Scope magnification help

[pigglet]

Firstly, hello!

I've just bought a .204 which I intend to use as a general purpose long range crow and bunny basher with some occasional foxing thrown in.

It's tactical type scope I'm after and want to practice with "dialing in" once I get comfy with it.

Having never even done any long range plinking before I'm a bit unsure about what mag scope to go for.

I've got £1k to spend and was originally thinking about a new IOR 6-24 X 50 but it seems they are now unavailable.

Having never looked through a high mag scope before I'm a bit unsure as to what I'll need to get out to what I hope with practice to be a realistic 300 yds or so. Would the IOR 4-18X42 be suitable?

I thought a New IOR would be a better bet than a second hand Night Force???

All info greatly appreciated

[matchking]

The nightforce would have a better resale value if you ever wanted to sell it.Also it uses standard 30mm mounts rather than 35mm which i think IOR use.Keep an eye out for a secondhand swavorski 6-24x50 or a 6-24x56 zeiss both of these are superb scopes.I may have a s/h swavorski forsale if i sell my 20br on the weekend.P.m me if you are intrested.

Cheers sean

[Mike357]

Try Sightron

[pigglet]

Thanks guys

[bri2506]

What 204 did you go for and what load you using.

I'm in exactly same position as you. Just had my 223 rebarrelled into 204 and it's a tack driver. Just trying to scrap together some coin to get a target turret scope.

[Finman]

Ι've a 6.5-20x40 VXIII LRT on my .204Ruger and it has served me very well out to 400 yards (which I think is at the limit of the .204 performance anyway). Mine has the Varmint Hunter reticle and you can work out the graduations on the reticle for known distances, so it helps with fast aiming.

 

good luck,

 

best wishes,

 

Finman

[TonyH]

...............

Having never even done any long range plinking before I'm a bit unsure about what mag scope to go for.

..............

 

For ranges to 300 yards or so IMO you don't need anything of higher mag than 20X and could very possibly get away with 14X or 18X maximum - which would save money and maybe bulk/weight too. As with binoculars there's a widespread tendency to think bigger is better, but that can be misleading. If your scope is of high optical quality, a good marksman can use 9x-12x out to 300 yards with ease. High magnification has an inevitable side effect of magnifying shake, and we all shake to some extent: anyone who doesn't shake at all is dead... On my rimfire, I shoot far better with a 4x scope than when i've tried fitting higher-powered scopes, something to do with the steadier sight picture instilling confidence, I think.

As to brands, I know nothing of Nightforce or IOR but the others mentioned, Zeiss and Swarovski, are excellent choices; you should get a medium-high-mag spec one of those for under a grand.

Tony

[brown dog]

A bucketload of 6-24 swaros secondhand & well under a grand here: http://www.rmacleod.co.uk/CUSTOMER%20S_H%20STOCK%20LIST.pdf

[pigglet]

What 204 did you go for and what load you using.

I'm in exactly same position as you. Just had my 223 rebarrelled into 204 and it's a tack driver. Just trying to scrap together some coin to get a target turret scope.

 

I've bought a s/h remmy 700 varmint with a few tweaks so it's ready to go minus the scope.

I'd intended to source a sako or tikka for a re-barrel and go down the semi custom route via Baldie but a house purchase has scuppered those plans!

I've not actually fired it yet and I've just realised I've deleted the load data that was supplied with it

I'm currently trying to scrape the money together for the scope and dies too

[pigglet]

Thanks for all the info guys. Sounds like 20X mag is the area I want to be looking at then.

I had a peruse of Greggors wares this morning actually, I wondered if the swaro's he got listed would be suitable for dialing in though???

I deffinitely want an illuminated ret too.