What X power for the range to see a .30-06 bullet hole at 300 yards?

I would have to say that it has more to do with quality of lens then power. I can see better when my Sequoia at 15x compared to 45x at long distance. It’s allot clearer. I did a test with my spotting scope and can’t really remember the results but 300 yards is a good distance. I’d have to check it again to see what a 30 caliber would look like at 300 yards. Hopefully some one can give you an answer, if not I can check it again...

Trailer is 100% correct! Resolving power is more important than magnification. With a decent quality 20-25X scope, you can see .30 cal holes at 300 yards. I find that, generally speaking, the fixed-power scopes have better resolution than the variables, and the low-priced ones usually have very low resolution!

These guys tell the truth. But not sure if I could make out holes at 300yards with a 25X. But the objective lense is all important. Get the best quality, largest objectivethats in your budget.

For me, target paper selection is all important too.

I was thinking that the target paper would have more of a bearing on being able to see holes at 300 yards than the magnification itself would. For example, if you shoot at a plain white piece of paper at 300 yards with a single black dot to aim at, .30 caliber holes will be fairly easy to spot, provided you don't hit the black spot exactly. On the same token, targets that have a lot of black, it will be very difficult to see a .30 caliber hole, no matter the magnification, especially if you hit in the black anywhere.

I like taking a piece of card board and covering it with gray tape. Really easy to see holes from a 22 on up at 200 yards where I shoot. After shooting up a target you can either just throw it away or retape. Cheap!!! At 200 yards I can see the holes with my 8-32x scope, but my old lady likes to use her Winchester 12-50x50 spotting scope when shooting her 7mm Mag with just a 3-9x scope.