Hunting scopes, just curious.....

[jonnyone]

I've recently returned to using my old HW80 for targeting the grey menace on a local farm. The gun is topped off with a 3.5-10x50 wtc. A good scope.
But, I almost exclusively set the scope on 6x and leave it there. And this got me thinking. Do I really need the variable mag of this scope? Certainly when I first had this gun it was scoped with an ASI 4x40 scope and I certainly wasn't hampered by that fact- though my eyes were considerably better over 30 years ago than they are today
I've recently picked up an older Edgar brothers 6x42 scope and am impressed by the quality of the glass on it.
So my question is do I revert over to a simple fixed mag scope? How many out there hunt with a fixed mag scope? I can well appreciate for those that shoot competitively a variable mag scope has its benefits. But I'm questioning do I need this capability for hunting?
Any views (no pun intended) on this?
Dave

[TORNADOS7]

I use 6x at the moment as I’m only hunting, if it were for targets as well then I’d be looking to use at least a 3-9x if not 4-12x...

The problem you’ve got is that the WTC is parallaxed for 100yds (unless it’s been redone) so the higher mag settings will be useless at most normal airgun ranges...

[bighit]

Shot my Nephews HW80k in .22 with an Edgar Brothers 6x42 on it for years . Great scope as you have also found.

[angrybear]

All down to field of view at the given mag.

If you've got a squizzer running through the tree tops it can be hard to follow with a high mag & a nightmare to find if you loose it,
With a variable scope, minimum mag is easy to track it, then when it stops half hidden from view, winding the mag up will often show it well enough to allow a shot.

Same with rabbits/rats running around at night.

[luckymjr]

All down to field of view at the given mag.

If you've got a squizzer running through the tree tops it can be hard to follow with a high mag & a nightmare to find if you loose it,
With a variable scope, minimum mag is easy to track it, then when it stops half hidden from view, winding the mag up will often show it well enough to allow a shot.

As above :

And for this purpose I use a Hawke 2-7x32 AO scope for my tree rat shooting. The field of view Is very wide on the lower magnifications and perfect for following the little buggers through the tree tops until It stops moving, and then that final shot can be taken,

John

https://uk.hawkeoptics.com/vantage-2...o-mil-dot.html

[BAD DAZ]

Put the EB 6x42 on mate, perfect hunting scope, I've got 8 EB scopes in different guises and they are all fantastic optically, those Japs make superb glass and you can pick them up quite cheap aswell, atb Daz

[look no hands]

I've recently returned to using my old HW80 for targeting the grey menace on a local farm. The gun is topped off with a 3.5-10x50 wtc. A good scope.
But, I almost exclusively set the scope on 6x and leave it there. And this got me thinking. Do I really need the variable mag of this scope? Certainly when I first had this gun it was scoped with an ASI 4x40 scope and I certainly wasn't hampered by that fact- though my eyes were considerably better over 30 years ago than they are today
I've recently picked up an older Edgar brothers 6x42 scope and am impressed by the quality of the glass on it.
So my question is do I revert over to a simple fixed mag scope? How many out there hunt with a fixed mag scope? I can well appreciate for those that shoot competitively a variable mag scope has its benefits. But I'm questioning do I need this capability for hunting?
Any views (no pun intended) on this?
Dave

I have an older Edgar brothers fixed mag on one of my rifles but it's a 6x44.

Pete

[TonyL]

I haven't hunted for years but, when I did, the fixed 4x mag always sufficed and provided consistency when switching between different rifles.

[MartynB]

I haven't hunted for years but, when I did, the fixed 4x mag always sufficed and provided consistency when switching between different rifles.

Agree Tone, I used the Swarovski on all the rifles I've had and hunted with them all

[gsxrman]

Keep the WTC, put it on 10x Mag, re parallax it so it can be used like a HFT rig. Spot on for hunting squirel, rabbits and corvids.

[Born Again]

On a tangent, I have a Connect 01 scope in the cupboard, it's a very wide angle fixed 10x with no eye relief. Unusual and useful, if only it could be mounted a bit lower. Only for use on recoiless rifles, it's good for keeping track of squirrels as they move around the trees.

This scope has the field of view of much lower powered scopes, I'm sure there would be a market for a better built version ( one without all the dodgy Russian screws holding it all together ).