How big an Objective Lens do you need?

8x56, according to the exit pupil rule, gives you just the right 7mm of light your eye can use. Most peoples eyes can't even take that. Me, Id rather use a 6x42 with med mounts than a 56mm with tall, very tall mounts and have to crane my neck just to get my eye in focus. :D
 
8x56, according to the exit pupil rule, gives you just the right 7mm of light your eye can use. Most peoples eyes can't even take that. Me, Id rather use a 6x42 with med mounts than a 56mm with tall, very tall mounts and have to crane my neck just to get my eye in focus. :D
 
I dont have any trouble sighting with the 56mm. The rifle is a browning high power with a laminated monte carlo stock. I get a good cheek weld, and the rifle scope combo is extremily easy to shoot. Ive had 4 of my friends kill their first deer with the rifle. Also killed alot of deer running with it. That older kahles is in my opinion the best deer hunting scope I have ever used. When it comes down to a late evening hunts the 56mm is unbeatable.
 
I've gotten into the habit of spending more money on my scopes to get better quaility with a small objective. I like to have my scopes mounted as low to the rifle as possible and most the scopes that I'm using now are under 40mm. I have a couple of dedicated varmint rigs that use the 50mm objectives and they are nice but not for carrying on the stalk. I also found that I usually don't use over a 6 power setting on my scopes so that makes it easy to stay down in the small objectives. Most of my scopes are Leupold VXIII in 1.75-7 and 2.5-8, I'm not saying that Leupolds are the best but their optics are clear and bright even in early morning or late evening IMO.
 
Aaaahhh, one of the new Leopolds. You're the first person I've noted on the Forum to admit to having one. Interesting purchase ... what base and rings do you entrust with that very luxe piece of glass? And (maybe more important) over what ranges are you taking those last-minute-of-light shots?
 
That VX-L will mount with a Leupold STD base and STD low rings. I like them alot, and have been thinking about getting one for my next varmint rig. I say, if youre going to be using a power more than 8 most of the time, get a 50mm. If you usually keep it set around 3-6 a 40mm is right for you. If you use a power lower than that I wouldnt get more than a 32mm. A 50mm or bigger can come in handy in low light with a long shot, other than that, it's not needed.

Here's a good link to read for picking the right scope. Check it out...
http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/a/scopes_3.htm
 
I have a 4-12 with a 56mm objective. I mounted it on my Sako using Sako extra low rings. The extra low rings can handle up to a 63mm objective, so I didn't have to go with higher rings. So far, I am pleased, though I can't say I notice a huge difference between that and my smaller objective scopes.
 
Anthony, the VX-L series doesn't come with any objective smaller then 50mm.
I doubt there's a reason to do so; smaller lenses don't need the extra manufacturing cost and asembly complications of a notched objective lens group. In that series, it's either 50 or 56 mm.

A question for ANYONE with a big objective, 50mm or up, on their hunting rifle.
Aside from the VX-L series, am I correct that the point of an adjustable cheekpiece, as in sniper rifles, is to get your eye up high enough to see through the scope and still get a nice tight cheek weld?
 
Thats exactly the reason. Cheek weld is everything in shooting, IMO.

And yea, the vx-l is 35.x10 and 4.5x14 50mm only. I was talking about the vx-lonly in the first sentence. After that I was referring to scopes in general. It would be nice on a varmint rig, but anything more than 3x9 40mm is overkill in the woods where you;ll only be using 3x or 4x.
 
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