Load testing with low magnification scopes ?

[Piney]

Many hunting rifles I own have top magnification from 4 to 7 power. I find it difficult to tune handloads in these rifles at 100 yards or beyond....can't hit what you can't see ! I can stick a 18x scope on one of these same rifles & shoot bug holes with a couple where I couldn't get .75 with the original scope & same load.
My question is, Should one load test at 50 or 75 yards with such a setup ? I'm sure this would be next to impossible with some of the .1 to .2 groups some of you are shooting, but I would think its feesible with a .5 MOA hunting rifle.

 

[Berger.Fan222]

My buddies can do 0.5 MOA with lower power scopes.

That ship sailed for me long ago.

 

[CTK]

Do load work up with higher power scope and replace and sight in before season.

 

[Homerange]

A good target really helps, yes while a high magnification scope offers another level of precision, a light coloured square that can be quartered with the cross hairs will give better precision than other aiming points. My favourite is a white square within a black border and ~2" can suit scopes as low as 4x. While many cross hair choices for low light and fast pointing are used in hunting scopes these days many make shooting a reasonable group @100 hard work and for that reason I'd advise many to stick with the tried and proven 30/30 reticle.

 

[Big Mc]

Many hunting rifles I own have top magnification from 4 to 7 power. I find it difficult to tune handloads in these rifles at 100 yards or beyond....can't hit what you can't see ! I can stick a 18x scope on one of these same rifles & shoot bug holes with a couple where I couldn't get .75 with the original scope & same load.
My question is, Should one load test at 50 or 75 yards with such a setup ? I'm sure this would be next to impossible with some of the .1 to .2 groups some of you are shooting, but I would think its feesible with a .5 MOA hunting rifle.

Back in the day(1964) I could shoot dime size groups with my M8 7.5 power Lup. Now I use a 15X55. I don't know what changed in 2016.. Tommy Mc..

 

[amlevin]

A good target really helps, yes while a high magnification scope offers another level of precision, a light coloured square that can be quartered with the cross hairs will give better precision than other aiming points. My favourite is a white square within a black border and ~2" can suit scopes as low as 4x. While many cross hair choices for low light and fast pointing are used in hunting scopes these days many make shooting a reasonable group @100 hard work and for that reason I'd advise many to stick with the tried and proven 30/30 reticle.

Just download one of the many targets available online that have the square above the bullseye. Either center the crosshair in the center of the square, with little or no "white" showing on all sides of the reticle or just line up the vertical and horizontal portion of the reticle in one of the four corners, reticle touching the inside edge of the square.

This is an especially useful technique if you have a scope with a "fat" reticle that covers the center of the target so you can have .5 MOA movement in any direction, not really seeing where it's lined up.

 

[Shynloco]

Back in the day(1964) I could shoot dime size groups with my M8 7.5 power Lup. Now I use a 15X55. I don't know what changed in 2016.. Tommy Mc..

Sorry to say this Tommy, but you've gotten old and so have your eyes. Back in the day (70's/80's) I could put 5 shots inside the size of a dime using a VariXII 6x10 @ 100 yds. Now I'm challenged (to see the centerX target) to do that using a 36X fixed at that same distance. Aging is such a wonderful thing.

Alex

 

[Fast14riot]

Like mentioned, try a different target, or try a different hold. For some of my low power scoped rifles I'll sight in on a standard target with a 6 o'clock hold. Easier to align for me that way.

-Alexander

 

[dmoran]

Make or pick a target that compliments the scopes power and reticle. Sort to speak, if you can't see it, the taget is to small, use a bigger target.
1" blue painters masking-tape on white poster-board, crossed the length and diameter of the poster board, then burring the cross hairs with in the blue tape, is a good way for lower power scopes out to 300yds or so.
Donovan

 

[Piney]

Thanks for the insight. I'm currently using the red diamond targets & I've little doubt that the standard bench rest targets with the large white square will help. If not, I'll make my own as Dmoran suggested.

