3-9x40 or 4-12x40?

[marshman]

Is one any better than the other or is it pretty much just personal preference? This would go on a 30-06 for General deer hunting.

[mikemorvan]

I would get the scope that will match up power wise to your binoculars. I use 10x fixed bino's, so nearly all the time i have my scope set at 10x. Let's you look at the same sight picture. Buy the best glass you can afford.

[mikeyb_23]

4-12 or more. I got one recently, wish I had went 15 or more. 12 is good on 250 for a doe for sure, but not much farther.

[WalkieTalkie]

I shoot on average 125 yards or less. I have a savage 3030 with leupold VX1 3x9x40

Its a good combo

[WalkieTalkie]

3x9x40 is perfect for the piney woods

[TacticalCowboy]

Whatever you can get a better deal on and looks better at max power

[TexMax]

I don't like over 3x on the low end for most situations. That's just as important to me as whatever the number is on the top end. I'll compromise if I really need the extra magnification and don't want to drop the $ on something with a 5 or 6x erector but not my favorite thing to do.


So 3-9 I guess

[tradtiger]

Better to have extra magnification and not need it than the other way around.

[geezer56]

I'm weird I guess. I keep the scope on the lowest setting and use the bino's for viewing. I have never shot a deer with any scope turned higher than 6X. Then again, I have never shot one over 250 yds either.

[xman59]

2x7 is plenty,,,, way to many people look through high power scopes and never consider, let alone know the actual distance, for typical deer hunting I found the scope stayed on 2 power for probably 95% of my shots,, if you cant hit them on 7x, you probably wont hit them on 14x either....
now it is nice to have that extra power for looking and load testing but never liked high x on a deer rifle...... longest shot I ever took was 379 yards from 1 knee,,, at 2x

[snappertapper]

Give me higher quality over higher power any day.

[clintb]

I use 3x9x40 on all my deer rifles except one. It has a 3x9x50. They work for me for 42 years. To each his own. I generally shoot within 200 yards. I believe the longest shot I ever took on a deer was 350 yards probably 25 years ago. If you tend to really hang your shots out there then I would get more power. If you tend to stay 300 on down 3x9x40 will do just fine IMO.

[WItoTX]

Either is fine for under 300. I have a 3-9 Leupold, at 200 yds its more than enough, and at 300, the crosshairs cover most of the bulls-eye.

Ive never shot an animal above 3x to be honest.