Why do 4x and 6x scopes still exist?

[AWS]

While I still use a couple of fixed powers Weaver K-1.5's for still hunting anything larger than a 2.5  IMO just doesn't belong on a hunting rifle.

I will say that most of my big game hunting was done in the forests of northern WI and MN and started using scopes in the 1960's. Now I just hunt predators and have been hunting in at least four states a year for a while now.  Why limit yourself to the small FOV of a 6x or 4x when you can have the best of both worlds with 1-4, 1-6  1.5-5, 1.5-6, 2-7 and 2.5-10's.

A fixed 6x has a FOV of only 17' at 100 yards, get a hard charging coyote coming into the call at 10 yard and you can't even get the whole coyote in the scope let alone try and put the crosshairs on him jinking through the sage.  Run a 1-6 and you have a 108' FOV at 100 yards and and you could get 3 coyotes in the scope at 10 yards plus I've picked up a second coyote on the edge of the image that I wouldn't have seen with a narrow FOV and am able to spot openings for a shot without having to take the scope off of moving coyotes.  If one hangs up out there a ways I have everything a fixed 6 has.  I works just as well when tacking or still hunting deer, having bedded deer break cover within a few yards of me and only have a few yards for the shot before they disappear in the brush again.  I still have the option of cranking it up to 6x if I spot one on the far side of the valley.
 
I've been using scopes on my rifles since the mid 1960's and they have become so reliable that the fixed scope is "more reliable" is down the tube , even most of the big guns(338-378, 338-406 etc.) are running variables.

6x Leupold  17' FOV at 100yards

4x Leupold   24'       "

1.5-6 Leupold  51'-19'   FOV at 100 yads

1.5-5 Leupold  66'-29'            "

1-4   Leupold    75'-30'            "

2-7  Leupold       44'-17'            "

1-6 Alpen   108'-30'                 "

[kukusya]

I still use it x4 but nothing larger, relatives in Germany using x6 and x8 for drive hunts. With fix power scopes you get better quality glass for price, if you look at x4 have 4 to 6 lenses vs 1-4 have 7 to 10 lenses at average. Fix power scopes less weight and poi did not change vs SFP scopes.

[Eric M]

Your question asks why they exist, but you only discussed your hunting needs. I'd venture to say they're used a lot for target shooting still. Shoot a rimfire with a fixed 12X and you'll be hooked. The ACOG on my M4 in the military is also a fixed 4X. I think ACOG makes them from fixed 1.5 to a fixed 6X with Trijicon sights. Having said all that, I don't think I'd want a fixed power scope on a hunting rifle generally, but for quick shots the 4X still works for me, at least in a military application.

[syoungs]

I imagine the most simple answer, is people still buy them. Supply and demand, of someone didn't buy it, they won't make it

[Piscatory_5]

Ironically, I have all variable scopes but use them all in 5 or 6 power all the time. Only change them when sighting in or target shooting. But that just me. Guy I work with always wants to shoot his 3x9 at 9x.

[jackelope]

Check out Taco280ai's recent posts in his rbros rifle thread. Doing work with a 6x.

[Bob33]

www.rifleshootermag.com/optics/optics_rs_0108_10/

"I’ve long favored fixed-power scopes, for several reasons. They’re lighter and more compact than variables, less complicated and less costly. They’re optically superior (less glass and no erector movement) and can be mounted farther forward on the rifle. Another reason is that, in 40 years of hunting, I’ve never shot an animal that couldn’t have been taken with a 4X scope. Its popularity, and that of the 2.5X, during the formative stages of the scope industry is not surprising. Hunters killed game with both."

Read more: http://www.rifleshootermag.com/optics/optics_rs_0108_10/#ixzz3tz7brrbn

[TheSkyBuster]

One word answer:   Simplicity    

[BOWHUNTER45]

Aim small ---hit small ...I would rather use a lower power scope than say a 12 power scope ..Even at longer ranges !

