Help with optics, advice

Dave S said:

If your friend wants to shoot an Elk farther away than any good 3-9X or 4-12X scope is adequate for, then he is trying to shoot too far.. Sorry, but that is a good way to wound a fine animal..

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I THINK DAVE HAS AN EXCELLENT POINT!

Furthermore, the higher the upper end magnification, the less "clear" and contrast ability (to see dark targets in dark timber, especially near dawn/dusk or cloudy day conditions), and the narrower the field of view at the low end on the high magnification scopes. BTW, LOW power is often used more than high power to increase field of view for fast targeting.

That said, my favorite scopes with parallax (focus) adjustment and 50mm (min) objectives, and are track very well (repeatable) which I have experience with in that price range include:

N

• Nightforce SHV 4-14x first focal plane; an incredible hunting scope!!!!
• Nikon Monarch 7s (look for scopes with "ED" references to low distortion (photo quality) glass.
• Leupold VX-IIIs or newer 3-10x 50mm = excellent elk scope (mounted on my 375 H&H elk club)
• Weaver "Grand Slam" mo # 800640 3-12x 50mm, dual "X" reticule
• Sightron-III with about 14x upper limit magnification

All of these fit under a $1K figure - mostly $700 to start. But, as my good friend Rick Fox once said...(see memorable quotes in my signature below)

There are others too. But, these I've had personal experience with, one time or another.

And, your friend would be well advised to purchase a laser range finder and have a ballistics table/graph* taped to the stock of his rifle for fast reference.

*Long range shooting, i.e., over 300 yards, takes a lot more prep (read actual trajectory data and practice) and keen knowledge of the particular ballistics of the load and that rifle, AND a good ballistics table/graph, a graph specifically designed for the typical conditions one expects at the time of the hunt. For example, "ZEROING" the rifle at 300 yards on a summer day at sea level will result in gross errors when hunting at 10,000 feet on a sub-freezing morning in Montana...Just sayin.

Working in his favor is his choice of rifles. The 338 RUM will expand the point-blank range significantly, due to initial velocity and bullet ballistics. I get the feeling he is a relatively new shooter. So, w/o a lot of preparation, I think his being able to kill his elk at (let's say) 200-700 yards...or even LESS is more likely to be in spite of his preparation, not because of it!

But, what do I know...