What is the Best Rifle Scope For 1000 Yards? (Answered)

1000 yard scopeRiflescopes are more preferable to open sights as far as many firearm enthusiasts are concerned mostly because there are fewer things for you to line up with a scope that even has magnification benefits compared to an iron sight that’s included in many a rifle, pistol, or shotgun.

After all, the best rifle scope for 1000 yards allows you to act like a sniper, shooting from far away with deadly accuracy plus you can adjust for gravity, wind, air resistance, and so forth with things like MOA, windage, and elevation adjustment knobs included in the product. Furthermore, there are other types of scopes available too, like the kind that you can use for dusk or dawn hunting as well as night vision scopes. 

The 8 Top Rifle Scopes for 1000 Yards

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A Handy Review of Different Long-Range Scopes for 1000 Yards

  1. Nikon Buckmasters 6-18x44mm AONikon always delivers the goods when it comes to scopes that are high quality and cost-effective in more ways than one.
Crossfire II 6 - 18x44mm AO Riflescope

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 75 customers. Click the image for prices and reviews!

The offerings of Nikon prove that you can get high-end features you’d normally see from a $8,000 to $12,000 from even a below $300 scope like the Nikon Buckmasters 6-18x44mm AO. This $275 scope brings more bang for your buck or more value for your investment because of its long-range magnification from 6x to 18x that will most certainly cover a target that’s 1000 yards away guaranteed.

What’s more, it has a mildot (or mil-dot) reticle, which is a special kind of targeting crosshair that’s become a standard for tactical rifles everywhere. Even military snipers appreciate the simplicity of the mildot reticle, allowing them to train with accuracy at an uncomplicated type of targeting system.

The Nikon Buckmasters 6-18x44mm AO also has multi-coated lenses, a wide 44 millimeter in diameter objective lens and high quality MOA turret adjustments. Buckmasters is able to make itself stand out even against its own price-advantageous Nikon brethren by having exceptional light transmission and an audible MOA for both elevation and windage internal adjustments that can go as high as 50 MOA.

Furthermore, its scope tube is an inch large in diameter, it uses click-type adjustments (hence the audibleness of the MOA adjustments), exposed turrets with supplied covers that are finger-adjustable to boot, tall turret height, and a fast-focus eyepiece. Why is this called “Buckmasters” anyway? It’s the hunter’s scope. It’s what you use to hunt game from even 1000 yards away or close by at the minimum 6x magnification setting. Any prey or mark you have won’t stand a chance.

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  1. Bushnell Elite Tactical 3.5-21×50 G2DMRAs for the Bushnell Elite Tactical,this riflescope truly lives up to its “Elite Tactical” moniker in the sense that it has a lot of value for something in its price range, so if it’s priced a little higher than its $1,400 price, you probably won’t bat an eye and whatnot.
Bushnell Elite Tactical G2 FFP Reticle Riflescope, 3.5-21x50mm

Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars from 13 customers. Click the image for prices and reviews!

This is because of its wide range of high-end specs that make it look like it should be twice its price or more, at least. Its magnification range is healthy and robust for a 1000-yarder scope, ranging from 3.5x to 21x. Although some might argue 3x to 9x is enough and going beyond 9x is more trouble than its worth, other marksmen welcome the added opportunities for precision shooting so that guesswork is eliminated and you can shoot a target with only decimal points of discrepancy left.

The 21x-level of magnification is quite dizzying, so there are parallax safeguards naturally included. Aside from the Mildot or Mil-Dot reticle, the Eye of Horus is another crosshair type that enables gun owners to calculate at a glance the distance between himself and the target, which is always important when making your MOA adjustments for windage and elevation (not to mention it has a name based on Egyptian mythology).

Your aim adjustment is easier to do with this reticle that was designed with G.A. Precision (a rifle company that’s been in business since 1999) in mind. Furthermore, no matter what the weather conditions are, the Rainguard HD feature of the scope should enable you to get clear views as much as possible, and low-lighting clarity won’t be compromised either thanks to the product’s Ultra Wide Band Coating as well. 

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  1. Leupold Mark AR 6-18x40mm MildotIf you can spare some cash, then this $550 scope that falls within the $500 to $1000 price range of scopes might be the scope you’re searching for, with all the trimmings of optics of its caliber.
Leupold 115394 Mark AR MOD 1 Rifle

Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars from over 10 customers. Click the image for prices and reviews!

It’s not exactly a budget gun unless you’re used to buying more than $1000 scopes (with that said, the $8000 or more products are usually limited to night vision or thermal scopes with digital circuitry inside them).

However, it does deliver the goods to justify its $500 plus price tag. This long-range beaut has a one-inch tube body with a 40 millimeter objective and an impressive 6x to 18x magnification. While some might argue that it’s better to go for 3x to 9x instead of double that, other marksmen can appreciate the increased magnification power ad adjust to the ensuing parallax accordingly.

