When I first started to hunt deer (back in 1976) riflescopes were considered as optional equipment. There was even a segment of hunting society that considered scopes as un-sporting, un-manly, or cheating. Since that time riflescopes have become more and more accepted and prominent and are now considered as standard hunting equipment. Today just about every big game hunter that I know has a scope on his rifle (with the exception of “brush guns” such as .30-30’s). Hunters are now putting scopes on muzzleloaders, shotguns, crossbows, and even compound bows. This plethora of scope use means that there are more choices than ever before but, consequently, there is a greater need for hunters to learn more about scopes and the choices available to them before they part with their money.
For those who need convincing, let’s first examine the advantages of scopes. The biggest advantage of scopes (over iron or peep sights) is their magnification advantage. The most common deer hunting scope is the 3-9X variable. With this scope a hunter sees his target magnified anywhere from three to nine times over the naked eye (as adjusted by a dial). When a hunter looks at a deer that is 100 yards away with a 9X scope it appears to be nine times closer, or the equivalent of looking at it at 11 yards with the naked eye! This allows for much more precise bullet placement and prevents (to a large extent) errors such as shooting a nubbin buck when the hunter thought that it was a doe. It also makes identification of things like points and the age of the deer much easier.
The second biggest advantage of scopes is brightness. A scope gathers existing light and focuses it down the scope tube. Thus a hunter can see deer well in his scope at first light that a rifle sight hunter won’t be able to see in his sights for another 30 minutes. As the biggest bucks often vanish at first light, this is a huge advantage. Many hunters also have trouble focusing on iron sights as they age.
A third advantage of scopes is decreased movement. Movement is not a hunter’s friend. A man hunting with iron sights has to raise his binoculars to his eyes, find and identify the game, lower his binoculars, raise his rifle, find the game again, and then take the shot. A man hunting with a scope only has to raise his gun, find and identify the game, and then take the shot. There is considerably less movement. We’ll never know for sure but I believe that excessive movement blows more shots than any other factor.
On the converse side, scopes are not well suited for shooting at running game. Trying is find a running animal in a scope, keep it there, and actually shoot it successfully are not easy feats. For this task iron sights or red dot scopes are your best bet. However, in reality most hunters shoot at game that is standing still or walking slowly. For these tasks a scope is, by far, the best choice.
To put it simply, you will put more venison and pork in your freezer with a riflescope that you will with just iron sights. Period.
Riflescopes are available in many different sizes, configurations, and magnifications. There are scopes that are designed for turkey hunting, hunting with shotgun slugs, varmints, and even night hunting. As previously mentioned, the most common riflescope is the 3-9X variable with a 40mm objective lens, and a one-inch tube. There are bigger and smaller magnification ranges available. Some scopes don’t vary in their magnification at all (fixed power). A few scopes have lighted reticles or “electro dots” others have Adjustable Objectives (AO), some have rudimentary rangefinders, some have "bullet drop compensators," and Burris now has a laser rangefinder scope. However, I’m not going to deal with all of the technical details and options in this article. Instead I’ll focus on the basics for big game hunting.
As previously mentioned the typical big game hunting scope is the 3-9X. Other variable power scopes that are popular for big game hunting include the 1.5-6X, 1.75-5X, 2-7X, 2.5–8X, 2.5-10X, 3-10X, 3.5-10X, 3-12X, and 4-12X; although more 3-9X’s are sold than all these others combined. In reality the 3-9X is inferior in every way to the 2.5-10X and 3-10X. The latter are newer magnification values that have been available only for a short while so they have not become popular yet. When the 3-9 was born it was the cream of the crop and many sportsmen cut their teeth on them. These diehards are reluctant to part with what they grew up with. The same phenomena is true of the 16 gauge, which is superior in almost every way to the 20 gauge, yet it is not anywhere near as popular. Another example is the .280 Remington, which is a superior cartridge to the .270 Winchester, yet the .270 outsells it probably more than 20 to 1.
