Rifle Scopes what power of scope to get for 100 to 1000 yards?

[relentless1]

Looking at nightforse and want to shoot 100 to 1000 yards versitality for field and target shooting. Need advice on powersplease.

 

[hk dave]

If you're doing any holdovers, Nightforce F1 3-15x50mm

 

[Crosshair]

When choosing scope power, I first decide what I don't want; such as too much power on the the low end for close shots on a running animal, or useless high end magnification if shooting in the desert with mirage that will destroy a sight picture. Another factor is target size. An elk at 600 yards is way easier to see than a 1moa target at 300 yards.

The Nightforce 5.5-22x is a pretty common SFP scope, and is very versatile... I'm guessing that's the one you may be looking at? If shooting torso sized steel, guys run 10x out to 1000 all the time. You won't be shooting groups with 10x at long range, but you maintain a very wide field of view and is easier to maintain sight picture through recoil. On hot days with bad mirage, 16x is a lot of times the top end of usable mag. I think the sweet spot of mag range for 99% of shooting situations is 3-15x. Followed by 4-16x, 5-20x.

For 100-1000 I'd choose a Front focal plane scope with either mil/mil or moa/moa. Some other ffp scopes in the Nightforce's general price range are:
SWFA SS 5-20x
Bushnell hdmr 3.5-21x
Vortex PST 6-24x
IOR 3-18x

And.... A little cheaper:
SWFA SS 3-15x
Weaver tactical 3-15x
Good luck

 

[Quickdraw40]

all depends on target size

 

[relentless1]

Thankyou, and I like you picture.