caribou and bears. It always delivered the 250 grain Nosler Partition where I aimed and one shot kills.

Most shots to 200 yards were taken with the scope on 1.5 power. The longest was on a old and very large cow moose at about 400 yards. The 5x power came in handy for that shot and was all I needed. Now that I am 72 I would prefer a 8x or higher powered scope for shots past 300 yards.

I don't own a scope over 10x power. Our Alaskan critters are good sized and it's not needed in my opinion.

A long gone family friend, neighbor and guide named Johnny Porter told me a story that I think is in one of Bob Hagel's books I have. Johnny told me that Hagel was the finest rifle shot he ever guided and took a good caribou at over 400 yards with a 4x fixed power scope. The bolt action rifle was chambered in a wildcat 7mm, I think the Mashburn.

The longest three last rifle shots here in PA was 45 yards. As they say.. your results may vary.
I run a 2-7 on a Ruger No 1 in 45-70. A Bushnell 1.5-5x on a slug barrel. A straight 4x on my Marlin 1894SS in 44 mag.
And open sights on the rest as they aren't designed for scopes..

4 and 5x still work for my moose shooting distances. Though, I have straight tubes in the 1 /1.1 through 8x also.
Johnny Porter is definitely in at least one of Bob's books. I bought another copy of that book, used from Great North a few years ago. It has a note written to Johnny on the inside cover, signed by Bob. It think that is pretty cool. I am still a fan of Bob's writing.

Why no love for low power scopes? Because of the long range shooting craze that is taking over the hunting world.

Yep. The Hubble Scope crowd is driving scope product lines. Tough sledding for those of us with a more minimalist approach to rifle scopes. As you stated, it's not just the magnifications offered, but the attendant footprint. Bulk and weight are part of the equation for handling characteristics.

JOC used a Lyman Alaskan 2.5X with a 5 inch dot.

Of course, he was a hunter not a fattbutt riding in an ATV.

Never seen an Alaskan ?

Here on an exceptional 99 EG in 300 Savage.