Actual magnification values vary from scope to scope. The numbers mean, again using the revered 3-9X as our example, that at the lowest setting (3X), the game viewed will appear to be approximately three times the size that it would appear as viewed by the naked eye. As previously mentioned, the top setting (9X) would appear to be about nine times the size that it would appear as viewed by the unassisted eye. You can adjusts the magnification power anywhere between the lowest and highest settings, although the numbers on the dial (knob) are usually presented as whole numbers. So if you want 5.5 magnification power you’ll have to put it halfway between the 5 and the 6. All variable-powered scopes behave in this manner.
Again using the 3-9X as our example, for big game stand hunting, 3X is considered low. It excels for stalking and drives, where close and running shots are common. The higher magnification that you go the more narrower your field of view. 9X is the best magnification to use for stand hunting but it is a poor choice for stalking and drives. That’s the beauty of a variable powered scope – you can zoom it up when in the stand and then zoom it down when you get out of your stand to stalk. The point of impact will not change.
For some terrain, such as West Texas, a higher magnification is wiser. Your shots might be considerably farther away than they would if you were in Central Texas. For such cases a 4-12X or a 4.5-14X is the better choice. In my opinion, anything above 14X should be avoided. The higher magnifications make it very hard to hold your reticles on your target. Every breath and tremble is magnified onto your crosshairs. In may opinion, the 20 power scopes, such as the 6.5-20X are only for long range varmint hunting, where using a bench rest is common. To be blunt, if you have to use a 20X scope to see a deer, you probably won’t hit it anyway.
A commonly held belief among hunters is your scope should equal the investment that you have in your rifle. Thus if you have a $500 rifle you should put a $500 dollar scope on it. I’m not convinced that this is necessary. It’s like saying that your 20K truck should only tow a 20K travel trailer. However, too many hunters err on the cheap where scopes are concerned. Many of the scopes that are available for under $150 are questionable in their clarity, ruggedness, reliability and ability to hold zero. With cheap scopes a hunter can go to the range in February, sight in his rifle, and then put it in his gun cabinet. Eight months later he takes his rifle back to the range (to ensure that it is still sighted in for deer season) and finds that it’s shooting six inches off to the left. With scopes, just as with most everything else, you get what you pay for!
As I was young, uneducated, and broke when I started deer hunting I figured that my Redfield Widefield 4X scope was among the best for hunting optics (the salesman at Service Merchandise said so). It didn't take me long to learn that this scope was significantly limited. Next to rifles, scopes are, by far, the most important piece of hunting equipment that you can buy (you can hunt without a scope but you can’t hunt without a rifle). You can buy a cheaper rifle and make it shoot great with a good scope but you can’t make a good rifle shoot great with a poor scope. It’s kind of like putting street tires on a Chevy Z71 – they’ll work out in the field, but not nearly as well as All-Terrain tires.
Just like with just about everything else, there are a wide range of scope quality and prices.
Those who can afford the very best scopes should consider the Swarovski Professional Hunter series, Kahless 30mm tube scopes, Zeiss VM/Z series, Leupold LPS (Leupold Premier Scope), Nikon Monarch Tactical Series, and Sightron SIII. Germany has long been a leader in riflescope and binocular glass. It is not coincidence that most of the best scope makers are German.
Super scopes in the $400 - $600 range include the Burris Black Diamond, Leupold VX-III, Kahless American Hunter, Zeiss Conquest, and Nikon Monarch Gold.
Great scopes in the $300 - $400 range that are bright, rugged, and reliable include the Leupold VX-II, Nikon Monarch, Burris Signature Select, and Bushnell Elite 4200.
Good scopes in the $150 - $300 range include the Browning (made by Bushnell, essentially the Bushnell 3200 with a Browning logo), Burris Fullfield II, Bushnell Elite 3200 and Legend, Leupold VX-1 and Rifleman, Millett Buck Gold, Nikon Buckmaster, Redfield Tracker, Sightron SII, Simmons Whitetail Expedition, and Weaver Grand Slam and V9 and V10.
