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How to choose the best rifle scope for your precision airgun or rifle

How to choose the best rifle scope for your precision airgun or rifle

Choosing the best rifle scope for your precious rifle or pellet gun is not a simple task. Firstly ask yourself what type of shooting do you do mainly with the rifle in question. If target shooting is your thing you may want to consider a higher magnification scope so you can see your shots on the paper but as you are not likely to be shooting at low light you probably wont need a scope with a large objective lens. The advantage of a scope with a smaller objective lens is that the scope can be mounted lower and closer to the barrel in low or medium height ring mounts.

A good all rounder

The 3-9×40 rifle scope is one of the most popular scope specifications in the world and this is for good reason. The 3-9 means that the magnification is adjustable from 3 times upto 9 times. The 40 means thans that the objective (front) lens is 40mm. This is not the overall outside diameter of the scope but the diameter of the lens inside the scope. This needs to be considered when choosing the best ring mounts for your scope as the overall diameter of the objective lens may be around 47mm depending on which brand you have purchased. This can make the difference between using a low or needing a medium ring mount. Increasingly rifle scopes are coming onto the market with larger magnification ranges and larger objective lenses. There are even scopes out there with 60mm objective lenses that require a high or extra high ring mounts. These super scopes tend to have 30mm or 34mm diameter body tubes.

Tube Size

A lot of 3-9X40 and similar specification scopes feature a 1” inch diameter body tube but larger scopes with higher magnification ranges are often 30mm. As far as light transmission goes this does not make that much difference but the larger tubed rifle scopes tend to have more turret adjustment so adjustable ring mounts are less likely to be required.  Rifle scopes with a 25mm / 1 inch diameter body tube tend to be less expensive and for the average user will probably suit their needs very well. 

Magnification

How do you choose the best magnification range (zoom) for your rifle scope ? If you are shooting at a maximum of say 50 yards then there is know point in having a rifle scope with 20 times magnification as the image though the scope is likely to be blurred unless your parallax is adjusted to exactly the right position so you will obviously have to make sure your scope does have adjustable parallax. Adjusting the parallax to exactly the right range may be possible when target shooting but it is not practical in most hunting situations so go for a lower magnification if hunting at quite short ranges with a .22 rimfire or airgun is your thing.


Scope Length

If you choose a particularly long rifle scope then you may have issues getting the correct eye relief. One way to move your scope forward along the scope rail is to use reach forward or extended ring mounts. This type of ring mount can increase your eye relief by around 1” inch which is often enough to obtain a comfortable shooting position.  This type of mount is often referred to as a cantilever mount.

Rifle Scope Brands

There are many brands of rifle scope available on the market but two of the best value for money are Hawke and Bushnell. Hawke in particular produce a comprehensive range of scopes at different price points to suit most shooters needs. If you have a budget which stretches into the thousands of dollars brands such as Nightforce, Zeiss and Schmidt & Bender may be a good option. The same rule applies to buying a scope as applies to buying ring mounts – buy the best quality you can afford.

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Height of Scope Mount Required

In each product catergory we state a maximum (upto) objective lens diameter dimension. Due to both rifle and scope designs varying this can only be used as a guide. If you are unsure that the height of the Sportsmatch scope mount you have chosen will be sufficient to clear your rifle scopes objective lens from the barrel of your rifle, we suggest (prior to purchase) you check. The way you calculate the clearance is by halving the overall outside diameter of your rifle scopes objective lens and then deducting half the rifle scopes body tube diameter. For scopes with a 1″ inch diameter body tube diameter this would mean deducting 12.7mm, 15mm for scopes with a 30mm diameter body tube and 17mm for 34mm scopes. This dimension then gives the figure comparible with the ‘A’ dimension that is shown below. The amount our ‘A’ dimension is greater than the figure you have calculated is the amount of clearance your scopes objective lens will be clear of your rifles barrel (dont forget to allow around 2mm for the scope covers). Calculating your rifle scopes clearance in this way does assume your dovetail or Picatinny rail is not raised above or below your rifles barrel. Please consider that rifles with grooved receivers such as some models of airgun and .22 rimfire rifle will mean the scope sits lower than a rifle with a raised dovetail or Picatinny base fitted. Something else to consider is that some rifles with a high or adjustable cheek pieces may require high or extra scope mounts so that your eye is in line with the rifle scope and your head is kept in an upright comfortable position.