Scope selection
12-17-2008, 10:10 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location:
Posts: 10
Scope selection
I have quickly learned that the rings and scope that come packaged with the sale of the rifle may not be of the highest caliber. I've recently purchased a Savage .270 (which I love) for whitetail. The problem I face is that last 30-60 minutes of the hunting day...just before the black crosshairs are not blending with the surrounding terrain. I can't see! I'm wanting to replace the scope with something in the 50 mm objective range, thatcan handle the bumps in the truck or while hiking, and really helps to keep the light in the scope a little longer. If my price range is $150-250, what do other hunters suggest? My range is almost always under 200 yards, but I like to hunt deep in the woods. Between my locations and nearly always cold/damp weather, my shooting light is even further shortened. With other scopes and rifles, a little off zero is expected year to year, but easily putback on. This year, two of the rifles I used (both new) would falloff zero after almost every hunting trip. A clumbsydrop, a bump against a tree, etc...I need something that will withstand me! Ammo isn't getting cheaper, and the laser sites don't seem to be accurate as bench testing...
I have afront and rear adjustable objective scope, think it is Bushnell...probably paid $90at World of Wallace a few yearsago. It is ok, but I keep in on my 742 30-06. Is it worth trying it on the 270, or go for a better scope as I plan touse the 270 more than any of the other rifles I own.
I have afront and rear adjustable objective scope, think it is Bushnell...probably paid $90at World of Wallace a few yearsago. It is ok, but I keep in on my 742 30-06. Is it worth trying it on the 270, or go for a better scope as I plan touse the 270 more than any of the other rifles I own.
12-18-2008, 05:21 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: central Ky
Posts: 2,867
RE: Scope selection
To begin with, your suspcision of package scopes not being very good is correct almost all the time-especially when shipped from manufacturer that way. That's the main reason to stay away from package deals, as you have learned. There are several good quality scopes that will work good for you and still stay within your budget. I'm assuming you want to stay with 3x-9x as that's the most magnfication 98% of hunters will need in the 1st place. Nikon prostaff 3x-9x-40mm, and weaver 2x-10x-38mm are about 150$, stepping up to about 200$ range is burris fullfield 2 3x-9x-40mm, and bushnell elite 3x-9x-40mm, lastly for roughly 250$ you should be able to shop around and find a new leupold vx2 in 3x-9x-40mm.
As far as the scope itself actually blacking out on you, that has almost nothing to do with quality of scope, but rather simple physics and design. Basically, the average human eye (pupil) in very dim light will dialate to about 5mm-5.5mm. This means with an exit pupil that's smaller, the person's eye can't recieve enough light. Exit pupil is the diameter of the light/field of view coming from the scope at the correct amount of eye relief. Exit pupil is easily figured out no matter what size or magnfication power scope you may have. For example, a scope with 8x of magnfication, or a scope turned to 8x with 40mm objective lens (front), will produce an exit pupil of 5mm. We come to this number by dividing the magnfication or "x" by the mm of objective so 8x divided into 40mm will go into it 5 times-that's your exit pupil. So if you turn your scope to 8x or below, it'll appear bright, whereas if you turn it up to 9x, it'll go black or dark on you because the exit pupil has shrunk below 5mm. That means if you have a 3x-9x-40mm, all you have to do is keep the scope turned 8x or below and still not go black. There's no need of an 50mm objective lens UNLESS you choose to keep scope turned up-even in low light.
