Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Which LEUPOLD would work best for this?

Am thinking either the VX-III in one of the long range offerings or a Competition scope 35x45, 40x45 or 45x45.
Gun will be used for shooting sage rats and prairie dogs and punching long range paper. Rifle is a Savage Long Range Precision Varminter. http://www.savagearms.com/12PrecVarm.htm I haven't decided on the caliber yet, either .223 or 22-250.

Don't have a lot of experience with prairie dogs, but mirage can be a problem at high magnification. Nice to be able to dial it down sometimes.

Go with a variable like the 6.5 X 20 range. If you're a hand loader I'd go with the .204 you will be able to see all your hits if not the .223 gets the nod.

Supertrucker: I have two "long range Varminters" with Leupold 36 power scopes on them. I also have three "long range Varminters" with 24 power Leupold scopes on them!
With these five Rifles focusing and parallax settings are ultra critical!
And slow to achieve - especially with the 36 powers.
Its not impossible but its also not "convenient"! I dare say you will seldom get a Sage Rat to hold still long enough for you to properly "set" your 35 or 45 power scopes for the shot!
I am with 17ACKLEY BEE on this - I actually would suggest a Leupold in the 8.5x25 variable power range! Maybe even the high end Bausch & Lomb 8x32 variable!
Your original choices will work fine for the long range paper punching but you are going to be giving up some ease and quickness of use with a 45 power scope in a Prairie Dog Town and especially in the midst of the ever darting about Ground Squirrels!
Now I have done these things, and they can be done, but it brings about some frustration and missed shots when you try it.
If you want a fixed power I would suggest a 24 power Leupold - these are no longer made but they are fine scopes and available on the used market.
If a variable is to be considered then I would go with the Leupold 8.5x25 - these two scopes have EXCELLENT resale values in case you decide to "go in a different direction" after trying them.
Best of luck with whichever you choose!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Supertrucker,
Don't overlook these quality optics from US Optics. The only drawbacks are price and weight, but if your punching holes in paper at distance or shootin P-dogs weight isn't a real issue.

US Optics SN3 3.8X to 22X

My Montana 1999 with US Optics SN3 1.8X to 10X



My first few shot with this rifle last September.

Supertracker, I haven't shot any PD's yet but I do a lot of paper punching. Here's what I've learned so far.

If you live in a windy area or hunt in a windy area (10 MPH +) heavier bullets tend to hold up in the wind better especially over a long range. The .223 can be converted to a 6X45 pretty easy. The .22-250 can be converted to 6mm-250 pretty easy. Both of course use 6mm bullets that will buck the wind better than a .22 or a .20 bullet. This is based on observation at the range no personal experience. Although I'm looking into converting my .308 into a 6mm-250 for whatever it's worth. Something to keep in mind when choosing cartridge selection.

I have a Leupold 30mm 6.5X20 varmint scope (VX III) . When the mirage is really humming I have to back the scope down to as much as 10X to hit the paper at 300 yards. Mirage makes the target appear to be moving and not where you think it is. The higher the power the more mirage effects the sight picture.

Last, high far is long range to you? That might help us help you with scope selection.

I've switched gears on the rifle choice and am going full custom.
Caliber will be 22-250 Improved with an 8" twist, so 1000 yds is what I'm trying for.

Supertrucker: I just received the new Nikon Hunting Optic Catalog late this afternoon.
They show a new Nikon Monarch Model that varies in power from 8 power on up to 32 power! It has the 1/8 - MOA adjustments and side focus parallax adjustment.
And its a good looking scope as well.
Out there at 1,000 yards that 32 power will come in handy and you still have the option of turning down the power if a situation warrants it.
I have to take exception with one of the other posters - in brief that poster feels that by turning down the power selector ring on a variable scope you can eliminate mirage - you can't! On days that have mirage conditions even the human eye sees the object of the mirage in a slightly different place than it really is!
By turning down the power selector ring of a variable power scope you can diminish some other optical effects that are in play on days that also have mirage. For instance you can diminish the visible "distortion" or "bubbling/blurring" of your sight pictures image by turning down the power ring.
But, no, you CAN NOT diminish OR increase the optical phenomenon correctly called mirage by moving the power ring! The apparent difference in the real position of the target is the same with the naked eye as it is on 18 power through a scope or at 36 power through a scope!
The reason BR shooters use 45 power scopes is to be able to hold at a finer point on a target than they could with a 24 power scope! On hot days when mirage AND optical diffusion of the image is in play you can deal with the blurring or distortion of the image. But the mirage is not dealt with successfully by ONLY changing over to a lower power scope!
You just don't see BR types changing scopes on hot days. In fact some of the BR types can deal pretty well with the mirage by looking through their high power scopes and making sure they shoot when the "mirage river" appears to be the same from shot to shot.
When I am using one of my 36 power, 25 power, 24 power and 20 power scopes afield I almost always leave them at the top setting - or if they are fixed powers I deal with the slightly blurred images usually by ignoring them!
And the mirage is dealt with by seeing which way the image is slightly "pushed" and holding for that amount.
In heavy mirage the image/target at 100 yards may be 1/3" away from reality! This is the same measurement if you are viewing with the naked eye (1 power?), or at 8 power, or at 16 power, or at 24 power, or at 32 power!
Best of luck with the 22-250 AI - I have shot and shot along side several Rifles in this caliber, its a very capable and accurate round and brass life is rather long.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Well I don't anything about what you are talking about with the mirage thing, all I know is that when I back down the power I can see the target better when mirage is high. As to the rest it's beyond my pay grade and I'm clueless.

Derby dude: You are confusing image distortion with mirage. Mirage is the appearance of an object being in one place when in actuality its in another - you CAN NOT dial away mirage.
You can under some conditions get less image distortion (fuzzy image) by dialing down the power ring.
These are two different things. Dealt with in different ways.
Learning things is one reason we are all here.
You've been "clued" in.
Hold into the wind (and the mirage)
VarmintGuy

Okay, let me see if I got this right. When one sees waves and the target is shimmering that's image distortion not mirage? I guess that makes sense. When I see the waves and the target shimmering that's when I dial down.