30mm vs 1-inch tubes

[Cheesehead]

Hokay, what’s the real deal / what are your thoughts?
30 mil worth the extra weight vs brightness / adjustability? Understood the answer is a lot of the time ‘depends’ on what class of glass you’re buying but would appreciate decent apples to apples comparisons

 

[Brandon270]

From what I've read you don't gain much in light gathering from one to the other. The only other argument for the 30 mil over the 1" is the ability to have more turret travel available, a 1" tube will run out of adjustment before a 30mil will.

 

[MThuntr]

all things being equal you don't gain much "light gathering" due to advances in coatings but what you do often gain is adjustment...30mm tubes have more room for elevation and windage adjustments often necessary for longer range shooting.

 

[Cheesehead]

Good points: edited OP to add ‘adjustability’ (aware of that but forgot to mention)

 

[VikingsGuy]

Tube diameter is about elevation adjustment. Coatings and glass quality are what count for light transmission and objective size helps with pupil size.

 

[noharleyyet]

Is substantialness a word? Coz that's one of the aesthetic by products I like about the 30mm...

 

[Cheesehead]

Is substantialness a word? Coz that's one of the aesthetic by products I like about the 30mm...

Yep. Do not understand what this means

 

[noharleyyet]

Yep. Do not understand what this means

Aside from the technical benefits, I like the way they look on my rifles, but FWIW, the longest shot I've taken was with a 1" tube.

 

[44hunter45]

I wrote out a bunch of engineer geek speak and then decided that Leupold says it better.

Top 5 Optic Myths Explained

1) A LARGER MAINTUBE LETS IN MORE LIGHT AND MAKES FOR A BRIGHTER SCOPE &

www.leupold.com

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Where's Schmaltz on this one?

 

[Cheesehead]

@schmalts

 

[AggieOutlaw]

Say no to 30mm tubes

Tube size is irrelevant for a hunter. You aren’t dialing 10 mils or 30 moa of dope. So why add weight and bulk???

if we don’t keep up demand for 1” tubes the options will dwindle.

for example, the VAST majority of vortex offerings are no 30mm. And I’m guessing probably 5% of their customers have EVER shot past 500 yards. Probably fewer than 10% could even find a place to shoot past 500yards.

And last I checked you can shoot a 1” tube to 1000 all day. The Leupold VX3i 1” 3-14x can dial 64 total moa. That’s easily a 1000+ yard scope that weighs 13oz

tell me again why I need a 3lbs Hubble on my rifle?

 

[schmalts]

From what I've read you don't gain much in light gathering from one to the other. The only other argument for the 30 mil over the 1" is the ability to have more turret travel available, a 1" tube will run out of adjustment before a 30mil will.

What he said. Also, the 30mm most times come in side focus and the 1"many will not.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I have a number of 30mm scopes, not because I need the turret travel and specifically sought out 30mm tubes, but because the manufacturer's offerings that otherwise had the quality of glass, coatings, and other features I wanted happened to come with 30mm tubes.

 

[AggieOutlaw]

I have a number of 30mm scopes, not because I need the turret travel and specifically sought out 30mm tubes, but because the manufacturer's offerings that otherwise had the quality of glass, coatings, and other features I wanted happened to come with 30mm tubes.

Exactly.
This is a problem for us hunters.

 

[devon deer]

Until very recently I only owned 1'' fixed scopes, the only reason I had to purchase a 30mm variable was the need for the side focus, it is required to focus the night vision attachment for shooting vermin at night.

I am just so used to 1'' scopes and hold over, I took a guy out for a stag once, we were losing light fast, out came the stag of a lifetime, I could see it clearly in my fixed 1'' S&B 8x56, he couldn't, then it was too late, the stag melted away in the night, when I looked at his 30mm variable S&B it was set on it's x25 magnification, no wonder he could't see it.

I read the link to the Leupold article, I liked this sentence 'At the end of the day, skill and knowing your equipment can make up for the lack of magnification.' nuff said

Cheers

Richard

 

[AggieOutlaw]

There are definitely adjustable parallax 1” scopes. But they generally aren’t really necessary until you get to very high magnification 14-15x+

Scopes for hitting eggs at 300 yards are different than scopes to hit an elk Or Muley at 300 yards.

 

[JRD]

I run mostly 1” scopes on my hunting rifles. I don’t need the adjustment or features of my target scopes, nor do I want the extra weight.

 

[huntin24/7]

I always go with 1”, but went with a 300mm vx3 for my last scope because that’s what was on sale.

 

[Red_fox]

A lot of good advise has been laid out already. My vote is to stay with a 1” tube. Personally, I have a 1” & a 30mm on the two rifles I shoot most. I like them both, but my preference is with the 1”. Not as much bulk & if you try to resale a 30mm scope for some odd reason it throws a red flag to some people. Also, this is my first post