The 10 Best Rifle Scopes for Hunting, Tested and Reviewed

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If last year manufacturers brought out a flush of LPVOs, or low-power variable optics, and the Covid years were defined by the rise of first-plane reticle precision scopes, this is the year of the hunting scope.

We had 20 excellent submissions for this year’s do-everything rifle scope category, and while it’s decidedly a mixed bag, ranging from first-plane long-range hunting scopes to AR carbine scopes to heirloom-quality European optics, every one of these scopes will serve as a capable hunting optic.

What does that mean, exactly?

We apply an admittedly loose definition. Generally, a hunting scope is compact and light enough to fit a rifle you’d carry in the field, and generally has turrets that can handle the abuse we dish out in the course of a vigorous hunt. We like either capped or positively locking exposed turrets for our hunting scopes. Magnification should be in modest ranges. Reticles can be in either first or second focal plane, but they shouldn’t be so complicated that they inhibit the fast shooting required of many hunts.

They can be illuminated or not. Have side parallax focus or not. Cost a fortune or not. The key question in this big and messy category is, will they help us be more effective hunters? I’m happy to answer in the affirmative for every one of these entries, though as you’ll read in the product reviews, some accomplish that task more readily than others.

You’ll see full reviews for only half the submissions. The reason is two-fold. First, no one wants to scroll through 10,000 words on rifle scopes. Second, some of these submissions are duplicative. For instance, we had three new Vortex Crossfire HD models, but we’re going to dish on only one, and reference the others. Same with Trijicon’s new configurations of its excellent Huron scope.

We’ll cover these other submissions in subcategories later this fall. For instance, Burris’s value-rich Fullfields will be in a collection of Hunting Scopes Under $500 that we’ll publish next month.

Best New Rifle Scopes for Hunting of 2025

Budget Scopes (Under $400)

Best Electronic Rifle Scope

Best Lightweight Hunting Rifle Scopes

Read our test protocol

Best New Rifle Scopes for Hunting of 2025

Editor’s Choice: Leupold VX-5HD Gen 2 3-15×44

Buy It From Midway USA

Buy It From EuroOptic

Pros

• At 20.1 ounces, very light
• SZL Speed Set elevation dial
• Excellent turret indexing
• Custom-dial system compatibility
• Hunting-centric magnification range
• Overbuilt and reliable erector system

Cons

• Custom turrets require specific inputs
• Duplex reticle limits versatility

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Key Features

• 
  30mm tube

• 
  Multiple illumination/reticle choices

• 
  Side parallax from 50 yards to infinity

• 
  Locking turrets minimize inadvertent movement

• 
  Elegant push-button illumination

• 
  Tool-less turret removal

On its surface, the Gen2 version of Leupold’s classic hunting scope, the VX-5HD, basically has cool tool-less turrets and some upgraded coatings. It’s what you can’t see in this scope that makes it one of the most reliable hunting scopes of the year and a worthy heir to Leupold’s original VX-3 line: honest hunting scopes in a bunch of configurations and reticle choices.

The Gen2 model was released last month, and follows the release of Gen2 turrets on the upgraded VX-6HD earlier in the year. Optically, there’s not a whole lot of updates. Leupold highlights its “Professional-Grade Optical System” which includes very good glass and coatings optimized to resist scratching and to temper glare, but you won’t see a major improvement on the very good Gen1 VX-5HD.

The new SpeedSet tool-less elevation dial is the most apparent upgrade in the Gen2 line. This is a cool and useful system. Just release a locking lever with your fingertips, lift up the closure, and the whole turret pulls off, simplifying re-zeroing in the field and making turret changes fast and easy. The value proposition of the system is with Leupold’s CDS custom dial system. Order a custom dial for different rifles or bullet weights and swap the turrets in seconds.

