Semi that 257 is a gem, Its a great deerand yote gun. I looked long and hard for one, then one day a buddy came by and said look what i bought. I said you a-hole do you know how long i have been looking for one. He said yea I know give me 250 bucks and its yours thats why i bought. Now thats a good friend. I wish they still made them for production, but i dont know of any company that does anymore. Well this gun has found its last home.

Many years ago in a land far away.. ( just kidding).. back in the day I used to have a 4x32mm Bushnell (I think it was a Banner) on my 30-06 Remington. That outfit was a deer killing machine. I took deer all the way out to 150 yards and never gave it a thought.

Then when I was at work, my nephew (on the wifes side) decided to do me a favor and wipe my rifles down. He was fascinated with rifles. My wife saw no harm in that. Well he unscrewed the back bell off my Bushnell scope or something.He was not really sure what he did he told me (and he did admit to his act so it was hard to get wild mad). What ever he did, it let the gas out of it. And the scope fogged up and was junk, so I thought.

So I put it in a box and mailed it off to Bushnell with a letter telling what happened. The wife to calm me down and to make sure I did not kill the child went out and bought a Tasco World Call 3-9x40mm scope for me. At that time, a Tasco was a very good scope. I mounted that on my 30-06 and it was and still is a very good scope. BUT it never was any more accurate hunting wise, then that old Bushnell Banner 4x.

A while later in the mail comes a box from Bushnell and it it, a brand new scope. No charge. I was thrilled. Well that Christmas, my wife explained that her Dad had a 284 Roberts that did not have a scope, and he was mentioning with his eyes, he'd like a scope. So the Bushnell found a home on his rifle. Could that old man hit deer with that set up. I watched him drop a nice buck at over 200 yards like he was walking in the park.

I think a lot of what I read on this forum is true. If you know the rifle, and know your equipment and skills, most anything is going to work for you.

I currentlly have no muzzleloaders with fixed scopes installed but I sure wouldn't mind having acloset shelf full of those Leupold FXII in 4X. Smaller, lighter weight, great mounting flexibility, good eye-relief, and plenty of power formost needs. Field of view could be a little better, but I think it would still be a solid choice.

I like the 2X7s. Leupold . Ive got a older one on my X7. Gonna switch it out to a newer shotgunscope with more eye relief.

I kind of moved backward- started out with a 3 x 9, then last year bought a 4X fixed Simmons ProDiamond on clearance. I really like that scope a lot and used it to take a deer this year. I didn't see any major difference in my 100 yard groups sizes either. If you're only shooting out to 175 yards or so (like 90% of us), 4X is all you really need.

On the System One I use for bear hunting, a 54 cal inline barrel I shoot a 50 cal 350 gr bullet with a 140 gr powder I have a fixed 2 power weaver scope. Lee

Hey Smellyhound , I like the Simmons 4X ProDiamond that I have on the Renegadeso much that I ordered another one last night to put on the X7. It's billed asa shotgun scope with parallax set at 50 yards as opposed to the typical100 yards used in rifle scopes. But I did a little research on rifle scope parallax and the difference is so insignificantat typical hunting ranges as to to be of no concern. The one on the Renegade was a factory reconditioned specialfrom Natchez Shooters Supply that I got last year for $19. The one I just bought was $40 (new). If they ever get more of the reconditioned ones I'll be buying two or three to have on hand.

Try one burntmuch, you'll like it.

Can't say that I agree SWThomas. The difference between his best group with 36x and worst group with 1.5x was only .5 inch. The difference between his best group with 36x and best group with 1.5x was 0.125 inch. Heck, I have more shooter error that that.

I only have one muzzle loader (for now ) and the first thing I did was put a Leupold Fixed4power on it. It works real well as I'm only shooting out to 150yds max. With a fixed scope from I've been told you get better glass for the money. Less movable parts has has got to be a plus.

Semi; For yrs, on my centerfire, M70 30-06, was mounted w/ 2.5x bushnell banner. I killed deer from 15-180+ yds. With my first inlines, they wore weaver 2.5x. Killed deer out to 186 paces. Sight em in at 100yds, let ballistics do the rest. That was a quote from an old pal of mine!! i have a fixed 4x on my renegade, which I,m thinking of putting on my white M97. either that or a good 2.5 fixed. It is fun to shoot way yonder, but in reality, most shots are under 100yds!! Lot less to go wrong on a fixed power!!

That is a really good low light scope. Have one on mynight time pig reaper, an AR-15.