BrushyPines

Awesome! Thanks for the clarification, bugsNbows!

Nomercy448

For deer at 200yrds, a 3-9x40mm scope will treat you just fine. You don't need precision aiming where you can zoom in to read the fine print, you just need to be able to make out the shoulder and the rib line, and place your shot.

The greatest downside I see for lower magnification scopes is that they're often coupled with smaller objectives. Field of View (FOV) is a huge differentiator to me - a smaller objective takes away some of the advantage of a lower magnification zoom; meaning that zooming out lets you see more, but making the window smaller lets you see less. There are also far less options (more now than ever, but still less) for this type of scope.

So again, a 3-9x40mm would be my recommendation. Only shooting 200yrds at deer, you can save some money and skip the side focus or adjustable objective features, and get higher quality optics without as many bells and whistles - yes, you'll be vulnerable to parallax errors, but no, you won't miss deer because of it.

Leupold, Bushnell, or Nikon in the $250-300 price range will treat you well. Bushnell Elite 3200's might be just above that, but are worth it. Bushnell Banner's are solid scopes too, for less cost. Nikon Buckmasters are discontinued, but the Prostaff 5's that replaced them are solid scopes. I would save up a bit to buy a VX-1 or VX-2 over a Leupold Rifleman, but the RM's are good scopes.

Bbj270

You can get a Leupold vx 1 3-9x40 for $199 at vandals, bassoon and gandermountain. The best scope for the money in my opinion. Especially with their life time warranty no matter if you bought the scope New or secondhand.

Game Stalker

Let me see if I understand you correctly. You're saying that scopes w/smaller objectives lose some of the image because their objective lens (smaller window) isn't as large?

BrushyPines

Yea I'm a little confused myself

Game Stalker

If I read NM the way I think I do, that is a common misconception.
Follow this link and maybe this will help clear it up:
http://www.leupold.com/resources/the...scope-for-you/ . Pay special attention to "Objective Lens Diameter".

BP-the yardage you believe you will encounter is not very demanding from a scope magnification standpoint. Generally speaking, if you've ever shot w/open sights on factory rifles at targets of say 50 yards, then a scope of 5x @ 250 will give a similar target appearance/perspective. 5/250=50. The more important factor is the hunt conditions you will encounter. If you are a woods hunter or hunt next to such cover, then you don't always know how close the target may appear to you. The Leupold 3x9x40 scope has a field of view(FOV) at 100 yards at 3 power of 32.3 ft. At 50 yards, that becomes 16 ft. FOV. At 25 yds. the FOV becomes 8ft. If the deer is that close to you, you need the quick target acquisition a smaller power scope can give you. That becomes even more important if the deer is not simply standing. Regardless of the brand you chose, if that is the hunting environment you encounter, I would keep the magnification in the 1x5, 1.5x6, or 2x7 at the most. These powers will easily handle the ranges you are likely to encounter w/ease. If you are close to a Bass Pro, they have a "Fall Classic" promotion coming in about 1 week. They will accept a trade-in scope and give a discount on a new one. The 2x7 VX-2 is great scope in your price range and you will get the trade in discount on top of that. Any scope larger that 2x7 really isn't required for the range you mentioned.

super_hunt54

NM wasn't saying that the smaller objective size makes for smaller FOV (At least I don't think he was) he kinda just rambled a bit in his explanation. What he was meaning was the smaller objective size scopes take away a couple of the advantages to lower power and fixed scopes. ONE of those advantages is the ability to gather light (light transmission). The smaller OBJ. lens type scopes, while they do have some advantages in normal lighting, are pretty pitiful in low light (dawn, dusk) situations. Just remember one thing when looking at scopes as far as brightness, the smaller the objective lens is, the smaller the exit pupil diameter will be. If you are deer hunting the most common times of seeing deer will be during less than perfect lighting situations. Therefor you will want the brightest scope you can get. NM's point of FOV (field of view) I think was tied into the common belief that your smaller fixed/variable power scopes just have a TENDENCY to have a smaller FOV not necessarily tied to the OBJ. size but in general.

BrushyPines

Makes more sense now! Thanks Game Stalker

BrushyPines

So when shopping around, definitely look for a more larger objective lens to see better and clearer during dusk?

Game Stalker

I find NM both quite knowledgeable and helpful. In regards to exit pupil there are many design variables among brands. It's good to be cautious about generalizing of low power scopes for this reason. Again, Leupold for the example, their 3x9x40 scope has an exit pupil of 4.4mm. The 1.5x20 I previously mentioned has an exit pupil of 4mm.
The VX-2 1x4x20 has an exit pupil of 5mm and is also very capable of handling the ranges the OP mentioned. It's also in the price range mentioned. All these exit pupils mentioned are good for low light hunting. I do agree that larger objectives are advantageous but not always necessary or superior based on design differences. Low mounted scopes that provide quick point of aim is also a benefit many hunters should not overlook.