Fair scopes in the $75 - $150 range include the Millett Buck Silver, Nikon ProStaff, Sightron S1, and Simmons Master Series Aetec and Prohunter. I would not consider putting scopes cheaper than these on my deer rifles.
Specific scopes to avoid include all other Bushnell’s, all other Simmons’, Winchester's, Tasco’s, Barska’s, and BSA’s.
When comparing scopes the things to look for are brightness, ruggedness, point of impact, and eye relief.
Basically the brighter the scope the better. A scopes brightness is determined how much light it allows in. Many manufactures divulge the brightness of their scopes. The Nikon Monarch and Burris Fullfield II, for example, have 95% light transmission. The more popular Leupold VX-II only has 87%. Light transmissions translates to brightness. A brighter scope will see more game.
One of the most debated features of a scope is the size of the objective (forward) lens. Scopes with 40mm objectives are the industry standard, but some manufacturers are making 42, 44, and 50mm objective lens scopes. The larger objectives gather more light, making for a brighter view, but the 50mm scopes have significantly bigger bells to hold their bigger lenses so they have to be mounted higher then a 40mm scope. This means that the hunter has to raise his cheek higher in order to see down the scope. A higher cheek mount translates to lower accuracy. The 50mm objective lens scopes are also heavier than their 40mm cousins. In my opinion they are not worth the extra money.
Even more important than brightness is ruggedness. You can have the brightest scope in the world, but if it can’t handle bumps and recoil it’s worthless. A case in point – for a few years I owned a Remington 4-12X scope with a 40mm objective lens. These scopes went new in the $250 range and I got mine used for about $150. It was accurate enough and accounted for a lot of venison. But on the 3/7/03 – 3/9-03 Hog and Sheep Hunt it proved to have an Achilles heal.
Early in the day, when I was exiting the bed of the guide’s truck, I bumped the rear of my scope on his tail gait. It wasn’t a severe blow and I thought nothing of it. Later, I had an easy shot at a Catilina Goat that was about 40 yards away. The first shot, aimed at the goat’s chest and using the roof of the truck as a rest, resulted in a miss (the goat was facing to the right). The second shot, aimed at the goat’s chest, hit his back gut (he was facing to the left). The third shot missed (facing to the right). The fourth shot, was a repeat of the second shot. The fifth shot, aimed at the goat’s neck hit his heart (facing to the left). The last shot, a neck shot, was from two feet away. I've bumped my scopes before but never had one get out of alignment as a result. The next day I shot a target from a bench at 20 yards and hit six inches off to the right. This means that my first (40 yard) shot was a foot off! It probably would have been two feet off at 100 yards! I dropped that Redfield like a hot potato!
Where light transmission can be gauged, scope ruggedness is much harder to do so. Your best sources of information are reviews in hunting and shooting magazines and the opinions of experts and experienced fellow sportsmen. Try to get information from more than one source and get a consensus. The general rule is the cheaper the scope the less rugged it will be.
Another factor is point of impact (where the bullet hits the target). For some variable powered scopes the point of impact can change as the hunter changes the magnification. Thus, a scope that is dead on when sighted in at 9X might be four inches off on 5X. This problem is almost always due to the fact that the hunter chose a cheap scope. For this reason, some hunters choose the reliability of a fixed power scope. Fixed power scopes are also cheaper than their variable powered brethren but (of course) are not as flexible.
The last factor is eye relief, which is the best possible distance between the scopes eyepiece and your eye in order to best see the target. With cheaper variable scopes eye relief changes as the magnifications are changed. This means that the hunter will have to change where his cheek is positioned on the stock as he moves the magnification dial, which could affect accuracy. Fixed powered scopes don’t have this problem.
I only have owned one fixed-power scope, the previously mentioned Redfield, and I won’t buy another one. My hunting situations are just too varied to limit myself to any one power. However, if you can't afford to buy a better scope, then buy a good fixed-power scope rather than a cheap variable. 6X is be best compromise between close range shooting (where 3X excels) and mid range shooting (where 9X excels).
