The Most Important Factor in Choosing a Rifle Scope

There are lots of benefits to teaching Canadian Firearms Safety Courses and I teach about 40 per year with 12 students per class (PALcourse.ca has the class schedule). One of them is hearing great questions.

New shooters frequently want to know what rifle scope they should buy. Of course this question can be interpreted many ways: what manufacturer, what magnification, what size, tube diameter, etc. No first time shooter thinks to ask if they should buy a first or second focal plane scope!

My passion is taking first-time hunters on a mentored hunt. With 15 years experience taking anywhere from 6-15 first-timers per year along with other novices and minors who request my help, I have discovered some important priorities.

First, too much magnification makes target acquisition far too slow for novice hunters. I know they will turn their zoom to max and experience frustration for the first few years, until they learn to acquire targets at lower magnification and then zoom to a comfortable level. I encourage them to consider a 3-9x scope. It’s also likely they will lack the skill for a few years to shoot accurately past 200 yards. 9x is lots.

This link* is for those who are past the stage of buying a first scope and now might be capable of shooting to 500 yards or more. When one starts shooting further, focal plane and maximum magnification matter so first focal plane is a useful option.

For novices, you should be looking at 3-9x scopes about 40 mm diameter objective lens. These are always inexpensive, around $300 – $500 from most quality manufacturers. Whenever possible the reticle should have bullet drop compensation cross hatches on the reticle. Other than that, buy from a reputable shop and ask if they will mount the scope for you. Most will if you buy the scope and they will sell you mounts to go with it. 

Questions? Contact me. I have relationships with a couple of retailers and can steer you to where the staff are trustworthy. I can share my discount with you in a few of those stores.

*If your device doesn’t display the hyperlink above use this url https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/firearm-hunting/first-focal-plane-vs-second-focal-plane-rifle-scopes