Scope For A Taurus 357 Mag

[NBARON]

I am looking @ putting a scope on my Taurus. Do you have any suggestions re:
Magnification, Experiences ( good or bad ). I will go with maybe a Burris or a leupold.

[outlaw from Idaho]

NBARON, I'll only had one handgun I put a scope on. All the others I use open sights. The scope I did use was a 4x Leupold and it worked very well. By the way welcome to huntseek and hope to see you around. Outlaw

[tcoop]

NBARON,

I agree with what Outlaw said about the fixed 4X. You don't need big magnification as you won't be shooting as far as a rifle with a handgun. And it makes it a lot easier to judge the distance when everything is the same magnification.

One really important thing to look for in a handgun scope is the eye relief. Everyone holds the handgun different in different shooting situations. You don't want to do it because you couldn't see thru the scope.

tcoop

[SD Handgunner]

Welcome to the Forum.

If you are new to shooting Scoped Handguns I would probably opt for a fixed 2x. Both Burris and Leupold make excellent handgun scopes that are quite user friendly. The reason for the 2x recommendation is simply that as handgun scope magnification increases so does the difficulty in their use. The field of view of Handgun Scopes is quite a bit less than with a Rifle Scope, and when first starting out using Handgun Scopes finding the intended target in the field of view can be a bit tricky.

A fixed 4x (Leupold or Burris) LER Handgun Scope will have a field of view of 11 feet at 100 yards. By compairison most fixed 4x Rifle Scopes will have more than a 30 foot field of view at 100 yards. In looking at a target at 50 yards these dimensions will be cut in half, ie the 4x Handgun Scope will have a field of view of 5.5 feet and the rifle scope roughly 15 feet.

A fixed 2x Handgun Scope (again Burris or Leupold) will have a field of view of 20 to 21 feet, which is almost twice that of the 4x version, and as such getting acustomed to locating the target in the field of view will be much easier to start with.

There are indeed other brands of scopes to be considered, but in my 20 + years of using Handgun Scopes I have never found either a Burris or Leupold to be lacking in quality, clairity or user friendliness. Just remember not all handgun scopes are created equal, and if at all possible look through a few before shelling out your hard earned $$$.

Good luck and again welcome to the forum. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Who knows you may learn something, and even more importantly we all may learn something from you as well.

Larry

[ryoung]

NBARON,

I agree with Larry, you won't go wrong with a Burris or Leupold 2X.

From your other post, I gather that you'll be using the .357 for Wisconsin black bear at expected ranges of <25 yds. May I suggest that you consider not using a scope at all? At those ranges, a scope certainly isn't needed, and you'll find that the unrestricted field of view makes sight acquisition much quicker with open sights.

I have a scope on only one handgun, a Ruger .22 Mark I with a Leupold 2X that I use for plinking (I'd use it for squirrel hunting if Penna allowed semi-autos). It may be me my age, but I definitely get a bit of a "purist's" satisfaction from using open sights on my .357, .45 ACP, and .454 Casull hunting handguns.

Randy

[outlaw from Idaho]

ryoung, welcome to huntseek. I agree with you as to open sights on big bore hunting handguns. The 4x I had on a T/C contender was in 22 hornet, used it for a little rock chuck shooting.Outlaw ;)