scope questions

X

XWrench2

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at the recomendation of one of you guys on my previous post, and knowing for a long time that i really need one, i am looking at new scopes. probably in the 6-24, or 8-32 range. one thing i have noticed, even in the cooler weather so far this year, i can see a lot of heat waves and some mirage (the area i shoot is mostly sand). are there any scope features that help to fight this? are there any REAL WORLD advantages to a 30mm tube diameter vs. 1"? also, as a hunter, it was my understanding that a larger objective lense is great for gathering extra light in low light situations. is there an advantage as far as broad daylight shooting to a larger objective? and one last question at this point in time, at one time, i was really into photagraphy. do they make shaded (colored or polarized) lense filters for rifle scopes? thanks!
 
Get a Weaver or Sightron 36X (1"), measure the objective thread diameter, then go to your photo shop and buy a filter that size.

Oh, yeah. Mirage. It looks different through different scopes, but none of them will make it go away.
 
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X,

A Leupold 6.5 x 20 with your choice of reticules should be more that adaquate for all of your needs including hunting. A 1 inch tube is fine unless you need the vertical adjustment for extremly long range. I have both the 1 inch tube and the 30 mm tube models and cannot tell the difference in light gathering qualities. Keep in mind that I am an old geezer and my eyes are not what they used to be, still many ground squirrels fell to my 223 with a 6.5 x 20 Leopold. I use the target dot reticule and mostly shoot at 16 power. It seems that the heat waves do not show a bad as when I go up to 20. Where I shoot it is cool enoughto use 20 first thing in the morning for a couple of hours the the temperature gets me.

Hope this helps,

Don Carper
 
XWRENCH,
Are you using this scope for some hunting and targets? or just hunting? Yes a larger tube will typically gather more light with good glass and a moderate objective size. Some less expensive scopes are built with 30mm tubes to help make up for poor glass. You will need to buy the best optic you can afford. Mirage will be a factor on some days at any power, typically over 20X + I have found mirage on almost every day to some degree. The higher the magnification, the more noticeable it gets. Another thing to learn to read and know how to use to help you shoot, not hurt your results no matter if target shooting or hunting. I use an old school steel Weaver 4X to hunt with, I dont get long shots in my part of Maine typically 100 yds or less. I do have a 2.8 -10 on my other hunting rifle. Targets, I use a 36X weaver and it works just fine to 300 yards for me. Both are 1" tubes and work just fine in all light conditions. I have never used the filter method, would be interrested to see if it would help or not.
Andy B.
 
how much did you spend on the gun ???
if you want the best from the gun spend the same on the optics.
a variable will allow you to back down the power for mirage.
i do like quality 30 mm tubes over one inch.
you dont say what you hunt or what caliber.....
nor what distances....a 4-14 is a geat scopeas is the 6-18 or a 6-24...

mike in co
 
IndianaJames said:
Get a Weaver or Sightron 36X (1"), measure the objective thread diameter, then go to your photo shop and buy a filter that size.

Oh, yeah. Mirage. It looks different through different scopes, but none of them will make it go away.
Click to expand...

What type of filter are recommending?

Thanks,

Ed
 
I wasn't recommending any type, just commenting on a way to obtain the one you want. I've never used one on a scope. I assume they would work comperable to shooting glasses.


Jim
 
Leupold makes filters for their scopes. In bright light, there may be some advantage to reducing the maximum aperture of a large diameter objective. March sells a screw in "stop" for this purpose. Some of the Burris scopes had (have?) a built-in adjustable aperture. Lowering the magnification setting of a variable scope reduces visible mirage. Shooters may experience barrel mirage and shy away from benchrest type mirage shields, sacrificing scope performance and sighting precision, because none of their friends are using them. Camera filters or adapters may not come in thread diameters that are compatible with rifle scopes. This is the case with my B&L 36X.
 
Not many years ago

there was some actvity with folks using Filters on their scopes but it seems to have "Worn Off'. It may be something worth trying though.
 
i must not have been very clear, i have hunting scopes. that is not a problem. i am looking at buying a TARGET scope. and unfortunatly, i know very little about them. what i have noticed, with my mid 50's eyes, is that the hunting scopes are actually limiting my ability to aim precicely. my max power now is a 4-12x44, which sits on top of my remington 700bdl. even at 12 power, it can limit my ability, because the "+"in the middle of the reticle completely covers the center 1" circle of the target. so one thing i am thinking of is a very fine crosshairs reticle, but i am not certain if that will take a lot of recoil. i will not be shooting at distances over 500 yards, unless i move someplace that has a desert, and i really doubt that. and most shots will be less than 300 yards. when hunting, i know i have roughly an 8" target to hit, but when target shooting, and working up loads, i want to be way more precise than that. i really like to work up loads that are less than moa if possible. when my eyes were better, i actually turned out a load that measured 0.468" out of that gun @ 100 yards.
 
