Leupold 4X

Will a Leupold M8 4X 'handgun scope' work well with a 338 winmag rifle? I can get a used one for a reasonable price.

A: Can it handle the recoil. B: With its smallish 28mm objective, will it provide a bright enough picture for dawn/dusk hunts?

Obviously you've not used a handgun scope before, It only works at arms length, you'd have to mount it out on the end of your barrel. and recoil would not be a problem.

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jj, You don't want to go there! A handgun scope has way more eye relief that you can use. Go to your local gun shop and pick up a Leupold catalog and read about that in it. Think about this, hold your arms out as if you were shooting a handgun and visualize the amount of eye relief necessary. Now put your cheek against your rifle stock and imagine where the scope will be. Big difference in eye relief, huh? If I were to scope a .338 Winmag, I'd go with a variable, at least 2-7x, either Leupold or Nikon. That's prejudice on my part but they both will hold up under recoil if you use a good mounting system (steel rings/bases) and both have coated lenses that capture enough light to see early or late in the day. With that combination you should be able to take care of anything, up to and including polar bears.

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The scope will hold up to the recoil, but you're going to have trouble getting a sight picture unless you mount it in a 'scout' position.

# Will a Leupold M8 4X 'handgun scope' work well with a 338 winmag # rifle? I can get a used one for a reasonable price. # # A: Can it handle the recoil. # B: With its smallish 28mm objective, will it provide a bright enough # picture for dawn/dusk hunts?

Excellent scope. I've had one on my .270 Sako for nearly ten years and have never had to adjust it since the original zeroing, to date that rifle/scope has made 37 one shot kills. It's a set it and forget it scope.

#A: Can it handle the recoil. #B: With its smallish 28mm objective, will it provide a bright enough #picture for dawn/dusk hunts? #

A. Yes.

B. Subjective - - - but, probably not. Certainly, it will not be as bright as a comparable 40mm objective tube.

Randy Wakeman

Thanks everyone! It is actually mounted on a Ruger 10/22 right now and the sight picture is good. But it is a bit limited in that I can't shift too far from center. I'll mount it on the 338 (when I get it) and see before I buy. Great advice everyone.