re: Scope Help- Explain this stuff to me like I'm five

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257WBY

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This is extremely helpful. Point blank to me was always muzzle touching the target!

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Email him. Great guy to work with.

Thanks. I hadn't found much in the way of scope terms for dummies out there so this has been good stuff.

Not to incite a riot on the OB, but how important are rings. I see these suckers going from between 30 and 500 bucks. I've had buddies laugh at the thought of buying expensive rings and others say "I dunno dude, I really like my custom gucci rings."

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that allows me to take advantage of the guns capabilites.

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I highly recommend you read this informative article on the 300 WSM and it's capabilities

4.5x14-40mm or 50mm will work for your application. Optic quality and "crystal clear" viewing of images are all about how the lenses are constructed, specifically the coatings applied to the lenses. The Germans and Austrians build superior quality optics, which usually comes at a cost but worth every penny

My favorite rings are Burris Signature,they’re i n the $50 range.

If I was buying a scope for 300 WSM I would buy a Leupold VX-5HD-2-10x42 with Firedot Duplex.The Fire Dot Reticle is very useful if a black hog comes out right at dark.

My 2’nd choice would be Leupold 3.5x10x40.

Ther are lots of good scopes but I’ve had good luck with Leupold,I have some 30+ years old that are still clear as a bell and holding zero.


chuckhawks.com has a lot of good articles about riflescopes.

You spend time on Rokslide. That scope guru over there drops some knowledge.

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Not to incite a riot on the OB, but how important are rings. I see these suckers going from between 30 and 500

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A lot of good info so far some of it is Chevy/ford and what a person likes.
For rings and bases a good set of tally or dnz all in one base and ring combo will do the trick for a hunting gun. So much of what you see now is aimed at the prc/long range crowd.
Even a plane Jane set of leupold all steel dove tail style will work and not lose zero.
If you want to kill deer slap a vx3 40mm on it with some tally rings zero it to be about 3in high at 100yd and you should never be able to blame your rig on the miss.
I have some rifles set up with dials and have practiced with them and am confident shooting them out to 500yd. The problem is when a deer steps across a pipeline bumping a doe at 325yd you don’t have time to range and dial, but you do have time to just put it on the shoulder and squeeze. A gun zeroed in for max point blank range will suffice for 98% of the shots 98% of the time.

I won’t saw it the best scope money can buy but I do believe that the Leupold vx5-hd 3-15x44 is one of the best scopes you can get for hunting.

I have 2 and always will recommend them.
Several others here have the same scope and will recommend as well.

Good scope info on this sub forum

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Max point blank range is the maximum distance in which you can hold dead on the center of the kill zone and not hit outside of it. Imagine shooting down the center of an 8" pipe and letting your bullet barley touch the top of it and then the distance at which it touches the bottom would be your max point blank range (MPBR).

I recently went on a deer hunt in Oklahoma where the shots could be out to 400. I sighted in my .280 Remington 3" high at 100 yds. This made my max point blank range assuming an 8" kill zone 325 yds. The highest point of my bullet's trajectory was 3.8" at 150 yds it dropped down to 4" low at 325 yds. At 350yds I would be about 7" low and 14" low at 400. My scope is only a 3x9x 40. I killed 3 deer out there between 150 and 240 yds. 9 power was more than sufficient. I wasn't going to shoot past my MPBR as I had no way to practice it. I did practice at 300 and was comfortable at that distance. I normally hunt in woods and keep my rifle sighted in 1.5" at 100 yds. This gives me more accuracy for close shots through branches and still allows me to be well tight to my aiming point out to 250. Again, I have practiced this.

Ron Spomer has some great videos on this. He is a good source of knowledge: Sighting in For Most Effective Range

Lets assume you will be shooting Barnes factory 150 grain ammo out of your 300 Win Mag. Sighting in 2" high at 100 yards will keep you well within the killzone out to 325 yds. Sighing in 3" high at 100 for a western hunt would get you a MPBR of abut 365yds. At 385 yds you will only be 6" low, still well within the killzone on a nice buck or elk. Your bullet will hit a 4" peak at 200 yds. I am basing this off a ballistics calculator. You still have to shoot it to find out. You may get better trajectory or you may get worse.

Lastly you will also hear a lot about ballistics coefficients. You don't need to worry too much about that either. Bullet weight, construction, and terminal performance are all more important. Ballistic coefficients change day to day and even while a bullet is in flight. They are just a good guess at how much drag your bullet will encounter. It is not a constant. Barnes bullets or Bonded bullets best for hunting. Burger bullets and some others despite their marketing are not hunting bullets. They are target bullets that can and will explode on impact. Sometimes the deer drops, sometimes the deer gets wounded. Massive meat loss is also a problem with the new ultra high BC bullets. You don't need them.