Click here to see the Best Long Range Scopes available!
At present, quite a lot of firearm enthusiasts utilize optical sighting devices or riflescopes (as opposed to open sights) on their shotguns, handguns or pistols, and rifles. That’s because scopes, especially long range scopes, make the act of shooting and getting targets more convenient and simple.
With that in mind, which among the following scopes in this review is the Best Long Range Scope around? It depends. Keep on reading to find out. It’s all about improving your accuracy and chances for bagging your game or hitting even from afar. If you’re a soldier, a long-range scope is just the equipment you need to keep yourself safe from enemy fire while getting them one by one from a controlled distance.
A Handy Review of Different Long Range Scopes
A scope that’s not good at reducing the parallax effect or has bad eye relief is the kind of scope you should avoid. You can depend on a scope in making your aim hit closer to home thanks to them making your target seem larger, making aiming your gun easier through a telescopic viewfinder plus reticle for added aiming assistance.You can use them for hunting, shooting down clay pigeons, and getting rid of varmints. Therefore, choose these versatile scopes wisely.
Click the image for Nikon Buckmaster prices and reviews!
Nikon Buckmasters 6-18x40mm Mildot
This $275 beaut isn’t unbelievably cheap; it’s actually unbelievably cost-effective in the sense that you’re getting a lot out of that $275 scope. This long-range scope has huge value thanks to its mil dot reticle, which is exclusively found in this model and any product sold through the MidwayUSA.com website. Cent for cent, dollar for dollar, you’ll acquire a quality long-ranger scope that you can use for camouflaged hunting or simple sniping exercise against all sorts of game or even varmints.
It might not have the best glass and lenses included, but it’s still pretty good considering its price. It particularly shines in terms of MOA turret adjustments, which more than justifies its price point. With a 1″ scope tube and a 40 millimeter objective, this small scope packs a lot of punch.
Click the image for Leupold Mark AR prices and reviews!
Leupold Mark AR 6-18x40mm Mildot
Here’s another good long-range scope within the $500 to $1,000 range for the budget-wise gunmen out there. On the street, it costs about $550 more or less. It’s yet another 40 millimetre, 1″ tube scope that’s petite in size yet full of special specs and features, almost to the point that you’d swear that mobile phone miniaturization technology has extended its grasp unto riflescopes.
You can even outshoot shooters with this scopeby hitting at 1,350 yards on a rifle setup with its assistance. It’s no Nightforce, but at $550, it’s worthwhile buy with requisite MOA turret adjustments and a mildot reticle. The scope is quite capable for a product of its price range, such that you wouldn’t probably balk if it were priced higher. As it currently is, it’s quite the steal even if it isn’t considered a high-end scope and has at most good glass.
Click the image for Leupold Mark 4 prices and reviews!
Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 6.5-20x50mm Mildot
Speaking of getting huge value for your money, theLeupold Mark 4 LR/T 6.5-20x50mm Mildot is a great scope with glass improvements over the previous long-range scopes, thus justifying its $1,000-1,500 value. You can acquire this state-of-the-art scope for about $1,300 if you were to shop around for it. However, cost-effectiveness isn’t its only strong suit.
Rather than the cheapness of the price justifying lower standards, it’s more of a scope that has high standalone value that makes its price all the more a bargain, if not an outright steal. It’s an improvement in every way compared to the Nikon Buckmasters and Leupold Mark AR 6 with its increase elevation adjustment range, 50 millimeter objective, a 30-millimeter tube, and improved glass.
Click the image for Bushnell Elite Tactical G2 prices and reviews!
Bushnell Elite Tactical 3.5-21×50 G2DMR
As for theBushnell Elite Tactical, it’s a $1,400 value riflescope that has gotten quite popular because of its wide range and impressive specs, like the 3.5x magnification it automatically has on the low end and a high 21x magnification (with parallax safeguards) at top end maximum magnification as well as its quality optics.
Its reticle is like the Eye of Horus at that. What that means is that you’ll get to adjust your aim easier with a different reticle shape that was designed in conjunction with G.A. Precision or GAP in mind. It’s also a good partner with the Precision Rifle series. If you were to compare it side-by-side with the Schmidt & Bender or Nightforce NXS, you can tell it’s not the same class. Nevertheless, it can still outclass many other scopes within its price range or even a little above it in terms of utility.
