Scope power for new rifle

[Canada Honker]

I have a rifle on order. It's going to be a 6BR set up to be legal for F-Class shooting. However, the gunsmith describes my interest as "recreational shooting." In other words, after talking with me, he feels this rifle COULD be entered in an occasional F-Class shoot, but often would just be taken out to the range solo for enjoying a sunny afternoon.

In picking out a scope for the rifle, I decided I cannot afford a Nightforce or other $1000 plus scope, so I selected a 6X-24X Sightron. As the gunsmith completes the rifle, he will mount one of these. I had considered selecting a 36X fixed power, but decided against this after getting an email from a buddy out in Nebraska.

My buddy happened to have a 6BR heavy rifle with a 36X scope and -- for whatever reason -- he decided to take it prairie dog hunting. He could not find the dogs in the scope, due to the very narrow field. He said he could actually see the dogs out there in the distance as little brown specks, but could not locate them in the scope. He finally went home in disgust.

I don't know if it makes any sense to have a benchrest rifle made and then not pick an ideal scope for benchrest. However, I hate to get so specialized in the way this rifle is set up that it is virtually worthless for anything other than 600 yd. competition. That's why I opted for the Sightron 24X Variable.

Any comments or reactions?

 

[Tozguy]

A variable makes more sense in your case to keep your options open and as a learning experience. I would say that a fixed power dedicated BR scope becomes important when dedicated to pure BR and making legal weight is a problem....but this is not your case. Eventually you might want more magnification for longer distances.

 

[RonAKA]

I got a Savage LRPV in 6BR and was faced with the same choice. I really would have liked a 36X Sightron Target scope, but finally settled on a 6-24 SIIB. I knew from my experience using a 6-18X scope on gophers, that a fixed 36X would be virtually impossible to use in the field. So it is a compromise and for targets I sure would still like the 36X.

 

[Canada Honker]

As the fellow who started this thread, I will come back one more time. RonAKA wrote about his experience with an 18X scope for gophers.

I have a 22-250 Varminter rifle with an 18X scope. This seems to me like quite a bit of magnification, and the 24X variable I mentioned will be even more powerful.

Problems with the 36X fixed power scopes include a very tiny exit pupil and pretty marginal light gathering. Bright light in mid-day might be okay, but you would get dimming on early or late use, and possibly on dark, cloudy days.

One consideration is that -- one or two years down the road -- I could change scopes. Most of my money is in the rifle. While scopes are not cheap, they are not anywhere near as expensive as the rifle itself.