Rifle Scopes magnification

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Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 26, 2008
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Nebraska
At what point does magnification come into play. Is there a certain distance where a 3x starts to lose out compared to a 5x. And also why are Mil\Mil scopes mainly 3-3.5x power I am looking to buy a my first high end scope no more Lueys looking at nxs or uso and was wondering if should I should suck it up and spend the extra money on a 5x Premier or S&B.
 
Re: magnification

It will mostly depend on the application and rifle you put it on. You need to give a little more info on what kind of rifle you are going to put it on and the shortest and longest distances it will be shot at. Also hunting, paper punching, 3gun, etc. etc.
 
Re: magnification

i dont quite understand where you are coming from, if you are looking at a variable as the brands you mention are then is it the lowest power for close range shooting? if it is then the lower power the quicker that you can obtain a clear target throught your scope a 1 power is used with both eyes open like a red dot and even on 2.5 power you can with practice. i have a new 2.5-10X24NXS in Mill/Mill mill dot reticle and zero stops this is on my all around hunting rifle. as i can walk through the bush on 2.5 power for close shots then wind up to 10 power for out to 600 yards the max range this rifle is realy set up for so it covers a wide range or real estate it is a 7mm Rem Short mag. but if you are using a varming rifle you will likley want more magnification up top if shooting at small targets at range. is this what you are asking? to go from a starting magnification of 2.5 up to a 5 power starting magnification is huge for close range the lowest power is better. the 1-4 power scopes are the best if using for close range shots like 25 yards then out to 300 yards they are about the best but if you have to shoot accurtatly past that they are very limited and a larger scope is better but at 2.5 power it is slower to aquire a close target but much more accurate up on 10 power so first of all what exactly do you want to use the scope and rifle for?
 
Re: magnification

The rifle will be a .260 in an a4 with a bartlien barrel probably 24 in. I will do some hunting with it but it will be mainly targets and maybe some pdogs. 90% of the time it will not get shot past 500 yds. So say you have a scope that is equal in every way except one is a 3.5x15x42 and the other is a 5x25x56 will the magnification of the 5 power outweight the added cost if I am only shooting mostly out to 500.
 
Re: magnification

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: OilyOwl</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Folks like to get hung up on X's,though few things matter less in a scope. </div></div>

Now that there's some friggin gospel! If I had a sig line that'd be it.

BTW Welcome Back!
 
Re: magnification

For people that have trouble seeing traffic signs
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