40mm vs 50mm - Same price what to do?

teekoh

teekoh

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If you had a choice between two great optics one was a 3-9x40mm and the other a 3-9x50mm both the same price which would you choose and why?

Would you choose to go with the 40mm: less weight, less chance of getting damaged in the bush,

or

Would you go with the 50mm: better lower light capabilities, well...its a free "upgrade" since its the same price as the 40mm

Thoughts?
 
I have been through the gamut of 40/50/56 etc mm diameter scopes and would not consider the 50mm any kind of improvement for hunting (on a 3-9, if you going 6-24 I would go for the larger obj and field of view). Smaller, lighter and mounted closer to barrel would be the way to go for me.

As far as light transmission goes, the exit pupil is a factor of the objective lens diameter, but the coatings play a greater role in my opinion (on a 3-9 anyway). Not sure what brand scope or what model gun you are looking at, but they would range in light transmission from ~90% to 98% (claimed by Nikon I think). Glass/coatings would improve as budget increases. Personally I would choose a better quality 40mm scope over a lesser quality 50mm
 
i'm not a fan of 50mm objectives on most hunting optics. i seriously doubt you'd gain anything as far as increased low-light capabilities in a 3-9 scope.
 
Not necessarily true. I had a PST 6-25x50 on my Tikka with low mounts.
I wouldn't by a 40 for hunting. A 50mm bill will let in more light for a longer hunting per day.
 
Hi Katana how were you able to mount with low rings? What type of rings do you have? Maybe whats considered a "low" ring might not be standard across the board?

Katana said:
Not necessarily true. I had a PST 6-25x50 on my Tikka with low mounts.
I wouldn't by a 40 for hunting. A 50mm bill will let in more light for a longer hunting per day.
Click to expand...
 
I use Larue 719 quick lever rings, actually they call them ultra low rings. All my rifles have a pic rail on them so my scope can go from one rifle to the next and then re-zero'd. If I put it back on the same rifle and in the same rails there is no need to re-zero the scope.

Granted my scope has a 30mm tube so that will add some height to the set up that may be why low works for me. If it was a 1in tube, lows may not work.
 
Depending on the length of the scope and the taper of the barrel a 50mm objective can often be mounted in low rings. In a couple of cases I've been able to get the scope so low that the bolt wouldn't open.

Whether you want one or not depends on your use. A quality 40mm scope will take care of most daytime hunting use, and will be more compact and usually mount lower. Having said that, night hunting is a fact of life in most of the world and in parts of ours for predators or those in special situations. If any of that applies to you a 50 mm or bigger might be worth a look. Same thing if your eyes aren't what they used to be.

Most of my rifles have 40mm scopes, a few have 50s. Most of those are higher powered but one is an illuminated 3.5-10 VXL. All the theories in the world won't change that the difference between that and otherwise identical 40s is literally day and night. Whether an individual can put that to use is another question.
 
Bigger objective will deliver more light to the eye without question but whether your eye is capable of using that light is the real question. If you are over 40 it's doubtful it will offer any benefit other than at very high magnification. As the eyes get older, quality glass becomes far more important than objective lens size.
 
sheephunter said:
Bigger objective will deliver more light to the eye without question but whether your eye is capable of using that light is the real question. If you are over 40 it's doubtful it will offer any benefit other than at very high magnification. As the eyes get older, quality glass becomes far more important than objective lens size.
Click to expand...

Bingo, ditto, what he said.
 
^X3!

Katana said:
Not necessarily true. I had a PST 6-25x50 on my Tikka with low mounts.
I wouldn't by a 40 for hunting. A 50mm bill will let in more light for a longer hunting per day.
Click to expand...

The simple solution is to turn the magnification down a little bit if things are getting dim. 50mm is too bulky and heavy, and it doesn't give you a practical advantage when your scope is set to anything other than maximum magnification. On my go to hunting rifle, I've never moved the magnification beyond 2x in hunting situations (it's a 2-10x36). I'm usually in the woods before legal light, and by the time it's legal to shoot, I can see through the scope fine. That's because I went for a good quality scope with high light transmission.
 
Ar180shooter said:
^X3!



The simple solution is to turn the magnification down a little bit if things are getting dim. 50mm is too bulky and heavy, and it doesn't give you a practical advantage when your scope is set to anything other than maximum magnification. On my go to hunting rifle, I've never moved the magnification beyond 2x in hunting situations (it's a 2-10x36). I'm usually in the woods before legal light, and by the time it's legal to shoot, I can see through the scope fine. That's because I went for a good quality scope with high light transmission.
Click to expand...

+1. Max exit pupil occurs at lowest magnification, if the light is that low, you will HAVE to turn the scope down
 
Thanks for all the replies! I think I'm going to stick with the 40mm and try to find some quality glass :)
 
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