Skip to Content

Expert Advice On How To Choose The Right Airgun Scope

Do you love spending time outdoors? If so, you’re not alone.

After all, now that winter is over and it’s starting to warm up, more and more people are venturing outside to enjoy their favorite outdoor activities. This includes the great sport of target shooting.

If you’ve never used an airgun, you’ve come to the right place for help in finding the right optical equipment for improving your aim.

This article takes a look at some helpful advice on how to choose the perfect airgun scope or your rifle.

Keep reading to get the inside scoop with these airgun scope buying tips. 

Expert Advice On How To Choose The Right Airgun Scope

What Exactly Is an Air Rifle Scope?

Let’s start by discussing what is an airgun scope. This is a piece of optical equipment mounted to a rifle that’s used to improve accuracy.

Because while many shooters rely on traditional sights while shooting, optical sites enable the shooter to be far more accurate at great distances.

And while air rifles cannot shoot nearly as far as high-powered hunting rifles, scopes still significantly improve accuracy.

Are Scopes Necessary?

The decision to use a scope on your airgun will come down to a number of factors. First of all, it’s a matter of personal preference.

After all, some marksmen consider themselves purists, thus choosing to rely on the simplicity of traditional sights. 

For other people, accuracy is the top priority.

Because of this, they are willing to take advantage of whatever technology is available for improving their aim.

For these shooters, optical sights such as scopes help to take their accuracy to the next level.

It’s also important to consider what you intend to use your airgun for. After all, every type of activity will have a different set of needs.

For example, recreational target shooting is purely about accuracy. In other words, the high score wins, and the high score depends on hitting the center of the target.

A scope will maximize accuracy, thus giving you the best chance of achieving a high score in a competitive situation.

On the other hand, if you plan to use your gun solely for hunting, achieving a successful kill is all that matters.

Because of this, the need for an optical sight isn’t as high.

It’s also important to keep in mind the distances you’ll be shooting. That’s because traditional sights are fine for hitting targets placed less than 30 feet away.

But your accuracy will quickly drop once you move beyond that distance.

Again, there are no hard and fast rules. Thus the best strategy is to choose the equipment that best suits your style and helps you achieve your shooting goals.

Type of Air Rifle Scopes

When it comes to choosing the best rifle for your airgun, it’s important to understand the different types that are available. These are known as “fixed” and “variable”.

With a fixed scope, the magnification is fixed, meaning that the optical power can’t be adjusted to compensate for the distance you’re shooting.

This type of scope is best suited for shooting a limited distance.

Variable scopes, on the other hand, provide more flexibility by allowing you to adjust the magnification so that you can clearly see the target from a much greater distance.

The key to choosing between these two types of scopes is to first determine your overall needs and how much flexibility you think you’ll need and make your decision accordingly. 

Check out these great tips to help improve airgun accuracy.

Understanding the Basic Components

Now let’s look at the basic components of the average air rifle scope.

The eyepiece contains the ocular lens, which is the part you actually look through when aiming.

The objective lens is positioned at the larger of the two ends of the scope and is designed to collect as many photons as possible and then send them to your eye.

Next, you have several parts that enable you to make whatever adjustments that are necessary to improve your view of the target.

These include focus adjustment, magnification adjustment, illumination control, parallax adjustment, windage, and elevation adjustment. 

Expert Advice On How To Choose The Right Airgun Scope

Reticle Types

The reticle is the crosshair you see when looking through your scope. There are actually several different types to choose from.

These include the traditional crosshair, duplex, mill-dot, and illuminated.

It’s important to keep in mind that all types of reticles are extremely effective, thus the one you choose is purely a matter of personal preference.

Understanding Parallax

What is meant by the term “parallax?” Basically, this is an adjustment made to assist with focusing.

When you adjust the parallax of your scope, you are changing the reticle’s relationship to the target. 

Keep in mind that while the scope’s focus will change with every shooter, the parallax will remain the same.

Why is this important? Well, because it helps the shooter to remain accurate even when you move your head around behind the gun.

After all, it’s nearly impossible to keep your head perfectly still shot after shot. Thus when you move your head from side to side, your parallax will actually move with you. 

Choosing the right Scope Mount

It’s also important to choose the best scope mount for your airgun. The three types include dovetail, weaver, and Picatinny. 

Dovetail is the traditional style of scope that’s found on most rifles.

Weaver is a bit more versatile, allowing you to mount other types of hardware, such as a red dot finder or a flashlight.

And the Picatinny provides perpendicular slots so that you can easily make adjustments to the position of the scope on your rifle.

Learning to Shoot with a Scope

It might take some practice to get used to your scope. Everyone is different.

But the more comfortable you get, the quicker you will see major improvements to your accuracy on the practice range.

A Marksman’s Guide to Choosing the Right Airgun Scope for Your Rifle

There’s nothing better than taking your air rifle skills to the next level.

Fortunately, this guide will help you find an airgun scope that will be the perfect addition to your equipment.

Keep exploring this blog to discover more cool lifestyle tips and advice.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.