Welcome to Riflescope Choices, this site is here to provide you with helpful information about riflescopes and hunting that you won’t find elsewhere on the web. The only riflescopes that are featured on this site are the ones that are top rated by consumers and forums on the internet. Only the scopes that work best in a practical situation are featured on this site, and these are then organized into the top ten riflescopes from each manufacturer.
This way, if you are looking for the best rifle scopes from a particularly reputable manufacturer, then you will be able to find them quickly. In each review there are explanations about the best places and uses of the riflescope under examination. If, for example you are searching for the best whitetail deer hunting scopes then the scopes that perform best in that situation will have that mentioned in their descriptions in the top ten riflescopes articles.
Riflescopes made by manufacturer’s including those below are featured on this site:
- Burris
- Bushnell
- Eotech
- Leupold
- Nikon
- Redfield
- Simmons
- Weaver
- Zeiss
How to Choose a Riflescope
If you are looking for a guide to help choose the riflescope that is right for you, or if you are new to riflescopes, then we have the perfect guide for you. On this site you will find a 4-part guide covering everything you need to know about riflescopes and how to distinguish between them.
The ‘How to Choose a Riflescope’ 4 part guide is an easy to follow practical informational article for everyone from beginners to experts to learn more about riflescopes and their best practical applications.
Features in the guide include:
- A detailed run down of the anatomy of riflescopes
- In depth explanation about the inner workings of riflescopes
- Explanation of common terms used when speaking about riflescopes, good for beginners
- How to pick a magnification based on where you use a riflescope
- Best tips on properly mounting a scope
- Tips on using a riflescope in the field
Excerpt from Part 1
“Riflescopes are becoming used in more and more applications in conjunction with many different firearms, not only rifles, but shotguns and handguns. This is because it’s much easier to aim down a scope than it is to line up using the iron sights on a gun. Riflescopes themselves, are becoming more and more powerful, and are starting to have more complicated features. These features are being used to distinguish between them.”
If you are thinking about getting a riflescope but don’t understand some of the terminology, or feel you may be mislead into buying a more high tech or powerful scope than you need, then this article should bring some clarity to your situation.
Prices of Riflescopes
If you already know what your budget is for your new riflescope then we have a category that offers articles based on best performing riflescopes within a price category.Featured in these articles will be a riflescope that performs best in each hunting situation, whitetail deer hunting scopes, varmint hunting, turkey hunting etc.
The price categories we are preparing include, best riflescopes for:
- Under $100
- Under $250
- $250-$500
- Under $800
- $800+
We’re here to provide the most detailed information possible on the different models of rifle scope available. We will be providing the specifications of many riflescopes and including what other purchasers of these riflescopes have said after using the riflescope in the field.
As we are in a stage of developing the Riflescope Choices site the content will grow rapidly and we encourage you to check in every so often to see what new reviews we have added to the site.
Variable Power Riflescopes
In the variable power riflescopes category you will find riflescope comparisons within the same magnification ranges. So the best riflescopes at a certain magnification range will be shown, and then you can pick between them. There are articles featuring comparisons of scopes with magnification ratios of, 1-5x, 3-9x, 4-15x and 4-24x.
The magnification of the riflescope that you buy should be suited to the use you have in mind for it. A quick guide to the different ranges and their uses is shown below:
- 1-5x Low power riflescopes are best used with shotguns and hunting in woods for deer or for turkey slug hunting.
- 3-9x medium power scopes are suitable for a wider range from brush to further afield targets. These are your general scopes for whitetail deer hunting.
- 4-15x scopes are medium to high zoom scopes that are best used for varmint hunting and open plains shooting.
- 4-24x high power scopes have the highest magnification settings and are best for competition shooting where you have time a lot of time to set the scope up right for a particular distance.
Fixed Power Scopes
In the fixed power scopes category you will find articles comparing the best scopes with set magnifications. These scopes are good for beginners as they are slightly less complex to use compared to the variable power scopes.
The zoom ranges that have their own articles are the:
- 2x – Best for close range shotgun or less than 100 yard shots can be made better using a scope of this power. Usually set to be parallax free within 100 yards.
- 4x – scopes are used for deer hunting in woods.
- 15x – these scopes can be used for long range varmint shooting.
- 24x – Recommended for competition shooting only due to need for extremely fine tuning at that high magnification setting.
Find out more about variable and fixed power scopes in our ‘How to Choose a Riflescope’ guide.
Types of Reticle
Although not a category, after going through the internet we didn’t find a lot about the individual reticles that you can have paired onto a scope. So within each of the riflescope reviews there is a description of what the reticle that is on the scope is best used for. Here is a picture of the how many different types of reticles exist within just one manufacturers range of scopes.
We aim to have you understanding what you are buying and this extends into how to use the reticle on your scope. There will be a guide to reticles put up on this site which will fully explain the terms used in describing reticles and the best uses of each of the individual reticles from the different manufacturers. Until that guide is up, there will be sufficient explanation within each of the riflescope reviews about the reticles.
General Things To Look For
The basic features that you should be looking for in any riflescope are that it is waterproof, tried and tested, and has a lifetime guarantee. If a manufacturer is offering a lifetime guarantee then you can be sure of the quality of the riflescope in question.
Always Store Your Firearm Safely in a Secure Gun Safe
Please ensure that any firearm that you have around the house is stored safely in a lockable purpose made gun or pistol safe. Gun safety is extremely important to any owner of firearms.