What Magnification are you pulling trigger on!?

Canadiankeeper

Canadiankeeper

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Alberta
Let me know!

What are you hunting ?
What distance are you shooting your game ?
What riflle/shotgun are you using?
What power magnification are you using, if any? (3x9 but set to 5x) ect.

Coyote
450 yards
22-250 weatherby
5-20 magnification, pulled trigger on 12x.

Squirrel
30 yards
22 LR
3-9 Pulled trigger on 4x.
 
Husqvarna 1640 carbine 30-06 178gn bullet 2.5-8 Leupold running moose at 275m pulled the trigger on 8…

Mauser 98 8x57 200gn accubond tasco fix 4 moose at 95m pulled the trigger on 4

Mauser 98 8mm06 200gn Speer hot-cor black bear at 75m open sights pulled the trigger on zero…

Ruger no1 9.3x62 286gn partition Leupold 1.5-5 moose 106m pulled the trigger on 5( I think)
 
Killing paper with ANY of my rifles @ 100 or 200 yds I'm always at top power...10x, 12x, 16x or 24x

Hunting situations vary. Most of my blinds / stands are 100 -200 yds to the target...could be anything in between cuz deer do that from time to time...lol So normally 6 to 8x is what I keep it on while sitting. The moment I see deer movement...MAX power. My Parallax is always set on infinity.

Small game with a 22LR is a fixed 4x annnd a 3-12 /17HMR combo...normally on 6x
 
Hunt deer & bear with a couple .308 rifles and a .303, mainly 2-7 or 2.5-10 power scopes. 4-12 being the exception, I can’t remember when I turned things up past 6x to shoot an animal. Ranges have been 20m to 160m.

Rabbit’s with .22’s, iron sights and a 3x9 between the two I use. 15-50m distances, I’m usually set at 4-6x. Grouse are all with the 12g and rifle sights, 5-30m ranges and Mod or full chokes.
 
I'll pretty much hunt anything here in BC from wolves up to moose 2 different set ups
Lee enfield no1 mkIII Lithgow, shortened to 19" , Monte Carlo stock. She likes Federal Power Shok 180gr and ideally a 2-7 x 32..... I'm currently lookin at optics right now. In practical use, she is my close range bush/thick forest/truck gun and I've taken from wolves up to moose with similar set up enfields over the years.
Ruger M77 MKII 7mm rem mag , Nikon Monarch 3, 4-16x 42. She is my do all rifle and she has done everything I have asked her to do with a pleasing level of accuracy. Her favorite load was the Winchester Supreme 160gr Accubond but in more recent times I've found she shoots the Federal Premium Nosler Partition 160gr loads just as accurately within my comfortable hunting ranges.

My scopes, I like to leave them on thier lowest settings until a shooting scenario is playing out. Never know if it will be a 20 yard shot or a 400 yard shot. The nikon has side parralax and I have a range finder and know my drops for the rifle and load so everything gets adjusted as the scenario plays out.
I also like to shoot a bit of longer range stuff on targets so the Nikon pairs well with the 7mm rem mag and the 160 and 174g accubonds I have in my reloading set up.
 
This year:

Mule deer, 144yds, 9x mag, 7mm08 shooting 140gr partitions.

Black Bear, 75yds, 3x mag, 7mm08 shooting 140gr partitions.

For me it largely depends on how long I have. With my deer I was able to put my cross hair on him for a while, waiting for a clear shot (there was a doe right behind him for a while). This was after I had watched the group come off a small ridge and drop into a bowl from 500+yds, then got in position to intercept them. The bear was a much quicker experience.
 
What are you hunting ? Sambar deer
What distance are you shooting your game ? it was 40 meters
What riflle/shotgun are you using? Kimber 84m 7mm08
What power magnification are you using, if any? (3x9 but set to 5x) ect. 3-9x40mm set on 5x
 
Whitetail with a Ruger number one in 303 British
I have a 2.5X10 Leupold on it and never turn it up from the lowest magnification.
Heck, the last two deer I shot were under 30 yards away.
 
I have scopes that range from 1.25x, 2.5x, 3x, 4.4x and even an 8x (not really on a 'hunting' gun) at the bottom power.

More times than not there isn't time to adjust the scope to a higher power during a big game hunting situation.
 
Full power to sight in. Which is either 9x, 10x or 12x depending on the scope. In a Hunting situation set at 4x unless I need more. Very seldom do I adjust power over 6x.
 
This year deer
Cross bow with a killer instinct scope set to 370fps.
50cal muzzleloader 250gr platinum aerotip with an elite 4500 1-4x20. Usually kept at 4x

Coyote
223 4-14x56 set on 4 for in the bush 14 for across fields

Squirrel
22lr 3-9x32 9x
17mh2 4-12x32 set to likely 10

Ducks and geese
10-12-16-20-28 depending when and where I'm hunting
410 if I buy TSS to try
 
I crank my power right up on game shots more often than not.

There’s lots of reasons for that, starting with I do a lot of target shooting and load development and thats always at the top power. Its what I’m used to seeing.
I sight my rifled in at their too power, and since I have a #### load if rifles and scopes it’s hard to remember which have been tested for varying point of impact at different powers.

I use a lot of subtension reticles and normally they only work at the highest power. Even the old as the hills but widely copied Leupold Duplex has dimensions that are second natural to me, and I use the thick posts as windage and hold over references. Makes a passable range finder too.

Even close range hunts can utilize higher power on occasion. The animal may be large and close, but the gaps in the brush vary in size. Its a lot easier to miss the twigs when I can see them. Buffalo hunting is just about the definition of close range hunting but the bush is inevitably so thick that more magnification helps turn the black blobs into buffalo with vitals exposed once in a while, if you’re lucky.

All of this leaves me taking a lot of shots at 8, 10, 15ish, 20 and 25 power. Since I shoot with both eyes open theres not a lot of downside.

Typically I’ll carry a rifle at its lowest power in the bush or around six in open country, but it gets turned up more often than not.
 
I have a 1.5-4x Leupold on
My single shot hunting rifle , and have killed game on the near side of 400 with it.
My 280 is wearing 6-18x Leupold with turrets as it is set up for ranges past 400, but I have killed critters inside of 200 with it as well
Cat
 
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The only rifle with a scope that I ever hunted whitetail had a Fisher-Dietz 4x. The fellow that mounted it dug it out of a box, banged it on the table a couple of times. He sighted the rifle in with three shots. That was about 1978. The scope had no turret caps. I’ve never adjusted it since.

For gophers, I use all Leupold scopes and leave them alone once I am satisfied that they will hit poa.
 
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