What Upper Limit of Power Do you Prefer On Your Rifle Scope?

[300rum]

22x for shooting and 32 to identified the right game(legal antlers size)

[Chas1]

I agree with another post. The older I get the more X I need...42x

[SBruce]

Anything from 12 to 16 works great for me for pretty much all around use.

Enough power for long shots, and I've never had a problem "finding" the target with these higher power ranges. If it's so close that I can't find it, then it's close enough to just sight down the barrel. Alot of people say they can't find their targets with high power scopes, but I've been using nothing but 12X or higher for nearly 20 years and have never had this problem; even on the close stuff..............proper scope mounting height and cheek placement plays a large part here I'm sure.

On another note, keeping the power under 16 usually doesn't cause problems with heat waves, mirage or focus. Alot of the times I am my own "spotter", keeping the power under 16 also allows me to "see" my hits or misses during recoil too due to the larger field of view. Personally, I usually leave my 4-14's and 4-16's ect. on the highest power and use that for nearly everything.

I do enjoy 20X or higher for load testing and trophy judging however.

[25 Otter]

Funny how things evolve. When I was younger,a 3-9X was a big scope. Most of my whitetail rifles wore 4X or 6X fixed power scopes. I didn't feel the least bit compromised. Then I graduated to 10X and 12X glass on my woodchuck rifles and thought I was "Big Time". And so it went. I progressed and became a magnification junkie. Or so I thought. A friend of mine let me shoot a relay with his 6PPC complete with a 36X Weaver. That was it. From that point on the more the better! I took the wheel of my own PPC,and it wore a 36X Sightron. After a season of 100 and 200 yd score shooting, my deer rig with the 4X-12X Leupold on it was very hard to get used to. Now the 4X-12X is my minimum standard required glass. Any of my rifles that are primarily open country rigs wear no less than 6X-18X scopes. I'm hooked. I can still appreciate the old days and my little fixed power Weavers and Leupolds. I am thinking of putting together a deer rifle on a .308 that will wear a 6X Leupold. Just for old time sake.

[Chas1]

25 Otter, welcome glad to have you here. Lots of good folks and lots of good info. Enjoy.

[25 Otter]

Thank you Chas1. This is a very nice site. Happy to be here.

[MN Hunter]

Mn deer hunting I use a 2.5x8 leupold
Missouri deer hunting - 4.5x14 zeis
My elk gun wears a 2.5x10 nightforce
Prarie dogs, coyotes... - 6x18 + 6.5x20 leupold - most often we dont go above 16x when shooting sod poodles because of mirage.
22's 3x9 leupold