Smaller scopes useful in dim light?

[bluez]

I am planing on mounting a scope on a Marlin 444 s. I don't want to have a to large scope, so i am planning on using a 1-4 x20 scope. Are smaller scopes useful on shorter distances in dim light?

[Lloyd Smale]

i have a vx3 1.5x5 luepold that i consider to be excellent in low light. Up to 4x a staight tubed scope will take in about all the light your eye will allow anyway. Just dont buy cheap scopes with 20mm objectives.

[Dave in WV]

Lloyd's experince is the same as mine with a 1x4. If you think you'll use 4x most of the time I'd get a Leupold fixed 4x with a heavy duplex of post & duplex reticle from Leupold's custom shop. I have a 4x I had on my 7600 pump and just swiched it over to my Rem 660 350 mag and it doesn't seem big. A fixed magnification scope has an edge over a varible all other things equal due to one less lens in a fixed magnification scope.

[us920669]

I ran an elaborate test of scopes in the dark about a month ago and posted it on SavageShooters dot com.  Used a 10 year old Leupold 30 m/m and a new Nikon Buckmaster, dismounted them and stuck them through a cardboard box to make a big binocular so I could go back and forth, looked at newspaper headlines, license plates and car colors under full moon and streetlights.  Surprisingly, the Nikon won on reading letters, but just barely, and I think the Leupold was a bit better with colors, but in most tests they were the same.  I also like the small Leupolds.  Technically, if you want the last tenth of one percent, the best glass and the biggest front bell will be the ticket, but you pay with weight and bulk, not to mention dollars.   

[carbineman]

bluez, I really like the 20mm  1-4 and 1.5-5 Leupolds. Light, ok glass, and very long eye relief.

[helotaxi]

Anything with an exit pupil larger than about 5mm is wasted.  That 20mm objective is just fine on a 1-4.  Good glass trumps big glass.

[carbineman]

Lloyd's experince is the same as mine with a 1x4. If you think you'll use 4x most of the time I'd get a Leupold fixed 4x with a heavy duplex of post & duplex reticle from Leupold's custom shop. I have a 4x I had on my 7600 pump and just swiched it over to my Rem 660 350 mag and it doesn't seem big. A fixed magnification scope has an edge over a varible all other things equal due to one less lens in a fixed magnification scope.

Dave the straight 4x is tough to hunt with while it is snowing. I much prefer the 1x setting when afield in a light snowstorm. Other than the smaller scope physically (I like the small Leupys) the 4X is ok.