Are there still reasons to carry binoculars?
I’ve questioned whether or not it was worth packing up my binoculars for range trips from time to time, and now that most of my rifles have some level of magnification, I really don’t have to guess if I’m hitting my target anymore. Shoot N C targets help, but sometimes even magnification doesn’t help you in those regards. I learned my lesson the hard way when I took a 6.5x50mm Zeiss Conquest scope to a 500yd rifle range and thought that I was going to have a fun day shooting because I wouldn’t need to do as many target changes since I had high magnification on my rifle. Does anyone know what a mirage is? When that hot sun starts beating down, you might as well have zero magnification because you won’t see you’re holes on paper beyond 200yds even with high magnification.
The real reason to still pack a pair of binoculars in your hunting or shooting bag is for target identification and field of view. If you are using a rifle to identify targets you may be violating some of the basic firearms safety rules of not pointing a firearm at anything you don’t want to destroy. I have had very good experience with Nikon binoculars and their rifle scopes are top notch. The 7×35 Nikon Action are still my favorite because they don’t cost very much, aren’t very big and still give a good field of view. There are better binoculars, but I have always had a hard time spending more on a scope than the actual rifle costs, some people don’t have that issue, but I do.