Handgun hunting with 3-12x scope?

[magnumwheelman]

My most common handgun scopes are 2X - 7X... for hunting they stay on 2X... unless I need to decide if something is legal, & I need a better view of the animal...

once while deer hunting with a Contender, I had a buck only permit... hadn't been seeing much that season, when towards the end, a spike walked into my area... I glassed him over with higher magnification, & couldn't make his 2" spikes grow to 3", which is what they had to be on a legal spike buck...
3"

[gnappi]

My one and only EER scope is a M8-2x Leupold which sits on an XP-100. At 2x finding a target fast is about the max magnification for me.

It seems as if many have no difficulty at all with more magnification.

[theoldredneck]

I have had a 3 x 12 for years. It has been on XP 100 in 223, several Contender barrels in 223 and 17's. It is a great scope, other than on paper never used 12x on varmints. Shooting was usually 4 to 6 power. I own several 2 x 8 scopes and never hunt above 4x. I will keep it but would not buy another because a 4 x or less works for me on .14 to 454 handguns/revolvers.

[freeze]

For EER/LER scopes I have a couple Burris 3-9 and have used a 3-12 some.
I find that these scopes have a significant change in eye relief between low and high power. For me personally this is not an issue on center grip XP-100, but as someone noted earlier the eye box does get small and harder to use at higher magnification.

I find the changing eye relief too difficult to deal with on a revolver.

For revolvers my personal favorite are the discontinued Bushnell 2-6. I find this scope allows for an easy to use eye box and the same shooting form (when properly set, which can take some trial and error) at any power. I have killed game with this scope on revolvers from 30 to 100 yards, and used 2 through 6 power on shots at game.

My second choice is a fixed 4 Leupold. A close 3rd is the 2.5-8 Leupold. I find the eye relief a little less accommodating than the Bushnell, but it is a good choice since it is still in production.


Hope that helps!

P.S.
The 2.5-8 Leupold is my favorite EER/LER scopes for XP-100, but most of mine actually wear rifle scopes.