Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ask John Barsness Questions About "RIFLESCOPE BRIGHTNESS"

pete53,

In my experience, a 6x Leupold is still a good choice, but other companies also make good fixed 6's. In the same price range, the 6x42 Meopta is a great scope.

Glad you like the books, and thanks for ordering!

I'm confused by the word "smaller". Should it be "larger" instead?

Yes.

John,

Thanks again for yet another factual and comprehensible article.

Best,

Scott

So German glass isn't the best. What makes one scope better than another then ? Swarovski scopes have a better Image than Leupold scopes . Is it the coatings ?

Ironworker,

SOME German optical glass is as good as any made, but so is some glass from other countries. What I'm saying is that the best glass isn't only available to German companies.

It also depends on the particular scope model. Some Leupold scopes are brighter than some Swarovski scopes (which by the way aren't made in Germany but Austria).

As discussed in the article, brightness isn't due just to glass but coatings and other factors.

Thanks for quick reply . What do you think is the best long range varmint scope out there regardless of cost ?

Darned if I know! Maybe a Nightforce, but there are some that work well that cost a lot less. It would also depend on what you mean by "long range."

One of the favorite things I love about "brightness" are guys wearing dark sunglasses at the range.

A rifescope is what Layton uses.

VX 3 1.5-5x vs M8 4x compact. The VX 3 is new (never mounted) and the M8 is a bit older.

With the VX 3 set on 4x, which will be better at light gathering at low ambient light? I have these two scopes in my vault.

I'm a fan of fixed power scopes, but in this case I'm looking at light weight also. With the 4x scope mounted, no ammo, no sling my light weight 280 is under 6 lb.
hunting will be in very thick pine and shots will be ~ 50 yards or so according to my brother who has hunted there for cow elk for a few years. The hunting area is steep.

I have a couple of other Kevlar stocked rifles, 350 RM and '06, both a little heavier than the 280. I'll be taking two rifles, I always do. I'm trying to decide which two rifles I'll be taking.

I'm thinking the 280 will be one of them since It is new to me.

Probably the 1.5-5x will be brighter, because its lenses are multi-coated. The M8 has single-coated lenses, and they're also probably slightly "dinged" from years of cleaning, which happens with older scopes and tends to scatter light.

But the best way to tell is wait until after sunset and look through both of them.

Thanks. Yes I've done that with other scopes and have weeded some out. The old style Redfields made in Denver used to be one of the scopes I've kept. I think I still have one or two. I have a 6x Redfield on a 6mm for instance. But I use that rifle for prairie dogs and as a Antelope back up.

I'll be looking through those two scopes this evening.

Hi MD,

A question about the number of lenses inside a riflescope:

By design, are there or are needed more lenses, for example, in a 2,5-10x variable scope than in a 6x42 fixed magnification scope?

Thank you!

PH

Yes. Variable scopes have more lenses inside the erector tube. Changing the distance between these lenses is what changes magnification.

Thank you, MD. I am searching information about this mater and cannot find any cutaway scope view or drawing comparing in detail this point in variable vs. fixed rifle scopes.
Thinking about this, my reasoning is: the only difference would be the movement of the erector lenses between them in the variable to change magnification (and the other coaxial tube and parts needed to do this, of course). Cannot see the need for more lenses than in the fixed power scope as this also need erector lenses. Am I missing something...?

Thank you for your help, again!

PH

A simple fixed scope only requires one erector lens. Variables require at least three, since magnification is changed by camming the lenses to different distances from each other. (If there were only two erector lenses in a variable, the image would appear upside-down, just as it would in a fixed scope with no erector lens.)

OK! Thank you for your answer, MD!

Best Regards

PH

John: which Leupold 6X? The 36 or 42mm model? Thanks again....

I used to slightly prefer the 6x42, because Leupold started multi-coating its lenses in the early 1990's, while the 6x36's lenses remained multi-coated. With the multicoating and a larger objective lens, the 6x42 was noticeably brighter in dim light.

But since the fixed M8 Leupolds became FX's, the 6x36's lenses are multicoated too, and while there's still a difference it isn't nearly as much. Since the 6x36 is noticeably lighter and slimmer, I tend to use them more often than 6x42's anymore.