"Rabbit stalking" scope ideas please

[Dave-G]

Well I dunno if this seems a strange one but here goes

 

I went lamping very early hours Friday morning to take advantage of the very mild temperature turn round. As there had been a strong wind the golf course grass had had a good dry out so I was able to lay up in a couple of ambush places and able to move about on all fours to avoid being sky lined without getting wet, had a damn good night as it goes and thoroughly enjoyed the play.

 

Anyway I don't know what prompted me to have a look through the scope without putting the lamp on, but I found I was able to see some very dark bunny silhouettes! A quick flick on with the lamp showed the ones I could see were from 40 odd to 80 odd yards away, bearing in mind this was on well mown level ground. Three hours later I was cleaning out 18 of them that fell to my .22 barrelled Sako Quad.

 

My scope is a Weaver Classic K series 6x38 with a Dual-X retical which has a 1” tube and is 295mm/11.6” long. Twilight factor is apparently 15.1. I struggled a few times to see the finer centre sections of the cross hairs against the dark bunnies but the thicker outer bars helped a lot, chest shots were taken on this occasion.

 

 

 

Part of the appeal of a small objective scope is that I get it closer to the barrel for loopy .22 subs - bearing in mind it needs to have about 8mm free space below the objective bell to facilitate lifting the front of the barrel during swaps to a 17 HMR caliber. A longer scope would need more clearance.

 

SO I'm contemplating another fixed mag scope that has better low light performance. Preferably the replacement will still be a '40ish objective and little more than 12" long with a small eye relief so it mounts well back on the dovetail - and a decently thick crosshair which is confined to rimfire hunting ranges. I’ve contemplated a Meopta 7x50 but they are over 2” longer and need higher mounts so will be loopier with longer eye relief, but not ruled it out yet. I’m not earning much at the moment but Xmas takings might enable me to splash a reasonable amount of cash so I can get the scope and compare rather than sell mine to partially fund it. I’m thinking in terms of a used one from someone who wants a larger mag scope.

 

Ideas with relevant logic please gents. I’m posting this on a couple of forums to get as broad feedback as possible.

[John-B]

Simmons WTC mate, awesome scope in low light conditions

[Lez325]

The larger the Objective lense ( front bit) - the better the light gathering qualities

 

go for something like a 3-9 x 50 or even a 4-16 x 56

 

Les

[the running man]

Meopta shooting scopes seem to be a well kept secret, as good as a s&b but less money! Its rumoured that meopta manufacture. (some) Lenses for s&b,but who knows,they prob all do!

[Dave-G]

Thanks chaps - looking at fixed mag only though, 40MMish objective and quite short too which rules out Meopta really.

 

Anyone know which of the common reticles of Zeis and Swaro have the boldest centres? I'm thinking of rimfire ranges that won't get blocked out too much so really looking for reticles that Centrfire users feel are too thick.

Edited November 8, 2010 by Dave-G

[Dave-G]

I got some feed back from an optics talk forum based in the USA, well worth looking at some of their threads. I went there as the Weaver I want to improve on is better known over there.

 

It seems that Leupold FX3 lenses have a twilight biased coating - called Xtended twilight lens system - and they do one with a heavy duplex ret and 6x42 so it ticks my boxes.

 

 

Here's the thread: http://www.opticstalk.com/topic26035_post366476.html#366476

 

And some slobber on the Xtended twilight lens system: http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=+6x42+Xtended+Twilight+Lens+System&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=+6x42+Xtended+Twilight+Lens+System&gs_rfai=&fp=cc04067f8945f75f

Edited November 9, 2010 by Dave-G

[Dunkield]

Meopta 7x50 or 6x42

Quality glass for sensible money

[Dave-G]

Meopta 7x50 or 6x42

Quality glass for sensible money

 

Agreeable but I can't figure if the retical's are heavy or bold, and they are a tad longer I think, and heavier too. Given many people would use them on Centrefires I'm guessing the center portion of the crosshairs are quite fine - perhaps too fine for my intended use of the rimfire at fairly short ranges at night.