Different Scopes For Different Folks Michael Innis
“If you’re shopping for a scope for your rifl e, it’s defi - nitely a buyer’s market!” Over the years, I’ve read many reports that have been
written about the various aspects of rifl e scope selection. Most of these reports seem to be well-researched and are full of rather fascinating technical facts about the various pieces of optical equipment being scrutinized. But they all appear to have been written purely from the author’s perspective. What does he or she think is important in a rifl e scope? I wanted to fi nd out what features of the scope are important in keying the buying decision. When a shooter walks into a retail store that sells scopes, what are the things that they are looking for in this purchase that they’re contemplating? To attempt to get at the core of this issue, I questioned a fairly large group of shooting enthusiasts and put together a stable of different scopes for them to see, touch, and use, up close and personal. In my mix of testers there were “big game” hunters, var-
mint hunters, and target hunters (or shooters). The fi rst ques- tion I asked of all the participants was: What is the single most important feature or function you look for in a rifl e scope? (I also told them that, for test purposes, the cost of the scope should not be considered. Just tell me about the features you fi nd desirable — your “purchase triggers.”) Of the nineteen different people asked this question, seventeen answered, “Clarity of image.” One answered, “Clarity of image in low- light situations.” One answered, “Visibility of reticle in low- light conditions or dark background conditions.” All of the interviewees assumed that the scopes would
be waterproof, fog proof, and rugged enough to stand up to an accidental fall while in the fi eld. And, in a retail store, while shopping for a scope, if you begin pounding it on the fl oor or putting it under the water fountain, chances are you’ll be escorted rather briskly to the nearest exit. So these features have to be taken, to some extent, on good faith and the repu- tation of the manufacturer. (I did some testing on some of these categories. See below.) When I questioned them about such things as “ease of adjustment,” and “repeatability,” the big game hunters said, basically, that they buy a good scope, mount it, sight it in, and never mess with it again except right before hunting season. They make adjustments to the scope only if the gun does not appear to be grouping well. The var- mint hunters were a bit more fussy. Their targets are generally smaller, they frequently tend to attempt longer shots than most big game hunters, and they hunt all year round. They, as a group, tended to work with the scopes more frequently. To them, such things as ease of adjustment (without tools), and repeatability were minor drivers in their scope selection process. The last group of shooters was the target hunters. They, of the three distinct sectors of interviewees, were the most particular, the most demanding, and the ones who spent the most time each year sitting behind the butt stock of their favorite fi rearms, squinting through the heat waves, swear- ing at errant wind currents, and throwing lead downrange. They put great emphasis on repeatability and ease of adjust-
This scope jig was used for some tests and reduced the number of times it was necessary to mount and remount all the test scopes. It also allowed the crew of testers to play around with eye relief and train the scopes around to different targets with ease.
The author is here putting a scope through its paces.
The shooting table was cluttered with scopes, scope jig, and rifl es.
www.varminthunter.org Page 65
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