# Fixed power scopes



## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Thinking about buying yet another scope. Fixed power SWFA SS scope 10x or 16x. The 10 has a field of view of 13 feet at 100 yards. The sixteen drops to 6.98 feet at 100 yards. Both cost the same, have the same eye relief and are the same dimensions. I have a 6x Bushnell that is used to check scopes that I don't trust but my eyes give out at about two hundred yards with it. Not that I shoot much over that distance but you never know. I have some scopes that crank up to 24x but the heat waves distort everything so bad it's useless to go there. What really gets me they aren't cheap either. Got to be somebody out there that likes fixed power scopes. Any opinions?


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

First question-what are you hunting (or shooting at)? I have some variable power scopes up to 15X on rifles. my normal hunting range is up to 300 yd for deer, hog, or coyote. I will invariably end upwith the scope set in the 4-6X range. Above that, mirage and my own "shakes" are distracting. Were I to add another scope, at today's prices, guarantee it would be a 4 or 6 X.


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## Ernest (May 21, 2004)

I kinda like them. Have a fixed 6x on one weapon, and a fixed 10x on a .223. The 6x is on a short, light weight hunting rig for scanning and close range shots. 

On high power scopes, many read the mirage. Don't shoot the boil. Shoot with a flow, and in that regard, try to shoot with the same flow each time.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I shoot paper 100-300 yards and steel plates on occasion. Where I hunt is open and mostly pig country and coyotes but rarely catch a coyote in the open. Usually see them when the rifle is in the house. I did have one outside the yard and chased him around with a pistol until I was out of ammo. It must have been sick, never really ran off. I want to scope a Dave Tooley 6.5x55 on a Winchester action and a Turkish Mauser 308 with a Remington Sendero barrel screwed in it. The 308 is the real deal with match hollow point boat tails. The Tooley rifle is picky and haven't hit the right load yet. I even called Mr. Tooley up and got a little advice on reloading for this particular gun. Both have Farrell mounts and have used one scope with QD mounts before but that scope is sitting on a new .17 HMR. If I could set up at 200 yards and chew the bullseye out with both rigs I would be happy. With the mildots do a little holdover for outside 200 and send some hail mary's. That's it.


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## CDHknives (Mar 17, 2012)

I have a couple of fixed power scoped rifles...a muzzleloader, 2 rimfires, and one target rifle.

Simple, tough, relatively cheap, all pluses for fixed power. For serious hunting I stick to variable though...too many variables already so I want to have options in the field. I walk with them set to around 5 or 6x for better field of view, and sit with them at max power.


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## Marshman (Jul 24, 2008)

I like fixed power scopes, if I could only have one of the two, it would be the 10x though. Most people can't find the target thru more than that, if you can't see, you ain't hitting it.

The SWFA SS is a known good scope too, the 10x would be a good choice for either of the rifles listed.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I think I am going to get the ten power. La Rue makes a one piece QD ring set up for Picatinny Rails for 700 sniper rifles that is as much as the scope. Thing looks like a nice piece of machine work. Hope it aint made in China. I don't know where SWFA gets their scopes. It is a Texas mail order outfit and had a bad reputation for selling some low quality stuff. I think the first run of scopes were from Tasco and not too bueno. I have a Tasco 6x24 that is darn good. I had it on a 22-250 Charles White custom Mauser and could see the barbs on the fence at 300 yards at 16 power. Moved it to a CZ 22 mag this year. Man I only paid $900.00 for my first car, a 69 Dodge Super Bee with 38 thousand miles on it. Talking about buying a scope and a mount that is dang near that much like it's a piece of candy.


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## Marshman (Jul 24, 2008)

Wado,

Don't worry about the Larue mount - made in the center of Texas, Leander. I've been to their shop, and Mark has about fifty CNC machines making very purty stuff there.

BTW - mine was a '68 Charger, with a 383, that we pulled out and blueprinted, that was some car, amazing we lived thru all that, huh?


