Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Is 4 x enough ?

I hunt North Mo. which is a mixture of brushy draws and farm land. During the day you might be jump shooying one in the brush and in the evening sitting in a stand over a bean field. The longest shot from my beanfield stand is 260 yds, where they Jump out of Iowa into Mo
I want to put a Weaver k 4 on my old 88 win. and was wondering if ou think it is enough for this hunting. I'm especially concerned about late in the evening, right at dusk as the deer and field grass kinda of blend in togather before they get in the open.
The scope and rifle seem made for each other. I'n not a rich guy , I know there is better stuff, but this K4 sure looks good.

Use a good binocular of 8X or more to find them from your stand, and your 4x to aim at them.

C&B

Exactly!

I killed my first deer in Mercer County 30 years ago, with an Ackley-barrelled Mark X Mauser in .30-06 topped with a 4X scope. Ammo was 180 gr RN Corelokt, as I recall. I can't imagine why a 4X wouldn't work exceptionally well for the hunting you describe.

Where in North MO do you hunt?

The 4X will work fine, but it is a bit of a compromise. I hunt under similar circumstances, and use either a 1.5-5 or 1.75-6 variable. I find the low power with its larger field of view much quicker in the woods at close range, and I can crank it up if necessary for the longer shots.

I use to hunt Chariton county with a 4x Weaver on a 243 nearly forty years ago and thought it was plenty then. A paid for 4x surely beats iron sights for most work. Why not try it?

BearII,

The Weaver 4x is a classic and will perform as well today as it did new. If you get the itch for new optics, I'd spend the money on a top end binocular. I am a big fan of the low power scopes, both Weaver and Leupold. The only scope I have larger than 4x is an old Redfield 12x that lives on my 220 Swift. Use your Weaver with the greatest confidence. Good hunting. Mart

I agee also. The 4X weaver was and is an excellent scope. My dad has one on a sporterized 8MM Mauser and it's clear and bright. BTW, I'd use that combo to take just about anything in N. America.

Very True.

EXCELLENT scope.

Well, I'll be the lone disenter here. When I first moved to Montana I hunted with a 4x Leupold. One late afternoon on Big Creek I set up to watch a likley looking knob as dusk was fast approaching. As luck would have it no deer came out on my knob. But deer did start coming out on the knob directly across from me. First a lone doe, then a few more, finally there where a dozen on the adjacent hillside. I could see only one buck by glassing with 10x binos, but when I raised my rifle and looked through the 4x scope I could not identify the buck. I alternated back and forth between the rifle and the binos and counted to determine how many deer over from the pine tree the buck was. Finally I took the shot, it was dark enough by then that the muzzle flash from my rifle almost blinded me. I walked through the drainageand up the other side and by the time I got to the other knob it was pitch black. I found the deer by tripping over it. Thank goodness it was the buck. I now use a 3x9 variable and 8x binoculars and I've never had the problem of being able to identify game with my bino but not with my rifle scope again.

The Weaver K-4X is a classic and probably has accounted for more deer in the last 50 years than any other single scope. Today there may be better scopes for more money but you can't go wrong with the old Weaver 4X

Stop and think about your question Bear. Hopefully you are using high end optics, or as close to it as your pocket book will allow. All a higher power in a scope does is bring your target closer into view. This may sond good in theory but why fill up your FOV with your target. All you are doing is limiting yourself. Ya see weather the target looks like it is 100 ayrds away or 1000 feet away when you lay those cross hairs on you are on target al biet allowing for trajectory and windage. So stick with the lowest power scope your eyes can handle and sit back and laugh at all the guys who think they are cool because they have a 6-24x52 Tasco.

I agree with the majority here that a 4X scope is very good as an all around big game magnification. However I have tried those Weaver K4's and they were never up to the clarity of the Lyman or B&L scopes of their day.

I have two such K-4's now thru gun purchases and both are in a drawer. Ruskin said something about the most expensive thing you buy is something that fails to do the job that you selected it for. This means that the "cheap" K-4 may cost you the game!

New scopes are better. I have about a half dozen Lyman All American 4X's on sporters still. They are better scopes than the Weavers and always were but they are not as good as the new scopes. I am waiting for a smaller Conquest <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

I just don't understand the facination with the old Weavers.

Look at the very old K-4 on this used gun that I picked up.


When I had the gun and scope at the club more members came up and said that they liked the scope? In fact I recall that the FFL dealer who received it for me said the same!

That scope is the pits and has parallax also. I replaced it with a new Leu 3-9 Compact as that's all that would fit on that rifle. The new Leu is pretty good. Not the best but way better than some dried up old scope.

I've some aged Weaver's,just for nostalgia/romance,on tools that are sorta fitting to them. They are larks,just niche toys to have fun with and nothing I'd use seriously.

Optics have come a long ways,especially the aiming devices..................

The new Weaver K series has had some great reviews. FWIW, Weaver K Series

MtnHtr

Buy the new Leupold FXII 4X and go hunting. For anything, anywhere. I just ordered another one.
Mike.

Your old Weaver K4 will work fine, but will not be as bright as newer scopes. At the dawn/dusk period it will not work as well as any of the newer scopes because it was not lens coated. But during the day it will be alright. It depends if you want to spend money or not.

The advantage of having a fixed power scope is that the optics are generally better than those of a variable power scope of equivalent price. (I know, there are going to be some who disagree with me on this...) I do have a 3x9x40 Bausch & Lomb and an old Weaver 4X. The 3X9 never goes off of 3X, and the only advantage over the Weaver is the wider field of view and slightly brighter. That Weaver never gets any moisture in it though, and it is a lot less likely to with the solid tube construction.

SS