Iron Worker, If you are having problems at 250 yds with an 8X scope, lowering the power is not going to help much. First thing I would do is check out my stock fit. Your rifle must point where you are looking without fussing with it. Close your eyes and throw up your rifle when pointing at something downrange. I'll bet that you are pointing either high or low because your rifles pull length is off. And yes, you do shoot targets with both eyes open if you are trained in that method. By looking with your left eye, you will get on the target faster. Your scope is also in your vision, but with practice, you will be much faster, especially on running shots where you need to swing and follow thru. You can practice indoors after you get your rifle fitting correctly. Look at a point on the wall and keeping your eyes fixed on the spot, throw up your rifle. The scope should appear in your vision. Check to make sure you didn't close you eye accidently. Also, did you ever check which eye is your master eye. Many people are right handed with a left master eye. If you are not using your master eye, it makes it very difficult to point at something and then acquire it in your scope. If you are shooting with the wrong eye, it does require some adjustments.