How to Choose a Long Eye Relief Scope

Choosing the right scope for your gun is an incredibly important choice. Make the wrong choice, and either your accuracy, shooting position flexibility or personal safety is likely to suffer. In the gun accessories industry, there are more choices available to the consumer than ever before. Knowing what to look for in a long eye relief scope before you walk into a store can help you perform a targeted search for those scopes that will suit you best.

Instructions

    • 1

      Consider your gun. More powerful rifles have more powerful recoil. If your scope doesn't offer enough eye relief, that means the butt of the scope is probably going to hit you in the face after shooting--hard. If you are just shooting a .22 caliber rifle, you are probably free to consider anything on the market. But if you are working with a powerful firearm, you need to search for scopes on the long end of the eye-relief spectrum.

    • 2

      Don't be swayed by visions of accurate half-mile shots. If you are looking for a long eye relief scope, you probably have a powerful gun. Just because that gun can shoot extremely long distances doesn't mean it is a good idea to get a scope that sights to the moon. Instead, consider the average spread of shot distance when you are in the field, and select a scope that fits into that range. The more powerful the scope, the shorter the eye relief. Don't overbuy on optics.

    • 3

      Look for a feature set that matches your most common use. If you are an open-field hunter and find yourself shooting in a variety of different terrains and postures, you will need to look at long eye relief scopes that offer a generous viewing angle and high degree of flexibility. If you are a competitive target shooter, you can afford a narrower viewing angle in exchange for higher precision. The same goes for flip caps, speed of attachment, etc. Don't buy a scope for a shooting or hunting style that isn't your own.

    • 4

      Ask if you can test the long eye relief scopes in the store once you have narrowed it down to three or four choices. All of the features and knowledge in the world cannot substitute for personally experiencing the performance of your long eye relief scope. A good gun retailer likely will have a shooting range for this purpose, and you should make sure you have time in your schedule to test each one before buying. Try to use a rifle similar to the one you will be shooting with so that you can make sure the eye relief is sufficient. If possible, shoot from two or three of your most common hunting postures. Recoil can vary greatly depending on the position, and this will help you get an accurate measure of how long the eye relief of a scope really is.