by JJ on Fri Nov 20, 2015 7:35 am
Some good stuff here, you are asking very good questions.
Reticles: Ballistic reticles with holdover subtensions and windage stadia marks are very useful for quick adjustment. Depending on the volume you intend to shoot, they are a must have, for high volume shooting. That said, I only find them beneficial in FFP optic. 2ndFP optics, the reticle subtensions will only be valid at one magnification (usually the highest magnification). That handy hash mark at 2moa? Back that scope down to 8X and its now at 4moa, and bring it down to 4x and its all the way down to 8moa. The reason this is significant?
Magnification: Don't over-do it. i have backed down to 3-15x on most of my dog rigs. I was running a lot of 4-20, 6-24'etc and found that on hot days the mirage was just brutal. The higher the magnification, the worse both ground mirage, and more importantly barrel mirage will get. Those high power optics just magnify the mirage, and make parallax issues seem trivial. After 9-10 am I was backing my scopes all down to 10-15X anyways. The window that i found those high magnifications beneficial, was pretty small early and late in the day.
Objective lens dia: I try and stick with 50mm, just for the larger FOV. I do run a couple 42 0r 44's, and they are ok. I would avoid going any larger than 50mm, just because even a 50 makes you mount higher above the bore axis than I would prefer. I try and run the lowest possible ring to the bore. Doing so will help minimize line of sight errors.
30mm/1": The biggest difference is lens size, followed by overall adjustment range. In a perfect world, your optical system would be perfectly aligned to the center of each and every lens. As you move the erector system you start moving away from the center of the lenses and the image quality will degrade, the further you adjust. A 30mm tube allows you to get bigger internal lenses, which will have a better chance of using the heart of your lens cells. Also, generally, a 30mm tube will have more overall adjustment range, so if you need long range dope, you don't have to spend as much time on setting up the rings/bases to maximize your usable adjustment range.
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