Scope magnification on rodent rifles

[zahc]

Primary poll question: What magnification do you favor for a woodchuck/prairie dog rifle used out to 400+ yards? Don't say 'variable', pretend you had to pick a fixed scope or name your most-used magnification if you do use variables.

Rest of thread:

I have a nice heavy barrel winchester in 22-250, and I'm trying to decide if a certain 12x fixed scope is ideal or not. The deal is tempting but I thought most people used a bit more magnification than that for long range work.

Similarly, I'm not sure if it would be just a bit too much magnification to buy it and put in on my Featherweight in .223 for 100-250 yard work.

My father says that powers over 12x are worthless anyway because mirage effects become more of a problem, but I have never had a variable that I didn't just leave cranked up....is there such a thing as too much magnification in a rifle where FOV is not really important?

 

[ClarkEMyers]

16X - Leupold didn't offer a 15X

16X - Leupold didn't offer a 15X. My biggest problem hasn't been mirage but depth of field and constant refocusing.

 

[zahc]

Do higher magnification scopes require more frequent parallax adjustments compared to lower magnifications?

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Higher power does need attention to focus.

Do higher magnification scopes require more frequent parallax adjustments compared to lower magnifications?

Yes, assuming field use at different distances. Depth of field will suffer.

Notice though that the great new notion of a magnifying reticule - nothing new under the sun, once upon a time a non-magnifiying reticule was the new thing; now Leupold offers a magnifying reticule to assist in range finding - puts the reticule in a different image plane and so affects parallax requirements.

FREX the Leupold 2-1/2X Scout Scope is fixed focus but the higher power scopes will have not only eyepiece focus but a side turret focus.

On the other hand even at a predetermined fixed distance a bench rest shooter with a very high power scope may focus off the target to bring out the boil or mirage - so as to see how the wind is running.

 

[dakotasin]

400 yards is not long range, not even close, and you can get away w/ 9x at 400 yards on prairie dogs (i know, because i do it a lot).

ideal scope, when in doubt for a varminter will top out somewhere between 16-20x, and if i had to go w/ a single magnification for all varmint work, i'd choose 14x.

 

[zahc]

Well, 400 yards is long for around here. I appreciate you opinion on magnification.

 

[BigSlick]

10x

M4 Mildot

BigSlick