Seeing holes on paper through your scope; what kind, and how far out?

[Vinnie]

Regarding being able to seeing holes on paper through your scope (scope mounted on your rifle, not through a spotting scope), I'm very interested in hearing from actual experiences:

* How far out (in yards) were you able to see your holes on paper; and more specifically, how far out are you able to see holes in the black (or red, or green) on an Appleseed target, using what caliber?

* Be sure to include what scope you used (Make, Model, Zoom Level)

Thanks Much!
  Vinnie

[Evil_G]

I'm using a Leupold VX-FREEDOM 3-9X33 EFR FINE DUPLEX on my .22LR. I can easily see hits in black @ 50 yards, hits on the redcoat and greencoat @25 yards.  Hits in white @ go yards are hard to spot quickly unless backlit @ 50 yards.

[NJrefugee]

Able to see holes on paper at 200 yards. Vortex Viper Gen 1, 4-16. Need to be at 16x. Rifle is shooting 6.5 Grendel. It is hard to determine exactly where you are hitting when the bullet holes are touching, but they are visible otherwise.

[desert_diver]

I'm interested to see more replies - I have the same question.

NJRefugee: Great to see another 6.5 Grendel shooter on the forum. 

[NJrefugee]

Yeah, that 6.5 shoots great. Attached pic is 4 rounds shot from a bench at 200. I kinda pulled one.

[jmdavis]

At a 25m Appleseed with a 4x scope and I can see all of the hits on the paper. But I don't bother to look while I am shooting.

With a service rifle I check using my spotting scope at the end of my string in the rapids. With good light, I can see the .223 holes with the Celestron 80mm out to 300.  In really good even light at Perry, I can see the holes occasionally out to 600.

My point is when you are shooting the string focus on well aimed shots with a good NPA.

[Red Wing]

I'm pretty near 50, and my eyes have finally started to go, if that matters. I have a Swampfox 1-6 on a 5.56 platform.

Obviously no issues seeing holes in paper at 25m. In the KD event I attended last year, I could clearly see at 100 (on black paper). At 200, I couldn't easily see, and I wasted time chasing holes to see if my last shot was 'good' instead of focusing on SHF (steady hold factors) and repeatability. I found myself doing the same thing at 300 and only put 3/10 on paper. At 400, I realized both that it was pointless to try and visually confirm my shots, and that I had already developed a bad habit: chasing holes. Unsurprisingly, I did not earn my KD patch.

By the end of day, I was resolved to get real-world DOPE and to commit to having absolute faith in my optic, SHF, trigger manipulation, and that DOPE--whether at 25m or in a KD.

[Vinnie]

I can see .223 holes in both the black and white on paper silhouette targets at 100 yards using my Crimson Trace CSA-2416 2 series 4-16x50mm FFP scope with MR1-MOA Reticle, zoomed anywhere from 12x and higher.