What is your budget?
Once you determine how much you want to spend on your scope, you will be able to narrow down the options significantly. Some experts say it is ideal to spend the same amount on your scope as you did on the original rifle. This may be overkill depending on your needs. Try to stay within your initial budget to avoid overspending on nice to have features that you will probably not use. Amazon is a good option to find the best price for scopes as there are often multiple sellers listed on the product page that are competing to offer the best price.
Decide on the magnification level you need
The scope specifications provide a range of magnification available to the shooter. The magnification can range from 3x to 80x. If you don’t need to adjust your magnification, you can get a fixed scope and save some money. Or if you don’t need magnification at all, a red-dot scope is a low-cost option that can serve your needs.
Understand the terminology
Learning what the important terms mean will help you decipher the specifications and product descriptions when choosing a scope. Check our top 5 rifle scope list.
BDC (Bullet Drop Compensator)
BDC or Bullet Drop Compensator helps you adjust your shot by predicting how much a bullet will drop before it reaches the target. Using a BDC scope can prevent errors from having to adjust the elevation knob and have gained widespread popularity. Most brands offer a scope with BDC.
Reticles
Reticles are the crosshairs or target pattern that is displayed on the lens to help you focus on your target. Many scopes can illuminate the reticle so they can be viewed in low-light situations.
Eye Relief
The distance from your shooting eye to the rear of the scope lens. A higher magnification scope usually has a shorter eye relief.
MOA (Minute of Angle)
Minute of Angle is a unit of measurement to adjust your scope for bullet drop.
Turrets
Turrets are knobs for adjusting the barrel of the rifle up, down, left, and right to compensate for environmental factors such as wind and elevation. Typically the turrets should have an audible click when adjusted. Turrets should allow you to rotate back to zero when you have sighted your rifle.
Parallax
Parallax is the small shift of the target that you perceive when your eye moves away from the center of the eyepiece. This can affect accuracy, especially at long distances. A parallax dial can eliminate the parallax error and keep the reticle from moving when your eye moves.
Red Dot
A red dot sight, also known as a reflex sight allow you to aim your rifle without closing one eye like you would with iron sights. With both eyes open you will have greater peripheral vision and be able to acquire your target more quickly.
Lens Coatings
Lens coatings serve multiple functions including protecting the lens from scratches, smudges, and limiting light reflection. Some coating options include coated, fully coated, multi coated, and fully multi coated.
Exit pupil
A formula to calculate how much light is being transmitted through your scope. The formula is the objective lens size in milimeters divided by the magnification level. So a 40mm objective scope with 10x magnification will equal an exit pupil of 4. Since the exit pupil is larger at low power, it is easier to see at low power in low light conditions.
Objective bell
The end of the scope, opposite from the shooter’s eye.
