Deciding on the next scope you should buy for your rifle can be a difficult choice to make. There are so many different varieties and just about as many price brackets. Buying anything online can be tricky, and maybe a little nerve-wracking verse going to a store and seeing products with your own eyes and touching the product with your hands.
Research, in general, is the best route before buying online if this is how you plan to select your next rifle scope.
The Top 6 Rifle Scopes You Should Consider
- The Venom 5-25x56 First Focal Plane (MOA) riflescope is built for long-range and competition with a 5-25x mag range built into a 34mm tube for a massive amount of turret travel (85 MOA max...
- XD Optical System delivers impressive resolution, edge-to-edge sharpness and greatly reduces chromatic abberation. Fully multi-coated lenses provide superior light transmission for exceptional clarity...
- The RevStop Zero System offers an easy to set, fast and reliable return to zero. Side knob parallax adjust allows quick and easy parallax adjustments with range numbers visible while in use.
- EBR-7C reticle ensures subtensions are accurate throughout the mag range making it easy to measure and range targets.The fast focus eyepiece allows for easy reticle focusing while the included throw...
- Nitrogen purged and o-ring sealed providing water and fogproof performance. Armortek coating protects the lenses from scratches and oil. The one-piece, aircraft grade aluminum, 34mm tube is...
- FULLFIELD E1 4.5-14x42MM HUNTING SCOPE - The Burris Fullfield E1 4.5-14x42mm is a great option for those looking for a more magnification over the 3-9x, but still looking for a wide field-of-view;...
- HIGH-GRADE OPTICAL GLASS - The Burris Fullfield E1 4.5-14x42mm waterproof hunting scope features high-grade optical glass that delivers exceptional brightness and clarity; it enhances image quality &...
- 1-PIECE OUTER TUBE - Durable, stress-free, solid 1-piece outer tube withstands shock and vibrations of even the heaviest-recoiling calibers; the double internal spring-tension system allows the scope...
- ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE - Index-matched, Hi-Lume multicoating aids in low-light performance and glare elimination, increasing your success rate; ergonomic side focus allows easy-to-reach parallax...
- LONG-RANGE MOA RETICLE - Ultra-fine center area helps shooters engage targets with extreme precision; MOA-based Burris design increases precision for long-range competition without adding clutter or...
- The Viper HS-T 6-24x50 is one of multiple configurations in the Viper HS-T (Hunting & Shooting Tactical) line. VMR-1 Reticle (MOA) is perfect for accurate holds at extended ranges . Featured length of...
- Incorporating our premium, fully multi-coated, extra-low dispersion lenses brings excellent resolution and color fidelity. The XR coatings provide enhanced light gathering capability while Armortek...
- The exposed target-style turrets are constructed for precise and repeatable finger-adjustable clicks. A CRS Zero Stop allows for reliable return to zero capability after dialing temporary elevation...
- A 4x zoom provides magnification versatility while the side focus parallax adjustment provides optimal image focus and parallax removal. The fast focus eyepiece allows the shooter to properly adjust...
- The one-piece tube is o-ring sealed and argon purged to ensure waterproof and fogproof performance. The Viper HS-T is a versatile yet simple riflescope that is at home in a hunting, target shooting,...
- Model #185365 - VX-Freedom 4-12x50 (1 inch) Hunt-Plex and Matte Finish
- Leupold’s Advanced Optical System offers tried and true light transmission for extended glassing sessions, best in class glare reduction in harsh light, and the resolution and clarity that...
- In Second Focal Plane scopes, the reticle stays the same size while the target grows and shrinks when you adjust the magnification. These reticles are ideal for lowlight hunting situations and in...
- Hardened surface coatings are added to meet extreme military standards in scratch resistance and added lens protection.
- Designed, Machined and Assembled in the USA. 100% Waterproof, fogproof, shockproof, and backed by Leupold's legendary customer care
- Upgraded Scope Body Design
- 19mm Germanium lens
- 256x192 resolution thermal sensor
- 2.5x base magnification
- 2.5x-20x digital zoom
- Model #180622 - VX-3HD 4.5-14x50 Riflescope with a Duplex Reticle, CDS-ZL and a Matte finish
- The CDS-ZL (ZeroLock) provides quick dialing of elevation adjustment while eliminating accidental dial movement with the push-button ZeroLock system. It also features Leupold's award-winning Custom...
