A different take on large scope objectives (like 56mm)

[tdoyka]

it has to do with quality of glass and how much are you going to spend?

i don't target shoot, i am a hunter. i am cheap also. a $200-$300 piece of glass is about all i can afford. i use leupold 3-9x and 2-7x for deer/black bear. i use a 4.5-12x x44 bushnell in my 20 vartarg that i use for groundhogs, foxes and 'yotes. i should have gone leopold's way but i had a bushnell already.

i like leopold but vortex is nice too. for me, i just can't afford swarovski's charms.

[Hog Patrol]

Money buys you low light. A cheap scope may be good until sundown or earlier, a high end scope, a half hour after sundown. You can do a comparison in a large store like Cabela's. Take two scopes of different quality, put them on the same highest power and look at a dark area of the ceiling. You will see the difference.

[coyotespotter]

Slightly different take, pd shooting, summer middle of the day. Ambient light is usually very good, so focusing mechanism and viable power range that limits mirage is important. Also with the 204 and light bullets, the red mist and toss factor is best inside 250 yards. A 10 or 12 power top could actually increase your percentage of hits. And high glass quality with 50mm objectives in that power range are much easier on the wallet.

[georgeld]

Carbon:

Welcome to the board. Would be nice if you'd post where you're located.

Thought my eye's were bad at -7.50. Missed getting hired for a few
good jobs when young enough to have made a difference in my life just
because of poor eye's.

Sounds to me like you're getting too close to the scope. Close your eyes and mount the rifle. Use your trigger hand to "measure" the distance between your eye and the scope. IT should NEVER be less than about 3".
IF you're seeing black, you're too close.

For me being a cheap sob, I put four $130 Simmons 6.5-20x 55mm on my varmint rifles. They're plenty good enough and I can afford a whole bunch of 'em where I could never afford even one of those high dollar jobs.

I'm 74 now and worn contacts since 1975. The only time I've had a problem with them was reading the temps with a scope type pyrometer. I was reading it colder by 150 degrees, so I turned the fire up and nearly melted the oven down. Other guys were reading about the same and such hotter than i was. Ended up when i was running the ovens I couldn't wear the contacts and had to use glasses. Royal PITA to me as I was the weldor there too and glasses got in my way.

A 400 yard p/dog isn't out too far, just a good range once a person has things figured out.

Hope you're not a One Time Poster.

[WyoBull]

All of my scopes are Leupold and every one of them is 40mm except for one. On my 220 Swift I have a 6.5-20 with the Leupold Target Dot. I absolutely love it but there is a definite noticeable difference when handling a rifle with a larger diameter scope on it it versus all of my others that are 40mm.

Regarding your eyesight, my wife was -11 and -12. She could not see the alarm clock to read the time on the nightstand beside the bed without putting on her glasses.

About 5 years ago she had lens implants (cannot remember the exact procedure name) by a phenomenal doctor down in Denver and it has completely changed her life. She does use readers now for close up things but we all do as we get older, that is something nobody escapes from having to do.

I don't know if you have looked into that or not but it truly was the best money we have spent for her to be able to see like she does today.

[TinMan]

I would also suggest you try looking through a few scope with a 30mm of larger scope tubes.

[georgeld]

Kinda looks like another ONE time poster

[kenbro]

Not what the op asked, but I’ll say anyway.
When at the range and using a friends rifle with a Leupold $1000+ scope, I found eye position was much more critical than with my Zeiss scope. Also, it seemed to me that I needed to change the distance my eye was away from the eye piece if i varied the magnification. Something I don’t have to do with the Ziess.
Ken.

[recoillug]

Originally Posted by coyotespotter

Slightly different take, pd shooting, summer middle of the day. Ambient light is usually very good, so focusing mechanism and viable power range that limits mirage is important. Also with the 204 and light bullets, the red mist and toss factor is best inside 250 yards. A 10 or 12 power top could actually increase your percentage of hits. And high glass quality with 50mm objectives in that power range are much easier on the wallet.

I agree, a quality scope to me is more than just objective size, tube diameter, and glass quality. Paralax adjustment, reticle retention/features, and for my needs, a good mil or moa adjustable turret is desired. Of course all these collectively make for a more costly scope. So, I always purchase the best one I can afford given the features I desire.

[georgeld]

I've been lucky maybe because I watched two guys
get scope bit when just getting into shooting big stuff.

I'm mighty careful of how close I get to them as it looks
damned painful and I don't like blood running into my eye's
either.

These hard recoiling .17 cal's are terrible about scope relief.

Til I put on about 75lbs I used to have a long turkey neck and
crawled the stocks bad. After discovering I was too close a few
times I've learned to back off. That and knowing "if there's black,
I'm too close".

Only time I've shot a high dollar scope was a city cop sniper buddies AR.
Said he'd paid over $3000 for it. Nice n clear, but, I didn't see that much
difference, sure as hell not $3000 worth!