What is the best magnification?

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Ravenred

Ravenred

Member
Mar 11, 2017
106
3
Ohio
I am considering getting a fixed magnification scope. What do you all think the best magnification level is? I have a hawk sidewinder but I kind of get tired of adjusting my mill range every time I zoom in or out. The wildcat is such a simple gun I think it should have a simple scope. 
so my question is what magnification do you believe gives you the most field of view and is close enough for comfortable acquisition of bull's-eyes. Or should I ditch this idea and go for a first focal plane? Everyone's advice is highly appreciated.
 
look at swfa scopes ,,i think this is what our moderator micheal uses ,,im no pro at all but can see quality when its there ,,,i will be getting one real soon .. our resident scope guy does a awesome job with the scope vids,, u gotta watch them ....swfa has fixxed and ffp .. theese scopes were made for the us navy,, very tough ,,great field of view,,
 
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Depends on the size and distance of your targets. I use Leupold fixed 6x on my Ruger .243, coke cans, or deer or antelope are no trouble out to 300 yards. I have a Leupold FX-3 12x on my .177 TX200 and like it, although it isn't perfect. The narrow focus (parallax) range presents its own challenges setting it up for field target. I leave the scope on my HW97 set at 20x, but am just shooting field target with it. The field of view would be a little narrow to hunt with.
 
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"Ravenred" I am considering getting a fixed magnification scope. What do you all think the best magnification level is? I have a hawk sidewinder but I kind of get tired of adjusting my mill range every time I zoom in or out. The wildcat is such a simple gun I think it should have a simple scope. 
so my question is what magnification do you believe gives you the most field of view and is close enough for comfortable acquisition of bull's-eyes. Or should I ditch this idea and go for a first focal plane? Everyone's advice is highly appreciated.
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Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this, as it all depends on your priorities and the type of shooting you do most often. Do you mainly use your wildcat for hunting or target shooting? If you do a lot of hunting, field of view is your friend. If you are mostly target shooting, field of view is much less important than magnification and rock solid mechanics. If you're hunting and general plinking, where shot distances range from under 10m to beyond 50m, but you're not doing any benchrest shooting, 6X is a good all-around magnification. If you enjoy long range shooting or you're shooting BR targets at 25m, 10X is a better choice. If you only shoot BR target bullseyes and only shoot in good light conditions, FOV is very unimportant, and 12X or 16X might be your huckleberry. Personally, I'm willing to give up a bit of magnification in exchange for good optics.
In short, if you're willing to trade the slight advantage greater mag gives you in extreme POI precision in exchange for a good all-around, close to far general purpose scope with good FOV, go with 6X. If you value extreme shot precision over FOV and you still want a general purpose scope that's usable in both good and poor light, go 10X. If tiny groups on targets trumps all else, you aren't all that concerned about scope length, you very seldom shoot at very close range, and you aren't concerned about low light shooting, go 12X - 16X.
 
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What about first focal plane scopes. I'm using a athlon btr and it has many if all of the features of 1000$ scopes at 350$. With these scopes basically you zoom into the reticle and the target. This way your holdovers are always true. I believe more manufacturers like hawks will release ffp scopes. They are way better than second focal plane scopes that take the reticle and zoom into the target with no change in the reticle. So basically, if you get a ffp scope then you won't have to worry about magnification.
 
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I agree with Fukochan's comments from a week ago. FFP is the way to go. I never liked twisting turrets once I had set up zero on a rifle / scope or trying to adjust holdover when I changed the power, After using my first Athlon I was blown away on how easy it was to go from 6 power to 14 power and use the same dope sheet. I now have 4 Athlon's on rifles and 1 that is waiting for my next purchase. Give it a try.
 
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I like 10x as a general use mag. I like 12x for 50+yds. I have a 10x42 and 12x42 SWFA and use them from short to long range 15-100yds+ all the time. My favorite scopes by far. I had an Athlon Argos BTR 6-24x50 FFP and although it was a nice scope it was large and heavy and didn't find it worth it for the added weight. Glass was very good and so was the reticle but just not for me.
 
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