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## bighrt4 (Oct 26, 2012)

Do you want something that goes 100-200 yards? I am not sure I really understand the application. I would go 10x if you are just going out to 200 yards. If you want to shoot a coyote at 300 yards then you might want that 16x.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I got a Nikon 6x20 Monarch sitting on my 22-250 and if the wind quits blowing I will go to the range and play with it on 6-10-16 power and see what is what. Kind of used to reaching for the power ring when I want to scope something. Substitute for a good pair of binoculars. I bought a 3-9 Zeiss and have it on a 257 Roberts that never has failed but seldom shoot this gun much over 100 yards. I keep it cranked to nine. 
As for the Super Bee, more deadlier than any gun made in the wrong hands. Bet I get some flack on that. Had a 383 with a mild cam, factory intake with a Holley 650 at first but tried Carter AVS and finally a 850 double pumper that was a little rich for it but worked, gas was cheap then. Arco 98 octane at the pump less than a buck a gallon. Oh yea, Mallory dual point distributor with a high output coil and some kind of racing wires that killed television reception in my neighborhood. Guy I bought it from owned a dealership in Yorktown Texas and raced it a little with different gears. That baby was a dark emerald metal flake green with white interior with a stingaree shaped factory hood scoop. Had a 727 automatic, factory wheels with chrome trim rings, beautiful car. Had one little whiskey dent that happened after an incredible night after a dance. My old man put me on a shovel the next day and I prayed I would die. Had 160 on the speedometer and I never got it there. The valves start floating about 145-150 and it just didn't feel good. Hit almost 140 the night I graduated on a dirt road and two months later I traded for a pickup. Guy that bought it wrapped it around a tree. . . . 
The pickup wasn't much safer but was slower. And then I went to Sweeny Texas and what did I see in the Snap On man's yard for sell? A 1970 Mach1. OMG. Bought it.


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## Marshman (Jul 24, 2008)

Wado, Haha - OK - going to hijack your thread here a little, hope you don't mind. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

My Charger was a 68, with Cragar mags and 60 series tires, Goodyears I think, canary yellow. Had the 383 too, bored .040 over, decked the heads a few thousandths, crane cam and factory headers. Line bored the mains, .001 off the journals. Started with a Carter AFB, then went straight to the 780 dual pumper, could run a 1/8 tank of gas in a mile. Changed distributor, coil and wires too, folks hated it around the TV, but we lived in the sticks.

Had the 160 mph speedo too, never saw it, but DID get pulled over once at 145, racing a buddy in a Pontiac. Was smoking him down the 4 lane, around the curve and hammered it down the hill, before I got to the bottom, blue lights lit up the creek. I pulled over, other guy kept going.

Old school city cop ( not my town ) shines the light on us, asks if we had any nasty ole beer, and wanted to see both our licenses. Turned out he used to race with my passengers daddy in the fiftys, all we had to do to go home that night was tell him who we were racing......... "jeff xxxxxx, he's waiting at the A&W......".

I would have gotten the beating of my life for that, folks still don't know. And yeah, that old iron does kill, it took a few friends away before their time. Between that, booze and bikes..... we didn't all make it thru did we?


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Dang my Bee was almost stock compared to all that equipment. I did have a Bowman Reverberator hooked to the rear speakers. That was about as high tech for a sound system they had in 69. The Mach1 was way more interesting but I am going to have to start a thread some other place, sure don't want the site admin. booting me off talking about my cars instead of smoke poles. You know something, though, I have stood around a lot of fires at hunting camps and ranches where guns and deer stories and hog stories are being swapped and then it shifts to cars and crazy drunk stories and finally girlfriends and luck with girlfriends and bad luck with girlfriends and so on. So maybe this is relevant after all. Yep, we made it, still kicking only not as high as I could kick back then. A couple of weeks ago a buddy of mine that warmed the passenger seat of that Super Bee was laid to rest. We were born on the same day, same year. I won't go into detail about his illness but will say it usually affects you when you are older. Wish I could make another lap around town with him and share a smoke and a cold Miller High Life.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*Update*

