The Best Rifle Scope

How do you know which is the best? The scope must have the best optical balance to fit 'your' needs. Think about when, where, and how you hunt.

Magnification is the place to start, but it's not all we should think about. Magnification can do as much harm as good. I wonder how many hunters have missed a unexpected short range shot because of too much magnification.

It happened to me, and I keep my scope set to low power when hunting.

I stopped walking and "cranked the power up" to view at a distant hillside.
I didn't see the nice buck lying behind a cedar tree thirty yards to my right. He was probably going to let me walk by, but when I stopped he got spooked.

My scope was only 7x and I had him behind the cross-hairs just as he bolted. Had the scope been set at 2x, even 4x, I believe I could have found him a split-second sooner and made the shot! I couldn't follow him bounding away with the 7x either.

Will more magnification help you make a long shot. Maybe, but a better idea is to be a good enough hunter to get within reasonable range. I'm not a fan of those who brag about long shots on big game. Hunting and animals deserve more respect than that, in my opinion.

What's the best rifle scope?
First a couple of extreme examples:

1. Going into thick brush after dangerous game an African guide may use a large caliber double rifle with no scope. He knows he could be forced to stop a charging animal very close with no time to aim. He could be forced to shoot in a fraction of a second instinctively.

The hunter who hired him is more likely to have a large caliber bolt-action with a scope. That scope needs little magnification so that he too can shoot fairly quickly. Low power offers a wide field-of-view, less critical eye-relief, and faster target acquisition.

2. The opposite extreme would be hunting tiny varmints at extreme range. For this you need magnification, a 12x, 16x, 20x, or even more. Higher magnification forces compromise in the other optical attributes.

Such scopes will be big! They will have a very small field-of-view, a more critic eye relief, and may get dark in less than bright light.

But for such varmints you seldom need to shoot fast. Such a big unwieldy scope is not much of a problem. Your small caliber varmint rifle doesn't have much recoil so a scope with short eye relief is no big thing. You may not need to hunt in the low light of the morning or evening.

Most big game hunting falls well between these two extremes.
The best rifle scope should also fall well between these extremes. We sometimes complicate things, 90% of all big game hunting could be done with an ordinary (Boring!) 4x scope. (Still not the best rifle scope!)

Think about your hunting, then be honest about what you need.

For me a 4x is ok, but I'd be happier with a 2x-6x variable scope.
It would be about the same size as a 4x. It would sit close and low on my rifle with it's smallish 30mm objective lens. I'd have the 2x setting for close action, the 4x when walking in open areas, and 6x for longer shots; simple.

I was not surprised when I couldn't find a 2x6 among the numerous scopes on the B&H or Cabelas Websites. Try finding balanced hunting binoculars: 6x30's, or 7x35's, or even 8x40's. Many of the binoculars are not a good optical balance, and often too powerful for easy hand-held use.

There are many 3x-9's, 4x-12's, 1.75x-5's... rifle scopes, but where are the 2x-6's? Maybe my best rifle scope is simply too boring to sell :-(

Isn't a 3x9 better; it's the best seller? No! Not in my opinion.
It's fine most of the time, especially in open areas, or if you do some varmint hunting with the same rifle.

The 3x9 problems:

1. The need for a big 45mm objective lens to maintain brightness at 9x. That's a big scope on a hunting rifle. Many are made with with smaller objective lens, but the image will darken as you zoom in past 6x.
(A problem for early or late day hunting.)

2. The 3x setting will have less field-of-view than 2x. Yes, it's most often good enough, but we're talking about the best hunting scope for big game.

3. I often set a scope at 4x, or I tend to use the lowest or highest setting;
9x is too much. If you actually need 9x magnification for big game, stalk closer, or wait for a better opportunity.

Why is the 2x6 the best rifle scope for most big game hunting?

1. A 2x6 can balance well physically on a rifle, and optically to our needs.

2. To maintain brightness a 6x only needs a normal size 30mm objective lens. Such a scope can be small enough to sit low and balance well on most hunting rifles.

3. This 2x-6x best rifle scope should be relatively easy to build as a high quality, balanced, optical instrument. Eye relief, field-of-view, brightness, physical size, weight, (cost) all relatively easy to balance in this magnification range.

Think about your hunting. Are you more likely to have quick short range shots, long precise shots, or a mix of short and medium range shots like most of us. Do you hunt in the dim light early or late in the day. If you honestly consider what is best you may come to the same conclusions I did.

A 2x7 is likely the best balanced scope you'll find today.
Click on the scope to shop!

For more on optics read rifle scopes, Binoculars, Game Cameras.

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