Minimum power for varmint scope?

[bofe954]

Built a .204 ruger AR with prairie dogs in mind...Now I have to scope it. I will spring for a decent scope, probably VX2. How far out will a 14X scope allow me to get a decent shot on a prairie dog sized target?

 

[Coltdriver]

I have a Leupold 4X14 on a .204 Barreled Encore.

I can reliably hit shotgun shells at 300 yards with it using the Hornady 32 grain ammo.

You don't need to get any further away to shoot prarie dogs.

If you go to a much higher power you will find that holding it still enough to shoot becomes a problem.

I had a friend that took a portable bench to shoot prarie dogs, but he was a bit of a fanatic about it.

 

[telecaster1981]

Seems to me that 14x should be plenty for 'dogs or anything else for that matter (except for benchrest, perhaps). Marines shoot human head-sized targets at 1000+ yards with 10x scopes...you should be good to go!

 

[koja48]

14X is good, 16X is better, 25X really picks the little buggers out of the weeds. You should be okay . . . enjoy the .204. It's a veritable laser.

 

[fineredmist]

I hope this will help you out, I have been shooting pd for 10 + years useing bolt guns but that is unimportant. My rifles are equiped with 6 - 24 power scopes and in the field one can seldom use more than 14-16 power for shooting but one can get some use of the higher end for spotting. Select a variable power scope to 14 power +/-, a simple reticle (mil dots are sexy but for this they are not worth the money as your ranges will not be all that great), and side focus.

 

[jpwilly]

I have a 6-18x44mm SF on my Varmint AR with a target dot plenty of power.

 

[rcmodel]

I have shot them to over 400 yards with a 10x K-10, and later a 3-9X on a 22-250.

You go too high in power, and mirage will get you on a hot day in Dog country.

Consider, at 10x, a 400 yard dog appears to be only 40 yards away!


rcmodel