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Could someone please tell me what power of scope I will need to see 6mm bullet holes at 500 yards? Was thinking about going with at lepold 8.5-25-50mm with a optical booster, giving me around 32 power. Will this be enough? What is my best option?
When you get out to yardages in excess of 400 yards or so enviromental factors really come into play. When faced with heavy mirage even the best scopes come up short. In the riflescope line the 12-42 Nightforce is a good choice, or the new March, but both are pricey. I suppose it all depends on what you want to spend. On a good day without much mirage the Weaver T36 can work. Buy the best optics you can afford is probably the best advice. I would suggest not going under 32 power especially if you are trying to see 6mm holes or smaller.
I personally feel optical boosters degrade the image to much to be useful.
For the basic optical physics need Click Here for a handy calculator.
But Danny is correct, beyond 300 yards atmospheric turbulence, haze, pollution and mirage will usually be the limiting factor. It takes using a very good spotting scope, digital camera and image processing software to produce a usable image in bad seeing conditions.
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