Greetings from Nevada. I have been stalking in the forum for a while and finally decided to post a subject. My preferred hunting rifle is a Voere 30.06. This year I had the opportunity to purchase a SAKO 7mm STW at a price I could not turn down.
I understand that hunting with a 7mm will allow more opportunity concerning trajectory, distance and power to target at distance. These differences may change my hunting style a bit. Currently (w/ 30.06) I stalk to within 300 Yards or closer before I take that shot. Routine game is Mule deer above 8000ft. I backpack in and spike camp for the week long deep wilderness hunts.
My question. Which would be a better choice of scope objective for a 7mm STW. a 40 mm or 50mm.
I am very pleased with the Leupold VX-III that I placed on the 30.06. The new generation VX-III 40mm outperformed the previous (older style) Leupold VX-II 50mm in a side by side comparison in the areas of clarity, colour, sharpness and lowlight gathering. So I am pretty much set on the Brand of choice. Your response, thoughts or experiences between a 40 and 50 objective mounted to a 7mm would be greatly appreciated.
It depends... what power of scope are you talking about? How far are you planning on shooting? Is weight a large concern? A larger objective end would allow you you to use a larger low end on your scope and consequently a larger high end as well. And you'd need it to allow more light at the higher magnification as well. But of course it weighs more as well. Myself, i like the larger scopes. More light and larger field of view. My 2 pennies.
Concerning distance of shot, without having shot the 7mmSTW I would guess 600yds. Although I understand the capabilities of that rifle far exceed 600 I still enjoy the stalk.
Concerning weight, I would haul an extra pound or two for excellent clarity and colour differentation in a quality scope.
I'd venture to guess that an extra 10mm of objective lens would only come into play around dawn and dusk and then most probably only a ranges well beyond 600 yds.
Did you mean 3.5-10? Or 4.5-14? I don't think they make a 3.5-14. With the 3.5 low end you likely wouldn't have much problem with the 40mm. 4.5 would be pushing it for me, but you may not have an issue at all. The clarity and color differential would be the same, except the 50 would gather more light. As Roy said this would only make a difference either very early or late but it would still be a difference. The only drawback to the 50mm would be a little weight (probably just a couple oz), a little size on the rifle, and a slightly higher cheek weld. My vote would still be for the 50mm, but I just like bigger scopes.
I hope your Sako STW is a shooter like mine! I have never had a factory rifle shoot as well as my Sako 75 stainless in 7 STW. that thing is flat awesome, has taken many a critter to the promiseland. I have a 4.5X14X50 leupy VXIII. I like the setup. I dont see the extra weight being a big factor because you already have a fairly heavy gun for a true 'mountain' gun. that 26" bbl makes a bit of difference when compared to some of the lightweight 270 shorts with their little 20" bbls. Of course most people dont try to shoot 6-800 yds with those lightweights anyway.
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