- Leupold’s Elite Optical System offers excellent dawn-to-dusk light transmission for a bright image when it matters most, elite-level glare reduction in harsh light, and the resolution and clarity...
- The removable, low-profile throw lever makes changing magnifications quick and easy. It includes a thread protector plug to use when the lever is removed.
- Designed, Machined and Assembled in the USA. 100% Waterproof, fogproof, shockproof, and backed by Leupold's legendary customer care
- Advanced Optical Technology: Experience unparalleled clarity with Sony STARVIS 2 chipset and a high-definition 1920x1080 Micro-OLED HD display, Delivers exceptional Optical performance, ideal for both...
- Smart Features: Includes over-the-air software updates and Wi-Fi capability for easy data sharing.
- Compact and Lightweight: At just under 8 inches in length and weighing 21.3 oz, this scope is easy to handle without adding excessive weight to your rifle.
- Enhanced Connectivity and Long Operating Time: Features a Type-C USB port for external power and a Micro SD card slot supporting 32-128 GB for ample storage. Offers up to 8 hours of continuous use.
- Durable and Reliable: With an IP67 rating and 0.5BMG, the ZULUS HD is fully dustproof and waterproof, ready to perform in any weather conditions.
- A precise built-in rangefinder capable of ranging reflective targets at 2,000 yards provides a quick distance to target and aiming solution without the need to leave the optic.
- A built-in heads-up display provides important ballistic and rifle data that assists the shooter with making ethical shots.
- Bluetooth connectivity allows pairing to the BurrisConnect App. The user can upload custom ballistic profiles and modify advanced scope features. It also allows for the use of a Bluetooth enabled...
- The Eliminator 6 is equipped with multi-coated HD glass that delivers excellent brightness and clarity. This is the best optical system ever used in an Eliminator.
- The Eliminator 6’s X177 reticle uses 177 micro LED’s to provide an aiming solution with 1/6 MOA accuracy. The smart focal plane reticle maintains its size throughout the magnification range like a...
- Model #180619 - VX-3HD 4.5-14x40 Riflescope with a Duplex Reticle, CDS-ZL and a Matte finish
- The CDS-ZL (ZeroLock) provides quick dialing of elevation adjustment while eliminating accidental dial movement with the push-button ZeroLock system. It also features Leupold's award-winning Custom...
- Leupold’s Elite Optical System offers excellent dawn-to-dusk light transmission for a bright image when it matters most, elite-level glare reduction in harsh light, and the resolution and clarity...
- The removable, low-profile throw lever makes changing magnifications quick and easy. It includes a thread protector plug to use when the lever is removed.
- Designed, Machined and Assembled in the USA. 100% Waterproof, fogproof, shockproof, and backed by Leupold's legendary customer care
- Built for precision or long-range shooting, the 5-25x50 Signature HD version is built with a 30mm nitrogen-filled tube and is available with three different reticle options
- The thin crosshairs on the Fine Plex reticle are ideal for those looking for a simple and precise sight window
- Built with a 30mm nitrogen-filled tube and includes new push/pull locking turrets and a zero stop feature that automatically stops the elevation turret at your zero distance, making setting the zero...
- 5x zoom system with premium, multi-coated glass for crisp, bright image; Waterproof, shockproof and fog proof
- Covered by the Burris Forever Warranty. We will repair or replace your Burris optic if it is damaged or defective. Warranty does not cover loss, theft, deliberate damage or cosmetic damage that does...
To ease the pressures of potentially making a bad decision, take a few minutes and learn a little about some of the rifle scopes on the market today by checking our best rifle scopes review.
The Rile Scope Buyers Guide: What You Need to Know
So what are the key advantages of using a rifle scope?
Magnification capabilities
One of the best advantage of using a rifle scope over traditional hunting tools is the ability to easily identify a target from a long distance and perfectly make a superb shot. Most olden hunting tools do not have a zooming capability and this makes them difficult to use when aiming at targets at a far distance.
