Spotting Scopes at 500 yards?

[deerhunter61]

Hello all,

I was wondering if a good spotting Scope with say 60x you can see your target and where the bullet hit it at 500 yards?

Thanks,

 

[TonyAngel]

It depends on what you call a "good" spotting scope. I'd take a 36X Vortex, Leupold, Sightron, etc. over a 60X Walmart special. It isn't just about magnification. It's about resolution.

 

[WNTFW]

I have found that at one range I can see the .223 holes @ 200yds and can not see them next time. It comes down to lighting, time of day, and even how wrinkled the targets is. Mirage won't help you at all. I shoot over a lot of grass, which has dew and I think the mirage is worse because of it.
500 would be pushing it even with a .30 cal. I have only used spotting disks at the mid range. So looking at plain bullet holes I can't say with 100% certainty. I would not count on it.

 

[chaser_2332]

If you want a 60x spotter you an see out of your better get ready to shell out some $$$$$ and that's only if mirage isn't bad that day. Stick with 30-40 power top end with a good company, vortex, leupy, USO....ect

 

[Justin]

Even a top of the line spotting scope probably won't be good enough to resolve a hole in a paper target @ 500 yards.

However, a decent spotting scope will let you see bullet trails, and with some practice its pretty easy to call shots based on that.

Sent from my Android smart phone using Tapatalk.

 

[JohnM]

I have a Celestron 5" SCT I use as a long range spotting scope, eye piece focal length determines magnification.
A lot heavier and more expensive than most people want to deal with.
But, out at 500 yards looking across the ground, air currents are going to stop you from seeing something as small as a bullet hole usually.
Those spotters with maybe a 60mm aperture claiming 60X, forget it.

 

[Jim Watson]

As luck would have it, I was out with a friend and his Kowa 82mm 27x spotting scope.
It would sometimes pick a bullet hole out of the white at 500 metres or 600 yards.
In the black? Not a chance.
It would sure show up the bullet splash mark on a steel target at 600 yards, though.
Higher power would not be a help without a huge objective lens. Even JohnM's won't do it very well.

 

[NM Mountainman]

The highest useful magnification for a good quality spotting scope with the typical 60 mm objective is about 45 to 48x. To get a high quality image at 60x would require a high quality scope with 80 mm objective combined with a very solid and stable tripod. Mirage, dust, haze, and poor contrast lighting will often present problems, and getting a clear image at 500 yards will probably require the best possible conditions. Even with everything at its best, you will rarely if ever be able to see a .30 cal bullet hole in the black.

Perhaps the best scope under the best conditions combined with a special target to make the holes more visible might work sometimes. For targets, consider some kind of reactive target or some special target which makes bullet holes more visible like Shoot-N-See.

 

[Art Eatman]

I've found that my el-cheapo Wallyworld 20x60 works quite well up to around 40X. No higher, though. And, yes, I have a very good tripod.

 

[win71]

Leica

I have a Leica with a 20-60 eyepiece. The objective is over 80mm but I don't recall by how much. I've had it for about ten years. I sprung for it originally because I was having trouble spotting .20 and .224 holes at 300 yards.

One day at a range there were two guys shooting 30-378 long, 30 and 32 inch, heavy barrel rifles at 500 yards. Whatever spotting scopes they had weren’t clear enough to i.d. the holes. They asked for help. I could just barely make them out but I am farsighted. One of the shooters, a young guy with good eyes, looked through my scope and he could i.d. the individual holes.

If the target would have been 100 feet farther I doubt it could be done.

Leica's are up there with Zeiss and Swarovski as far as quality. I doubt you could see holes of 30 caliber size with many of lesser quality.