Choosing a Long Range Shooting Scope

Choosing a scope is likely the most important Long Range Shooting purchase decision.

In summary, get the very best glass you can afford, and by glass, we are talking about a rifle scope, spotting scope, range finder, a binocular, and more.

"Glass" (or the differing optics available for use to assist our long range shooting) is a big topic of debate in the community.

The type of choices you make here are driven by your mission. 

If you are target shooting, you may well choose different options to long range hunting for all the reasons mentioned before, particularly portability and weight.

If you are shooting off the bench with a heavy rifle, adding a heavy, large scope is not a big issue. But if you are mountain hunting and have to carry the rifle system all day, then you may want a smaller and lighter scope option.

You will also want a more proven rugged scope for the field than for target shooting. Also, if you use the glass for hunting, it's likely you will want glass that is effective in much lower light conditions - all these things drive the choices you make.

There are many manufacturers of optics, and for this article we will be illustrating by using a few differing manufacturers models, but the choice is yours based on your budget and use case.

Indeed, you may well have several optics, depending on the rifle you wish to mount them on and the activity for that rifle system.

As a rule of thumb, when considering your budget and with sub-MOA rifles being abundant today, you may well spend multiple times more on the glass (scope, spotting scope, range finder, etc.) than the rifle.

The rifle scope is a key part of your long range shooting system. It's critical it works well when you need it, that means if you are in a competition, in the field, or just at the range.

So buying a good quality brand is important - even if you have to wait to acquire a better product vs. a cheaper option. 

It's possible for a scope to lose it's zero - A big problem, as well as having tracking issues (i.e. the scope is not tracking the exact change from the turrets to the point of impact on the target) along with general quality differences between a high end scope and a low end one.

For general use, this is way less of a concern than with long range shooting where everything needs to be as reliable and as accurate as possible.

Buying scopes

The first consideration is that it must be fit for purpose so it relates to your mission for this scope - primarily, are you using it in the field or for target shooting only? 

The next and one of the biggest considerations is what reticle design do you want to use? 

If you to shoot longer ranges then you need a good reticle. You will also need to get good at reading the reticle and BDC checks in the scope.

We suggest you buy Front (First) Focal Plane.

Scopes without FFP are a pain for long range vs. quick dialing on turrets (with SFP you need to do all the BDC calculations, only on full power).

Get a scope with zero stops for an easy return to zero. Second Focal Plane (SFP) is fine for most applications where you don't use a BDC reticle or are within 300 yds. but this course is about long range, so avoid SFP scopes even though they are cheaper.

MILs vs. MOA reticle is another choice you will then want in all scopes, and you will also want matching reticle and turrets (yes, they can be mismatched... which is a real issue).

Also, think about the weight, ruggedness, size, and ease of use for the scope if using it in the field - this is the real test of a scope, as it will need to perform in many more conditions and will likely get abused a great deal more than simple trips to the range and back.

Remember that the optical quality of the rifle scope plays a larger role than objective size. A rifle scope with a medium objective lens with excellent, pure, high-end glass will always out-perform the scope with large objective lens with poor quality glass.

Finally, when choosing a manufacturer, look for tight manufacturing tolerances, a good warranty, 100% quality control, and superior customer service.

So as the features of a long range scope are broader than a basic hunting or range scope, you need repeatability and quality in every aspect of the setup.