One of those days where I didn’t plan on doing some wheeling and dealing….it just sorta happened.
Lemme ask you something, when you go hunting and you’re looking for game do you use your riflescope to glass the hillside? Lots of folks do, but, as you can imagine, that’s a violation of gun safety because wherever you’re pointing that scope is also where you’re pointing that rifle. Think about it…if you’re glassing the hillside and you see another hunter a couple hundred yards away, then you have your rifle pointed right at him. Bad juju,man.
Now, having said that, I will admit to having done this quite frequently when hunting in my early years. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve made the very conscious decision to not randomly glass the woods with my riflescope and to use my binoculars instead. Here’s the issue, though – if your binoculars are not the same magnification as your scope then switching between the two can be a bit confusing…you see an elk a couple hundred yards away through your 10x binoculars and then switch to your 4x scope…well, it can be a bit difficult to reacquire that target quickly.
A local gun shop had a pair of Steiner military armored 10×50 binoculars (used) for sale. Since the scope on my.308 is a 10×56, these seemed to be a good match. Lanyarded lens caps, armored, subdued color and…most importantly…about 1/2 the price of a new set. The Steiner binoculars are good, and I don’t really have any reservations about them, but they aren’t perfect. No, my first choice, if I had the money, is a set of 10×50 binoculars from IOR Valdada..the guys who made my scope..and the binoculars come with the same reticle as used in my scope…so what I see in the binoculars would be exactly how it would appear in my scope. Unfortunately, those particular binoculars apparently aren’t made any more. I’ll have to hunt a used pair. However, as it turns out, Steiner makes a pair of 10×50 with their own mil reticle…of course, the price on that is close to a grand. That’s a lot of money.
Unfortunately, as I learned when I started putting together a ‘precision rifle’ package, it turns out that the rifle is usually the cheapest part of the equation. The optics and support gear is where the real money goes. Heck, the scope cost more than the bloody gun. Then there’s the reloading dies, expensive Lapua brass, bullets, powder, spare parts, spare mags, etc, etc. There is a payoff, though….I shot a 5-shot group at 200 yards that measured .512″. Thats about 1/4 MOA…I can live with that. I just wish it wasnt so expensive a lifestyle.
Anyway, new-to-me binoculars that’ll go in the ‘support bag’ for my CZ. Didnt really cost me anything out-of-pocket since I traded a buncha stuff I wasnt using anyway. Now I just need to load up the CZ and spend some time at the range……
Very nice, I have an old set of 8×30 Steiner Pilots (mid – late 80′s) that worked very well for the short – medium ranges we have here. The ability to not have to focus for specific ranges – good for me, as sometimes, you will miss a small movement because of focus being set for a specific range.
IOR Valdada – you got taste dude, NICE optics for the price. d
I don’t know, guess I never had much problem switching from 9 or 10x binos to my scope, which is a variable anyway (3x for the woods, 9,10 or 14x for the meadows… I do have a fixed power 8x for my .308 AR). That said, I’ve used that principle for years, first with a 9x pair of compact Leupolds and then when I could I picked up a 10x pair of Leica’s that I’d wanted since I worked with an Ornithologist during my Peace Corps days. Thanks for spreading the word on not using your scope to ‘scope out something….who thought up that dumb phrase?? Anywho, I was brought up that way, sometimes I fergets that others weren’t.
I think I have used some of those and they are very nice, albeit bulky bino’s.
Is your rifle scope adjustable or a fixed 10 power?
Fixed 10x. I wanted something that would minimize the possibility of a shift in point of impact. While varaible scopes have their moments, many of them have their POI shift, even slightyl, when going to different magnifications.