 

[LHSmith]

FWIW, in SR BR there is Hunter Class which limits the optics to 6x max. The Hunter Class shoots in the same relays, side by side with Varmint For Score benchguns with no limit to optics (45 x is common). In any given Nationals event the Hunter Class winner will shoot a score better than 70% of the shooters shooting VFS in BOTH 100 and 200 yard events. The Score Nationals typically draws 60 to 70 competitors. A properly sized target goes a long way to helping these guys shoot that great as well as using a scope that adjusts for parallax. There are methods to overcome parallax if your scope has no such feature.

 

[Piney]

I have Zeiss conquest & Leupold Vari-x III on my hunting rifles. I believe they are supposedly parallex free at 100 ? I use the focus ring to gain the best sight picture I can.

 

[perry42]

Higher power scopes really help once you get past 100yds. My personal preference is shooting a target with red or black diamond aiming points. I shoot at the points of the diamond (aim small - hit small).

perry42

 

[Webster]

Many hunting rifles I own have top magnification from 4 to 7 power. I find it difficult to tune handloads in these rifles at 100 yards or beyond....can't hit what you can't see ! I can stick a 18x scope on one of these same rifles & shoot bug holes with a couple where I couldn't get .75 with the original scope & same load.
My question is, Should one load test at 50 or 75 yards with such a setup ? I'm sure this would be next to impossible with some of the .1 to .2 groups some of you are shooting, but I would think its feesible with a .5 MOA hunting rifle.

Many years ago I shot 10 shot a 1.9" group at 200 yds with a Rem 7MM Mag. 3X9 Redfield scope. I would think groups around 1 " or slightly under would be fine for big game hunting to 300 yrds.

 

[jlow]

Do load work up with higher power scope and replace and sight in before season.

This is exactly what I do. I think the reason there is so much difference in opinion on this is because of the usual reason i.e. we talking about generalities and sometimes about different things.

Specifically for the reason of finding the best shooting group that falls in the sub-MOA area (what the OP is asking about), there is nothing that can replace a high magnification scope. If you scope does not allow you to distinguish between the center of a 1” circle vs. say 1/3 or ¼ of the way to the side, you are not going to be able to shoot and distinguish the best grouping reloads i.e. 0.5 vs. 0.6 vs. 0.7 MOA ammunition (assuming you are shooting sub-MOA ammunition).

Just because a person can occasionally shoot a 0.5 MOA group with a low power scope means nothing. Donovan is spot on when he says use a “target that compliments the scope power and reticle” For example, people who shoots peep (not optical) sights can be incredibly accurate because they use a front sight that match their target circle size. If you can center that front sight on that large circular target, you can be very accurate but again you are still talking about seeing what you are aiming at, the same with a scope.

 

[Piney]

 

[Piney]

This is my "elaborate" shooting range on the back porch...the loading room is 10 steps away ! Any suggestions as far as upgrading bags ?

 

[CTK]

This is my "elaborate" shooting range on the back porch...the loading room is 10 steps away ! Any suggestions as far as upgrading bags ?

Protektor leather rear bag and a Sinclair Lightweight front rest or one from Bald Eagle. $150.00 or so.

 

[ireload2]

Reverse the black and white of German WWII tank cross insignia so the cross is white and is about 1/2" wider than your cross hairs at 100 yards. You will easily be able to see the difference in the white strip on each side of the cross hair.

World class shooters can shoot 1" groups with aperture sights at properly sized round black bullseyes. You should be able to divide 1" by the magnification of your scope to give you some theoretical limit on your groups. That is assuming your rifle is up to it. You can see that tiny groups are possible with almost any scope.

 

[amlevin]

Higher power scopes really help once you get past 100yds. My personal preference is shooting a target with red or black diamond aiming points. I shoot at the points of the diamond (aim small - hit small).

perry42

Higher power scopes are also nice because if the magnification is high enough, you don't have to pack and set up a spotting scope. I "spot" with my 12-42X56mm NXS up to 300 yards. Beyond that it's a little difficult and I have to drag out the other scope.