minimum power to see .22 holes at 300 yards?

M

MadScientist

New member
My 9x scope (the only "nice" one I own) doesn't even show me .30 holes at 300 yards. What power should I look to buy in a spotting or rifle scope to easily see the tiny holes at that distance?
 
MS,

Forget it..... at 300 yds. a spotting scope with the objective lens and resolution power to see a .22 caliber hole is too big for you to carry without help. You'd need an insurance rider on your homeowners policy to cover it's replacement cost as well.

Spotting scopes are not meant to see HOLES at that distance. They are only used to see the scoring disk and scoring boards that are hung by the pit pullers........

Swampy
 
I haven't found any scope that will reliably allow you to see .30 Cal holes at that range. It's as much a function of the quality of the optics as it is the magnification, maybe more. After you get past about 30x, the distortion of the image is too great to gain any improvement in resolution.
 
So am I supposed to walk out to 300 yards after every group? I don't mind the exercise but it holds everyone up on the adjacent ranges.
 
My 40 power 50 mm Kowa Highpower scope won't show specific .22 cal holes even at 200. I can see groups, but sometimes I can't.

How do you see them? Well, you don't. However, if you put up more than one target, then you get more bang for your walk, right?


Besides, unless you're testing handloads, if your hold is good, do you really need to see the target? You should already know how you did.
 
It takes at least 60 power to see bullet holes at 300 yds and at that point, heat distortion, at least in summer, will blur things so much the holes won't be visible anyway. The military ranges use pit crews and target markers, but most civilian ranges don't have those luxuries.

Jim
 
Karsten, I you owe me a keyboard and a screen cleaning!
How about an astrological telescope
Click to expand...
Mad, the only way I know for you not to have to go downrange is to talk your little brother into sitting behind the berm and relaying info with a radio. My little bro is smarter than that.
 
Campers, campers...

The little Meade scopes, the ones that are about 12" or so long, and really fat, are supposed to be pretty good at resolving...

For a rifle scope, you MIGHT be able to see the holes if you've got a good quality scope, in the area of 24-36x... A lot depends on mirage at that distance. I know I could SORTA see the holes at 300 with my .22-250 and 8-40x56 30mm Tasco... Could see 6mm holes sort of okay through a 36x, but if one was cutting a line, I'd lose it... I'd venture a Nightforce or a 36x Leupold would work better. The new 45x Leupolds may also work.

Best spotting scope I've seen is a monster that Skip Otto owns - IIRC, it is identical to those used by the Army marksmanship team, and is just flippin' HUGE.
 
Jim Keenan, you're wrong about civilian ranges not having a pit crew and target markers. Most Highpower ranges have those exact things. If the range has enough room for the 600 yard targets, they install pits. When you sign up in the morning, you're assigned to a relay. One relay is on the line shooting, another scores, and the third relay is in the pits pulling targets and marking hits. Then the relays switch positions. This is done at each distance.

MadScientist, if you want to do this the cheap and easy way, get someone for "slave labor," go to a Highpower range when they're not having a match, put your slave labor in the pitts and shoot away. Some compensation for your target puller would be due, of course (maybe you could do it for him?)
 
Don't spend too much $ on a spotter thinking you're going to see those holes. Even with my Kowa, you might find the holes out in the buff.


When I'm out with my long range rig, I just use a Wally World Outers 100 yrd sight in target with a large Shoot-N-C that covers out to the 7 ring on it.

I'm able to see hits on the Shoot-N-C portion at 300 and sometimes 400 yrds (under ideal conditions). I don't even need a spotter to see .30 cal holes @ 200, just the rifle scope.
 
Of course, there is always the option of getting a small wireless CCTV camera and having it real close to the target, with the receiver on the bench. You'd have to have some heavy duty armor on it so the other idiots on the line wouldn't use it as a target! :)
 
I use a Walmart $80 telescope. Works great for seeing bullet holes, sucks for lookin at the stars. I can watch 800-yard shots with no problem. You won't be disappointed, and I think there are cheaper ones.
 
I use my ATV to check targets over 200 yards. Of course this is for private or informal (woods/powerline) range use only.
 
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