Rifle scopes have been used for a long time historically speaking and are still very much a firearm essential accessory today. Many shooters and arms enthusiasts who are relatively new to the hobby or task often struggle with selecting the right kind of scopes for their rifles.
A question that often comes up within beginner and intermediate arms enthusiast circles alike is; can you have too much magnification on your scope?
The Basics of Scope Magnification
Just to be clear, we’re going to elaborate on scope magnification a little. Rifle scopes are designed to make distant targets look closer hence helping with aim. The number on a rifle scope is what tells us how powerful the scope is or to what degree magnification is possible.
You have scopes offering different levels of magnification including high magnification, middle magnification and low magnification optics. You might think that if you purchase a single high magnification scope, you’re good to go all round but it doesn’t quite work like that.
Different Strokes for Different Scopes
The reason you have so many distinctive scope types and magnification power categories is because scopes are designed to improve accuracy and that takes being accurate. For this reason, different magnification scopes are made to perfectly suit different shooting purposes.
If you’re someone practicing target shooting long range or are sniping for the military from a vantage point, it makes perfect sense to opt for a high magnification scope. On the flipside, if you’re someone on the ground, hunting and tracking or shooting targets short range, a high magnification scope will indeed be overkill. Furthermore, it’s not the best idea.
Though you may be able to see a closer range target just fine with a few adjustments to your high magnification scope, there are other problems. High magnification scopes greatly decreases your field of vision. Further, they reduce the light entering your eye which means you might need to stray more to see.
Take what you Need and Leave the Rest
The thing is, high magnification scopes are great long range, but if you’re shooting long range, low and middle magnification optics are far better. Keeping this in mind and answering the question above; yes, you can have too much magnification!
The most advisable course of action is to be clear on what your specific shooting requirements are and equip your rifle accordingly. High magnification scopes are also more expensive so if you’re not shooting long range, think about whether you want one.
Winding Down
Now that you know what is what, you can go about selecting a new rifle scope! If you want to buy rifle scopes we’ve got a variety of optics in a range of magnifications for you to choose from. We also offer other rifle accessories, so feel free to check out some quality gear and get right to it!
