Mid to longish range scope

bcboarder

bcboarder

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I recently purchased a tikka ctr in 308 and am torn between a vortex viper pst gen2 3-15x44 or 5-25x50. I guess my real question is how much magnification is needed to eventually be shooting at steel out to 600-700 meters or so? I do realize that will take a lot of practice. Thanks
Brad
 
If you are staying put and shooting LR, my fave was my SIII6-24... I put it on 24X and didn't change it for years of shooting. from 250yds to well over 1 mile, it was great.

But I found the 24X quite high if I was moving around and scanning for targets. I have been shooting a STAC 3-16 last summer and it did great. Much wider field of view so quicker to pick up targets and still enough mag to aim at sub MOA targets at 1450yds. Dialed back to 8 to 10X when speed of engagement was important... still plenty of mag to aim at MOA sized rocks in the sub 800yds range.

For pure LR aiming, I compete with 10-50's mag scopes so I really like high mag but for rocks and gongs, it is more important to spot your misses and see ambient conditions.

There are now variable mag scopes with a huge adjustment range so you can literally have your cake and eat it... and they come with very nice glass. I think the quality and resolution of the glass is more important then the mag value wrt to rocks and gongs shooting.

4.5-27, 4.5-29 and 4.5-30 are now off the shelf optics.

Guess you haven't mentioned if you need a low end and for what application... lots and lots of very nice optic options now.

Jerry
 
My plans for the moment are to punch paper and shoot at gongs. My local range is only out to 300 yards but after I work on my skills more I’d like to be shooting at steel further out. I don’t have any plans to start competing at this point.
 
I really like 3-15x for an all around scope. That said, between the PST Gen II's I would probably choose the 5-25. They are very close in price and weight. The biggest difference is, with the 3-15, you will probably run it at max power most of the time. SFP reticle will not get in the way. Might be wise to consider FFP in a 5-25, as you may find yourself operating below max mag most of the time. Given the form factors are so close between the two, 5-25 would be my choice
 
I picked up a night force shv 4-14x for my savage stealth. I think it will be good for what I am doing with it (medium range shooting)
Plus the glass is really nice on it. I've read lots of reviews where they say its better to have good glass over higher magnification. I almost went for a Vortex viper pst but chose the Night force.
 
Go with the 5-25, there will be less mirage on sunny days with the 25x dialed down to 18, than the 18x at max magnification. Not sure why but this has been my experience.
 
Just recently picked up a Remington 700 SPS .308 heavy barrel and put a Vortex Viper HS 4-16x50 scope on it.

Only had it out a few times (darn cold weather) but so far can hit the 300 yard gong 9 times out of ten.

I like it but I'm new to shooting at anything past 200 yards.Goal is to make the 500 yard gong go "PING"
 
bcboarder said:
I recently purchased a tikka ctr in 308 and am torn between a vortex viper pst gen2 3-15x44 or 5-25x50. I guess my real question is how much magnification is needed to eventually be shooting at steel out to 600-700 meters or so? I do realize that will take a lot of practice. Thanks
Brad
Click to expand...

Don't over think it, 700 metres is not an overly difficult shot to make, especially if you're after a decent sized gong(12 inches). If you're going to shoot only from a stationary position then some higher magnification isn't a bad thing. If you want to shoot off hand at all then you're best to keep the low end as low as possible. If you aren't out to win medals or print record groups then a 15x optic will do the job. Magnification is only one concern, a much greater concern is the quality of the optic and its ability to track consistently and true.
 
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