This miniaturized and compact Leupold scope epitomizes modern miniaturization technology that you’d also see in other mobile devices like cameras, tablets, cellphones, and laptops. It also has that trademark fogproofing system of Leupold, only this time it uses argon and kryton gases to ensure no moisture enters and ruins your scope lenses from within.

It’s also an undoubtedly 1000 yard kind of rifle because it allows you to precisely hit anything within 1350 yards away on a rifle setup with the scope’s MOA turret magnification and windage plus elevation adjustment features. It’s not Nightforce caliber, but for $550, you’re getting more than you bargained for (in a good way). You’ll acquire the ever-dependable mildot or mil-dot reticle, parallax effect reduction, great eye relief, and magnification that is clear up to its maximum 18x range. This is definitely a scope that has specs that speak for itself.

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  1. Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 6.5-20x50mm MildotAs a long-range scope, this is another highly recommended one also made by Leupold, the innovators of fogproof scopes through sealing nitrogen inside them (thusly, all Leupold products including this one have that feature).
Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 6.5-20x50mm (30mm) M1 Illum Mil Dot

Rated 5 out of 5 stars from 1 customers. Click the image for prices and reviews!

It has a higher magnification range than the Leupold Mark AR 6 at 6.5x to 20x magnification and a 50-millimeter objective lens diameter. Additionally, it uses a straightforward mildot reticle that many a sniper favors because of its straightforward hashes and design.

These are the targeting crosshairs that are perfect for 1000-yarder scopes because they help you calculate distance thanks to how they look. While other reticles go for better adjustments or handling busy backgrounds, the mil-dot crosshair is more for gauging distance so that you can improve your accuracy from that aspect and do your setting customizations accordingly.

The Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 6.5-20x50mm Mildot Riflescope falls within the $1000 to $1500 value range, costing $1300 at the street or through Amazon. The actual value it offers is its main selling point since there are scopes that cost more than it does.

It has certain high-end characteristics you’d expect from a Leupold such as high standalone value from its 30-millimeter tube, improved glass, and Xtended Twilight Lens System that enables you to hunt better at night with lens coatings that maximize light transmission. It’s way better in every department when compared to the Leupold Mark AR 6 and the Nikon Buckmasters from its diamond ion-assist coat to its generous eye box and beyond. It has tactile power selector, serviceability in custom shops, side focus, 3:1 zoom ratio that makes for the clearest images every time, and much more.

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  1. Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50mm MOARIf you want more, you’ll get more with the Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50mm MOAR, a scope that’s worth $1770 and falls into the $1500 to $2500 price range of 1000-yarder optics.
NightForce NXS 5.5-22x50mm Riflescope, ZeroStop, .250 MOA, HVM.5 Reticle C366

Not rated. Click the image for prices and reviews!

This mid-price-range long-range scope is quite the steal in a certain point of view because of its low-light utility, 50-millimeter objective, impressive 5.5x to 22x magnification range, and the fact that it outdoes many of the scopes below its price range in terms of better target enlargement, clarity of image, and target aiming through a telescopic viewfinder. What’s more, the reticle is quite excellent in getting your shot on target.

It’s literally military-grade, at that. No kidding, the Nightforce NXS MOAR was originally developed by the American military for long-range shooting to the extreme, like on the tier of an American sniper or Russia’s infamous “White Death” sniper.

Aside from a broad magnification range and crystal clear imagery, the Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50mm MOAR gives you more in terms of eye relief as well. Your eye could be four inches away from the scope and you’d still see a clear target at an acceptable optical magnification.

The elevation travel of the Nightforce scope comes at an impressive 100 MOA to boot. It’s no exaggeration to call this less of a riflescope and more of a telescope that easily covers the 1000 yards it’s supposed to see through. The only real contender that’s better than the Nightforce NXS MOAR is a $3,000 or more Schmidt & Bender scope, which isn’t too shabby seeing this scope is about a little over half the price of a Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine. It can even handle the rugged recoil of the world’s largest calibers of guns.

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  1. Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56mmHere’s another Nightforce classic. It’s merely inspired by the NXS but isn’t the improved version of NXS. Instead, it’s a brand new $2,300 riflescope falling within the $1,500 to $2,500 mid-range price range that was built from the ground up instead of merely upgrading an NXS with features here and there.
Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56mm Riflescope w/ Zerostop - .25 MOA - MOAR Reticle, Black C445

Rated 5 out of 5 stars from 4 customers. Click the image for prices and reviews!

It comes complete with a 34-millimeter tube that’s bigger than the NXS by 4 millimeters. Furthermore, it has ED glass, which gives even more superb light transmission than the already impressive transmission of the Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50mm MOAR.

