Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting How far can 6x take you?

on deer sized game,,,how far have you had success?

So many variables- Is the deer standing in good light, does the shooter have good eyesight, does the scope have a lot of parallax...
A good shot with iron sights on a day with good light can keep all his shots in a six inch circle at six hundred yards- Theoretically, a six power scope should double or triple that range, but it doesn't because so many other variables come into play.
I don't think it's too far off to say that a six power scope will take almost all people past the capabilities of both them and their rifles. On deer especially, once you get past 400 yards or so, there is such a likelihood of that deer taking a step between the time you send the bullet and the time it gets there that it makes those shots pretty iffy.
I say that knowing there is a handful of hunters here with the experience and discipline and animal knowledge to wait until everything is perfect before they drop the hammer.
This is a pretty vague reply, but the question doesn't lend itself to a precise answer.

I've killed several deer and antelope at 250-350 yds. with a 4x and 6x scopes, and never felt the need for much more power on a hunting rifle.

Clarence

I have always liked 4x and 6x scopes for their ruggedness and simplicity, but my eyes aren't what they used to be so I have gone to variable scopes now-Hated to do it, but that's life

I am not much or a long range shooter, I practice to 500, mostly because it makes 2-300 yds seem easier.

My longest shot on an deer was ~420 with a FX3 6x42. 6 was plenty of X for that.

As a younger fellow I carried a M21 in the army for about 18 months. It has a the ART-2 scope where ranging and trajectory compensation was linked to power and it was basically 100yds per X and I can't ever remembering a time when I needed more magnification. It was all about ranging (before laser rangefinders) and the wind.

I haveca 2-8�32 zeiss with turrets mounted on a VERY accurate 260ai. I plowed through an elks heart at 420 one minute into legal light. I have hit beer cans at 600 to 750 yards with it.you can do a lot with a clear low power scope.

My brother used a fixed 10 power in Iraq and Afghanistan during his tours over there. You can do a lot with fixed power scopes. The conditions , your capability , and your rifles capability set the limits.

i shoot in competition with guys shooting iron sights, out to 1000 yards. i prefer at least a 6.5-20 to take advantage or the rifle/calibers abilities

Coyote at 365. Leupold 6x

Numerous coyotes over 400 w/6x36 Leupold on my Swift.-Muddy

I have shot doe antelope at just shy of 600 in Wyoming with a fixed 6X, no problem.

Some hands advice here

I've killed antelope over 400 with a straight 4 power with a standard crosshair. No dials, no dots, no range finder.

I've shot deer at over 400, groundhogs at over 400, and rung 18" steel with ease and a 6x.

Every scope I own is a 6X......AND an 18X or 20X

Why anyone would want to handicap themselves with 6X on a rifle capable of killing/making impacts at ranges where a 6 power scope sucks hind tit is amazing to me.

Longest shot on a buck with a fixed 6X was 330 yards. Woodchucks to about 400 and yotes about the same. I shoot 600 with a fixed 6X on the range.

I've killed more stuff further away with a fixed 4X;longest mule deer about 500 and ditto on elk.An elk is the size of a house and shoo in with a 6x at 500 yards.

But like Royce, I like more power these days in open country.

i was just curious, in all my years of hunting (started 30 years ago, been doing it yearly for last 12 or so) ive owned scopes that have gone up to 12x and the only time I have used anything higher than 6x is at the range...i guess from a field rest, I haven't felt comfortable (or needed)with zooming in to a higher power. That and 90+ percent of my hunting in georgia is inside 150 yards (probably most inside of 100 actually) in planted pines, or a hardwood bottom, unless Im hunting powerline or beanfield type area.....the thought of sitting in my climber and cranking the scope up to 20x on a deer bewilders me

my geography has me looking for pieces of a deer between all the timber vs looking for a deer in a wide open space

Ruger 1B 270, 6x - double on crows (1 shot) ~ 300+ yds
That count?

Deer - K1A Ruger 6.5x55 - 275 yd - 6x - German # 4

Sako I suppose eastern hunters can get longer shots than 300 yards on fields and power lines,over big swamps but your experience is probably more typical. I have killed in the east at 300 yards a couple times over swamps and power lines.But it's more typical in my neck of the woods to kill well inside that distance.

There isn't much need for more than 6X back here. The west is different...sometimes. But even there you will kill a lot of game with nothing over 6X unless you are a LR expert and specialize at that sort of shooting.

i have had a leupold 4.5x14 since they first came out,
it has been on several rifles that were carried virtually everyday for a lot of years

i virtually never have it on anything but 14,,,the last 3 years a new zeiss 4.5x14 variable has been getting used alot, about 60 coyotes and numerous other animals, i cant think of one that was shot on anything less than 14, with the z800 reticle it works,,,

few days ago i was wishing for 20x as i was looking at some deer, my eyes have really chaged over the years,,,