Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire "Fixed" 6x scope discovery

I've learned a few things here at the campfire but one thing I thought I'd never agree with was guys using fixed 6x scopes. I always go with lower power variables. I always thought 6x was waaaaaaaaay too much magnification for hunting in Georgia thickets. I proved myself wrong last weekend. I was sneaking through some really thick stuff trying to push deer to my son. As I came out to an area that opened up a little, I jumped 3 bucks. I was able to pull up, shoot and drop the lead deer at a distance of less than 20 yards. When I checked to make sure my rifle was back on "safe," I noticed my Leupy 2.5-8 was on 6x. I had a good field of view and there was no problem seeing the deer. So much for my prejudice.

So, to all those guys that hunt with Leupy 6x's: You're right!

RH

Yep, now try it with a 6x42, and you'll really be hooked. It trumps the 2.5-8, in all ways that count in the field. Easily....

well of course we are...

(took me only 2 years to figure it out as well)


Dave

1

I have a M8 6x42, an FXII 6x36, and there's a Weaver K6 on the way. Oh, and an old Bushnell 6x32 Scopechief. Yeah, they work.

My only worry is that if all of these scopes are eventually "fixed" they won't be able to reproduce and we'll run out of scopes.

now THAT is funny!

Dave

I shot a 10 pt at 17 yards last year with the 6X42 FXIII.....took me a couple of years to get the nerve to try one. So glad I did! What a light gatherer and with heavy duplex....great for low light hogs.

I finally bought a 6X36 FXII from Rick.
I am going to put it on a Kimber 308 Montana, looking forward to seeing how that scope does.

I prefer variable magnification riflescopes for big game, varmints and target shooting. In particular a 6X scope is too much magnification for running game, for hunting with snow on branches as then even the glare from a 4X is bothersome and a 6X is not optimum in dim light..

For range shooting a 6X is a disadvantage for fine shooting.

All in all almost everyone uses variable magnification riflescopes these days.

For big game hunting those with average eyesight should find that a 4X fixed would be a more flexible.

My last riflescope purchases were two Zeiss Conquests in 2.5-8.

I guess. For those of us that don't mess with snow, or shoot at running game and use binocs for game identification... they are awesome.....It's almost if I can see with my 10x50 binocs, I can shoot with the 6X42!

A 6x42, is not optimum in dim light?

Absolute bullschit.

I can use any one of several 6x42s to see and shoot (targets and varmints) WELL past legal big-game shooting light. Easily.

I made a shot this past season on a deer at 250+, and walked directly to the deer (DRT). It was dark enough by the time that I got there, offed the pack and set the rifle down, that I needed a headlamp to dress the deer. Nope, I guess the light at the shot wasn't dim at all....

Here in New England snow is part of the scene. With it on the branches 2X is about right. I shoot at running game. I practice it in running deer matches and I am skilled at it. It increases my chances of getting something.

I re-identify the quarry in my rifle scope. Why be limited and take a chance?

Higher magnification improves low light performance. Just because someone shot a deer with a 6X in low light does not, by itself, mean much. I also have shot a number of deer with a fixed 6X and it got them all. Today I prefer the advantage a variable gives me.

To me the whole fixed power riflescope thing is just a local fetish here that seemed to be dying out and for good reason.

To each his own.

It's the brighest scope I own....and when hogs are on the menu (early, late) in the thickets we hunt, it's my go to scope.

I know a little about New England hunting. It's different, but not nearly as impossible as some make it out.

In fact, I'd rather take a low-light shot in snowy New England, with all that ambient light reflecting off the snow for the scope to use, than in tight creekbottoms or laurel thickets in the Southeast, with little to no ambient light available in those last few minutes of the day.

Being able to hit running deer, is a prerequisite in the Southeast.... bt/dt.... 6x42 ain't hamstrung me yet, but a variable cranked the wrong way has.

The reason that the fixed 6 seems to have a greater following around here, is that folks 'round here got exposed to the idea, tried it, and remained hip to the idea, when no flies in the plan were found.

That the unwashed masses ain't tried it and thus don't do it, don't mean much. Trashco, Simmons, and Bushnell still sell a ton of bubble-packed scopes every year; just 'cause they do and some DSMFer uses it, don't make it less of a POS.

For small non dangerous hogs at medium range with no snow on the branches while using buckshot (LOL) a fixed 6X might be better than nothing.

Is your deer season still open?

Nope. It only last about 9 days, for rifle season, up there.

VT, as a state, still hasn't figured out how to manage a deer herd yet..... F&G oversight committee in the State House still acts like a deer herd ought to behave and reproduce like a dairy herd.

Damn shame, too. Great little state; beautiful scenery, great fishing, wonderful people.... but the hunting absolutely sucks.

Something is always open.

In Vermont, where I was Wednesday, there is about a foot of snow on the ground. By the middle of the rifle deer season snow is likely and its a benefit unless its also on the branches. I keep going back day after day to a hot spot one year that had snow on the branches. I should have hunted near the camp where it was just on the ground.

Here in CT snow is likely by the ML season.

Good testament!!!

Nothing is better than first hand experience. And, recent too!!

Don