I am mainly into varmint rifle calibers, 17 Rem. 204 Ruger, 223 Rem, 22-250 Rem. I have mounted Leupold 6.5-20 on most. I have three Leupold 8.5-25 and one Weaver V24 6-24. They all do a fine job for load development and allow precise aiming at 100 yards. For the money you can’t go wrong with the Weaver, as it is less than half the cost of the Leupold.. Check this out:

http://www.natchezss.com/Category.c...-24 AO Riflescope STT Varminter Reticle Matte
 
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My solution to the precise aiming point is I have a dedicated scope -- Weaver T12 w/FCH-- that I do my load developing with. Since I don't shoot at BG beyond @ 300 yards (if that), my "hunting" scope have a much more modest power. For varmint shooting, I find that anything above about 16x is kinda pointless because of mirage. Shooting Pdogs, the T12 worked pretty good but a variable is better if for not other reason than the field of view. You can use the lower power to find the dog and then dial in on him to a higher power. Trying to hunt or shoot varmints with a very high single power scope is (IMO) an exercise in futility. I made the mistake of taking a rifle with a T36 on it to a Pdog shoot.
 
The best scope for the money that I've found is the Bausch & Loumb (now Bushnell) Elite series, preferably 4200. I've got three in 6.5-24 and my brother has one in a lower power for hunting. I take it that by "target", you mean general paper punching, not competition.

I like what Mike above said about matching the expenditures on optics and rifle. A few years back at one of our club matches at Riverbend, some new guy brought a spanking new multi-thousand-dollar 7.62 bolt "sniper" rifle made by FN upon which he had mounted a $75 BSA scope. During the attempt to get the rig on paper so we could get the match underway, it became apparent to us that BSA scopes are manufactured by PETA.
 
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In general variable power scopes with higher maximum power have finer crosshairs to accommodate the problem you've having. I've got a couple 6.5-20 Leupold's, a couple 6-18 Nikon's, and an older (like 30 years) Leupold M8 12X that all have the crosshairs in the center of their duplex reticles that are fine enough to not cover the 1" aiming square on a benchrest target. I've also got a 4.5-14 Burris one of the last made in America apparently that has crosshairs fine enough for shooting prairie dogs at 200 plus yards with a hold on their heads.

I had an 8-32 Burris with the adjustable diaphragm in the objective lens that was supposed to be a "the thing". Aside from being extremely hard to adjust, that scope was nearly impossible to adjust the parallax out of. I've never had that problem with any other higher powered scope including a BR-36 Leupold.

Unless you're shooting in organized competition where weight is a consideration, the 6.5-20 Leupold and Nikon scopes are very good with good reticle selections. The Bushnell 6500, 4200, and 3200 series scopes also have good reputations and I believe are available with fine crosshairs and/or small dot reticles.

Go to a well stocked dealer who has these scopes and take a look through them at something at least 100 yards away. If you're interested in buying a scope they should let you take them outside and look through them. Some dealers have setups that allow a steady mounting for the scope so that you can judge them better, but they're few and far between anymore.
 
TomD said:
The best scope for the money that I've found is the Bausch & Loumb (now Burris) elite series, preferably 4200. I've got three in 6.5-24 and my brother has one in a lower power for hunting. I take it that by "target", you mean general paper punching, not competition.

I like what Mike above said about matching the expenditures on optics and rifle. A few years back at one of our club matches at Riverbend, some new guy brought a spanking new multi-thousand-dollar 7.62 bolt "sniper" rifle made by FN upon which he had mounted a $75 BSA scope. During the attempt to get the rig on paper so we could get the match underway, it became apparent to us that BSA scopes are manufactured by PETA.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that you meant Bushnell and not Burris. Once upon a time B&L use to import the then cheaper Bushnell scopes, eventually B&L went away but the Bushnell line matured into what B&L use to be.
 
Burris has discontinued the Daylight/Twilight (variable apiture)(sp)feature on their scopes some years ago (too bad I really liked that feature).
 
in order to minimize the effect of mirage you need to get rid of most of the blue end of the light spectrum. It takes a red and yellow filter combination, you will have a red sight picture. Just as in the purchase of your scope, do not scrimp on the filters. Go to a really good camera store, take your scope along, so they can get the correct size and threads. They should have the filters you are looking for.

But you will not get rid of all the mirage, just most of it.
 
ehkempf said:
I'm sure that you meant Bushnell and not Burris. Once upon a time B&L use to import the then cheaper Bushnell scopes, eventually B&L went away but the Bushnell line matured into what B&L use to be.
Click to expand...

You're right, Bushnell. Well, they both start with a "B".
 
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