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Riflescopes got automatic overlight protection that shuts the scope down if it's accidentally exposed to bright light. And they all seem to feature an integrated short-range infrared illuminator.
A quality riflescope
is the key to a successful day at the range or in the field. Tactical
rifle scopes bring distant targets and surrounding objects up
close and personal allowing safer, more accurate shooting. They gather
and utilize available light making it possible to shoot in lower light
conditions and allowing the hunter to hunt from dawn to dusk. Pairing
just the right riflescope
with your gun and ammunition will help you get the most out of each
and every shot. Selecting the right one for you needs involves a number
of considerations from image quality, magnification
and field of view to weight, bulk and ergonomics.
Choose a riflescope
that best fits the requirements of your particular sport.
What to look for in a riflescope?
There's an inverse relationship between the field
of view (FOV) and magnification
in a riflescope
- when magnification goes up,
FOV goes down. Don't get too hung up on
trying to find a high-magnification
night
vision rifle scope, particularly if you're looking at Gen1+
or Gen2+ scopes.
Instead, concentrate on a scope that features the widest possible
field of view. Remember, while high magnification
looks great on paper it won't do you an ounce of good if you can't
reasonably acquire the targets you're looking for.
Image Quality
It is crucial that the optical system of a riflescope
delivers as much light as possible to the eye of the shooter. The
brighter the image, the sharper the resolution,
and the clearer the shot. When selecting your scope, consider brightness,
clarity, resolution, power and
field-of-view. Also consider the integrity
of point-of-impact, precision adjustments, reticle
strength and durability.
Magnification
Low power riflescopes
are ideal at close range and for shooting moving targets. They provide
the most effective light management and produce a brighter sight picture
and wider field of view, even in low-light
conditions and thick brush. Select medium power for hunting big game
targets at medium range. High power tactical
rifle scopes are best for target shooting, when the target is
motionless and for varmints and other small game.
Power
Commonly a riflescope
will be expressed in a series of numbers such as 2.5-10x50
or 4x32.
The first number(s), in this case 2.5-10 or 4, is the power. Power
expresses the magnification as
a factor compared to the naked eye. So in a fixed power scope, such
as the 4x32,
the object in view is magnified 4 times. An object would appear to
be 4 times closer than it would with the naked eye. Therefore, a higher
number has a greater magnification.
Most tactical
rifle scopes sold today are variable power, such as the 3.5-10
mentioned above. This allows greater versatility, since in this case,
the shooter can vary the magnification
from 3.5 to up to 10, with infinite values in-between.
The power that you select depends on the kind of hunting you will
be doing. If you are planning on hunting in close cover, you will
want either a low power fixed scope such as a 4x or a variable that
goes down to 3.5x or even lower. This will give you a wider field
of view and allow you to acquire a target quickly in close cover.
On the other hand, if long range varmint or target shooting is in
your plans, you might want a scope that goes as high as 16x or even
20x. This will allow you to see small prairie dogs or the 10-ring
clearly at 400 yards. For all around hunting, a range of 3.5-10 or
4-12 will allow some serious range variation, while still dialing
down for close shots.
Objective
The second number in a riflescope,
such as the 50 in a 2.5-10x50,
is the diameter of the objective
lens in millimeters. A 50 designation means that the outer lens
is 50 mm in diameter. A larger number indicates a larger lens. Large
lenses are more bulky, but they also offer a bit larger field
of view and let in more light, which makes your image clearer
- especially in low light conditions.
The low light performance is due to the maximum exit
pupil offered by a larger objective. Exit
pupil is the size of the beam of light that leaves the scope.
The exit pupil can easily be calculated
(in mm) by dividing the diameter of the objective
lens by the power. Therefore, a 4x32
scope has an exit pupil of 8mm. On
a bright day, the human pupil will vary from 2mm at noon to 4mm later
in the day. When your eyes become adapted to dark conditions, such
as pre-dawn and after sunset, when big game are moving, the pupil
will vary from 5mm to a maximum of 9mm.
Minute of Angle (MOA)
Minute of Angle is a term to designate variances on a target at 100
yards distant. Most commonly, it is used to describe the adjustment
on a riflescope.
If riflescope's
adjustments are listed at "x" MOA, then for every click of the adjustment
knob, the bullet's point of impact will move "x" at 100 yards.
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