Click the image for NightForce NXS 5.5 prices and reviews!
Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50mm MOAR
The Nightforce NXS is a good addition to the $1,500 to $2,500 range of riflescope, otherwise known as mid-price-range long-range scopes. On the streets and shops, you can get your hands on an NXS for about $1,770. The price might fluctuate between the time of this writing and you reading this review in short notice. Regardless, it comes complete with high-speed turrets, 56 millimetre objective, and low-light utility.
The main claim to fame of the Nightforce NXS is its image clarity. While Nikon is the riflescope maker that also has ties with camera and camera scope manufacturing, it’s Nightforce NXS that has high-definition image clarity for its long-range product that’s akin to the telescopic scope offerings of Nikon. It’s not as clear as Schmidt & Benders, but it’s clear enough to get some fairly skilled shooters some high quality kills or shots from even the longest of distances or the poorest of lighting conditions.
Click the image for NightForce ATACR 5-25×56 prices and reviews!
Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56mm
Meanwhile, Nightforce also offers the Nightforce ATACR for $2,300. This more expensive version of the Nightforce NXS that still falls within the $1,500 to $2,500 price range provides a 34 millimeter tube that’s about 4 millimeters bigger than the 30 millimeter tube of the NXS. Meanwhile, its glass is ED, which is also a little better than the NXS model and justifies the price jump of about $530.
Some gunners or gun owners might argue that the difference of NXS and ATACR specs-wise is miniscule at best and doesn’t entail a price jump from $1,770 to $2,300. Some of them might even be willing to trade off their ATACR for the NXS series. Regardless, all Nightscope products are renowned for their tracking and ability to take rugged use.
Click the image for Vortex Razor HD prices and reviews!
Vortex Razor HD 5-20×50 EBR-3 MRAD
The Vortex line is another popular long-ranger riflescope line that’s well-known for its high-definition precision, especially in light of its propriety feature of razor-sharp HD imagery (hence its name Razor HD). It has made a big splash in the hunting and sniper community, which is why the Precision Rifle Series regularly feature at least a couple or more Vortex scopes in its finals.
It costs about $2,200 and is the best riflescope of the list aside from a Schmidt & Bender, which costs double what the Vortex Razor HD’s price is. If you’re not willing to spend an extra $1,500 to get a Schmidt & Bender, then this is the closest you can get to Schmidt & Bender quality at roughly half the price or even more or less a fraction of the price. It’s impressive even without the comparison.
Click the image for Schmidt Bender 5-25×56 prices and reviews!
Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine
If money is no object, then you should definitely give S&B a shot (pardon the pun). It’s within the $2,500 and beyond price range, costing about a whopping $3,700 out in the street. It’s the absolute best sniper scope that money can buy for sure, though. The only one to come close is the Vortex Razor, but even that falls short. You can buy a cheaper version of this, the Schmidt Bender PMII 3-20×50 H2CMR, if you wish to settle for lower-power magnification.
The Schmidt & Bender PMII offers the absolute best glass, sharpness, contrast, low lighting functionality, MOA, parallax safeguards, eye relief, and so forth that more than justifies its costly price tag. You aren’t wasting money when you buy this, especially when you consider that the scope has it all. Well, almost all; it does have drawbacks like limited elevation range because you’re only allowed two revolutions of adjustment, which means that certain cheaper scopes have better elevation than S&B.
Conclusion
You shouldn’t be satisfied with simply acquiring a scope since it’s better than having just open sights and no scope at all. You have to make sure you’re getting quality products every time. You have to check not only the price so that you can narrow it down to the scopes that you can afford. You should also examine specs like the reticle or crosshairs and how good their MOA is (as a rule of thumb, the best MOA or Minute of Angle is the one with a fourth of an inch every 100 yards so that the further your target, the closer your aim would be to your crosshair with little to no adjustment.
The bottom line here is that you should consider your budget first then make a judgment call on getting the most bang out of your buck.