500 yards

If you're eyes are still good, either with or without lenses, you can put rounds on a man size target at 500 yards with irons.
 
Something around 1X per 100 yards, no more than 2X per 100 yards for general big game hunting. For me a common 3-9X40 is more than adequate.
 
Tucker 1371 If you're eyes are still good, either with or without lenses, you can put rounds on a man size target at 500 yards with irons.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

I have one of my M14s set up for that, but I also have the ability
to quickly mount and transition to 1-6x24 glass on the same M14.
 
I set up a hanging steel plate at 500 yards and a shooting table by my house. I had no problem with sub-MOA with a 1997 vintage Simmons 44Mag 3-10 on my '06.
 
If you're shooting off of a bench during the day time, I would suggest 'the more the merrier'. If you're wanting to hunt at 500 or looking for a battle rifle type setup virtually any quality scope with repeatable turrets would be adequate. I would value field of view in those situations and would probably choose a scope with long eye relief and a low starting magnification (2x-3x).
 
There's a line between magnification and quality that must be maintained.

For the Average Joe, a certain amount of optical quality can often be traded for higher magnification. If you're a shooter who needs the best of the best, you know it and know what you need.

For varmint and/or fun use out to 500, I'd rather have a medium quality 25x than the best 9x on the planet. I'd rather have the best 9x on the planet than a crappy 40x that you can't even see through at 40x.
 
Quality of glass trumps magnification every time. For targets 2 MOA or larger I'm good with a max power of 10X or less well beyond 500. For targets 1 MOA or smaller I'm happy with 16-20X on the top end, again beyond 500 yards.
 
I'll take adjustment accuracy and repeatability (range focus, elevation/windage, magnification) over razor-sharp optics and high magnification. These cannot be precisely measured by group shooting.
 
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What Bart said...

It depends on the use some though...varmints at 500 yards might be better served with higher magnification (12x-16x) with a very thin reticle.

But strictly for targets...I'll take a fixed 10x, also with a fine (thin) reticle.
 
Just get a good 4-16 or 4.5-14 and you're good for most hunting and paper punching out to 500 or more. $300 for a Burris FFII 4.5-14 would not be money wasted, though you can spend way more than that if you are so inclined. $1000 will get you more scope than you need. For that price you could get my present favorite scope, which would be the 6.5-20 Leupold LR and have them put the TMR reticle in it. My second favorite (of scopes presently owned) is the Vortex Viper PST 4-16 FFP with the MRAD reticle. Pretty nice, but that Leupold TMR reticle takes the cake (for me anyway).
 
3-9 variable would be good for hunting. Always go with quality and skip the cheap-o on variable power scopes. 3-9 variable would also be good for the range, targets, and varmints. I shoot a fixed 10x past 500 and can hold sub moa groups. It's when you get to about 750 or 800 that small targets (6" bull) are REALLY small. I've found that 10x handles targets about 1moa in width okay, but you go under that and it gets tough.
 
I like the idea of a 4-16 variable for shooting out to 500 yards. When I'm at the range with my 5-25 I rarely use the scope on 25 power, especially in the summer when mirage is really bad. My range goes to 500 and I find myself in the 12-15 range usually.
 
As mentioned, it depends... teeny tiny groups, a fixed 25, 30, 35, or 40x (or more). Torso-sized steel or similar, at least 10 and preferably 14-20, with good glass. Glass quality and objective lens size are more important than raw magnif., but magnif. is good too, with appropriate quality (matching) glass.
 
Hee hee, well, you're right. :) Impressive. But you probably have a lot better eyesight than me. Let's modify my advice to add "If you're over 40, then.....". And point of order, if you please - I believe that would be 1 power, not 0 power. I think 0 power is if you left your scope covers ON when shooting....or something.
 
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