Telescopic Sights.

Today, most scopes are constructed out of tubing made of aluminum. Long ago brass would have been the metal of choice. Then after a while, steel became the metal of choice due to it’s greater strength than brass. However the problem with steel was it is quite heavy. Back during world war two, great improvements were made in the advancement of aluminum. Not only is aluminum quite strong, it reduces the amount of weight of the scope, and quite wonderfully lowers the over all cost of the scope as well. The truth is, modern scopes are stronger, cost less, and are significantly better made than in years gone by.

When talking about lenses, the ocular lens is the lens that your eye is peering through when using the scope. At the other end of the scope, that lens is known as the objective lens. It is quite important that a lens have the ability to properly transmit light, and it is this function that will determine for you the over all quality optics of the lens. When a lens is made of the highest quality, you will have a disc piece of glass that has been expertly ground to enable it to offer magnification of the subject or object it is reflecting. The quality of the grind as well as the quality of the glass being used determines how well you will see the image. This is the core means by which scopes are judged.

Regarding the seals that you will encounter on scopes, these days most companies use neoprene. That is a type of rubber that is used for seals and offers water proof durability to the scope. It really is quite imperative that a scope always be water proof so that the unit will not fog up on you during use, because of changes in conditions, humidity, or temperature. It usually is the case that the prices of scopes is determined by the quality of the seals, and how many seals the scope has, as well as where the seals are located. The best quality scopes use O rings, and would use an O ring at the adjustment turrets and at the external lenses. One piece tubes are advantaged. No extra leaks.

Keep in mind, water proof means the scope will not leak even if it is drowned. It is not just about getting wet. A true water proof scope can be submerged in water, and not leak. A true fog proof scope will never fog up, no matter how the temperature may change, or the humidity levels, or how the weather conditions may be or change during use. Do not settle for a scope that is not honestly water proof and fog proof.

Lastly let’s touch on lens coating. Coatings are quite important as they regulate the transmissions of light of the lenses. All rifle scopes use at least one coating on both the objective and ocular lenses. The better scopes actually use a series of coatings on the lenses. Keep in mind that the color use see of the image in the scope is the spectrum of light that is reflecting off of the lens coatings. If possible, use scopes that have the multi layered coating that we touched on.