Rifle Scopes Scope use off hand.

[Rundownfid]

Last week I was shooting indoors and a guy was there with a 10/22 set up for silhouette. He was sighting it in for a "grocery Shoot" a local event that entails shooting a .22 at 50 ft offhand and winning food. He had a 24x scope on it and was shooting off hand and doing very well (let me estimate <2" groups at 50 ft, and well centered. We got to talking and he loaded 5 rounds and offered to let me try it out. The rifle had a fantastic trigger (later he said it was approx $250). The scope was bright and it seemed possible to actually time the shot to get into the black as the cross hairs moved. I only took 5 shots but seemed able to keep them in the black by the 4th and 5th shot.

My questions are, I thought a high power scope was only useful from a stable platform and that a low power scope would be better for short ranges off hand? What gives, do experienced shooters generally use high power scopes off hand or was this an anomaly?

 

[Walsh]

Re: Scope use off hand.

Was it a still target? If so, thats probaly why, low power is better for movers, timed events, and more "tactical" style shooting.

 

[Mike]

Re: Scope use off hand.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: rundown</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> What gives, do experienced shooters generally use high power scopes off hand or was this an anomaly?</div></div>

Experienced shooters tend to use what is best and most reliable for them, for that particular situation. If that is what he's used to, and he does well with it, who's to say he's wrong.

Remember Gunny Hathcock used a rifle that many would poo-poo with great success.

 

[sobrbiker883]

Re: Scope use off hand.

It takes alot of practice to use higher magnification offhand like the majority of silhoutte shooters do, but once you get used to it many prefer it (for static targets-like silhouette). One must get used to finding the right target, and not being thrown off by how much actual movement is going on.

It is very helpful (imperative I'd say)to utilize both eyes open while "drawing down" on your target-this helps to line up your NPA on the target prior to "zooming in" with your scope eye. IF your NPA is correct you should be on target when you transition from looking past the scope to looking through the scope.

I rarely run below about 17X at comps, unless I'm engaging a "moving chaos" type stage or trying to locate targets.

 

[dlc356]

Re: Scope use off hand.

A good/solid position is a must.

Shooting smallbore as a kid I never shot optics but did get to shoot a buddy's rifle with a Unertl a few times. IIRC it was either 28 or 32X. The hard part for me was getting used to how any movement was magnified. Even strapped in and prone the swing from my heartbeat was huge.

 

[acttacus]

Re: Scope use off hand.

With higher X scope the hardest part is locating the target if you're engaging multiple and time is limited, but for engaging single targets, I find higher mag is almost always benificial.

But you also have to take in account for the lighting, as higher mag scope the image will be darker than lower mag. so in low light condition, lower mag will be more beneficial.