In many ways, the Nightforce ATACR offers more than even the Nightforce NXS MOAR, justifying the price jump of $530, from $1,770 to $2,300. Again, the only real competition against Nigthforce products, whether it’s the ATACR or the NXS MOAR, is from the infamously high-end Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine or maybe the Vortex Razor HD 5-20×50 EBR-3 MRAD.

Maybe the Nikon offering like the Buckmasters scope is cheaper yet gives more bang for your buck. Maybe the Leupold or Bushnell offers come close to what the Nightforce provides. However, none of them can be called true equals of the Nightforce line, what with its tracking ability, toughness and durability against rugged use, and its variety of mission critical features such as illuminated MIL or MOA-based ranging reticles.

It has elevation adjustment for up to 120 MOA or 35 Mils, it has a ZeroStop feature, and its crosshairs are illuminated so that you can see them better at night, thus making target practice or actual hunting at dusk or dawn problem-free. Nightforce also has its own brand of in-house optical prescriptions inside a well-protected tank-like housing that ensures no cracks will happen on your light-transmitting telescopic lenses.

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  1. Vortex Razor HD 5-20×50 EBR-3 MRADThe Vortex Razor HD MRAD costs about $2,200. This makes it the second most expensive scope in this list next to the Schmidt & Bender.
Vortex Razor HD 5-20x50 Riflescope with EBR-2B (MRAD) Reticle

Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars from 10 customers. Click the image for prices and reviews!

This long-range, 1000-yarder scope breaks new ground in the Razor HD tactical riflescopes field because it was made with precision, long-range shooters in mind. It has a 5x to 20x magnification (which might not seem much compared to the 25x of the Nightforce ATACR or the 21x of the Bushnell Elite Tactical), but it’s not just about the power but how that magnification is used in order to get an accurate shot every time.

Magnification alone won’t win the day or give you sniper accuracy. You also need a huge 50-millimeter objective lens diameter, optical clarity, precision-etched first focal plane reticle, maximum light transmission, and razor-sharp HD imagery that can live up to its own name.

The sniper and hunting community adores the Vortex Razor HD 5-20×50 EBR-3 MRAD. It has made a big splash among them as part of the Precision Rifle Series of Vortex Scopes. If you can’t pony up the extra $1,500 for a Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine, this isn’t just the second best thing.

It gives even the Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56mm a run for its money, especially since the ATACR costs $100 than the Vortex Razor HD MRAD. It’s close to Schmidt & Bender quality and is probably more cost-effective than the Nightforce ATACR because of its 3.9 inches of eye relief, its impressive 22 feet to 5.76 feet per 100 yards of field of view, its tactical-style turret, its RZR Zero Stop, and its MRAD-based (as opposed to MOA-based) elevation and windage adjustments (36 MRAD at their maximum).

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  1. Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 FineMany gun scope reviewers and owners agree that the $3,700 Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine is the finest long-range riflescope ever made, within or beyond its price range (although the only scope that’s more expensive than a Schmidt & Bender is probably a high-end thermal riflescope with sensitive circuitry and the ability to record in infrared vision).
Schmidt Bender 5-25x56 PMII LP P3L 1cm ccw LT MTC/LT ZS DT/ST 677-911-882-B2-A8

Click the image for prices and reviews!

From the outset, the only real criticism one can level on the Schmidt & Bender PMII (aside from price) is its size. It’s a bit bigger than your average scope, but not so big that you’d feel like you’re lugging a brick on top of your firearm. This is the recommended scope if money is no object and you want maximum quality out of your scope because you’re an uncompromising perfectionist when it comes to marksmanship.

This is the absolute best sniper scope that money can buy because of its robust tube, its high-end glass quality that Nikon attempts to make a cost-effective version of to great effect (but will always fall short against the Schmidt & Bender PMII because the latter uses better, more expensive materials and manufacturing processes).

It’s not only a 1000-yarder long-range scope; it can shoot up to 2,000 yards with stunning accuracy and at a generous 5x to 25x magnification range. Unlike certain other scopes that become unusable at 16x and above, the Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine ensures consistent clarity of image, easy-to-use P3-P4F reticles, and maximum light transmission. Your adjustments can go up to 100 MOA, the tube itself is virtually indestructible, and the glass quality is telescope-tier. What’s more, Schmidt & Bender is a well-known high-end developer of quality scopes.

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Conclusion

The scopes being featured in this article for review are long-range ones that can cover over 1000 yards of shooting action. With that said, you have a wealth of options here either as a low-budget, high-quality consumer or a precision marksman who’s a connoisseur of the finest optics that money can buy. On the low end you have the Nikon Buckmasters 6-18x40mm Mildot and on the high end you have the Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25×56 P4 Fine.

It seems that as you go up the hierarchy of scopes, you don’t only pay for extra magnification, but also durability, MOA or MRAD precision adjustments, and glass quality. Your budget should be able to determine which scope is the best scope for you in this collection of long-range, 1000-yarder riflescopes.