I get seasick with more than 12 power offhand.   

David
Montezuma, IA

Offhand My main Schuetzen has a 20x STS use it for .22 and 32/40  38/55 Schuetzen using 330 bullets and black powder it recoils too much for the 20 and use a 12 Unertl.  My rifles are traditional set up and 20 is all I can find  The 12 is the primary reason my scores are lower with the 38/55

Modern Silhouette rifles High power and Small bore use the 6.5x20 Leupold's. Now that Leopold has some good fixed power target scopes with higher power I am sure my scores would be better with higher power. For the life of me never could understand why Leopold made there main target scope variable, You don't need anything but the max and variable just adds complication and hinders resolution,  

Fellow that wins offhand most of our Schuetzen matches uses a pair of 36 x Jap Weavers offhand  There is no good reason to limit you view of the target with low power. Low power does not make you hold the gun any better just hides what it's doing.

Boats

Rimfire the school of thought a lot of guys subscribe to is from David Tubb. You can't hold the rifle steady.  His method is to shoot approach, settle off the bullseye swing into it and break the shot as it approaches the center.  If you think about it that's how you shoot clay targets with a shotgun come up from behind and break the  shot as you pass.

His book detailing approach methods is how the higher power scopes came into use, they work fine using the technique.  If somebody stood still with a very high power scope trying to hold steady it would be frustrating at best.

Boats

I think what I'm going to do is use my 20 for bench and then change to a 12X for standing and just practice a whole lot more. 

Thanks for the help  van

One of our best offhand shooters, Colleen Molendyk uses a 36X scope, so I gave it a try. Actually you cannot hold the scope steady and you actually have to time when the crosshairs move across the bullseye.
A low power scope just shows you are in the area of the large red circle; but for precision offhand shooting you need to zero in on the bulls eye. Once you learn to work with the scope movement you will find you become a better shooter. Or you can ignore the feedback you need to shoot precisely and use a lower magnification.