The Basics of Riflescopes and How They Work

A rifle scope is an aiming device that is mounted over a rifle barrel to aim a target. The device contains a number of lenses to magnify the target. If you are new to hunting, it is important to know the basics of Riflescopes and How They Work.

To understand the basics of Riflescopes, we need to know different components of the optic. The main components of rifle scope are optics, scope tube, and reticle. Below I have gone through them briefly.

Lenses:

The most important components of the scope is its Lenses.  

A rifle scope consists of about 8 lenses including two essential ones. Quality of the lens depends on the glass from which the lens made, how carefully the lens was shaped, and the quality of the material used to coat the lenses. In fact, the quality of a scope depends on the quality of lenses.

But why lenses are so important? The short answer is quality of the image. The difference in image quality between a good quality lens and a poor quality lens is immense. To test the fact, look through a lens which price is $300. And then look through a lens that’s price is $1300. The image quality of the lens that’s price is $1300, is far better.

One distinguishing feature of a quality lens is magnifying power. Magnifying power is the ability of the lens to enlarge the target o than compared to naked eye. The bigger it can enlarge the target, the better the magnifying power of the lens. Regarding magnification, there are two types of scopes. One is fixed power scope. In this type, you cannot adjust the magnifying power. For example, if a scope mentions in its feature that it is a 3x 40 scope that means it can magnify the target 3 times more than an unaided eye.

The other types are variable scope. They come with variable magnifying power. They use a series of number for example, 3-9 X 40 scopes. It means they can enlarge the field of view 3 times to 9 times. Let’s now know how a rifle scope works. Lenses of the scopes are waterproof and fog-proof.

Reticle:

Rifle scopes come with a marker. This marker is called the reticle of the scope. The functionality of the reticle is to show the hunter where the bullet will hit once he/she pulls out the trigger.

Rifle scopes also have a reticle, also known as a cross-hair. The purpose for these markers is to show the shooter exactly where the shot will go once he or she pulls the trigger.

 

As we have already mentioned that the essential part of the scopes are their lenses. Among all lenses, two lenses are vital. One is objective lens. And the other is ocular lens. Objective lens is set at the farthest point of the rifle’s stock or at the end of the scope. Its job is transmitting light onto ocular lens.

Ocular lens is placed at the closest to user’s eye. The part of the scope that contains objective lens is called objective belt. And the part that contains ocular lens is called eyepiece.

The functionality of rifle scopes are similar to telescopes. Objective lens allows the light to pass through. The light focuses on a point called the focal point inside the scope. The ocular lens enlarges the light from the focal point. When you look through the scope, the image you see is actually the light that passes through the objective lens.