I've never been a fan of 50mm scopes for the simple reason they have to be mounted higher than 40mm scopes. This means that with most factory rifles, when you throw your rifle to shoulder, you'll be looking right at the bottom of scope or ring instead of looking directly in middle of a 40mm scope mounted lower and closer to boreline. Also the same setup with 50mm scopes will be too high for you to get proper cheekweld-meaning you'll have to (most cases) raise your cheek off the cheekpiece or comb of rifle in order to look directly thru scope-this is not conductive to good accuracy. I've always had best results with the scope mounted as low as possible. Hope this helps you Neil
As far as the scope itself actually blacking out on you, that has almost nothing to do with quality of scope, but rather simple physics and design. Basically, the average human eye (pupil) in very dim light will dialate to about 5mm-5.5mm. This means with an exit pupil that's smaller, the person's eye can't recieve enough light. Exit pupil is the diameter of the light/field of view coming from the scope at the correct amount of eye relief. Exit pupil is easily figured out no matter what size or magnfication power scope you may have. For example, a scope with 8x of magnfication, or a scope turned to 8x with 40mm objective lens (front), will produce an exit pupil of 5mm. We come to this number by dividing the magnfication or "x" by the mm of objective so 8x divided into 40mm will go into it 5 times-that's your exit pupil. So if you turn your scope to 8x or below, it'll appear bright, whereas if you turn it up to 9x, it'll go black or dark on you because the exit pupil has shrunk below 5mm. That means if you have a 3x-9x-40mm, all you have to do is keep the scope turned 8x or below and still not go black. There's no need of an 50mm objective lens UNLESS you choose to keep scope turned up-even in low light.
I've never been a fan of 50mm scopes for the simple reason they have to be mounted higher than 40mm scopes. This means that with most factory rifles, when you throw your rifle to shoulder, you'll be looking right at the bottom of scope or ring instead of looking directly in middle of a 40mm scope mounted lower and closer to boreline. Also the same setup with 50mm scopes will be too high for you to get proper cheekweld-meaning you'll have to (most cases) raise your cheek off the cheekpiece or comb of rifle in order to look directly thru scope-this is not conductive to good accuracy. I've always had best results with the scope mounted as low as possible. Hope this helps you Neil
ORIGINAL: o2bafnp
I have quickly learned that the rings and scope that come packaged with the sale of the rifle may not be of the highest caliber. I've recently purchased a Savage .270 (which I love) for whitetail. The problem I face is that last 30-60 minutes of the hunting day...just before the black crosshairs are not blending with the surrounding terrain. I can't see! I'm wanting to replace the scope with something in the 50 mm objective range, thatcan handle the bumps in the truck or while hiking, and really helps to keep the light in the scope a little longer. If my price range is $150-250, what do other hunters suggest? My range is almost always under 200 yards, but I like to hunt deep in the woods. Between my locations and nearly always cold/damp weather, my shooting light is even further shortened. With other scopes and rifles, a little off zero is expected year to year, but easily putback on. This year, two of the rifles I used (both new) would falloff zero after almost every hunting trip. A clumbsydrop, a bump against a tree, etc...I need something that will withstand me! Ammo isn't getting cheaper, and the laser sites don't seem to be accurate as bench testing...
I have afront and rear adjustable objective scope, think it is Bushnell...probably paid $90at World of Wallace a few yearsago. It is ok, but I keep in on my 742 30-06. Is it worth trying it on the 270, or go for a better scope as I plan touse the 270 more than any of the other rifles I own.
I have quickly learned that the rings and scope that come packaged with the sale of the rifle may not be of the highest caliber. I've recently purchased a Savage .270 (which I love) for whitetail. The problem I face is that last 30-60 minutes of the hunting day...just before the black crosshairs are not blending with the surrounding terrain. I can't see! I'm wanting to replace the scope with something in the 50 mm objective range, thatcan handle the bumps in the truck or while hiking, and really helps to keep the light in the scope a little longer. If my price range is $150-250, what do other hunters suggest? My range is almost always under 200 yards, but I like to hunt deep in the woods. Between my locations and nearly always cold/damp weather, my shooting light is even further shortened. With other scopes and rifles, a little off zero is expected year to year, but easily putback on. This year, two of the rifles I used (both new) would falloff zero after almost every hunting trip. A clumbsydrop, a bump against a tree, etc...I need something that will withstand me! Ammo isn't getting cheaper, and the laser sites don't seem to be accurate as bench testing...
I have afront and rear adjustable objective scope, think it is Bushnell...probably paid $90at World of Wallace a few yearsago. It is ok, but I keep in on my 742 30-06. Is it worth trying it on the 270, or go for a better scope as I plan touse the 270 more than any of the other rifles I own.
