How much SCOPE for ELR?

Hi Mark. Great video again and very useful to me. What are your thoughts now on the Valdada G2 Recon now you have had it for a while?. I have checked out your other videos on it and looks like it will do the job well. I know you are a SFP and MOA man and the Valdada is FFP and MIL. I'm looking to maybe buy this scope. I want it for my Sako TRG42 chambered in .300 win mag. I will be mounting it using a Tier One 6mil Rail and Monomount, giving me a 12mil cant. I don't think I will be doing much shooting beyond a mile so I think this will work for me. What I really want to know is your thoughts on that scope?. Many thanks once again for all of your videos. They are superb.

That’s so insane to me to think that you can do that much 5x or not much more…I’ve been shopping for a 10,000x if I could get it 😂

2 scopes for ELR...and 3 in a row for ULR.
😂

Great advice, was certainly worth watching.

About scopes, if you shoot at long range (for your calibre), it is better to own a 34mm scope tube to get more elevation/clicks. But if you use a 20MOA base or more, a 30mm tube can be enough too. I don't think that a very good scope makes a good shooter, good equipment just helps, and like you said it is not a scope to observe birds, decent equipment is enough. And anyway, using the reticle without using the clicks can be done too, according to the circumstances (wind). It is quite complex, I am just a beginner Jacques, greetings from France.

Thanks for the info!

Great explanation toward the end about the elevation adjustment range and the scope base angle. You explain things in a clear, straightforward manner. Thanks!

Magnification is less important than resolution. The resolution is proportion to the diameter of the objective. So go for the biggest lense you can afford.

Another great vid bud 👌

Straight forward, simple, and really really easy, mainly because I haven't done it yet. Thanks again Mark. Your experience shows.

Thanks for all the information.

5-25X vs 7-35x scopes - with the power set at 20X in both will the 7-35x scope outperform the 5-20x?

Excellent explanation. Great to know I've been practising some of these tips. They really worked for me, albeit for much shorter distances. Quick question: do better scopes really make you see better through a mirage? Cheers!

The direction scope manufactures are heading with today's modern scopes make me sick to my stomach. Having 34mm main tubes and 50+mm Obj lens on a "short range" less than 800 yard HUNTING scope for shooting deer at 300 yards just makes me want to scream. Most shooters don't really have a need for anything larger than a 1 inch main tube. They're just not shooting that far to need the extra range on the turrets, yet small scopes are getting hard to find. Today's scopes are so large and heavy that they weigh almost as much as the featherweight hunting rifles. Sheeeesh! :)

Do you have handloading for ELR content?

Absolute gems of info in this vid thanks Sam

Can I add another point? It's not just the zoom power, there's also the issue of how much clarity the scope has. It's better to have very little of something really good than to have a lot of something really bad.

I really enjoyed this video. Great job.

576 Wellington Trafficway

With a scope with 160 MOA total on a 20 MOA rail how should a new shooter wanting to find the best zero range needed? Tikka T3x 20” barrel TRACT scope 4-25x50

Excellent video thanks

Great info!

Always good, sound and honest advice. Something that is becoming more like hen's teeth or rocking horse manure in this world.
Many thanks again Mark.

Thanks for the watch Mark & Sam. Have recently found the channel and it’s refreshing to have a common sense, testing based approach to long range shooting. I do a lot of hunting (400 yards max in good conditions), but enjoy tinkering with the rifles at the range to see what myself and my rifle are capable of. Have enjoyed these educational videos that keep me learning. Cheers from NZ, Josh

One big thing to be aware of that a lot of people miss is how much reticle you have at max magnification. The more you zoom in, the less holding you can do. So, for example, 15X usually has a max reticle hold of around 12 mils, 18X or 20X has a max of about 10 mils. This varies based on scope model, but if you have a 6 - 30 X 56mm and you run out your dial and mount and you still need to hold 10 mils up, then you can only zoom in to a max of roughly 20X. Probably less than that to give you some room to see it if it falls short. Not a critical issue, but definitely something to be aware of.

Excellent advice thank you. I'm getting into LR hunting and I need to determine the kinetic energy and potential knock down power at LR and I'm wondering if you have a post covering that. 👍

Is a 10 to 40x50 to much of a scope?

As always a realistic and honest perspective based in experience. Thank you very much Mark.
I’ve learnt a couple of interesting things through experience (money spent), and came to the conclusion that between 12-18x is where I can do nearly all shooting between 600-1500m. I am not always hitting the target, however I can very clearly see the targets and my misses.

Great video, love watching your channel.

