Scope Power/Reticle ???

[bullseyebry]

I have a Leupold 4.5 - 14 x 50mm, with a 30mm tube. Holland has just come out with an A.R.T. Reticle for Leupold, N.F. and S.B. scopes that I like and that they can put in my scope. Here's the question: At 14 power what distance am I limited to shooting deer sized game? (please keep in mind this is a scope question not caliber question) Thanks

 

[brentc]

I have a Leupold 4.5 - 14 x 50mm, with a 30mm tube. Holland has just come out with an A.R.T. Reticle for Leupold, N.F. and S.B. scopes that I like and that they can put in my scope. Here's the question: At 14 power what distance am I limited to shooting deer sized game? (please keep in mind this is a scope question not caliber question) Thanks

With magnification, distance limitations are personal. It's whatever you feel comfortbale with. IMO 14x is good on deer out to 800-1000 yards. Beyond that, I want more magnification.

 

[Scot E]

Definitely a personal thing.

They key to remember though is that if you can center the crosshairs on the vitals it doesn't matter what power you are using. Sounds simplistic but a lot of guys think they need way more power than they really do to make shots. I say this becuase a lot of guys end up getting a big ol scope that is larger, heavier and more expensive because they think they need it to make LR shots. Then they later realize that most of the time the mirage is too great, or they don't like the eyebox at the higher powers, or they want/need to see a brighter picture and they end up hardly using the higher powers. But they still have to lug around a heavier rig and their pocketbook is lighter.

I have shot some really small groups at 800-1000 yards with 9-10x power. I don't own a scope for LR big game hunting that is over 15x and most are smaller. Part of that reasoning is that I am unwilling to give up a large field of view on the low end of the power range so I want to stay around 3-4x on the low end in case I do need to take a closer shot.

Just something to think about.

Scot E.

 

[MTBULLET]

I have a Leupold 4.5 - 14 x 50mm, with a 30mm tube. Holland has just come out with an A.R.T. Reticle for Leupold, N.F. and S.B. scopes that I like and that they can put in my scope. Here's the question: At 14 power what distance am I limited to shooting deer sized game? (please keep in mind this is a scope question not caliber question) Thanks

With a 14x scope, you can shoot a deer at whatever distance YOU can hit it at.
The shooter is the limitation.

 

[bullseyebry]

Thanks for all the info. and help.

 

[wisdeerkiller]

snipers have used and still are using a fixed 10x over 1000 plus yards (way passed a 1000).

having just said that i have a leupold mark 4 6.5-20 x 50mm. lol! but got it for $800 from my brother

 

[budlight]

snipers have used and still are using a fixed 10x over 1000 plus yards (way passed a 1000).

having just said that i have a leupold mark 4 6.5-20 x 50mm. lol! but got it for $800 from my brother

The fixed 10X and young perfect eyes of a sniper. I also shot small groups at 300 meters out of peeps sights on my trusty M-14.

As for me, the majority of my rifles have 6X24 with 30 tubes and 50 - 56mm objectives. My newest scope is a 10X40 60mm You don't need a spotting scope to tell you where the bullet went. You actually see the hole appear on the paper.

 

[bullseyebry]

Here is the only problem I have had with the Leupold . I was hunting out West watching a river bottom and daylight was fading, 450 yards away a buck steps out and starts working a scrape. With my bare eyes I could have easily judged his antlers and made the shot at a hundred yards but not at 450. I had to turn the power down to 4.5 to even make out the deer but then I couldnt see the antlers, so I would say that having a high power scope 20 x wouldn't do any good under those conditions. Even with a good set of binoculars or spotting scope you would have to make the shot at low magnification. So wouldn't a 56 mm objective and a 40mm tube be a better choice paired with the higher magnification?

 

[Scot E]

Tube diameter would not have helped but increasing objective size would have.

You story is one of the reasons I am not a big Leupold fan. For the price they really need better glass. They make a nice product but IMO they are overpriced for what you get when comparing to other options.

Scot E.