Scope Parallax for .32 caliber muzzle-loader

[HD Road King]

I am going to purchase a a scope for a .32 caliber scope only rifle it is a modern style muzzle-loader. I would guess that the maximum usable range would be around 75 yards, give or take a few. I asked a question on a forum about a Swift scope 2-7x32 parallax 100 yards.I was told that the parallax would not be very good for this gun and that I should consider a different scope.

I am not very familiar with scopes, I did do a little reading on parallax on the optics planet site. Would I be better off with either of these scopes?
I am considering a Nikon Pro Staff Shotgun 2-7x32 parallax 75 yards or a
Nikon Pro Staff Rim-fire 4x32 parallax 50 yards. I have seen the Aim Point and Red Dot scopes also listed. Would one of these work better over a regular scope? I would like to keep the price under $250.00 if possible, preferably $200.00.

Thanks,
Mike

[cayugad]

I would go with the Nikon Pro Staff 2-7x32mm for a couple reasons. While the parallex is 75 yards the clarity is excellent. With the adjustable powers it would handle all situations. The red dots and other kind of sights have a few draw backs, batteries, glow spots, and poor visibality in lower light. The Pro Staff would shine in these areas. I really would not go with the rimrife scope. I just would not trust one. Maybe they would work, but I know the Pro Staff would work...

[HD Road King]

Thanks Dave,
I think that is the one I am going to order then, the person from Optics Planet suggested that one also. I am really green when it comes to scopes. From what I understand about the parallax would be if a scope is a 75 yd. parallax. Then that would mean at 75 yards the view will be perfect with little or no distortion? If that is what it means then a 75 yard parallax should be just about perfect for the shooting that I would be doing with a small caliber rifle.

If I am correct then on what parallax means. Would a 75 yard parallax be a pretty good deer hunting scope for a .50 caliber muzzle-loader in the thick brushy type woods that we get here in Minnesota? Do you kind of try to get a happy medium of what your maximum range would be, or would a 100 yard parallax work better?

I didn't realize purchasing a scope could be so complicated. That one caught me totally by surprise. She said that it could be pretty tough to shoot with it at shorter ranges with the 100 yard model. If that is the case I am glad I found that out before placing the order.

Mike

[geoffh]

The distance spec. when they refer to parallax is basically where a slight change in the positioning of your eye to the scope is not going to change where the crosshairs line up on the target,most scopes are set at 100yds. If you plan on doing close range target/squirrel hunting then something set around 50yds would be ideal. If you were to invest on one of the high quality .22 scopes I think you'd be safe, they are set at 50 usually. The only time I've actually had a problem with a scope due to this was a cheap scope that I briefly had that had memissing groundhogs at 50 feet, yet at 100 yards could knock there eye out. The thing is that when you shoot off a bench and then throw the gun to your shoulder while offhand shooting you do hold the gun differently enough to look through the scope at a slightly different angle. I think better scopes have less of an issue as far as howmuch this effects a shooter's aim, but all scopes by design have it. If you set a scoped gun on a set of sandbags lined up on a target and move your head around while looking at the crosshairs and see them move on the face of the target you'll see what they are talking about. In theory at the range of parallax free setting you will see no change.

[lemoyne]

A 22 scope would not be likly to handle the recoil there for would be vary short lived. For presion shooting at short yds a 50 or 75 ys parrellex would be most accurate. Lee

[sabotloader]

HD Road King

Funny you should mention the Swift - I was shooting the Rem yesterday with that very scope on it.

Parallax - one of those variibles - that may sometimes get more attention than it should - if you have decent optics in the scope.

geoffhexplanation of this problem is probably one of the best human written ones that I have seen ( not a dictionary definition).

The only time parallax will get you is when using the scope in akward position on a very small target and yet with most good scopes you as a human will never notice it. I have used 3x9 riflescopes on my 22's shooting squirrels and the LAST thing I was ever concerned with was parallax.

Again, I really believe the quality of the lens makes a lot of difference.