Got the LaRue mount. Flabbergasted to say the least. Had a bunch of promo merchandise that came with it, a cap, a cool bottle opener, a video, and some steak seasoning. Only in Texas. The mount is built like a Rolex that is in the Seiko price range. As for the scope, I knew it was a Tasco when I hit the submit button so no surprises there. There was a lot of negative stuff on the SWFA website in their optic forum about availability and so on. I got mine in three days regular UPS no problem. I think certain models are held up at customs along with other stuff. I am not sure about fixed power just yet. This rig has parallax unless you hit the yardage perfect. I know it's looking like a scyscraper with stacked mounts but I think it will work, my Winchester mount is going to have to go to the milling machine for some work to get the LaRue mount to match. The LaRue is for a picatinny rail only and it has keys or lugs on the bottom that space with the grooves in picatinny rails. Three millimeter to be exact. When the WIND quits blowing I plan on test driving all this stuff.


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## Ernest (May 21, 2004)

That looks completely fubar'ed. 

How are you ever going to get a decent/consistent check weld? 

I love LaRue mounts, but that looks like an AR mount. AR's have the top of the buttstock in-line with the bolt. So, they work great on that platform. They sux (or that one sux for sure) on a traditional rifle without a high raised comb. 

Pull that chit off, buy low rings, mount scope. You can sell the LaRue for basically what you paid.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I knew that was coming. This is the low mount, its the Farrell base that screwed this all up. Too dang tall. That stock is basically a stick with a rifle screwed to it. Got to get something with a cheek rest. All in the workings, got to crawl before you can run. My Winchester set up isn't ready. Got a zero moa base coming and it's in a real stock. If it doesn't work I've got a Colt AR sitting in the safe waiting it's turn. Got to find a decent stock for Frankenstein in the picture. Talking about the ugly Mauser I welded back together and screwed that Sendero barrel in. Any suggestions other than get rid of that chit? Looks like a periscope sitting on a two by four.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I forgot, I can get a zero base for the Mauser but have to remove the stripper clip ears at the back of the receiver. Going to set this on my Ar pdq.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

This looks better. The mount is LaRue a LT120 and as you can see it is low, maybe a little low for AR use but they do make one that is taller. I am going to have to punt and start over on the bolt rifles I am afraid. I read where they are using this mount on Remington rifles so when I get the zero base for the Winchester I will see what that feels like. For reference this is a 42 millimeter scope and the bell measures 49.5 millimeters on the o.d. LaRue claims you can go to a 56 and that's about it. The keys on the bottom of the mount are 5 millimeter, not 3 and I would assume most rails measure .3 to.5 millimeter over so if there is any error in the mounts there won't be a problem. Stay tuned, more to come.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Pictures went somewhere.


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## MNsurf (Oct 21, 2011)

SWFA 10x w/ side focus and milrad reticle.
Fixed 10x will do more than most shooters can. Plenty of guys shooting 1k steel with 10x. I have good eye sight and would have no problem glassing a coyote at 500+ with this scope.
Used to have a 6-24 on this rifle but it was WAY too much for me. I personally can't imagine a situation with big game or predators where I would ever need more than 16x. Jmo.
My favorite hunting scope is 2-7x32. No problems with deer at 7x out to 300ish.
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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

What kind of stock is that? I saw an MPI stock that they may inlet for a Mauser in their tactical style. I hope my Winchester set up with a zero moa base works, it's in a High Tech stock but more of a classic design. It's a hunting rifle but I want a good optic setup. I may have to give up the LaRue mount and go conventional rings from Farrell. I set up yesterday and did some scoping about three hundred yards with the 16x, no shooting just a couple of dry fires and with the sorry stock and high mount I gave it up pretty quick. I don't know if it is the fixed power or too high power but it seems like if you get the eye relief just right and move you get a lot of flash back in the tube of the scope. Conditions weren't too good and I was scoping almost due west over concrete in the afternoon. Any way I got plenty of time a little bit of money and a lot of patience.


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## MNsurf (Oct 21, 2011)

Wado said:


> What kind of stock is that?


Mcmillan A-2

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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

10-4 on the Mcmillan A-2. I like it or the M40A-1 but here is the holdup on that. They won't do an inlet on a Mauser unless you send the action. I sure as heck don't want to attempt a flat top blank. I need to get a drawing to MPI and see if they can fit my old Mauser in one of their stocks. They will do it at my risk. By the way what caliber?