[Skillet]

Yeah, I don't know why they exist anymore either. We all know that none of the hundreds of thousands (probably millions?) of deer killed with a .270 or 30-06 bolt action with a 4x Weaver or Leupold on it couldn't possibly be killed with that setup in today's woods. 

I inherited my grandfather's 1957 Model 70 FWT in 30-06 with a 4x Leupold on it. That thing has got more notches than Charlie Sheen's bedpost. Still works just fine.

[WAcoyotehunter]

Wayne Van Zwoll still loves them.  I almost never change my scope from 5 power, I would not hesitate to put a quality fixed scope on a good working rifle

[CAMPMEAT]

I have a 4x SWFA on my Grendel, it shoots well.

[JDHasty]

Leupold 6x42 FX3

That is a good enough reason for me. 

[AWS]

I've killed a couple of truck loads of deer with my old K-4 and K-3 but once I started using my first Weaver V-4.5 you could never get me back in a 4x, even a 3-9 on 3x makes me feel closed in.   I lived where we could take up to six deer a year  living a subsistence lifestyle at the time, venison, rabbits, raccoon and beaver were our daily staple.   I like my game close, the closer the bigger the rush and a much surer kill.  Sniping them at long range is pretty boring, been there and tried it, not much different than going out in the pasture and killing a steer.  Spending the day on a track learning a deer and then out thinking him for a shot or still hunting slowly through the forest, relying on stealth and ability to spot a deer before he sees you to the kill, that's satisfying.  Sitting in a stand and killing one over a pile of apples, grazing in an alfalfa field  or ambushing one on the other side of a valley, no thanks.   Shooting in a rifle match is more of a rush at least you can lose to someone that is a better shot that day, hunting at longer range or from a stand you only lose if you make crappy shot and you sure don't want to admit that..  Having a critter outsmart you after spending time on a track or still hunting is worth a story back in camp.

Weaver V-3 25-204 100gr NBT at 70 yards


 

 My target scopes used to be fixed powers, 10x, 12x, 15x and 24x they are all gone in favor o 6-18x, 6.5-20 and 8-32x and have never wished one of the fixed ones back.

[JDHasty]

I've killed a couple of truck loads of deer with my old K-4 and K-3 but once I started using my first Weaver V-4.5 you could never get me back in a 4x, even a 3-9 on 3x makes me feel closed in.   I lived where we could take up to six deer a year  living a subsistence lifestyle at the time, venison, rabbits, raccoon and beaver were our daily staple.   I like my game close, the closer the bigger the rush and a much surer kill.  Sniping them at long range is pretty boring, been there and tried it, not much different than going out in the pasture and killing a steer.  Spending the day on a track learning a deer and then out thinking him for a shot or still hunting slowly through the forest, relying on stealth and ability to spot a deer before he sees you to the kill, that's satisfying.  Sitting in a stand and killing one over a pile of apples, grazing in an alfalfa field  or ambushing one on the other side of a valley, no thanks.   Shooting in a rifle match is more of a rush at least you can lose to someone that is a better shot that day, hunting at longer range or from a stand you only lose if you make crappy shot and you sure don't want to admit that..  Having a critter outsmart you after spending time on a track or still hunting is worth a story back in camp.

Weaver V-3 25-204 100gr NBT at 70 yards


 

 My target scopes used to be fixed powers, 10x, 12x, 15x and 24x they are all gone in favor o 6-18x, 6.5-20 and 8-32x and have never wished one of the fixed ones back.

That is the way with my varmint scopes.  I want to be able to dial it down and find a target and then turn it up.  But even though I hunt big game with a 3-9 Burris Signature - I could be content with a 6x42 VX-3. 
I had one once and gave it away and often think I should get another one.  I don't think the one I had was a VX-3, the VX-3 would just be that much better.   But that Burris works well enough and if I am going to spend money it is going to be on something I think will be an improvement over what I have currently.