What Power?

[Grakken]

What power scope will I need to see holes in shoot N C style paper targets at 100 yards? 4X? 9X?

200 yards?

[NapaCountyShooter]

What size bullets? .22, .30?

[Grakken]

lol...Yeah that would help....223

[NapaCountyShooter]

It's tough to see .22 cal holes at 200 with a low powered scope. I'd think you'd want a good 10X plus to reliably see them. If you want a low powered optic, I'd invest in that and a spotting scope.

[bruce_ventura]

Do you want to just see the holes, or tell precisely where they are (in relation to the bullseye or other holes)? Seeing that there are holes in a paper target is easy if the target is backlit. It's like looking at stars against a night sky. The brighter the hole and the greater the contrast against the target, the less magnification is needed.

However, to see precisely where one .223 hole is located relative to another hole requires a resolution of about half a hole width or better. The human eye has a resolution of about 1 arc minute under optimum conditions, which equates to about 26 mm at 100 yards. Divide 26 mm by 3 mm to get 8.8, which is the magnification required, roughly speaking.

Also, for reasons related to diffraction of light, the objective size should be at least 8.8 times the size of the eye's pupil at optimum resolution, which is about 2.5 mm. That means the telescope objective should be 8.8 x 2.5 = 22 mm or larger. Multiply both the magnification and the telecope objective size by 2X to get the same spatial resolution at 200 yards.

These calculations are only rough approximations. Visual acuity varies a lot with lighting conditions and from person to person. YMMV.

[StephenhDMRS]

Maybe it's just me but I have trouble seeing .308 bullet holes at 100 yards with a nikon buckmaster at 14.5x. With 18x I can see them clearly but at 200 yards I don't think I could. Maybe it's just me though.

[kozumasbullitt]

Maybe it's just me but I have trouble seeing .308 bullet holes at 100 yards with a nikon buckmaster at 14.5x. With 18x I can see them clearly but at 200 yards I don't think I could. Maybe it's just me though.

Yeah, I can see .308 holes at 100 yards with my 10x leupold vx3.

[bruce_ventura]

I think everyone has a different definition of what "seeing" is. If you are trying to determine the relative position of holes, my post generally applies. But you need good contrast and illumination and low turbulence.

Good contrast means either dark holes on a direct sunlight paper target, or light holes against a shaded target. If you're trying to score a target, you'll need to resolve relatively low contrast lines on paper as well. Then the magnification should be about three times what I indicated.

I was also assuming good seeing conditions - minimal turbulence. That happens in the fall, winter or spring in the early morning or late afternoon (when I usually get a chance to shoot at the range). For mid-day, full sunlight, summertime conditions, it will be difficult to resolve holes at 200 yards with any scope.

Bruce