The Importance of Spotting Scopes
Grab a rifle, slap a scope on it, get a box or 12 of ammo and then head to the range, right? Well, yeah, in the grand scheme of things. So you get to the range and set up on the 100 yard lane. Then you wait for the line to go cold. Then you hike way out there, set up your target then walk way back. You shoot a few rounds….and you have no idea if they hit paper or not. You try to look through your gun’s scope but it’s a tiny view and you can see some holes but you’re not sure. So you wait for the line to go cold and you walk way out again. Turns out you were hitting just near the bottom of the paper and that hole you thought was a bullseye was actually a fly that had landed. So you walk all the way back, make a couple of adjustments to your scope then try again. You think you’re closer but you have to wait until the next cold range. After about an hour of shooting, you’ve just gotten sighted in and you’ve fired about 12 rounds. Thank goodness you’re not on the 1000 yard line!
Or you could get a spotting scope…
A spotting scope allows you to easily examine your target from the comfort of your own shooting stand. It has advantages over using your rifle’s scope in that it gives you a bigger and clearer picture of your target. It also, by the nature of its optics, powers through the mirage effect so you can see your target better on hot days and over longer distances. Ultimately, the purpose of a spotting scope is to allow you to evaluate your shooting easier than with the scope on your rifle which is meant solely for targeting. While a rifle scope can be used in a pinch, practice on a range isn’t one of those “in a pinch” times. If you’re not using a spotting scope, you’re making things harder for yourself.
On the bright side, picking out a scope is relatively easy: Get the best one you can afford. I’d love to give you some kind of rule of thumb here but there doesn’t seem to be any quick gauge like “half the price of your gun” or “twice the price of your rifle scope”. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a couple of features to look out for.
First off, you want a decent magnification. Pretty much all spotting scopes have and adjustable zoom. A range of 20-40x is a good starting point. Then, look for a comfortable eyepiece. There is an infinite amount of debate over an angled eyepiece or straight in style. That really comes down to personal preference. Next, take a look at the other side of the scope (also called the “objective lens”). You want it big. A bigger objective means more light coming in and a better image. Also, if it comes with a tripod, how stable is it? I, admittedly, purchased one of those Walmart special $39.95 spotting scope kits. The tripod that came with it is so flimsy that the pressure wave from my 5.56 will cause it to move and I then have to spend time finding the target again. You want a solid tripod for your scope.
Finally, and this is a tough one to test in a store, you want to check for chromatic aberration. If the store you’re at has a front window, point the scope out there. Hopefully it’s a bright, sunny day because you want to look at a bright object. If you look at the edges of an object and see a bunch of color or distortion around the edges, that’s chromatic aberration. Normally, it’s the bane of photographers and videographers everywhere. In this case, it also makes it darn near impossible to pick out minute detail on a bright day. Detail like the hole left by a .223 at 500 yards, for example. The higher the quality of the glass and construction, the less likely CA is to occur. This is another reason why I regret that $39.95 scope. If it’s a bright day, I can barely make out the holes on the 25 yard target with this thing.
A good spotting scope is one of those “you get what you pay for” kind of things. With great scopes ranging from $200 to $6,000, you have a lot of options to choose from. While any scope is better than no scope, take it from me: don’t skimp on this one. These things are rugged and you’ll be passing this one down along with your rifle for generations to come.
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