Newbe question on scopes?

[Griffdog124]

I guess I’m at a big disadvantage starting off in this sport. I’m a very nearsighted always wearing glasses, Right handed with an left dominant eye. With that in mind, ffp or sfp or would it matter? Are some scopes better than others in finding a target thru the lens quicker? Does the mm rating or the diameter, length of the scope body make a difference? Magnification? My goal is to become decent at 100 yds. and longer. I have a fx maverick sniper 30 cal, setting it up for slugs. Any thoughts or suggestions would be truly helpful and appreciated for scope selection. Oh yea less than 1k or my wife will kill me.

 

[Geezerhood]

Just make sure you can see the reticle at all the zoom power settings that matter to you. An FFP can only have the "perfect" line or dot thickness at one power setting. Higher than the "ideal" magnification = lines or dot(s) too big, lower than, lines / dot(s) too small. Also some SFP reticles are so thin that us older guys can't see them at all in the field at any zoom setting.....Unless you will be ranging distance with the reticle or shooting under the clock, I see no need for an FFP, but some folks like them better than SFP.

 

[JimD]

I am also near sighted, right handed, and left eye dominant. I have always shot from my left shoulder and do not own a FX because their magazine hits me in the face - plus they are not cheap. I almost bought a Crown but then I found the P35 and am happy with those.

Being near sighted, or right handed, or left eye dominant doesn't mean you need a particular scope. I own a somewhat wide range of scopes. But to shoot at 100 yards, I would want at least 24 power. My 6-24 is an Athlon Talos which I like a lot. I like 6X for hunting/pesting so it makes a good all around scope for me. Only real disadvantage is the weight. But nothing with 24X or more is much if any lighter. 32 or 40X or more would not be too much in my view for 100 yard targets. But they would be hard to use for shooting small animals much less than 100 yards away. I like SFP because the recticle does not change in size so it is usable at both extremes of the magnification range. I own a couple FFP scopes but may not buy any more.

The only characteristic we share that affects scopes is shooting from the left shoulder. That makes the reach to the parallax adjustment to a side focused parallax knob a bit much and a little ackward. Most people don't care for parallax adjustment by rotating the objective lens but if you shoot left handed I think it might even be preferable to side focus. Most of my scopes have side focus, however.

 

[MongooseV8]

If you have little to no experience the best thing you can do is get behind some scopes outside at the range. Look through several to get an idea of what you think you will need. Some people love FFP, others seem to find reasons to hate those scopes. Tube diameter is mostly beneficial for turret travel, but does have a small affect on brightness. Weight is another factor you need to keep in mind. If you only plan on positional shooting and dont need to move around a heavy scope would work great. Make sure you get something with an adjustable paralax and down to ~10yds. Some of my personal recommendations are Arken EPL4, Element Helix, SWFA series, Athalon BTR. I like the lower zoom options over the higher, something in the 4-16x range to help with image quality. If you decide to get a higher budget scope the higher zoom will have a better image.

 

[Griffdog124]

If you have little to no experience the best thing you can do is get behind some scopes outside at the range. Look through several to get an idea of what you think you will need. Some people love FFP, others seem to find reasons to hate those scopes. Tube diameter is mostly beneficial for turret travel, but does have a small affect on brightness. Weight is another factor you need to keep in mind. If you only plan on positional shooting and dont need to move around a heavy scope would work great. Make sure you get something with an adjustable paralax and down to ~10yds. Some of my personal recommendations are Arken EPL4, Element Helix, SWFA series, Athalon BTR. I like the lower zoom options over the higher, something in the 4-16x range to help with image quality. If you decide to get a higher budget scope the higher zoom will have a better image.

Thanks for the input, I’m going with the element