Scope for prarie dog hunts

[bddc2012]

Recommendations for a scope suited for prarie dog hunting?

 

[tjtjwdad]

What caliber and distance?

- 30mm scope tubes [usually] have more internal adjustment than 1" tubes.

- Would you want to turn the wind and elevation knobs, have a hold over reticle or use both?

- What reticle would be your preference?

 

[people]

It depends on what you want to accomplish with your shooting. I shot for many years a 3-9 with a standard duplex. Then I screwed up and bought a fixed 12x. Too much power mirage on some days made the scope unusable. I settled on a SS 10x with a mil reticle. I use hold off for pd ad usually do not dial it in. I used that for along time and slowly upgraded over the years.

 

[bddc2012]

.223,22-250, 25-06

 

[bheadboy]

25 years of pd shooting started with 12x luep, then upgraded to 24x, whioch was too much mag and bad in mirage,

now for years I have had luep 6.5x20, 40mm and 50mm ao

work for me out to 600, never pushed beyond that, the mirage will get you in the higher mag, and you can dial down on those days.

Bob

 

[LCazador]

My PD guns have Nightforce and Leupold scopes. The longer the range the bigger the objective, as smaller objectives will have images that will dissolve with mirage or low light. Reticles with holdover reticles are nice, but you'll soon learn that it's best to dial in than holdover. If you know how to sight in with two shots, you know how easy it is to adjust to your miss by turning your adjustment knobs. That's of course depending on whether you can spot your shots. Again the bigger objective is a big help here by providing a bigger field of view. A minimum of a 50mm obj, 14 power, and a duplex reticle will work for most prairie dog shooting.

 

[Witchhunter]

I have Leupold 6.5-20's on all of my pdog guns. You need a variable to adjust for mirage. You can use full power in the morning, but as it heats up so does the mirage. I use the duplex reticle, just because that is what I am used to. You need to learn your bullet drops for each caliber and write em down. I use an avery label on mine, on the stock, as I shoot several calibers from 22 Hornet to 220AI. Be careful, it is addicting, I go 10-15 times a year and I have a gang of different calibers. Be ready to spend some cash when you get home (barrels wear out).

 

[RHux]

I used my F T/R 308 with a Sightron III 8-32 , and Speer 125 gr TNT bullets. Great practice for dealing with wind and mirage .

 

[waterfwlr]

Leupold 8.5-25x50, 30mm, varmint hunters reticle. Been working really well for me.

 

[22DASHER]

Pretty tough to beat the Leupold 8.5-25X50 for prairie dogs IMO.

 

[LarryDScott]

Always buy a variable for PDs. Never buy to little
top end power. You cant dial up, if its not there.
8-32 being the most power for most brands under
$1K.

There is absolutely nothing wrong w/one inch
tube VariX III Leupold 8.5-25x40, 6.5-20x40 or Sightron SII
Big Sky in 6-24X50. The only downer I found in the
one inch tube, the eye relief was more critical than a 30MM
tube. The 8-32 SIII Sightron is a killer scope.

As far as a 50MM obj, its only value is gathering light
in dim conditions, which is usually not present in a PD field
The objective size has nothing to do w/field of view, power
determines that. Paying extra money for anything over 40MM
on a one tube PD scope is not worth while. 30MM tubes come w/
50MM or greater objectives to feed light to the bigger main tube.

Stick w/well known brands that have good reviews. Buying
brand X scope because of the price, is a waste of good money. LDS

 

[dkhunt14]

I agreewith Larry and will add that by going to a 30 mm tube verses a 1 inch usually gets you more minutes of angle to click up. Matt

 

[40X Guy]

Another vote for a Leupold Vari-X III or VX3 6.5-20 in either 1 inch tube or 30MM tube. E-bay has a decent selection of Leo scopes for sale or watch the classified's here. That's the scope that was on top of 3 of my PD rifles.

Frank

 

[DogBuster]

No Leo's here......

Vortex PST's....HST's.....6500 4.5-30 Tact's.....4200 6-24 Tact's

20 cals up to 6.5x55.........

Mirage usually limits power to 14-18x.......

 

[5spd]

All I run on my p-dog rigs are 30mm tubed 6-18x44 or 6-24x44 scopes, nothing more needed even to 900 yards.

 

[K redden]

8.5-25x50 leupold for me as well. I love it

 

[tjtjwdad]

.223,22-250, 25-06

The 30mm [most] tubes always have more internal adjustment than their 1" counterparts [of the same power range] so I would get an idea of the ballistics of the load you're planning on vs the distance you'll be going out to. If a 1" scope works well for you with the options you would like, you can normally save yourself a few bucks.

As far as the objective opening, if you can get the scope combo pkg. you want I would probably stick with 40mm objective as a minimum. However, if you can't, you may have to go to a 50mm or more. For example; if you want a Zeiss Conquest with a Varmint Hunter Reticle and the ability to turn the target knobs knobs [really, the best of both worlds, IMO] you have to get it with a 50mm objective.

A/O vs S/F; in reality, they do the same thing and that is adjusting parallax. The A/O has a finer control IMO over the SF and the SF employs an extra piece of glass internally. However, the SF is much more ergo friendly, again, IMO. If you're shooting off a bench [or similar] it's a wash but if you're not, the SF may be the way to go.

HTH,

 

[sundance]

8.5-25x 30mm Varmint Hunter Leupolds. I have 6 of them and hold off all the time.Great prairie dog scopes.Like that side focus they have also.

 

[SBS]

Don't see my scopes listed here, so I'll add my 2 cents. My favorite is the Bushnell Elite 4200 with mil-dot reticle in 6-24X for most calibers. Now being sold as simply the Elite, I think. Prior to that, I used the older version which was branded as Bausch & Lomb. Went to the 4200 series when mil-dot reticles were introduced. These are 40mm, which allows the scope to be mounted lower, 1/8 min. clicks which are reliable. Glass is plenty sharp for PD shooting. The mil-dot reticle is great for holding off for wind and holding over/under on smaller elevation corrections. I crank for larger elevation changes, but no time for that for a quick follow up shot or dogs at slightly different distances when the dogs are thick. These scopes are not heavy, they are durable, they hold zero and they are reasonably priced. You will find that any good quality variable will work in the variety of climatic conditions you will encounter. I shot for years without a mil-dot and once discovered, wouldn't go back to a plain plex. However, I must tell you that one of my shooting partners uses a straight 16X with plex on his rifles and generally kills as many dogs.

 

[WindSurgeon]

I run a Vortex 6-24x50. Great scope and enough magnification. It is mounted on an AR in .223. 24x is plenty of power out to 300 yards. Beyond that, move up to a max 32x or larger.