Not a criticism to anyone's choice intended, mostly just an observation based on a career in the military and now for the past 15 years taking multiple trips a year to Namibia and Botswana with a good number of friends/clients. I personally think too many people "over scope" with regards to magnification, not necessarily objective size, just magnification. Here's why, and please remember, this is just my opinion and everyone's mileage may vary.
First, unless you're hunting in the open savannas or western US where shot distance expectations are 200m and longer, there are very, very few times when "high" magnifications are "better" than lower settings. Kind of like a poster back in April said about his PH telling him to set his magnification at 2.5x and leave it there.
Second, the VAST majority of shots taken in Africa are taken standing and off shooting sticks. I've yet to have the pleasure of seeing anyone shoot standing, from shooting sticks on a 100m target with a scope set at 12x and shoot a smaller "group" than the same rifle, same scope, same ammo but, with a power setting of around 4x. What I've seen/experienced is far too many US hunters don't take enough practice time on sticks before going over and forget that magnification not only makes things appear "closer" but it also multiplies your heartbeat, wiggles and shakes and most guys end up "chasing the hairs" over-correcting/over-compensating making it worse.
Last observation is on what I call open "twisty" elevation turrets. Unless you have LOTS and LOTS of range time with them, I will just about guarantee if you bring a scope with one it WILL cost you an animal. Why do I say this? Again, the VAST majority of shots will be 200m or less. For the most part, if you dead nuts zero just about any caliber of rifle from 7x57 to 458WM spot on at 150m, you'll only be an inch or two high at 100m and an inch or two low at 200m. That 2MOA variation is better than most guys can shoot standing off shooting sticks. Next reason is, most guys who show up with the "twisty" scopes make just about the same mistakes every time: they twist it in the wrong direction, they forget to reset it to "zero" between stalks/animals taken and then in the excitement of the next animal, twist it some more and/or between stalks the twisty gets "bumped" on sticks/brush/bushes etc. Lastly, most guys take too long to do the twisty thing. They have to pull their eye(s)/head up off the game to look at the turret, think about direction and how much to adjust, cheek back on the stock and eye(s) back on the game and in the scope and by the time they start putting pressure on the trigger, the game bolts or the shot ends up either missing high/low or wounding the game and it's not recovered. I've witnessed all of these happen multiple times over.
K.I.S.S - Keep It Stupid Simple. Buy as good of glass as you can afford. Also, constantly changing magnification from 2x to 12x and all points in between and the huge change in body size between species can make it a bit difficult for less experienced African hunters to estimate hold over/hold under - Choose one power setting that YOU shoot well at off sticks and stay with it. Don't "over scope" for your shooting ability and or normal shooting distances and shooting positions. HUGE difference between shooting prone with a rest, sitting at a bench with a rest, standing off sticks and freehand.
To the OP's original question - I do have a 9.3x62 in a Ruger 77 African. It has an older Leupold VX-2c in 2-7x33. My personal preference on all scopes for the areas we hunt in Namibia and Botswana is 4x power to start with and then go DOWN to the lowest magnification for following up wounded game where close/quick freehand shot are to be expected.
Again, just my observations and opinions - feel free us utilize of flush as you see fit.
First, unless you're hunting in the open savannas or western US where shot distance expectations are 200m and longer, there are very, very few times when "high" magnifications are "better" than lower settings. Kind of like a poster back in April said about his PH telling him to set his magnification at 2.5x and leave it there.
Second, the VAST majority of shots taken in Africa are taken standing and off shooting sticks. I've yet to have the pleasure of seeing anyone shoot standing, from shooting sticks on a 100m target with a scope set at 12x and shoot a smaller "group" than the same rifle, same scope, same ammo but, with a power setting of around 4x. What I've seen/experienced is far too many US hunters don't take enough practice time on sticks before going over and forget that magnification not only makes things appear "closer" but it also multiplies your heartbeat, wiggles and shakes and most guys end up "chasing the hairs" over-correcting/over-compensating making it worse.
Last observation is on what I call open "twisty" elevation turrets. Unless you have LOTS and LOTS of range time with them, I will just about guarantee if you bring a scope with one it WILL cost you an animal. Why do I say this? Again, the VAST majority of shots will be 200m or less. For the most part, if you dead nuts zero just about any caliber of rifle from 7x57 to 458WM spot on at 150m, you'll only be an inch or two high at 100m and an inch or two low at 200m. That 2MOA variation is better than most guys can shoot standing off shooting sticks. Next reason is, most guys who show up with the "twisty" scopes make just about the same mistakes every time: they twist it in the wrong direction, they forget to reset it to "zero" between stalks/animals taken and then in the excitement of the next animal, twist it some more and/or between stalks the twisty gets "bumped" on sticks/brush/bushes etc. Lastly, most guys take too long to do the twisty thing. They have to pull their eye(s)/head up off the game to look at the turret, think about direction and how much to adjust, cheek back on the stock and eye(s) back on the game and in the scope and by the time they start putting pressure on the trigger, the game bolts or the shot ends up either missing high/low or wounding the game and it's not recovered. I've witnessed all of these happen multiple times over.
K.I.S.S - Keep It Stupid Simple. Buy as good of glass as you can afford. Also, constantly changing magnification from 2x to 12x and all points in between and the huge change in body size between species can make it a bit difficult for less experienced African hunters to estimate hold over/hold under - Choose one power setting that YOU shoot well at off sticks and stay with it. Don't "over scope" for your shooting ability and or normal shooting distances and shooting positions. HUGE difference between shooting prone with a rest, sitting at a bench with a rest, standing off sticks and freehand.
To the OP's original question - I do have a 9.3x62 in a Ruger 77 African. It has an older Leupold VX-2c in 2-7x33. My personal preference on all scopes for the areas we hunt in Namibia and Botswana is 4x power to start with and then go DOWN to the lowest magnification for following up wounded game where close/quick freehand shot are to be expected.
Again, just my observations and opinions - feel free us utilize of flush as you see fit.
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