Understanding Rifle Scope Basics

Hunting season approaches once again (nicely, firearms deer season anyway) and our attention turns to our weapon of selection. For several, that selection is a rifle and most of those rifles will want to be equipped with a scope. Just before you run out to the store and get the very first rifle scope you see, it's important to understand the fundamentals.

A rifle scope is piece of hunting optics that magnifies a target. This is crucial for accurate shot placement. It magnifies an object by bending light rays and directing them by means of a series of lenses inside the scope. The lower the magnification power of the scope, the shorter that scope is going to be. All this is excellent information, but how do you know how to choose the proper scope?

Very first, identify the sort of hunting you will be performing. Clearly, if you hunt where your target will be 50 to 75 yards away most of the time, a lower power rifle scope is in order. Nevertheless, if you strategy to shoot over lengthy distances like 200 yards or much more, you will need a high power scope. The magnification power of the scope brings the target closer to your aiming eye.

For numerous hunting applications, a well-liked rifle scope is a 3x-9x scope. This indicates that if the scope is set at the lowest power (3x), the target will appear 3 times as big as it would to your naked eyeball. So, if you see a target that looks like it is 3 inches tall with just your eyes, the scope will make it look to be 9 inches tall. Set the scope to the highest power (9x) and that exact same target now appears to be 27 inches tall in the scope.

Some of the parts of a scope are:

• The reticle - This generally resembles a plus sign (+), the center of which is where you need the shot to hit. Some have mil dots to permit the shooter to adjust manually for high winds or other conditions.
• Eye piece - This holds the ocular lens
• Ocular lens - The lens that is closest to your eye.
• Eye relief - The distance in between your eye and the ocular lens as you see a full field of view in the scope. The further away this is, the much better the scope.
• Eye bell - Holds the eye piece.
• The objective lens - The lens at the end of the rifle scope furthest from your eye.
• Power ring (adjusts the magnification)
• Adjustments for elevation (up/down) and windage (left/correct).

These are all the basic functions that "most" rifle scope has. By understanding the differences and what the fundamentals are for rifle scopes, you can make a much better informed decision on what to purchase. Combine the functions you require with the kind of hunting you will be performing to buy the optimum efficiency out of a rifle scope.