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I'm looking at Scopes for a long range coyote rig. Have looked at the vortex viper 6x20 but having trouble deciding on objective size. My question: Is there enough difference between the 44 and 50 to justify a difference in price. If i get the 44, i can get one for 300 from camera land if i get in on there new deal. Or should i just spend the money on the 50 mm.
I have the 6.5-20X50 vortex and its great sense I bought my first 50mm bell a few years ago I will never go back down. I am now working on switching all my Scopes to 50mms ;-)
The benefits of a 50mm (or larger) objective has always been that 1) it has more surface area to gather light in low-light conditions, and 2) a larger objective will give you a larger exit pupil.
That said, #1 really isn't as big a factor these days with modern lens coatings. Personally, I've never seen an advantage of a 50mm or larger objective - in fact I view them as a negative as they force you to mount the scope further away from the centerline of the bore (which coincidentally is the exact problem them Leupold VX-L series was designed to solve). I've never found myself wanting/needing more light with a 40-44mm objective lens, even during the last minutes of legal hunting light. A 50mm or larger objective may offer an ever so slight advantage when hunting coyotes or hogs at night, but it's not going to be a hugely noticeable difference.
I think the longer you intend to shoot, the more everything counts. 200 or 300 yards is only starting to get out there. When a typical shot is within 200 yards, then it is true that even a 24mm modern optic is probably going to work. So you have to define what long distance is to you and then base your choice on that. I have a 4-16x50 Nikon Monarch on my 223 rig shooting 75gr bullets with a custom elevation turret. For further and higher wind, my other rig is a model 12 in 243 with a Viper PST FFP in 4-16x50.
I personally would not want to scale back from a 50mm optic for shots beyond 300 yards and feel it may have been a mistake to not get the 6x20 since 4x is not really enough magnification at the bottom end for long shots. How good your eyesight is, is a factor few consider. Mine really is not the best (myopia and astigmatism) so a good scope makes a big difference to my shooting ability. And a coyote has a vital region about 5" in diameter at best, and often it is impossible to get them to stop moving.
one well placed shot will get them to stop moving. lol
I was originally shooting Hornady 55gr varmint ammo. I have had hit coyotes run over 100 yards onto the neighboring property where I cannot recover them. Those are from 250-300 yard shots. Since I switched to 75gr match ammo (had to get a new rifle with a faster twist barrel) and got a custom turret cap (the drop characteristic are very different to 55gr) I have not had this happen again. Wind drift on those 55gr bullets was pretty extreme, going 75gr cut the wind drift in half.
I was basically concerned with light gathering. The gun will be a 243 ackley,, and once built, if it "fits", then this will be my primary calling rig. I originally thought the 4 to 16, but decided if the 6x20x? Is too much for close range, then will put on my 204.
It should be fine. I have a 6-24X50 on my yote rig and closest yote I've shot was about 10 yards and had no problems getting on it ;-)
I'm wanting to have some custom turrets made, so those of you that have both the vipers and the pst viper, what do you think of turret quality on both. I would live to have the range of elevation the hs lr has, but the viper, and viper pst only do 12 moa per revolution.
12MOA is quite a bit on a 243. I ran a ballistics calculation for my rifle and with a 100 yard zero 12 MOA gets you out to 650 yards. With a 250 yard zero, 1000 yards only needs 22MOA so not even 2 turns. That should be no problem keeping track of.
For wind drift, the FFP reticle is a lot quicker to use than dialing in wind correction. If you get the SFP then because of the way the reticle scale to the target image changes it is very difficult using the reticle for wind correction. Even holding elevation on the reticle with the FFP is easier and more reliable if you don't have time to dial up. As anyone who has hunted coyotes knows, things happen fast and for fast, nothing is going to beat the FFP reticle.