Rifle Scopes Looking for a decent scope.

[Bbest1977]

Been looking for a decent long range scope? Have been looking at the cabelas covenant 7 5x36x54. Is it worth the $400 seems to be good construction and with warranty you can bring it back no questions asked. Also First focal plane verse second focal plane any recommendations. I hunt in a pine thicket with a 400 yard shooting lane with a white oak tree at the end of it. So I get a lot of shots at 400 yards +\- I have killed a truck load of doe with head shots using a browning Abolt 7mm wsm with Leopold VX2 3x9x50 for 20 years. Good shooting base and knowing gun and hold overs. I have missed a few also. Not bragging just explains situation. Wanting to get a little more technical just because I guess and try something new. Any advice on a moderately priced gun & optics or setup. Thanks in advance for any helpful information or opinions. I would like to push it out farther also on our camp shooting rang. 1000yard setup in the works. So planning for that also. Worked on helicopter in the army wish I would have went to sniper school. Love to shoot. Just wanting to get better.

 

[spife7980]

Rifle Sighting Systems - Part 3: SFP vs FFP :: Primal Rights, Inc

In the prior 2 parts to this series, you have learned about the mechanics of angular measurements and how typical rifle scopes using each system are configured. In part three we will discuss the specifics of reticles in the Second Focal Plane(SFP), First Focal Plane(FFP), and compare the...

www.primalrights.com

I personally like front focal plane for precision rifle stuff, when you zoom in the amount of area the reticles hash marks display stay true/they scale with the image. If you are off 1.2 mils according to the reticle it will always be 1.2 mils.

Second focal has the hashes stay the same size so when you zoom in the amount of area the dashes covers scales proportionally with your magnification level (if a 1 mil dash correctly subtends at 20x then at 10x it would actually represent 1 mils).

That said, if you know how far your target is and you know your elevation adjustments required for the shot then you can just dial them into the elevation turret and shoot, not really having to use the reticle at all. So its not quite all that vital to shoot well, its just easy to make fast accurate corrections for a follow up shot.



The big question is usage based: how many of your shots in the presumably-dense-cover pine thicket are close up and how many of them are down the shooting lane?
In this below image you can see that the front focal plane at minimum magnification (top left) can be difficult to make out quickly where the second focal plane (top right) is much quicker to find. If youre going to be quick swinging and shooting into the sticks at moving deer under 50 yards then the front focal could be an issue for that reason of it getting small and fine, if its all down your shooting alley from your good comfy shooting base out to 400 then its not really an issue to concern yourself with as you shold have adequate time to situate yourself for the shot.

The cabelas has a nice looking reticle, only half mil dashes as opposed to the .2s that many competition shooters favor these days but thats no problem, I dont mind the half dashes myself.

As for good rifle and scope recommendations, the list is as cluttered as the day is long.

Are you wanting to stay with a big 7 mag? Or wold you consider a 243 or 308? Youll enjoy shooting the smaller calibers much more if youll be shooting them a lot.
Might look into a cheap 223 to practice with and get some trigger time in on to figure out this long range shooting, can probably shoot 5 shots with a 223 for every 7 mag, cost wise.


For cheap scopes: at or under 400 you have the swfa fixed power line for decent glass with no zoom but great internal tracking... and I guess this cabelas covenant or a lower level athlon or vortex diamondback tactical.

For under ~600 you can go athlon midas tac or ares btr, the variable power swfas, and occasionally some higher level scopes when they go on sale like the burris xtr2 did recently.


Dont be afraid to buy used on here for more bang for your buck down in the Part Exchange from some members who have a good reputation with enough posts that show they arent scammers.