Firearms Stack Exchange Archive

What to look for in a scope?

I apologize if this is off topic in advance.

I am currently awaiting my PAL (Canadian) to show up in the mail, and in the mean time I am trying to stock up on some supplies. Figured it was better to spread out the cost rather then all in one.

I am debating between a Tikka T3 or Rem 700 in .223. I’ve decided to purchase a scope ahead of time. What should I be looking for when evaluating a scope? For a .223, my reading tells me I’ll be shooting 200 to 300 yards, so a medium (short?) range scope would be best, but are there any other features I should be looking for beyond that?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1101

Features you want to look for are:

  1. A reticle design you like. It may be simple crosshairs or have some features for helping you lead a moving target, determine range, or compensate for range.

  2. Magnification. For 2-300 yards I wouldn’t go above 4x unless you’re strictly bench shooting. (Because of #3)

  3. Field of view. The downside to higher magnification is that you can see less in the scope, so you can concentrate really hard on that big, well-magnified ‘X’ and put a perfect shot onto your neighbor’s target, because you couldn’t see the target number. Similarly you can get a field of fur and not know what part of an animal the crosshairs are on.

  4. Clarity. You just have to look through the scope and see how clear the image is. Pay attention to what the image looks like close to the edge of the scope - that’s where poor optics will let you down.

  5. Light gathering. If you have a chance, compare some optics at dusk or dawn. One of the things that separates really good optics from other contenders is their ability to make the most of very little light.

  6. Adjustments. If you plan to shoot close to long range (both) target style adjustment knobs as well as fine (`1/4MOA) adjustments are nice. For 100-300 yards 1/2MOA is fine. (If you want fine adjustment buy a nicer scope - less expensive scopes that have fine adjustment frequently do not track consistently).

  7. Brand. I know brand really isn’t a feature, but it is a sort of guarantee. The name brands are guaranteed to be acceptable quality. A lot of ‘budget’ makers have entered the market in recent years and they can be hit or miss at best.

  8. Adjustment precision. Here’s one you probably won’t get to try until you’ve decided. If you want to evaluate how well a scope’s adjustments work you can shoot a ‘box’ - shoot a 3-shot group, adjust your scope 3 MOA right, shoot a 3-shot group, adjust your scope 3 MOA down, shoot a 3-shot group, adjust your scope 3 MOA left, shoot a 3-shot group. Adjust your scope 3 MOA up and shoot a final 3-shot group. A perfect scope (and competent shooter) should have a six-shot group and a perfect square made by the other 3-shot groups. It’s normally the 3rd and 4th groups that stray in a poor scope.

Answer 1106

Not at all off-topic; very good question.

You don’t mention if you’re interested in varminting, casual informal target shooting/plinking, or more organized shooting at a rifle range (or all of the above!). It is quite straightforward to shoot a .223 out to 600 yards/metres and get results good enough to enjoy the shooting. And with the right preparation and planning (mostly in the choice of barrel twist rate, and the bullet used), one can shoot a .223 out to 1000 yards, in competition, and get results good enough to win regional or national rife matches.

Most of my shooting is done on rifle ranges so this answer will be based on the kind of shooting that I do most (firing prone, with the rifle supported either by a rest/bipod or by a shooting jacket and sling, at 300 500 600 900 and 1000 yards). I have done a bit of standing shooting too but I find that my rifle moves around much more that way ;-)

For target shooting, with a well-supported rifle, more magnification always seems to be welcome (I’ve used 20X and 24X scopes and I’ve always wanted more; some of the top shooters these days are using 42X scopes). I find that magnification needed/desired does not change with range - if the style of shooting (well-rested prone shooting, in my case) finds that 30X is useful at 600 yards, it’ll also find 30X to be just as useful at 100yards (e.g. testing ammo) or at 1000 yards. If you want to shoot standing, or other sorts of “field” shooting, you will benefit from having a lower power scope or a variable power scope. As Gene mentioned there is a direct field-of-view vs. magnification tradeoff to be made. I have shot at 800 yards with a 4X scope and things look so small you can’t figure how it is that you are able to hit the target every time (but you can!).

For target shooting, most shooters seem to choose very fine reticles, to allow them greater precision in aiming. A very fine dot, or very fine crosshair, are some of the more common choices. Myself I prefer very heavy reticles, even when using very high magnification scopes for high precision target shooting (I find that a thick reticle is always easily visible, and even if the reticle is substantially larger than the size of the area you wish to place your bullets in, you can nevertheless aim to a much finer degree than the size of your reticle).

Both of the rifles you are considering are good choices. Of the two I would choose the Tikka, they are one of the best out of the box factory rifles. Not that you asked me but there are also some very good rifles made by Savage too (especially if you are looking for a factory rifle capable of competitively shooting 1000y).

In case you don’t know this, most provinces have Provincial Rifle Associations which enjoy free access to DND (military) ranges and offer very nice outdoor shooting programs from May to September every year, with shooting from 300y to 600y (and in some places to 1000y). If you’re interested in that sort of thing, let me know what province you’re in and I can send you some more info.


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