Choosing the right rifle scope will help you shoot with much greater speed and accuracy compared to struggling with the wrong scope or using iron sights.

With hundreds of rifle scopes available to choose from in a staggering variety of types, sizes, and prices, figuring out which scope is perfect for your rifle can be an intimidating process. We are going to tackle rifle scopes by type, giving you the concept behind each category and the pros and cons involved.

Then we’ll talk about types of reticles, the different features you’ll find on rifle scopes, and a few specifications that are important to understand. The right solution won’t just interface well with your rifle, it will interface well with you and the kind of shooting you intend to do.

Prism Scopes

These scopes achieve a fixed magnification in a relatively small package by re-directing light through an internal prism instead of passing it through a series of lenses lined up in a row.

You may read terms like “Pechan prism”, “Porro prism” or “Roof prism” when researching these scopes, but the bottom line is that this technology was originally developed for binoculars and is extremely well-proven.