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## MNsurf (Oct 21, 2011)

Wado said:


> By the way what caliber?


Plain old 308

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## Bottomsup (Jul 12, 2006)

Hate fixed scopes. Love my variable scopes. Hell my .17hmr and pcp air rifle have a 8.5x25. If you learn to use it you will always be better off with higher magnification up to a point. That point is when you start to loose light. The mirage is always there as well as the movement. You just see it more at higher magnification. If you keep both eyes open as you point the rifle you will see the cross hairs without looking through the scope. Put them where you want them close your eye and look through the scope. It will be right where your non dominate eye looked.


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## MNsurf (Oct 21, 2011)

Bottomsup said:


> Hate fixed scopes. Love my variable scopes. Hell my .17hmr and pcp air rifle have a 8.5x25. If you learn to use it you will always be better off with higher magnification up to a point. That point is when you start to loose light. The mirage is always there as well as the movement. You just see it more at higher magnification. If you keep both eyes open as you point the rifle you will see the cross hairs without looking through the scope. Put them where you want them close your eye and look through the scope. It will be right where your non dominate eye looked.


8.5x25 on an air rifle? To each his own i guess. I had a 1.5 on my Benjamin growing up and could consistently hit cans at 80yds (wouldn't always penetrate though).
Even with both eyes open you loose too much fov and even with good glass u get more distortion at closer ranges.
Like i said before, to each his own

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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Placed another order with La Rue, ouch. Hope I get another cap.


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## Bottomsup (Jul 12, 2006)

Maybe you should try a real air rifle scope. There is no distortion with an adjustable objective. At 80 yards I can hit the eyeball of a critter. They focus down to 10 yards and are clear as anything you have looked through at any distance. I didnt say keep both eyes open all the time but just when you are looking for the target. Then look through the scope and close the other eye. Just try it and you will always find your target no matter what the magnification. I wore out many Benjamins as a kid but now prefer to only shoot PCP air rifles. The Benjamin cant touch the modern PCP.



MNsurf said:


> 8.5x25 on an air rifle? To each his own i guess. I had a 1.5 on my Benjamin growing up and could consistently hit cans at 80yds (wouldn't always penetrate though).
> Even with both eyes open you loose too much fov and even with good glass u get more distortion at closer ranges.
> Like i said before, to each his own
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## MNsurf (Oct 21, 2011)

Bottomsup said:


> Maybe you should try a real air rifle scope. There is no distortion with an adjustable objective. At 80 yards I can hit the eyeball of a critter. They focus down to 10 yards and are clear as anything you have looked through at any distance. I didnt say keep both eyes open all the time but just when you are looking for the target. Then look through the scope and close the other eye. Just try it and you will always find your target no matter what the magnification. I wore out many Benjamins as a kid but now prefer to only shoot PCP air rifles. The Benjamin cant touch the modern PCP.


Once i turned 14 and could legally carry a real firearm i put the air rifle away.
I guess good eyesight doesn't require high magnification. Once again, jmo

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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Getting there slowly but surely. Got the LaRue super low mounts and pulled the scope off of my 17 hmr for a look. The SWFA scope stays on the AR, that's a done deal. I know the Hawke scope is alright on a 17 but not sure about a heavier caliber. Guess I will bore sight My 308 and see if it falls to pieces.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Don't stare at the picture it will harm your eyes.


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## MNsurf (Oct 21, 2011)

Wado said:


> Don't stare at the picture it will harm your eyes.


Add a new stock and you'll have a nice rig.

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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

The stock issue is a bummer. I talked to McMillan about a stock but its cost prohibitive at this point. I did a 308 for a friend of mine on a Mauser action and he bought a Boyd's laminated stock. It wasn't too bad and was comfortable shooting off of bags. I had to open the barrel channel and rasp the bolt handle in but that's routine. Boyds has a thumbhole stock that's not too pricey and would be way better than the military stock. The guy at MPI said he would mold a stock around my action, pretty cool, pretty penny too. Looking for another scope now that I got the mount issue over. Any comments on Weaver Kaspa's? The picture is out of focus, bad.


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