Short Range Scope ("Dangerous Game Scope") Questions

[jasonprox700]

Both my dad and I have auto .308's that we are looking to place scopes on.  I've always used 3x9 or fixed 4x with either 40 or 50mm objectives.  Sometimes, even the 3x is a little strong for some of our shots.  I have always wondered about the "dangerous game scopes" but I've never used one.  I think that a 1-4 or 1.5-5 would be a nice scope that would suite us well, but we are worried about field of view and light gathering capabilities.  Compared to a 40mm or 50mm, how do these 20 & 24mm scopes compare as far as field of view and light gathering?  We do a lot of deep woods hunting where it gets dark early, but we are still legal to hunt.  I plan on doing some night hunting for coyotes, so that is a consideration. 

I really like my 3-9x50mm Buckmaster Nikon, and I wonder how they the Dangerous Game scopes compare.  Any help or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[Brithunter]

Hmmm well let me see if I can help a little. While I don't have any variables of the type you mention I have three scopes which could/would be considered what your describing as Dangerous game scopes they are:-

Weaver K3W
Weaver K 1.5 (yep 1 1.2 x mag with tapered post and cross hair it's on a .458 Win Mag)
Bushnell Scopechief 3x

   Now all of those give a far greater field of View than your 3-9x despite ther smaller objective lenes so you have no worried on that score it's the light transission which you need to carefully check out. The quality of the lens and it's coatings will be very important in this respect and if your hunting in poor light none of mine would really be suitable as their reticles are nto heavy enough to stand out int he poor light.

THE classic DG scopes that I can think of are the German Ajax in 2.5x or 3x magnification. I also believe Hensoldt and Gorezt (Spelling?) made them. Nowadays it's peorple like Schmidt & Bender, Zeiss and Pecar all of which are very expensive  .

I suggest you find somewhere that stocks the Simmons line as they do one but I am not sure how heavy the reticle is.

[Oldshooter]

I just noticed that leupold made a DG the other day ans was wondering if it might work on my 308, I kinda thought the low power would be good for field of view but  hurt you for the ranges thata 308 is good for.

The eye relief is good on the leupold DG also,  was wondering if you could shoot it lke a scout scope with both eyes open? Thought about a scout scope rig but i dont think it would mount well or at all.

My Remy is still sitting in the safe with  post and peep flip ups for now but i'm on a mission to put some glass on it.

[Brithunter]

Hmmmm Oldshooter,

      I hate to say this but if you cannot shoot an ordinary scope with both eyes open just moving it to the Scout postion will not help.

      I also believe that we are so used to higher magnificatiosn that we handicap ourselves to some degree. The majority of use hunters who rarely see game at longer ranges i.e more than 200 yards don't really need 6x+ magnification it's just we have gotten used to it. More is useful for small game of course but then the targets are smaller.

[Graybeard]

You seem to have some misconceptions regarding objective size and it's relationship to FOV and eye relief. Bottom line it pretty much has none, zero, zip nada. Now it does impact brightness to some extent and exit pupil completely.

As a rule lower power means wider FOV and higher power narrower FOV. Scopes don't "gather light" they transmit it. Optics and coating quality have more to do with how bright a scope is than most anything else. Huge objectives help only in a limited way. It's more a matter of how the maker choses to make the compromises that determine how much FOV, eye relief and such that determines those things.

However I will say that over all I've not been pleased with the Leupold 1-4 for low light use. I'm not a fan of 20mm objectives on any of my personal scopes as it limits the exit pupil which is important for fast eye alignment and as eyes grow older a larger exit pupil seems more important to me. I do like the 1.5-5 but must say I like the 1.75-6 better still and the Bushnell Elite 4200 1.75-6 even more. For low light hunting both are far superior in my personal opinion to the 1-4 or 1.5-5 Leupold scopes.

[Oldshooter]

I hate to say this but if you cannot shoot an ordinary scope with both eyes open just moving it to the Scout postion will not help.

I dont think you hated to say that at all pardner!

You missed the point!