But what made the VX-5HD Gen2 the consensus pick for our Editor’s Choice award is what you can’t see. Leupold has invested heavily in its turret erector system, which includes the springs that keep the internal reticle tube aligned, the gears that move the erector tube with precision, and even the industrial lubricants that keep the whole works moving click after click and year after year. The guts of the VX-5HD Gen2 are very similar to those of Leupold’s Mark 5HD line, used for precision target shooting and military sniping.

From a users’ standpoint, the scope simply works. It has ample mounting dimensions along its 30mm tube to fit a wide range of receivers. Its controls turn easily but precisely. And its eyebox is forgiving, meaning that shooters don’t have to be perfectly aligned with the exit pupil to see the entire field of view.

The VX-5HD Gen2 line has a couple of design elements that hold it back from being an even better scope. The SpeedSet turret system is limited to two revolutions of elevation. That’s plenty for most hunting situations, yet not enough for long range target shooting beyond 1,000 yards. Because the elevation dial has only 38 MOA of travel, but the scope has 85 MOA of total internal adjustment, users aren’t able to utilize most of the adjustment range. The turret doesn’t have a re-settable zero stop.

On the positive side, though, the system ensures the erector system stays in the middle of the adjustment range, which adds to overall accuracy and precision.

We also note fairly limited reticle choices in the second-plane system. Our test sample came with the versatile FireDot duplex. The VX-5HD Gen2 is also available in TMOA, FireDot Twilight Hunter, Wind-Plex, and HTMR-MIL reticles, most of which are variations on the traditional plex style.

These reticles limit holdover options, though once users get accustomed to dialing their drop, elevation references aren’t as important as they might be on a scope with standard turret demarcations.

We love the 8-step push-button illumination module, and the 50-yards-to-infinity side focus turns with smooth precision. Lastly, the VX-5HD Gen2 is among the lightest hunting scopes in our test, making it a boon companion to just about any mountain rifle. The redesigned scope is also durable enough for just about any hunting rig. At prices ranging from $1,500 to $2,000, depending on model, it’s a pricey scope. But as Mark Copenhaver, tester and notorious skinflint, noted, “If I was buying any of the scopes in this year’s test, this is the one I would buy.”

Read our VX-5HD Gen 2 first look for a closer look at the other models in the line.

Great Buy: Sig Sauer TANGO-SPR 4-16×44

Buy It From Palmetto State Armory

Pros

• At under $200, a very appealing price
• Ships with cantilever unimount
• Ships with lay-flat lens caps
• Useful BDC hash-style second-plane reticle
• Elevation turret contains zero stop
• Lifetime warranty

Cons

• Very limited internal adjustment range
• Narrow field of view
• No illumination

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Key Features

• 
  30mm tube

• 
  MOA-based BDC reticle

• 
  Exposed elevation turret, capped windage turret

• 
  50-yards-to-infinity side focus

• 
  Throw lever

In Outdoor Life’s extensive optics testing, some test teams quibble over which products to bestow with our Great Buy award as the leading bargain in the category. This year there was no quibbling. At under $200, this do-everything, fuss-free scope was our consensus pick for our Great Buy, and it nearly won the overall Editor’s Choice, to boot.

For the price of premium scope rings, you get an non-illuminated scope with exposed turrets that turn with more tactility and precision than we expected, a useful hash-style second-plane reticle, and side focus from 50 yards to infinity. You get handy lay-flat caps that stay out of the way when you’re shooting but are ready to protect your glass when you’re not. You get Sig’s excellent lifetime transferable warranty. You even get a serviceable cantilevered unimount as part of the bargain.

Of course, for $200 there are things you don’t get. There’s no illumination. The TANGO-SPR has dark and glinty Chinese glass, and the field of view is extremely narrow. The turrets move with sharp, wincing clicks.

But those turrets track just fine. We mounted our test sample on a 6mm Creedmoor chassis rifle and ran a PRS-style steel course from 100 yards out to 800 yards both by dialing elevation and windage dope and holding in the reticle. Both turret and reticle references are true to MOA values. How many $200 scopes can achieve that range, then come back to 100 yards and hold their zero? The TANGO-SPR even has a zero stop, which is unheard of at this price.