I'm rolling the dice on an Arken Optics 5EP 5-25x56 in a 34mm tube. Waiting for the order to process. I'm hoping it's up to the job given it is most definitely a budget optic. It's an FFP rather than SFP. You only just touched on that. You made a good argument for SFP. Although I like the idea of the potential ranging in the FFP. My laser doesn't go super far. Neither does my range. It's nice to see what real ELR is like.

Totally agree, sometimes less is more. I try and convince my misses of that regularly haha 😆

Another beauty of a vidy

I recently got a tract toric 4-25x50 for my 300prc and find myself usually set at about 18x when shooting passed 1500 yards.
I zoomed in 25x on some riocks at 1780 yards and I had to back the side focus back from infinity a little bit to get the clearest image. I wear Rx glasses so that probably affects where the focus is at

Great information.. You make a great teacher Sir. Great Video thank you.

I have a small Arken sh4x16x 50 not much Zoom but it does 1000/1200 all day... 50 mm Bell on a 34 mm tube allows for plenty of the light to pass through

Sam, I always appreciate the dead honest advice, facts and review you guys put out. A lot of people are mislead from a lot of internet rumors. Watching your channel has opened my eyes to what is actually possible by watching your vids. Thank you for what you and Sam do. Keep up the great work.

just reached the stage at turning down the magnification

I have the OG vortex razor 5-20 it has Japanese ED glass and out to 1K i like 8X , 1K to a mile i like 10x and out to 2500 which is this range limit i use 15X and its plenty

I discovered half of the scopes elevation/it's mechanical zero is almost always where you zero up from for 100yards, it's not something you really think about when zeroing and putting on a base so everyone just goes for the "standard" 20moa, I discovered the secret by accident when I put a 60moa base on my rifle and all I had to do was come up 2.5mils from the turrets absolute bottom to zero at 100yards giving me all but just 2.5 mils of total "usable" elevation which is 31.5, that's enough to dial me out past 2,000 yards without holding on the reticle! Keep up the knowledge!!

Think a good illustration of the negatives of high magnification, would be the difficulty of performing observation through a high power spotting scope. Now imagine trying to precisely aim the same attached to a rifle.
I tend to believe 25X is a realistic high limit.
I also don’t believe many individuals will engage in legitimate ELR, and over scope their rifles out of a sense of vanity / bragging, and are incapable of shooting to the level of ELR, for the required investment of time and access to a suitable venue to gain the necessary experience, myself, included.
In the past, I was fortunate enough to own property that allowed me to shoot to 1200 yards. Even at that, the expense and time required, is akin to adopting a lifestyle.

Most people don't understand how to correctly use a first focal plane scope as it pertains to range finding and wind adjustments using the sub tension rule and making adjustments or using a hold.

My range at Waikerie SA is only 900yrds and i always use max zoomies so i can see all the movement of the cross-hairs so i can minimise the movement my thoughts are aim small miss small.

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I always enjoy your very informative posts! I learn something new in every one! Thank you.

I use a Sightron SIII 10-50X60 MOA-H on my Savage 110 Tactical 6.5cm but I rarely go above 24x to shoot but it's so much better than my old spotting scope. It'll be going on my Raptor 50 upper which just shipped to my FFL today! I love the 60mm objective lens.


The main reason for this scope however was the absolute KILLER deal I got on it back in Nov 2017. Optics Planet was running a sale at $900.. still pretty pricey for my blood but I put it in the cart anyway. I kept going back & forth on it for almost a week. Then an email pops into my inbox from Optics Planet reminding me about the scope in my inbox.. and it had a coupon for an extra $99.00 off! A brand new Sightron SIII for just $801, with free shipping. OMG, I almost broke my fingers typing my CC number in. Last time I looked on Amazon a few months back it's now a bit over $1400 & tax.

totally agree with you. i have a leupold mk4 8.5-25 and at a mile i do 16 to 18 power. the only time i do the full 25 power is when i check zero or do group testing.

Keep up the posts , I personally learn from your videos everythime, again cheers

Great videos. Im trying to get into shooting the king of 2 mile. Im looking at the nightforce atacr 7-35x56 or the schmidt and bender pmii high power 5-45x56. Which one would you suggest. The rifle will be a custom built 416 barrett on a cadex action and chassis.

Thanks Mark and Sam I’ll be watching this a few times. Very interesting the considerations further out. Hope to get there in the next year. 🫡☮️✨J
Ha as I am watching I got the call my rifle has arrived early.

When I started shooting my 22lr at some longer ranges I’d have to turn the scope down to about 5 power and use the bottom of the scope as the horizontal hold to get hits at 600 yards. Gotta do what ya gotta do.