Mike
Theres been some good comments brought up and this sometimes becomes a personal preference type of result. We all have our favorite brands and different twist and understandings of how its used. I have no problems with the different brands being used and we all pick up things and learn off of everyones opinions.
My experience with the spotting scopes.
The common size spotting scopes we use are 27-60x85
On our second 27-60x85 spotting scope we changed out the variable 27-60 eye piece to fixed 22x with a retical.
Our primary use is spotting bullet trace in flight, impact locations on steel and the landscape surrounding the target.
The bullet trace for reference as its approaching the target, impact locations on a steel plate as well as a good indicator on a close miss, this information changes with the amount of sunlight and humidity in the air as well as the caliber-bullet size that is causing the disturbance in the air.
We depend on this for feedback, corrections for the shooter and impacts with our 6.5s and 308s on ranges running from 200 to 1500 yards. As well as the 375s and 416s when running from 1000 to 3500 yards.
You will find that some days you have to back the power down a little due to the hot sun - mirage boiling away. But we really depend on seeing some trace but most importantly impact locations on the target face, a puff of dirt, rocks or branches anything that can give the person spotting some indication where the bullet hit. If the person spotting can't make out where on the plate the bullet hit in relation, he or she focuses on the movement-swing of the plate at the moment of impact, you can take something and hang onto it and hit the bottom or sides and see how it swings or twist right at first. The same thing happens on the steel plate if it hung by chains or straps. This as well as seeing the puck or reaction of the bullet hitting dirt, rocks or whatever are all very valuable clues to pass onto the shooter and thats why you see the power range being high. Just make sure the dust cloud being push by the wind doesn't through off your call on the impact on the ground, seen that happen already.
Someone mentioned that all this is good but yes the person behind the spotting scope is huge, you are 100% correct. He is your instructor that is going to get you either on or off the target. They can only do their best and many folks are intimidated to be put in that position, but if anything go shoot where theres no pressure and then its cool beans and they are having fun. One thing if anyone ever does the spotter - shooter team thing is the spotter should always try to tell the shooter where to aim versus where they hit. The person behind the rifle has enough to do getting back on target and a round cycled back in the chamber - the key is the shooter needs to trust his spotter. If he follows the new instructed impact correction and the bullet misses the spotter can correct off his last call. If the shooter does his own thing not trusting the spotter now the team is broken because the spotter no longer has a true indicator to go off of. In 2019 I had a situation where I really thought my spotter was wrong, I almost did my own thing but bit hard and did what I was told, later on I mentioned this because my gut feeling was correct. In a case like this even though a clock timer may be ticking away - stop and discuss, the spotter is only doing the best he can while behind the scope and yes in many cases the shooter is able to see impacts and signs as well in his rifle scope.
The fixed 22x eyepiece - I am impressed with how well we can still see detail at distance it may not be as great on seeing something small in detail at distance that could save the day. But I will say it does a great job image is crisp and very impressive the only reason we went this route on one of the spotters was to be a little more precise on our corrections to see if it makes any difference.
So you can down size this in a power range for a spotting scope that fits your needs, I hope some of this long dragged out info helps.
Cheers
I am osoh
JH
