How to choose the best rifle scope for your needs

With different varieties of rifle scopes available, you may wonder, how to choose the best rifle scope for your needs. Well, the first question to ask yourself is what you are going to do with your rifle. Target shooting and deer hunting may call for different types of rifle scopes. If you do not choose the right one, you may miss a medal or a good hunt. Here are some criteria, which you should consider before choosing your scope.

Magnification

Most rifle scopes now come with magnification allowing you to see the target object from a closer distance than it really is. This is why rifle scopes are called telescopic sights. A rifle scope can have a fixed magnification power or a variable one. If you have a scope with fixed magnification power, you may lose out on a target that is very far to you. Therefore, it is probably better to invest into a scope that will allow you to adjust the magnification according to the distance between you and your target.

Also, for short range shooting, you can choose a 3 to 9 or 4 to 12 magnification range (the lowest power will make the target appear 4 times bigger and the highest power, 12 times). For long-range shootings, you will need even more powerful magnification. Otherwise, you can use a fixed magnification scope with very high power for they are simpler to use.

Reticle

The reticles are crosshair shapes superimposed on scope lenses, to help you aim at your target more precisely. Reticles can be either etched on made of wire. Also, reticle shapes can vary from the classic fine crosshair (‘+’) shape to the German shape, target dot or SVD type. If you are hunting in the forests, where there are lights and shades, you should choose a reticle that is thicker, such as a duplex crosshair, as it will not get lost in the background. In a snowy region, a fine crosshair shape will do just fine.

Light transmission

Since shooting is an outdoor activity, until you are doing indoor target practicing, weather condition can influence it a great deal. If you are shooting in a stormy weather or at night, it will be impossible to see your reticle unless the scope of your lens allows a good amount of light transmission. The light gathering ability of the lens depends on how much amount of light it allows to pass on to your eye through the scope.

The best of the scopes will have 98% light transmission, but anything above 90% is considered quite good. If you are hunting in low light condition, then you will need a scope with light transmission of 90% or above. Some scopes also provide LED-illuminated reticles to get rid of the light transmission problem altogether.