rudukai13
Pro Internet User
My brother recently purchased a 9” 300BLK pistol (Sig MCX Virtus) and has been talking with me about what optic he wants to put on it. He purchased the gun with the intent to use it as a general-purpose range/HD/hunting gun, so I suggested he should consider getting a LPVO to be able to utilize the full capable range of supersonic 300BLK loads out of the 9” barrel. Some suggestions I’ve mentioned to him included 1-4x, 1-6x, 1-8x, and even the more recently available 1-10x scopes. He seemed to balk at the idea of anything with a higher magnification range than 6x as he felt it was “too much” magnification for his purposes and the performance capabilities of the 300BLK cartridge.
This got me to thinking - Assuming whichever LPVO has a true 1x magnification on the low end, is there such a thing as “too much” high-end magnification on an intermediate cartridge SBR/pistol? I have plans to build a similar 9” 300BLK general-purpose SBR/pistol for myself, and it always seemed to make sense to me (budget allowing, of course) that it would be beneficial to have the widest magnification range possible while still maintaining a true 1x low-end magnification. Perhaps the 1-8x and 1-10x would be slightly more powerful than is truly necessary for the performance envelope of most supersonic 300BLK loads, but it always made sense to me to err more on the side of “over-scoping” the platform as opposed to “under-scoping” it and having the optic be the limiting factor of the overall system. This supposition has been bolstered recently from seeing many examples of 300BLK bolt-action pistols and SBRs commonly equipped with higher range 1-8x and 1-10x LPVO scopes.
So, I’d like to hear what everyone has to say; Does a higher magnification range on a 1-Xx LPVO become detrimental, or is it helpful (or at least not specifically problematic) to have a scope that can allow you to see at further distances even if the chambering of the platform can’t fully utilize the highest level of magnification?
This got me to thinking - Assuming whichever LPVO has a true 1x magnification on the low end, is there such a thing as “too much” high-end magnification on an intermediate cartridge SBR/pistol? I have plans to build a similar 9” 300BLK general-purpose SBR/pistol for myself, and it always seemed to make sense to me (budget allowing, of course) that it would be beneficial to have the widest magnification range possible while still maintaining a true 1x low-end magnification. Perhaps the 1-8x and 1-10x would be slightly more powerful than is truly necessary for the performance envelope of most supersonic 300BLK loads, but it always made sense to me to err more on the side of “over-scoping” the platform as opposed to “under-scoping” it and having the optic be the limiting factor of the overall system. This supposition has been bolstered recently from seeing many examples of 300BLK bolt-action pistols and SBRs commonly equipped with higher range 1-8x and 1-10x LPVO scopes.
So, I’d like to hear what everyone has to say; Does a higher magnification range on a 1-Xx LPVO become detrimental, or is it helpful (or at least not specifically problematic) to have a scope that can allow you to see at further distances even if the chambering of the platform can’t fully utilize the highest level of magnification?