Some animals are difficult to hunt while in a cross range and most of them can be able to smell your scent before you make an aim; the best way to hunt these kinds of animals is to use a professional scope with magnification capabilities that help you to shoot from a long-range distance.
Accuracy
Unlike common hunting tools, every rifle scope is designed with aiming features and customizable settings that helps a shooter to perfectly shoot on a target without a miss. Most rifles come with magnification and zooming features that enable a shooter to get the best aiming experience ever. It’s very easy to make shots on target with a professional rifle than with a common traditional hunting tool.
Fun and Enjoyable
The best rifle scopes are very fun to use once the shooter learns how to perfectly handle them. Today’s rifle scopes are very easy to mount and most of them are designed with click adjustments that enables you to free your body and not strain too much while aiming at a target.
A professional rifle scope comes with safety features that allow you to easily carry it without the worry or fearing it might go off sometimes.
Ability to Make Long-Range Shots
Unlike common hunting tools and old manufactured rifle scope that can only make shots within a particular short range distance, modern Rifle scopes can be used to perfectly make good shots on long-range targets.
Some rifles are designed with customizable features and settings that helps a user to easily make shots on air, water or land.
What is a Rifle Scope and It’s History?
In 1608, German-Dutch inventor and the earliest recorded patent holder of the telescope Hans Lippershey, and Dutch spectacle maker Zacharias Janssen, creator of the microscope, are to thank for the first refracting telescopes, which lead the way in the first studies conducted on optical shooting aids.
The idea of optical aiming aids was nothing new to the marksman. Since the advent of rifling, shooters have adopted different sights and aiming aids, but they were often primitive in design and were ineffective. Patient records of the era are scarce, but it’s known the first patient for a telescopic rifle scope was filed around 1835-1840 when New York inventor Morgan James and engineer John R.
Chapman collaborated to release the Chapman James Sight. In 1855, designer William Malcolm expanded on the Chapman James Sight by incorporating achromatic lenses and elevation and windage adjustment knobs. Two decades will pass before the telescopic sight gained its notoriety in the American Civil War.
Rifle sights were used by both the Confederacy and the Union armies, proving the design in some of the harshest battlefield conditions of its time. Over the years, warfare, sportsman, and hunters have all contributed to the growth of long-range marksmanship, which in turn led to a small industrial revolution of sorts.
To put it into perspective, some of the longest shots in history were only 600-800 yards until advancements in optics and rifling have enabled marksman to take almost impossible shots up to a mile and a half. The longest shot in history was set in 2017 by a Canadian Joint Task Force Two Special Forces operator in Iraq.
As you can see, from the 17th century to now, the concept of long-distance marksmanship has evolved, Can you still see how modern rifle scope based off these original 19th-century designs? It’s clear that modern optics are much more advanced than their predecessors.
Advancements such as higher resolution lenses, variable and fixed zoom apertures, more advanced building materials and production methods, and over a dozen different aiming reticles you can choose.
Rifle Scope Nomenclature
Before we discuss the best scopes on the market, let’s review rifle scope basics and terminology, that way you are fully armed with all the information you need to make your choice.
First up, magnification. Magnification is dictated by the first number in a series of numbers that look a lot like this “4×32”. The second number is the Objective lens size.
Magnification represents how many times the target will be magnified while looking through the scope. The objective lens is the size of the lens that is on the far end of the scope where all the light enters the optic. This is what’s called a fixed variable scope.
You may also see a number that looks like this “3-9×40.” This is the same concept; you’ll notice a second number added to the magnification variable.
The 3-9 represents the range of magnification power of an adjustable variable scope. With an adjustable variable scope, you can adjust the magnification based on the targets relative distance to the shooter by twisting the power ring knob on the rear end of the scope.
One of the biggest misrepresentations I’ve seen in my experience is a person mistaking the 3-9x by putting 3x9x40, which is fine, marksman will know what you mean, but the misrepresentation could send potential buyers the wrong way, forewarned is forearmed.
The next part of the scope we will discuss is the exit pupil. The exit pupil and the ocular lens is the lens and opening closest to the marksman’s eye where the light that enters the forward objective lens exits and the image of the target is projected into the shooters eye.
