Picking the right riflescope

Introduction

For most shooters a simple traditional riflescope is all that is needed for a fun day at the range hunting, or plinking.  For others who are more into night hunting, Digital night vision riflescopes or Thermal riflescopes are what they need.  For this article, we will explore these scopes to see what best fits the shooter’s needs.

Traditional riflescopes

A traditional rifle scope is one that uses a series of lenses to magnify an image for the user.  The most common magnification range is 3-9 times magnification with the most common objective lens size being 40mm.  This is seen as 3-9x40.  Other common objective ranges are 4-16x, 2-10x, or 5-25x.  Common objective lens sizes are 40mm, 42mm, 44mm, and 50mm.  The last item one needs to consider is the size of the tube portion of the riflescope.  The most common sizes for tubes are 1 inch (25mm) or 30mm tubes.  The bigger the tube, the more light can be transmitted to the user’ eye.

Uses

There are a multitude of uses of traditional riflescopes The most common of which is hunting.  Most people will use a standard 3-9x40 or 4-16x42 riflescope for this application.  Another use for traditional riflescopes would be long range shooting.   For this application most shooters will be using rifle scopes with a higher magnification range such as 5-25 or even 10-40 times magnification.  The objective size can go anywhere from 50mm to 60mm as well.

Digital night vision

For those who are looking at getting into night hunting a digital night vision riflescope offers that opportunity without breaking the bank.   These units use a camera-based system that allows the users to see at night using infrared light. With a setup such as this, the user can generally see out to a couple hundred yards.  Scopes like Sightmark Wraith are perfect for this role. 

Thermal rifle scopes

Thermal riflescopes differ significantly from their night vision counter parts.  Instead of using cameras, these scopes use sensors designed to pick up heat. Scopes like the Pulsar Thermion XP50 LRF even have range finders.  These types of riflescopes are the most expensive but can assist the shooter in locating targets even in thick brush where digital night vision is limited. Most of the time, consumers using scopes like these are either varmint or hog hunting businesses.

Conclusion

There are many different types of riflescopes available to consumers to use.  Most people will be best served by using a traditional riflescope while others will be best served with Thermal or digital night vision. The customer will have to evaluate what type of shooting they will be doing and purchase accordingly. They can do this by asking themselves what the desired result will be.  Will it be recreational shooting, long range shooting, or hunting at night?

Once the customer has determined the type of shooting he or she wants to do, the customer can more easily select the type of scope needed for the application in mind.