Scope for < 50 yards?
 

Hi everyone. New member—and new to hunting too. I’m in my mid-40s and a longtime angler. I’ve wanted to take up hunting for many years but was always daunted by the various challenges and didn’t really have a mentor. Now I’ve got an opportunity to hunt on private land in an adjacent county and I’ve got time to get set up with the right gear and practice with it.

Thank you in advance for any guidance you might have. I’ve already learned a lot reading around on this forum!

The area I’ll be hunting is straight wall only. I’m picking up a Winchester XPR in the tried-and-true 350 Legend.

I’ll be in a stand, and the landowner tells me that nearly everyone who’s hunted there ends up shooting 40 yards or less.

My question is what kind of optic to mount on my rifle, knowing this. There’s so much information out there to absorb, so much of it conflicting—it’s overwhelming for a newbie.

LPVO seems appropriate? (Like a 1-6x?) Some people favor red dot for this distance. Or do I go with the more standard 3-9x, figuring I’ll keep it at the low end for this but might be grateful for the added reach some day later? (Then again, for 350, 6x might be all I ever end up needing.)

Appreciate any and all insights! And if this is a well worn topic, I apologize—please feel free to direct me to older threads. Like I said, I’ve been reading like crazy, but the more I read, the more uncertain I get.

This really depends on your budget. You're getting a nice rifle, that will look good and do the job.

I would put this on it. Burris fulfield 2.

It'll do everything you need and seems to be good, clear, reliable glass for a good price. I've got 4 of these now on .22, 45-70, 350leg, and a .270.

They're my current favorite "cheap" scope

- jake

ALSO welcome to HNI. Glad to have you. Stick around, we need more hunters on here!

Appreciate your input and your hospitality!

As for budget, I gather it’s not unusual for folks to install optics that cost more than the guns they’re on. :) I’m a wildlife photographer too, so I get it, owning some lenses that are orders of magnitude pricier than their attached cameras.

But I’d probably want to keep it under $750, at any rate.

That expands your options allot.

Leupould, vortex would be where I would look.

But there's plenty of opinions out there!

You don't need to spend that much though either. The burriss will do everything you could possibly need on that rifle.

Good luck on your search!

Thanks!

I’ve been reading up on the Burris—seems like they’re into gen IV now.

Will check out the Leupold too. I think my local gun shop stocks that brand.

There are many scopes on the market that will be accurate well beyond 50 yards. My advice is do not go with the least expensive scope you look at. There may come a time when you will want to shoot well beyond 50 yards if you stick with being a hunter so I would recommend buying a mid range price scope. You can buy a lot of scope for well under $750,00

Yeah, as mentioned I’m also a photographer and have definitely learned the truth in the old saying “buy once, cry once.” I’d much rather take a big hit now and get something that will last me many years.

It just seems like target acquisition at, say, 25 yards makes it helpful to have something that goes down to 1x or 2x—? And realistically, starting at my age, I’m probably never going to trust my own marksmanship enough to shoot beyond 100 yards, and 350 doesn’t seem to be known for long distances anyway…

But maybe to your point, I should be thinking about the possibility that I might hunt under different circumstances someday, with a different caliber, and I’ll be glad I bought a more versatile scope that I can move to another rifle.

Welcome to the site MD ! A 1x6 scope will do everything and more than a 3x9 scope can do . I actually prefer a 1x6 . Picture this because this has happened to me more times than I want to admit. You have that 3x9 scope set on 3 the lowest power . A deer jumps up a 30 yards to semi thick woods and starts trotting away . You aim with the scope . Every twig looks like a 3 inch branch. You can barely see that deer through the small field of view at 3X . Now picture your 1X6 scope set at 1.5 . You are going to see every bit of that deer and be able to pick the holes through the trees to shoot through with that large field of view .

I had 3x9 scopes on all my rifles for years ! Once I put on a Leupold 1x6 Firedot Duplex on my Browning Bar Carbine and how much better it is than the 3x9's , I'm switching all the 3x9 scopes out to 1x6 Leupolds.
Dont be fooled . A high quality 1x6 will shoot out to 250 yards . The size of the field of view is a game changer for me . A pic of my rifle and a pic of my scope stash LOL

This is very helpful! That specific issue, just getting on target when the deer is close, moving, and my adrenaline is pumping, is what I’m concerned about.

This has worked fine for me. I keep my scope on 4x.

One tip: spend some time practicing shouldering your rifle, looking through the scope, and seeing the target. Many a deer has escaped because a hunter didn't know how to do this and found themselves waving the rifle around trying to find the deer in the field of view. Obviously do your practice keeping the gun in a safe direction and unloaded.

Thank you for this guidance.

It’s a bit of a story, but the gist of it is that I won’t be hunting until next season: I’m planning to spend as much time as I can spare in the next year to get comfortable with my gear and practice good form and accurate shooting. I *could* try this season, but would rather develop strong discipline than risk missing or taking an unethical shot. The landowner has also offered to let me visit the stand once or twice to get a feel for it and maybe even fire a shot or two so I get a sense of what that’ll be like. I really got lucky to find this opportunity. Will probably sign up for some lessons at the local range, too, both for safety and shooting form. I grew up with guns (including rifles), but haven’t shot in decades, and I want to do this right—not just for myself but also as an example for my son, who’ll be paying attention, I’m sure.

Have you got a .22 or even an air rifle? A few practice sessions with one of those, zero the deer rifle and shoot a few more practice rounds rounds through it and you'd be good to go. As I thought about it , doing those things with your son and maybe running through an online hunter safety course with him would send that message far better than anything else, IMHO.

I hear you, and I’m probably guilty of overthinking all of this—it’s the way I roll. I just want to get so comfortable shooting my rifle that it feels like a reflex. So I can do a better job, in the moment, when the adrenaline is pumping, focusing on all the other variables, like whether it’s a deer I want to shoot, whether I have a clean, ethical shot, etc. The business about remembering to disengage the safety, acquiring target in the scope, not jerking the trigger, and all that—if I can make all of that second-nature, then I want to do that.

I’m betting all of this sounds really stupid to experienced shooters/hunters. Like I said, complete noob here.

Not at all. There's nothing like the anticipation of your first hunt--'cept shooting your first deer. Nothing tops that.