1" or 30mm?

charlieg43

Well-Known Member
Im thinking of getting a Schmit Bender 8x56 Hungarian Classic as my first scope. I thought a fixed power would eliminate any fiddling and they seem to be reasonably priced. The rifle will most likely be used for both foxing and deer, hence the large 56mm lense which is good in low light.

However, I have no idea weather to get an inch reticle or 30mm! What are the plus and minus points of both and is there really that much difference?? Any advice or infomation on this would be much appreciated.

Cheers guys! :)
 
Personally I have the 30mm, they allow more greater light gathering which the 56mm lense is great at, no downsides as far as I'm concerned, you might as well maximise your light gathering properties if you can.
 
I found my eye didn't suit 30mm - it's very head position sensitive for me. I've had many cynics with regards to this but I find my eyes suit 25mm better... maybe there's an optician on the site who can explain or disprove this?!
 
A scope cannot gather light only transmit it.

A 30mm tube should have more adjustment and possibly be a bit stronger. I don'r know about the S&B's but some manufacturers just used 30mm tubes and fitted the same internals as the 1" tubes but charged more. That was quite a few years back not when 30's were becoming the must have fashion item.
 
'A scope cannot gather light only transmit it.'
The size of the objective lense and tube directlty contribute to the amount of light transmitted to the occular lense and therefore what your eye sees, granted, the scope is an inanimate object so it doesn't physically go out and gather the light, but the size makes a huge difference in those gloomy bits of forest or in the last bits of light going.

Bunny doom, could your issue be more to do with the height of the scope mounts? 30mm tubes require lower mounts than 1' or 25mm for obvious reasons and it could just be the position your head rests on the cheek peice versus the height of the mounts being used.... just a thought.
 
'A scope cannot gather light only transmit it.'
The size of the objective lense and tube directlty contribute to the amount of light transmitted to the occular lense and therefore what your eye sees, granted, the scope is an inanimate object so it doesn't physically go out and gather the light, but the size makes a huge difference in those gloomy bits of forest or in the last bits of light going.

Bunny doom, could your issue be more to do with the height of the scope mounts? 30mm tubes require lower mounts than 1' or 25mm for obvious reasons and it could just be the position your head rests on the cheek peice versus the height of the mounts being used.... just a thought.

Tube size has no impact on light transmission. Sorry, it's a fallacy.
The 8x56 has an exit pupil of 7mm, which is as optimal as it gets. Chances are your eyes won't be able to make use of the 7mm unless you're an 18yr old with 20/20 vision.

As Brit said, the range of adjustment is the influencing factor here but not all 30mm have oodles of range - Duralyt being an example.

Head position will be influenced by mounts and the position of the scope rather than whether it's 25mm or 30mm, or 35mm for that matter.
 
Tube size has no impact on light transmission. Sorry, it's a fallacy.
The 8x56 has an exit pupil of 7mm, which is as optimal as it gets. Chances are your eyes won't be able to make use of the 7mm unless you're an 18yr old with 20/20 vision.

As Brit said, the range of adjustment is the influencing factor here but not all 30mm have oodles of range - Duralyt being an example.

Head position will be influenced by mounts and the position of the scope rather than whether it's 25mm or 30mm, or 35mm for that matter.

US government tests during WWII concluded that the diameter of the eye's entrance pupil varied from about 2.5mm in bright sunlight to 7.1mm IN DARKNESS.

At sunset, when skylight creates a light intensity of 1 foot candle, the pupil diameter is 5mm which is adequate for most hunting. This means that only after dark does the pupil expand to 6 - 7mm so a 56mm objective lens divided by 8X magnification gives you a linear 7mm exit pupil... if you can shoot in the dark. I can't.

A 30mm tube looks impressive but it doesn't alter the transmission of light which is fixed. I've heard that a 30mm with target style turrets provides a wider range of vertical adjustment for long range shooting - say 800 to 1000 yards?. But whether you're going to need that or achieve it in practice is questionable as the 8X magnification is relatively low for that purpose.

Add to that the cost of larger diameter rings, and the extra mounting height of the 'scope centre you're trying to look through. A 6x42 S&B Hungarian 1" would do all you need to 250 yards, and probably a bit further out.
 
Found one second hand, mint condition and iv snapped it up. £400, couldnt complain with that! Cheers for all the comments and advice guys, the light transmittion of the 8x56 Schmit is unreal!
 
get the ones that fits the rings on your rifle...thats about as much relevance it will have on your shooting unless you are in Afghanistan shooting Taliban at 3000m
 
The best scope i have seen for light transmission is a 4x32 Ziess sat ontop of a friends 10-22!

Ian.
Yep I have a bunch of them in my collection box for when I fing an unscoped but nice rifle for using for driven hunting only, they are ranging from mint condition to very scratched but all I have are super optics, they have have been making great optics for the last 40 years or more but the germans are pathalogical about the last lumen? of light gathering so they swop them for a new scope & as my eyes are not getting younger they suit me, but they all have that old German prism rail running under the tube I think a couple also have had it filed away to enable weaver type rings to be fitted, not pretty but it works.
martin
 
My wife has one on her .308, she tried both the 30mm and the 25mm, in the end she went for the 25mm, head position was the governing factor.
 
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