7mm STW

[jb22]

I have a STW built by Joe Lehmann in Dixon WY,back in 1993.I use it mainly for Whitetail and black bear in Wisconsin and Minnesota.It has a Vari-X III 3.5-10 W/AO on it.Do you think this scope is O.K. to bring out west to pronghorn/elk hunt?

 

[Guest]

I took my 7STW to wyoming for mulies and Antelope. It has a leupy 3.5x10 m1, no problem.

 

[Fiftydriver]

Depends on how far you will be shooting. For pronghorns 10x is enough for shooitng out to 500 to 600 yards pretty comfortably if the reticle is relatively thin.

For elk, one can take shots out to 800 to 900 yards with a quality 10x scope so I would certainly not feel to under scoped if you were planning on shooting under these ranges which I assume you will be.


Good Shooting!!

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[budlight]

My STW has a 5.5X22. It's allot of what you get used to. From years of carrying 6X24 56mm. I found that i usually have the scope on 12X to first aquire the target and then dial it in to the 18-24X on anything over 200 yards.

I do not believe people who claim these 600 yard shots with some junk 3X9 power. It would all be luck when the critter is such a tiny dot in the cross hairs.

Get with somebody that has a range finder and you look at some deer size objects at 400-600 yards and you tell me if your really guessing or not with your 10X

My best advice is study you rounds Ballistic charts. So when you have this shot with your .500 BC 160 grain 7mm boat tail with Zero at 200 yards that you know how far it's going to drop on and wind drift sideways at 6000 feet elevation on a 20 degree day with a 25 mile per hour cross wind at your target yardage.

 

[Charles A]

Budlight, I must be one lucky Mfer then, 'cause I make shots alot farther than 600 weekly. Just this week I made two shots with lowered powered scopes on whitetials that were farther than 600 yards. One was with a 300win at 720yds with a Burris 3-9x40BPlex, set on 9x, POI about two inches above POA. The other was at 770yds with a 300 tomahawk and a Leupold 6-18x40 set on 10x, one shot dead deer. Just so you know at 600yds, with a scope set on 10x, THE OBJECT APPEARS TEN TIMES CLOSER.


jb22, you have plenty of magnification, just practice at whatever range you plan on shooting and you'll be fine.

[ 12-06-2004: Message edited by: Charles Arbuckle ]

[ 12-06-2004: Message edited by: Charles Arbuckle ]

 

[budlight]

Just like shooting at 300 meters out of peep sights with a M-14 in the miltary. I shot expert for years. Just one lucky shot after another.

After the spotting rounds your just trying to make the same consistant guess each time.

I don't consider that kind of shooting in the same league as being able to clearly see your target and decide where to place the bullet.

I like bench rest shooting when you actually can see your hole appear on the paper at closer ranges.

I've even considered the 8X32 power. The only thing that's kept me from it is the heat waves here in Nevada. Than and one time shooting a nice buck at under 50 yards with 6 power as my lowest setting that it was hard to determine where I was really aiming at on and animals milling about. When all you can see is hair I had to look up look down a couple times to guess a chest heart/lung shot

 

[rost495]

BL

Umm, fwiw, I shoot competitively with the M14 and mostly the AR15 with open sights. I shoot a lot higher scores than Expert. High Master actually. Its sure not luck with the scores I fire.

And I can reliably hit deer where I want to out to 300 easy with irons.

LIke you said its what you get used to. You can manage just fine with a 4-6X scope or less. I like a bit more. Anything over about 16x can be useless most of the day.

Heck there are lots of folks that handgun hunt with irons. Last time I looked at a deer with my 4 inch 44, it was about 45 yards. Front sight covers up tons more than what a scope would. Yet they aren't hard to hit.

Bottom line is that even if you can't do it, others can. So it will work.

JB - practice with what you have. Learn to use it and you'll be just fine.

Jeff

 

[uncyboo]

I agree that sometimes more is better, but I have no problem with my Aetec 2.8-10x on my 7mm STW Sendero for antelope from 400-600 yds. Just my .02.

 

[dparks]

I agree with fifty driver. And if he is the guy I think he is, he can do some pretty amazing things with a .22-250 in high wind!!

 

[wapiti13]

Sometimes we confuse target shooting with hunting. On varmints, high power scopes are almost a neccessity due to small size of the target. But on big game, even an 8X scope at 600 yds makes the animal appear if it were at 75 yds. With one thing only to focus on (the reticle), I don't have any problems making good hits on game. We are trying to place our bullets in a kill zone that is anywhere from 10-18 inches depending on the species. You don't get extra points for picking out a specific hair! A clean shot with a proper bullet will do the job, even with "little" scopes. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Inukshuk]

I've been using a Leopold 2.5x8-36mm for the last 14 years shooting caribou as far as 400-500 yards okayand sometimes farther. As said getting to know your gear. They wouldn'always show up big in my scope, but keeping my gun nice and steady, no problem. But I have always wanted a stronger scope just to be a bit more comforable, so now I just ordered an IOR 4x14-50mm Tacticle Illum.Really anxious to try that out when it gets here.
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