- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Buying bargain basement optics is an even worse idea than buying bargain basement rifles, an economy priced rifle can usually perform well enough to do the job, whereas you point out, a junk scope can't. A good hunting scope has sufficient magnification to see the target, generous eye relief, a wide field of view at low power, and is all but impervious to inclimate weather. There is one circumstance though where even a good quality conventional scope might let you down; in cold conditions, if you exhale without turning away from the scope, the ocular lens will surely to turn to ice.
The advantage a scope has over irons is not magnification, if it were we'd all be hunting with 20X glass, the primary advantage is focus. The human eye is unable to focus on two objects at different distances simultaneously. Once the target is acquired, when aiming with irons, your focus must be on the rear sight (unless its a receiver mounted aperture, in which case you look through it not at it) then your focus must shift to the front sight, shift again to the target, then back to the front sight, all before you break the shot. A scope simplifies aiming because aiming point and target are on the same focal plane, in simultaneous focus, so the chances of a first round hit are better, and a shot can be fired faster, before conditions change. Additionally, in low light conditions, given a target that blends into the background, a good scope's light gathering qualities enables a shot that would be impossible with irons, since with irons you'd never see the target.
