6x42 scope , good enough ?

Hales Smut

Well-Known Member
At the moment I put all my info together to buy/build a lightweight stalking rifle, also to be used maybe once a month to practice a bit. A few years ago I could buy 2 Zeiss 6x42 scopes, with the idea that if I ever needed a scope they were there. They still are there brand new in the box in a cabinet. Most gunsalesmen try to talk me out of this scopes as being unsufficient for normal stalking. Offcourse when I use these scopes, as I had in mind, they don't sell one. Years ago I had a 1.5-6x42 and never felt underscoped.
Rifle will be a 308 or 30-06 for stalking in the UK , Eire. Woodland, hill, open country, ....... Whatever comes available at a decent price.
What's your opinion ? Are there still 6x42 users around?
 
Its a debate that rages on.

For typical field conditions encountered whilst stalking, there's very little that a 6x42 won't be plenty good enough for.

Macleods rarely show them on their secondhand list these days - because they dont stay on the shelf long enough to type up the details - certainly for the Swaro's.

Bigger zooms do have a role and if they work for the individual, then all power to them. A 6x42 Swaro sits on my Sako and will likely do for a good few years to come.
 
i have used 6 x42 your optic is good quality you should be fine
where you will struggle is at longer ranges but it about being humane , shoot at shootable distances practice at different ranges.
if you are a wealthy man by all means invest in something with more mag.
I would advise spending your money on quality binos and a range finder that way you will have aLl the info.
personally get closer proper hunting.
enjoy jon
 
HS
Please see attached. I need to get a picture of the rifle which is a .308 built on a '98 Mauser action. No bipods or moderators involved. These were the only two shots I fired with the rifle that day and the ammunition is 150gr Federal Hi-Shok. My Dad will be using it shortly to get a stag or two.
Regards JCS
 
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I have 6x42 scopes (4 S&B and 1 Kahles) on two air-rifles, .22LR, .308 and .270.

They do grand service for quarry from hedgerow bunnies to hill reds.
 
This shop had 4 of these scopes. I and 2 friends bought the 4 of them. At about 40/50 % of the new price, brand new , unmounted in the box with full guarantee. I thought, they don't eat, and I will be able to use them on one rifle or another. I could use the money to get a pair of Zeiss Conquest 8x30 or Kahles 8x32 binoculars and put something extra in a new 308 rifle.
 
All i use now is 6 x42, i did briefly use a variable and a 8 x56 but found that i hardly ever changed the magnification on the variable. The 8 x 56 was a pain in the a*s. it unbalanced the rifle plus i had to keep lifting my cheek of the stock to see through it.
 
I will keep this short and simple why complicate things with fancy vari power scopes of whatever make and price range never mind the weight, a s&b or swaro 6x42 really is all you will ever need IMHO simple as that job done :thumb:
 
Got a schmidt 6 x 42 on my .243 and although I've said I'll have a zeiss on my 6.5 I'm fancying another 6x42. It's done everything I've asked of it.
 
Your 6 x 42 Zeiss scope is a fine choice for a lightweight rifle to shoot in almost all daylight conditions over almost any ground. Don't let the salesman tell you otherwise - he only wants to make another sale!
Big scopes do gather more light, but as previously said they unbalance the rifle - especially when they have 56mm diameter objectives. Plus the high centreline of big diameter scopes mean that the stock comb / face fit is wrong on most rifles.
Use your Zeiss, mount it on low rings and enjoy!

Ian
 
I learnt to shoot on a 270 with a 4x32!!
I shot with it for 15 years and am about to rescope one on my rifles with a 6x44.

does everything you will need in the field, only issues come when shooting small paper targets with no large reference point
 
I maintain that the 6x42 is ideal, particularly for relatively inexperience stalkers (not suggesting that you are a novice though) Reason is that if the deer looks too small in the scope then its too far away to shoot at! ......simples

I would get it mounted nice and low and enjoy!!
 
Yes there are:-

RoeDoeRifle.jpg


S&B 6x42

PICT0064.jpg


Although the scope is a 3-9x42 Lisenfeld the magnification is set on 6x and stays there. I picked the scope up used a couple of decades back now.

Currently I own about 1/2 dozen 6x42 scopes :D one might say I like them.
 
My first scope was a 6x42 Schmidt. I only changed it to a 7x50 because it had an illuminated dot. I then had a 2 variables but changed back to a 8x50 Swaro with an illuminated dot. Possibly a little bit too high magnification for close in and I hardly use the dot, but it is there when I want it. 6x42 will do the job nicely and keep doing it for a long, long time. Life would have been simpler had I just kept that first 6x Schmidt! And if anyone says that you need higher magnification for shooting small groups on paper, just take a look at 'hunter benchrest' which is limited to 6x....
 
Looking back to books and magazines from the start of mass-market telesope sights in (I guess) the early '60s, it seems that initially 2.5x was plenty.
Then 2.5x for general use and 4x for the hill.
Then 4x for general use and 6x for the hill.
And here we are today with our great big variables!
 
Yes modern eyesight it seems is not as good as our fore bears :cry:.

Sitting on top on one of my rifles is a rather nice El Paso Weaver K3W and another has an original Bushnell Scope Chief 3x. There is also an El Paso Weaver K4W somewhere. My first P-H No1 Supreme had been used on the Hill and it was fitted with a Nikko Stirling Special Sporting 4x32 with fine cross hair reticle.

Being fairly young when I first started buying rifles I too was "seduced" by scopes like the 4-12x40 however I quickly learnt they are not for me. Currently I own a couple of 6-18x40AO Simmons Competiton scopes but those are fitted to target orientated rifles. One is my BSA Super Sport Five that I thought to have a go at Rimfire Bench with the other ........................... Hmmm it wa on the P-H 1200V but ti got moved when that Falcon Menace CSS scope came along. Ahhh I putt eh Simmons Comp onto the BSA regent in 222 Rem for load testing.
 
have always used a 6x42 scope but just put a s&b 7x50 on my 270 nice scope i dont find it unballances the rifle and it still sit low on the rifle so dont have to lift check of rifle stock seems to be a nice little jump up from the 6x42, personaly i wouldnt use a vari or a 8x56.
 
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