Reams of paper have been filled (or screens filled with text) with advice on how to
choose a riflescope by many people who are probably better qualified than I am to discuss the technical merits of color aberration or light transmissivity or the latest coating technology. I will leave it to them to explain those things to me. This article represents my approach to rifle scope selection and is based on years of practical experience and good old-fashioned trial and error.
1. Trust Your Eyes
You can read every review ever written about the technical aspects of one scope over another, but at the end of the day YOU are the one who has to use it. Don’t overload your brain with pre-conceived notions of which one “should” be better to avoid giving yourself confirmation bias. When you look through scope A vs scope B it’s simple; which one looks clearer to you? Tip here: to avoid confirmation bias I will set two scopes up next to each other and ask my wife and daughter to look through both and tell me which picture is better and they have always agreed with each other. When I evaluate a scope, optical quality is paramount and all the bells and whistles secondary to this.
2. The Features Should Match the Use
Riflescopes have all manner of optional features which sound great, but they are only great if you are actually going to use them. I try to choose the simplest scope I can for the application. This can avoid unnecessary extra costs and often the increased weight that can accompany features. For example, if you only shoot in broad daylight, you might not need illumination and if you aren’t going to shoot to 1000 yards you probably don’t need the highest level of travel in your turrets.
3. Subtensions and Focal Plane
OK, this one is probably, to me, the most important on the list. I would never buy a sub-tended reticle on a second focal plane scope (though I have bought one in the past, the Vortex PST Gen II LPVO 1-6 MRAD). The problem is that the subtensions are only accurate at maximum magnification which causes two related issues. First, you must do mental math on the fly which doesn’t always work in quickly developing situations. At ½ power you need to double the mil/moa value of the subtensions. Pretty straightforward, but what if you are at 5/8 power? See where I’m going here? Second, subtensions become worthless at lower powers. Let’s say you have a reticle with the first subtension being 1.8 MOA for 200 yards on your 3-18x scope and you are thinking of engaging a target at 6x. Your first subtension is now a 5.4 MOA value which pushes that point of impact (POI) back from 200 yards to 350 yards. You can just guess where to hold between the crosshairs and the first subtension for a target at 200, but in this age where math is involved and there is a correct answer, why set yourself up where you have to guess? Extrapolating from this, your next subtension is likely a 12+ MOA value, putting the POI at ~575 yards. For this reason, if I am going to use a subtended reticle, I want the scope to be first focal plane so the reticle is always true.
4. The Feature Set Should Make Common Sense
This one is really just personal preference, but I want a scope that knows its identity. In short, I want to holdover with subtensions OR have a duplex and dial. If I am using a subtended scope with accurate DOPE, I don’t need or want ginormous oversized exposed turrets. That is the very reason I bought the subtensions! There may be occasions where I need to dial beyond my subtended range, but in those cases I have ample time to remove a turret cap. Conversely, if I am using a duplex, then I need to be able to dial! As with all rules, there is an exception. For my hunting rifles dialed to maximum point blank range (MPBR) then I use a duplex with capped turrets and as mentioned above will remove the cap if I need additional elevation. Leupold does an overall excellent job of understanding the desires of the shooting community in this regard and makes options that make sense. Not a Leupold fanboy (I do own one), but the CDS system with capped windage makes a lot of sense.
5. Buy Nice or Cry Twice
We all have a budget for these things and want the best bang for our buck; that said, if you don’t love it, don’t buy it. I am thinking of replacing glass on my 1985 Rem 700. The current scope has been on that gun for 40 years. That is longer than a lot of marriages! It makes sense to me to get the tool that is up to the job, that I like, and that will last a long time; this comes at a price. Generally, I tend to be upper middle tier guy. I have never spent over $800 on glass, but I have never spent under $500. I always buy on sale/clearance even if it means a model is a couple of years older; by doing this I usually buy glass with an original MSRP of $900-$1200 for $500-$700. For example, my Vortex Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 used to retail for $1000-$1200 and I bought mine for $650. Love that scope but would mention that the turrets spin without much pressure and do not lock.
6. Have Fun
Remember that, unless you are military or LE, this is a sport and/or a hobby and is supposed to be fun. Don’t get bent out of shape and don’t take yourself too seriously. Have fun and try new things. There are folks that are diehard fans of Brand X. They will swear by Brand X and tell you everything else stinks. Don’t buy it. It is a big competitive marketplace and there are many high-quality manufacturers. I own scopes by Vortex, Leupold, Burris, and Meopta. I just bought a Franchi Momentum Elite and thought the Meopta would be a cool trans-Alps accompaniment for it and, hey, variety is the spice of life.
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