Excessive magnification, or effective upgrade?
I have a Winchester Model 70 Pre 64 that I got off a family member for hunting when I was 17yrs old. At the time, the 3-9 Redfield scope was good enough for me to average 2 inch groups at a 100yds. As I grew older I slowly learned the tricks to cut my groups down and it wasn’t all about trigger control. Stock work and trigger tuning got this 2 MOA gun to being able to put 9 rounds in a 2 inch circle at 200yds. My Zeiss 6.5-20×50 gave me an edge for target shooting, but I realize it’s a little much for your average New York State white tails.
Just like many of the options we have when thinking about selecting a firearm, caliber, holster, sights, rifle scopes, we have to do a little thinking ahead. We have to realize that there is such a thing as versatility with various rifle scopes , but nobody has a do it all scope yet. I think there is going to be a day when we have a rifle scope that is zero magnification at one setting and 40x at another setting with bullet calibration and computerization built into the reticle, but right now, that would probable cost too much to field these kinds of rifle scopes to the average citizen.
I’ve spent enough time on the internet gun boards to hear all of the squabbling about the Mini 14 Ranch rifles. The short answer on Mini 14 accuracy is this, they are good for what they were originally intended to be used for, and that was to be used for “a few quick shots”. The Mini 14 Ranch rifle is highly recommended for those in Coyote Country or for varmint hunting. They are light and can easily accomodate 30-40mm rifle optics. While we are aware that the .223 has long range capablilities, I highly recommend something in the 3-9×40 power. You can the wider objective and some amount of magnification.