PRS/NRL Magnification Opinion Needed

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Hey All,

Kicking around the idea of getting into PRS. I would use my tikka T3 roughtech (air tech buttpad, 1-2lb trigger spring, kydex adjustable cheek rest) 6.5cm to get me into the game. But my BDC scope would need to go (don’t trust it to dial). This rifle would continue to get some hunting usage each year so trying to not put a massive optic on it

But I can’t decide on magnification power. Looking at some scopes that go up 15-18x, some up to 25x but also a scope that is 2-10x36 (Trijicon credo). But I do know it will be a mil/mil FFP.

What power do you guys use most often when shooting PRS/NRL?


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OP
T
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Most guys shoot in the 15-25x range. It depends on the shooter though. Personally mine stays on 18x 99% of the time.

Good to know, thanks for sharing! Thats knocks the 2-10x out


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hereinaz

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Except for prone on the 800 plus targets, I shoot at 12 to 15x for 90% of the shots. You don’t need magnification as much as field of view for target acquisition and spotting misses. Targets are primarily inside 500 yards. 15x is enough to shoot to 1000.

I would recommend a 3-18 power scope for dual purpose. It’s what I run with my MK5. A 3-15 scope would work fine.
 
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Except for prone on the 800 plus targets, I shoot at 12 to 15x for 90% of the shots. You don’t need magnification as much as field of view for target acquisition and spotting misses. Targets are primarily inside 500 yards. 15x is enough to shoot to 1000.

I would recommend a 3-18 power scope for dual purpose. It’s what I run with my MK5. A 3-15 scope would work fine.

On avg, what % of shots are prone is PRS/NRL?


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hereinaz

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On avg, what % of shots are prone is PRS/NRL?


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Very few.

Most are positional and some twist to screw with your inexperience… something to slow you down, make it hard to spot and then get a shooting sight line, make you move positions, etc.
 

XLR

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Some of it does depend on where you are at in the country. In Oklahoma you will run into more prone/modified prone than you will in other parts of the country. King of Coal in Raton New Mexico is 80-90% prone. Most club matches will be a mix between prone and positional.
 

hereinaz

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Some of it does depend on where you are at in the country. In Oklahoma you will run into more prone/modified prone than you will in other parts of the country. King of Coal in Raton New Mexico is 80-90% prone. Most club matches will be a mix between prone and positional.
Yeah, that’s true. I am in my own little world… just thinking of the matches I have shot. They were heavy positional, but that is match director and location dependent.

Which matches would you be looking at?
 

ID_Matt

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I hover around 12-16X for probably 90% of the stages. The only time I have used more zoom is for the extra long prone shots, but in now way do I think more than 16X is completely necessary.
 

Shortschaf

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12x-18x for field match stuff

I, like you, hunt with my "competition" rifle. I went from fixed 10x, to 4-16x, to 5-25x, now to 3-18x.
The 10x was too little mag for me and shooting competition, & the 5-25 was nice for competition but a little big for hunting. I like what the 15 to 18x scopes bring to the table for a crossover gun.
 

hereinaz

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12x-18x for field match stuff

I, like you, hunt with my "competition" rifle. I went from fixed 10x, to 4-16x, to 5-25x, now to 3-18x.
The 10x was too little mag for me and shooting competition, & the 5-25 was nice for competition but a little big for hunting. I like what the 15 to 18x scopes bring to the table for a crossover gun.
I think that this is a pretty common experience for the hunter who does NRL comps. I did it and I know others that landed at 3-18. Only a few stuck with the 5-25 and hunt with it.
 

ID_Matt

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I think that this is a pretty common experience for the hunter who does NRL comps. I did it and I know others that landed at 3-18. Only a few stuck with the 5-25 and hunt with it.
I shot quite a few NRL hunter comps last year with an NX8 4-32. Hardly ever used the upper end of power. I liked the reticle around 14x power so it seems like it sat there the most.

For steel targets it worked dandy, but for hunting I think I will stick with a lower magnification like a 15 or 18X max. For some reason, on an animal or two this year, I found myself using way more zoom than I really needed. This may have cost me a follow up shot.
 
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How much of a handicap do you think just a 10x max will be at an NRL hunter Match? (10x is definitely enough for me to shoot animals out as far as I ever will and I have shot steel with it out past 600 so far. A little more zoom would be nice on steel but it still worked fine and I wanna shoot an NRL with what I hunt with).
 

hereinaz

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I shot quite a few NRL hunter comps last year with an NX8 4-32. Hardly ever used the upper end of power. I liked the reticle around 14x power so it seems like it sat there the most.

For steel targets it worked dandy, but for hunting I think I will stick with a lower magnification like a 15 or 18X max. For some reason, on an animal or two this year, I found myself using way more zoom than I really needed. This may have cost me a follow up shot.
Been there too. The worse the shooting position or the bigger the recoil, then the lower the magnification I use for spotting shots and follow up. I think I would say about 1.2 x for every hundred yards seems about right to me.

I wonder how many shooters could improve the ability for spotting shots if they dialed down the magnification to open the field of view.
 

hereinaz

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How much of a handicap do you think just a 10x max will be at an NRL hunter Match? (10x is definitely enough for me to shoot animals out as far as I ever will and I have shot steel with it out past 600 so far. A little more zoom would be nice on steel but it still worked fine and I wanna shoot an NRL with what I hunt with).
Go and have fun.
 

Shortschaf

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How much of a handicap do you think just a 10x max will be at an NRL hunter Match? (10x is definitely enough for me to shoot animals out as far as I ever will and I have shot steel with it out past 600 so far. A little more zoom would be nice on steel but it still worked fine and I wanna shoot an NRL with what I hunt with).
The only reason I felt my 10x was lacking was when shooting 2/3MOA targets or less (there are several local 600 yard KYL matches where smallest target is 4").

For anything 1moa or bigger you won't be at a big disadvantage. Run what you got. If you hate it you can always get more scope later on.
 
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Cool - yeah that’s my plan. It’s the nxs 2.5-10 and it fits the bill for me on everything hunting so I don’t plan to change even if I find it’s a bit of a disadvantage.
 
OP
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How much of a handicap do you think just a 10x max will be at an NRL hunter Match? (10x is definitely enough for me to shoot animals out as far as I ever will and I have shot steel with it out past 600 so far. A little more zoom would be nice on steel but it still worked fine and I wanna shoot an NRL with what I hunt with).

Interested in this as well those. Those 10x SWFAs are pretty cheap and work well


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OP
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Cool - yeah that’s my plan. It’s the nxs 2.5-10 and it fits the bill for me on everything hunting so I don’t plan to change even if I find it’s a bit of a disadvantage.

Correct me if I’m wrong but the NXS 2.5-10 is a scope focal plane scope correct?

Only asking because if you use the scope on any power but max, the reticle (mainly for wind holds) would not be accurate. But I guess any time wind starts to make a big difference is on 200/300yrd+ targets so you’d be using the 10 power anyways

Not trying to talk you out of that scope at all, just trying to figure out what I want to buy is all lol


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Do any of you shoot NRL22? I recently got a Razor GIII 6-36 with the idea of NRL22 in mind since I've had a Vudoo sitting in my safe for a long time.
 
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