"Lower power settings reduce the sense of crosshair tremor and wobble, improving shot placement; and, you don't really give up anything in the way of accuracy. Trust your zero, put the crosshairs where they need to go and the bullet will do its job."

You might have a hard time convincing the average deer hunter that they would shoot more accurately by turning down the magnification of the scope. It just seems natural that if you make the target appear larger, it's easier to hit it. While increasing the magnification most definitely makes that deer appear larger in your scope, it makes it more difficult for you to get off a steady shot. I like to equate using a lower scope magnification to looking farther down the road to keep your vehicle centered in the lane. It just makes it much easier to steer your vehicle to where it needs to be.

Link

I don't shake as bad, lol

My 4-12 power scope pretty much stays on either 6 or 8 all the time

Not sure, but making the shaking less obvious might actually help settle the nerves.

I've always been told the same...but depending on light and other conditions I will use whatever power I feel is best.

Mine are always on full magnification. The better I can see what I'm shooting at the easier it is to hit it.

I may zoom in on deer and I may not. But I never shoot game on full magnification. I want to be able to see the entire animal in my scope. Most of the deer I kill are bang flops, but if a deer runs, I may want to shoot him again before he hits the brush. NO way to do that on full magnification, unless you're in wide open country.

When sighting in or practicing from the bench I shoot full mag.

Depends on what I'm shooting at. If I'm shooting a boiler room/high point of the shoulder I don't want high power, but neck and head shooting I will usually have the scope on a higher setting, my 3x9's will be on 9. I have never shot at an animal with my 4x16 on higher than 8 power.

I sight in on 12, shoot on 4 or 6. Those lead sleds make zeroing in so much easier.

If it is a 2nd focal plane scope, POI will change depending on what power you sighted it in at, probably makes little difference for closer shots, but at distance......

Interesting to see this conversation. I am 45 and still hunting with the same 30.06 and straight 4 power scope since I was 12. I took my teenage boys to the range to practice at 100 yards with their rifles....we had their scopes on 9 just to make it easier to see the targets after each shot. I normally have them shoot on 5 or 6 and use a spotting scope. They were not even close to being as consistent as they had been on a lower power. It was pretty frustrating for them and we talked about turning the power down for hunting season. They both mentioned how much more "movement" there was in the scope caused by their breathing and normal wobbling.

I've been shooting a fixed 6 Swarovski for the past 15 years. I love the way it gathers light and I have heavy crosshairs also. I use my binoculars for looking all the time. But it is a hard sell as stated above.

Unless it's a crap scope, the POI of the center should not change with power, unless you have a parallax issue, correct?



Most of my variables are set on 6. I may or may not zoom from there before shooting.

From what I've been told and read, 2nd focal plane will change impact depending on power at time of sight-in, one of the selling points of 1st focal plain is POI is constant throughout the magnification range.

I like the shake/wobble of high magnification. Forces me to hold steady and aim carefully

FFP scopes are a big sell because the hashes all stay consistent when you zoom up or down. SFP, the hashes are only accurate at a single magnification. POI of the center reticle should be constant unless it's not a good scope.

That's a common misconception made by the author and shared in my earlier post.

A larger magnification makes crosshair wobble more noticeable, which makes it more difficult to steady your aim because of how the mind and body works. Simply put, your muscles cannot keep up with your eyes. You find youself constantly "chasing" a steady aim by over correcting back and forth, some even trying to time the shot and jerk the trigger when they expect the crosshairs to cross over the target. When you back off the target with less magnification, you give your mind the visual input that better matches the capabilities of your muscles. This is also why a heavier gun is actually easier to steady because it puts more load on the muscles so that over correcting is more difficult.

Idk, just passing on what I have been told and read, and agree, more common in cheaper scopes. I would venture that most hunters have a cheaper to midrange scope though.

Here is an excerpt from a thread on "Optics talk.com", where the moderator adds his thoughts

"Hi, Ronk, it is technically possible for actual point of impact shift to occur during power change with a second focal plane reticle scope. The reason for this is the reticle on a SFP scope is located in the zoom tube side of the erector assy near the eyepiece. So, in some SFP scopes (mainly cheap scopes), as you rotate the power ring, thereby rotating the zoom tube, it can shift the position of the reticle very slightly, causing the POI to wander. This happens because the zoom tube rotates around the reticle cell. The degree to which this happens or whether it happens at all depends on how tightly fitted the internal parts of the scope are. This is actually not that uncommon with cheap scopes. In a first focal plane scope, this can't happen because the reticle is located on the objective end of the scope so that the zoom tube can't influence the reticle's position"

http://www.opticstalk.com/changing-magnification-on-rifle-scope_topic8272.html

I think eveyone is different however if I get the fever I like being able to zoom out so I dont notice as much. I mean you need to know your wobbling but not seeing it helps calm my mind. For me it all depends on the stand and situation Im in. If I rifle hunt I typically have my 4-12 on about 7. I hate not having or forgetting binos and having to use my scope. I have also been in the situation years ago when I cranked my scope all the way up in te stand and forgot to turn it back down. When i left the stand I slowly slipped through the woods on the way back to camp.I walked up on a bobcat and when I raised my rifle all I could see is fur. I got him but if it would have been a deer I wouldnt have even shot due to not being able to see where I was aiming.

Sorry if thats slightly off topic. Just a top for some of the younger guys. If your gonna crank your scope up make sure you put it back down after. Same theory as someone said earlier for the possible need to get a second shot off.

I like mine scope zoomed all the way up (14x), yea it will move more but it forces me to hold steady. Never been a problem for me. I don't shake before a shot, got a job to do and get it done. I shake after the shot.

If your steady your steady... If your steady on 6x turning up to 12x shouldnt make you unsteady. If so go practice more.

Every variable power scope I own from the most expensive (not really that expensive) vortex viper 4x16 to the $27 20 years old 3x9 simmons my ruger 10-22 wears shoot to the same point no matter what power they are on. I know the vortex is second focal plane not sure about the rest, but I think your confused.

It may be that you're relaxing your muscles because a more solid rest allows your eyes to see less movement and the need for correction.

Still, your muscles would relax even further with less movement seen with a lower magnification.

Poi does change on sfp optics at different magnifications. 200 yards you wont see much of a difference, the farther out you get there will be a change.

Again, it's not supposed to. If in doubt, shoot your gun, zoom it, shoot it some more. Find out if your particular set up moves. I've seen some that move (they went in the trash) and some that didn't.