The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Has the rules of what scope is enough been changed?????

black mamba · August 24, 2013, 11:57 AM

I believe the main thing that is changing is the hype and perception. There is no doubt that as rifles have gotten more accurate and scopes have become clearer and with higher magnification, that longer shots are possible than ever before. Specialized reticles have helped here, too. I can remember when a $300 Leupold 3-9x40 was the ne plus ultra of scopes available to the American rifleman, and it doesn't seem that long ago.

But the fact is, that with today's more accurate rifles, even that "old" 3-9x has enough magnification and accuracy for 95+% of all shooting at game. And that same $300 buys more scope today than it used to as well. People will always spend as much money as they want to, for all sorts of reasons, but the fact is that a $400 Mossberg or Savage rifle with a $200 Nikon variable scope is a better tool than 98% of rifle hunters used just 3 decades ago, and they (we) killed a lot of game back then.

August 24, 2013, 11:57 AM	#2
black mamba Senior Member Join Date: September 13, 2011 Location: SW Florida Posts: 890	I believe the main thing that is changing is the hype and perception. There is no doubt that as rifles have gotten more accurate and scopes have become clearer and with higher magnification, that longer shots are possible than ever before. Specialized reticles have helped here, too. I can remember when a $300 Leupold 3-9x40 was the ne plus ultra of scopes available to the American rifleman, and it doesn't seem that long ago. But the fact is, that with today's more accurate rifles, even that "old" 3-9x has enough magnification and accuracy for 95+% of all shooting at game. And that same $300 buys more scope today than it used to as well. People will always spend as much money as they want to, for all sorts of reasons, but the fact is that a $400 Mossberg or Savage rifle with a $200 Nikon variable scope is a better tool than 98% of rifle hunters used just 3 decades ago, and they (we) killed a lot of game back then.