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  #1  
Old 01-28-2010, 11:58 AM
timewrench timewrench is offline
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Default What power scope for PD's

Question for you PD experts. I've been out west twice to engage the Prairie dogs. We went armed with cheap scopes, NC Star, Simmons usually around 24X variables. Those scopes are pretty useless in Upstate NY except for load developement and actually seemed over powered at PD ranges. I found cranking the power to 18X or lower seemed to work better. What do you folks use? Starting to think about glass for my .20cal project and maybe another trip out west in a few years!
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Old 01-28-2010, 12:26 PM
Dean2 Dean2 is offline
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Most of my centerfire PD guns have glass of 6x20 to 6x24 on them. The top end is usually overkill, but works well at the range, you can always turn them down, and they are a common scope in everything from a 95 dollar Tasco to mid range Bushnells to top of the line Leupold, Zeiss.

My shooting partner does it slightly different. He has 20 MOA rails and uses Leupold QD rings on all of his guns. He has a Leupold 6x20x40 LR with a Bullseye magnifier he uses for load development and accurizing work on all his guns. For a permanent scope for every day use he mounts a bunch of Leupold 4x14x40 with varmint reticle and target turrets, on all his guns. He likes the smaller size, lighter weight and because all of his scopes are exactly the same, he has no need to adapt from one gun to the next. Works great but not cheap.
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Old 01-28-2010, 12:28 PM
REM REM is offline
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I like the 6 1/2x20's real well and have onre 8 1/2 x 25 but usually run them around 12x sometimes up to 18x. It is unusual for me to run them much higher. The trade off in field of view is not worth it.
I also have a couple of good 12X scopes and don't feel handicapped one bit with them. A porairrie dog has to be pretty small and a long way off to need much more and often image quality is affected too much at higher powers by mirage
It sounds like you found pretty much the same on your trips.
As always. Glass quality can not be overcome by magnification.
Variable scopes always give the best image at less than maximun magnification.
Good variables are handy at times but a good mid range fixed is also a good P.D. scope.
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Old 01-28-2010, 12:48 PM
Gary in Illinois Gary in Illinois is offline
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Rem has this nailed perfectly. The only other suggestion I would make is to consider a Varmint Hunter (if Leupold) or similar reticle in another good quality scope.

Buying a scope with quality glass is painful for me (since it generally will cost as much as the rifle) but there is no substitute for quality optics.

Gary
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  #5  
Old 01-28-2010, 02:14 PM
Rick in Oregon Rick in Oregon is offline
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All my rat rifles wear Leupold 6.5-20x's for the exact reason Rem pointed out. Most have the VHR also, nice for holding off for wind, even if you are a "Dial-A-Rat" kind of shooter as I am (knob twiddler) and only use the VHR for fast action shooting when no time to dial.

In the mornings, you can use up to 20X, but as soon as the sun rises to any degree, mirage sets in, and 10X - 16X seems to be the range the scope gets used in the most.

As has been mentioned, get the best glass you can afford, as the best rifle is useless in the rat patch if it's got crap glass aboard and strains your eyes after all day in the field.
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Old 01-28-2010, 02:32 PM
sicero sicero is offline
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Straight 15 X Weavers with multiple dots. Kenny
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  #7  
Old 01-28-2010, 02:36 PM
ab_bentley ab_bentley is offline
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So I am going to say this, I have used the 6.5-20x40's or similar ones but i find that real world situations call for nothing more than 10X, in fact I have sold everything above 10x and went with 3-9's on all but one gun. I am still young though and as sure as I am alive I'll probably need more by the time I am a Grandpa.
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  #8  
Old 01-28-2010, 04:00 PM
Chuck Miller Chuck Miller is offline
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Default pd scopes

12 or 14's, variable or fixed are all I use. I use multi plex crosshairs and dope the points at 100yds for hold over. I mainly use 223's with 50gr vmax's and 204's with 39gr BK's so once I've determined drop I'm busy shooting.
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  #9  
Old 01-28-2010, 04:52 PM
Easy_E Easy_E is offline
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All my dog guns are slowly moving to 6.5-20 's as I can afford. I'm a left eye dominate right hand shooter so a higher power is needed for my eye.
I like the 25 power on my Leupold's for spotting my buddies and seeing the destruction but finding a target at 8.5 power is tough.
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  #10  
Old 01-28-2010, 05:20 PM
Furhunter Furhunter is offline
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My absolute favorite scope to put on pd rifles is the Swarovski AV 6-18x50 with the BR reticle. I have 3 of them and they are fantastic. Problem is they have been discontinued, so now I will have to spend more on the Z3 or Z5 series. I have to have great glass on a rifle I will be looking thru all day, if not the eye fatigue sets in within a couple hours and by mid afternoon the headaches start. Besides its no fun watching the prairie dogs explode if its like looking thru an old coke bottle!

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