The exit pupil is important because when shooting at long distances, there is a split second delay when you see the image of the target. It’s measured in milliseconds, but that could be all the time it takes to throw or land a round on target. In modern scopes, the lenses are generally shock, water, and fog proof.
As mentioned above, the objective lens is the lens at the end of the scope furthest from the shooter. The casing where the objective lens is seated is called the objective bell.
Now that we know a rifle scope is essentially a refracting telescope, we are aware that light passing through the scope is magnified into an image at the focal point of the scope, these focal points are marked by a crosshair, also known as the reticle.
Crosshairs are the sights so to speak, the intersecting points of the crosshair are where the point of impact will be on target if judicial accuracy is practiced.
There are also two more adjustment knobs that the marksman can adjust to influence accuracy, windage, and elevation. The windage adjustment alters the X-axis or the horizontal setting; the elevation adjusts the Y-axis or the vertical setting.
If your windage, elevation, or magnification setting is off compared to the relative distance you are from the target, you will experience what’s called parallax. Parallax is when the point of aim changes when the position of the shooters eye changes. Parallax is extremely common in variable zoom scopes, but with a few simple adjustments, it’s a quick and easy fix.
Reticles, or more commonly known as the crosshairs, come in a variety of styles and designs but understand, they range in complexity. The most popular and probably the easiest reticle to use in my opinion is the standard crosshair, just a cross or T with intersecting points in the center of the optics X and Y axis.
The crosshair is the best used when engaging targets at 100 yards, anything more would require adjustments or the use of a more advanced reticle. The Mil-Dot is the most common reticle used in tactical rifle scopes, each dot in the Mil-Dot reticle acts as a unit of measurement to gauge what distance a target is at without a rangefinder.
The Mil-Dot also can be used for accounting for windage. I think this reticle has gained so much trust in professional circles because the marksman can make fast trajectory adjustments and calculations without the target exiting your point of view.
There are countless other reticle patterns, and each serves a unique purpose, many manufacturers have started introducing their own, unique reticles into the market, but the Mil-Dot is by far the preferred aperture for professional marksman due to its simplicity and precision across the board.
One final factor to consider is the size of the scopes main body, the tube. The scopes tube size comes in two sizes, 33 millimeters, and one inch, this is important because you will need to know what size mounting rings the tube will need to be affixed to the rifle.
Useful Tips on Choosing the Best Scopes For You
Nowadays in the world that we live, most of us find themselves extremely busy with long working hours and hectic activities that do not allow one to create time for a hobby or leisure activity. When you are not busy with your normal activities and want to spend some time to shop for the best rifle scope; use this tips as a guideline for selecting a good rifle.
- Range rifle- Depending on what you wan to do with your rifle, determine whether you require a short range rifle or a long-range scope.
- Shooting accuracy- If you are still learning how to use a rifle scope, choose the right scope because all rifle scopes shoot differently due to their characteristics.
- Adjustment features- Check on the adjustment capability of different scopes and compare them to determine the best rifle scope that will offer you some good customization features.
- Magnification- Check and compare different scopes magnification power.
- Objective lens diameter- larger objective lenses provides a shooter with more light to see a target.
- Eye relief- This represents the distance between your eye and the lens of the scope. a good scope should provide you with an eye relief of about 3.5 inches or more.
Conclusion
Keep in mind; there are about a million different scopes on the market today, each scope serving a specific purpose bending on the weapon, the round, where you’ll be shooting, etc.
I know it seems like a lot to digest, but trust me, once you start to get an idea of what kind of scope you need, it’s all smooth sailing from there. If I had to choose just one scope on the list, I’d have to choose the Leupold FX-3. I choose the FX-3 because the 12 times fixed magnification will always be sighted and zeroed to the distance you plan on shooting at without having to make any parallax adjustments.
The 40mm objective lens allows for greater ambient light to pass through the scope, giving you a much higher resolution without any of the fuzziness. The only downside to a large objective lens is the lack of visibility in humid and low light conditions.
You could always add a night vision scope to your optic system, but that usually costs thousands of dollars and some minor gunsmithing to attach the mount to your gun, unless it has a Picatinny rail system that is. I hope our best rifle scopes review was useful to you. As always, stay safe, shoot true, and have fun! Happy shooting!
