40 mm. or 50 mm. obj. dia.

[AXEL]

I have decided on a bushnell 3200 for my 30-06 in a 3-9. Which objective diameter would be better? I will use this gun for deer, elk and coyote.

Thanks
AXEL

 

[Soap]

It is a trade off. If you go with the 50mm, you get better light transmission in the early and late hunting hours. But the scope has to be mounted high, which I don't like personally. If you go with the 40mm, you'll get slightly less transmission at dusk and dawn but you can mount the scope lower.

 

[Delmar]

If the optics are good, you aren't going to be able to tell the difference. A good quality 40MM scope with fully coated lenses is going to give you enough light to shoot in legal daylight and then some.

 

[scotjute]

Call the factory! The extra benefit you think you're getting depends...

on model, power setting, etc.
I was considering the same problem with scope for deer rifle, was going to get a Leupold Vari-X II, 3x9 power. Actually called the factory, and according to the technical expert I talked to, the difference between the 40 and 50 mm lense of the Vari-X II was only about 3-5% more light gathering ability at the 9 power setting. At the 3 power setting, there was no difference. What was recommended was going to the Vari-X III (for another $200 ?) which had about 15% more light gathering ability (forget now if that was the 40 or the 50 mm lense). For me, the 50 mm lense in Vari-X II was not worth the hassle of the bigger lense, nor was the added expense justified for the next grade, the Vari-X III.