Avoid rifle “package deals,” such as the Remington 710 (which comes with a Bushnell 3-9X scope; usually their cheap Sportsman). Of course the rifle is Remington’s cheapest so I guess it’s appropriate that they put a cheap scope on it. Avoid these packages at all costs. If you’ve just got to buy a 710 (they're much inferior to the 700) you’d be better served to take the Bushnell off and replace it with a decent scope like the Burris Fullfield II, Weaver Grand Slam, Sightron SII, Nikon ProStaff, or Simmons Master Series AETEC.
A 2-7X with a 32 or 33 mm objective lens is ideal for a .22, which is primarily a small game and short-range gun. Don't go bigger than a 3-9X with a 40mm objective lens. Most hunting shots with .22's are less than 50 yards. Greater than 9X magnification is not needed and a larger objective lens than 40mm would be ridiculous on a .22, as there is no need for the extra light gathering advantage. If you must buy a .22 scope realize that it is designed for the recoil of a .22. If you later try to put it on a high powered rifle its recoil will probably destroy the scope. Putting a regular scope on a .22 is a much wiser choice as most .22 scopes are junk and you can move a regular scope later to a high powered rifle.
So what is the bottom line? What scopes do I use or have recently used? Presently my Remington Model 7400 .30-06 is topped with a Burris Signature (predecessor of the Signature Select) 3-9X with a 40 mm objective lens, an Electro dot, and Posi-Loc (it locks the reticles into place with a key). The Electro dot really helps during night hunts for hogs and for shooting dark hogs in the day. This scope sells new for around $500. It also cannot be found at the discount stores like Academy and Wal-Mart.
My Remington Model 700 BDL .25-06 is topped with a Sightron SII 3-9X with a 42 mm objective lens and an illuminated reticle. The illuminated reticle is even better than the Electro dot during night hunts for hogs and for shooting dark hogs in the day. This scope sells new for around $380. It also cannot be found at the discount stores.
My Browning Auto-22 is topped with a Leupold Vari-X II (the predecessor of the VX II) 2-7X with a 33 mm objective lens. The VX-II sells new for around $300 and is sold at Academy.
I sold a Nikon Monarch 3-9X with 40mm objective lens in early 2006. I liked this scope a lot but I needed cash to buy a Trijicon Reflex scope that has tritium that makes the reticle glow in the dark (that I later sold because I was disappointed with it). The Nikon sells new for around $290 at Wal-mart and Academy.
I’m also impressed with the Weaver Grand Slam but have never owned either (I will some day). The Weaver sells new for around $270.00.
As with most things there are deals to be had in scopes. For certain scopes (Leupold, Browning, etc.) you pay a lot just for their name. Case in point – Bushnell makes scopes for Browning that are basically copies of the Bushnell Elite 3200. Browning puts their logo on it and sells it for $80 more than Bushnell sells its Elite 3200. You’re paying that extra $80 for the Browning name and logo. You are not getting a better scope. So if you’ve whittled it down between these two, the only reason to buy the Browning is if you like to throw your money away.
The experts at McBride’s claim that the Burris Fullfield II and the Weaver Grand Slam are as good as, if not better, than the Leupold VX-III, and they cost hundreds less. The Fullfield II with it’s 95% light transmission is almost as bright as the VX-III (97% light transmission). Weaver does not state what their light transmissions are.
I require good scopes on the rifles that I own. Although I can be a tightwad about many things, I've learned the hard way that scopes are one thing that you can’t do well cheap. It’s true that many hunters have killed lots of deer and other big game animals with cheap scopes. But they are much less reliable, rugged, and clear than the scopes that I use.
Choosing a riflescope is a complex and difficult decision. The potential buyer would do well to talk to men who own or have owned the scope that he is considering. FCS members who have the mind of Christ will even loan their rifle(s) with scopes to others for a field test (borrowers should always pay for ammunition used and return borrowed rifles clean and in working order, of course). I will be happy to further discuss your own particular scenario with you. I can be reached at randy@fcs-texas.com.