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Hi Lee:
This goes a long way in explaining what I talk, grumble, complain, etc. about. If you enter the forum through the back door, have a look at all the forums, and how many people are on each, you will notice that the binocular forum has 5 to 20 times as many participants as the average of all the other forums. Why? Because the others are documenting their life with birds, and not discussing, pontificating (guilty), arguing about nuances above their level of human recognition. Some people will always take that last statement as just me being rude; others will recognize it as the truth—convenient or not.
And then, there are some poor souls who want optical knowledge, but who I have to walk away from because they are SO new, their terminology is skewed to such an extent that it is as though we’re speaking in two tongues. For example: the person who talks about his binocular not focusing when he is really addressing collimation, and then, when a friend “helps” him, starts describing the problem in terms of “parallax,” which doesn’t really apply.
I get in trouble for trying to raise the bar. You can’t bake a cake without breaking eggs; you just can. And, my more thin-skinned neighbor takes offense when it’s done in such a way as to do the job. Please don’t hate me … well, okay, if you must … but there is a tremendous amount of knowledge and understanding, regarding things the above mentioned want to talk about, that would help them in conversation, help them in practice, and help them at the sales counter. Yet, so many find so much comfort in the sandbox. It’s just easier to speculate than to research. Annoying? Perhaps. Accurate? Without doubt.
But most hobbyist forums are the same.
Does the 270 shoot “flatter” and “reach farther” than the 30-30, 303, 308, etc. Can it place bullets accurately at 200 yards?
FACT: Yes it can!
REALITY: Most kill shots on moderate-sized targets are taken AT LESS THAN 100 YARDS; most of those under 50 yards. That’s why the lowly 30-30 has taken more venison than any other weapon on the planet. So, do you want to hunt and save money on ammunition or do you need an expensive shoulder buster that needs ammunition that may be hard to find?
And before someone drags me through the mud because I mentioned hunting, let me hasten to say that I haven’t fired a rifle in over 40 years, and hopefully will never, again. I own a Marlin 336 CS, the lowly 30-30. When I was in my 20s, I could wield this little gun like a pistol; at 64, I find it has put on quite a bit of weight. Then too, is the fact that if I had to use a shoulder cannon, as an old cripple, I would have a hard time getting the meat back to the truck. Besides, I like beans just fine. Also, like the bino world, things aren’t always as they appear: the cartridge was invented by Winchester and, for some time, the Marlin 336 has been actually been MANUFACTURED by Remington. Realities, realities, realities; we’re surrounded by realities that, if attention is paid to them, can save money and up our knowledge of any hobby. :cat:
Quasi-rant off.
Hugs and kisses,
Bill