“This scope was very easy to zero, and having parallax control on a $200 scope is nice,” noted tester Todd Netto. “It even comes with a rail. It’s solid for the price. You won’t confuse its image or its handling with a $2,000 scope, but impressive performance for a price-point rifle scope.”

We’d rather have a capped or locking elevation turret for hunting purposes, but the turrets, tuned to ¼ MOA click values, have clear indexing and aren’t prone to turning easily. We did experience what we’ve come to call a “stingy” eyebox, meaning that shooters had to keep both their eye relief and their head aligned with the narrow exit pupil in order to see the entire field of view. Move your head, even a little bit, and the scope blacks out.

But those are minor quibbles in the face of what is an almost incomprehensible value. How Sig can manage to deliver such a serviceable, competent, and durable scope for $200, covered by Sig’s full warranty, is remarkable, and should put other brands on notice.

Budget Scopes (Under $400)

Bushnell R5 3-9×50

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Pros

• At around $270, an excellent value
• 50mm objective boosts optical performance
• Illuminated center aiming dot
• Available in plex or 800-yard DOA reticles
• Side focus and illumination rare at this price point
• Lifetime warranty

Cons

• Disappointing glass
• Maddeningly tight battery cover

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Key Features

• 
  Capped re-zeroable turrets

• 
  MOA-based turrets and reticle

• 
  10 yards to infinity side parallax control

• 
  1-inch tube

In a world of boutique reticles and gee-whiz glass, it’s nice to see a rifle scope that is comfortable being basic, reliable, and affordable. This new configuration of Bushnell’s workaday R5 won’t win many competitions or turn a lot of heads, but it’s going to be on a lot of America’s first deer rifles.

The scope has the features you’d expect at this $270 price. The 1-inch tube contains a basic second-plane plex reticle (though the R5 is also available with the more aspirational DOA-LRH800 reticle that features holdover references), and the controls are decent but not endearing. But it has a 9-step center-dot illumination and 10-yards-to-infinity side parallax control, both features that are hard to find at this price.

If Bushnell invested in features, it skimped on glass in this Chinese-made scope. The glass is pretty dank, as my kids used to say, with noticeable edge distortion. The R5 actually finished in the middle of the class in our low-light test, but that’s a result of the big 50mm objective lens rather than bright glass.

“I hoped this scope would be just a little bit better,” noted tester Mark Copenhaver. “The old-school duplex reticle and capped turrets are probably not what most folks expect out of an optic today but it’s a good first scope or a really good rimfire optic.”

The 3-to-9-power configuration is familiar to shooters and hunters of a certain vintage, but it’s also really handy for a hunting scope. Zoom down to 3x for close-quarters hunting or when you want to maximize the apparent brightness of the scope. In bright light conditions or when you need to make a precise shot, dial up to 9x and fill your tag without busting your budget.

Vortex Crossfire HD 4-12×44

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Pros

• At around $200, very appealing price
• Fast and useful BDC-style reticle
• 15-yards-to-infinity side parallax control
• Re-zeroable turrets
• 8 MOA windage holds

Cons

• Forgettable glass
• Mushy turret clicks

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Key Features

• 
  Liberal mounting dimensions on 1-inch tube

• 
  Covered by Vortex’s lifetime transferable warranty

• 
  Excellent configuration for all-around hunting

• 
  Reticle tuned to bullet drop of standard center-fire calibers

• 
  Capped turrets

With its redesigned Crossfire HD line, Vortex is making a strong case to be the brand on every beginning deer hunter’s rifle. But the 4-12×44 version of the new line brings so many other talents that this should be on plenty of elk, bighorn sheep, and moose rifles, too.

While other configurations in the mid-magnification range might feature illumination but not manual focus control, or a BDC-style reticle but no illumination, the 4-12×44 version has it all. Its 6-step center-dot illumination lights up the aiming point against dark backgrounds. And its 15-yards-to-infinity parallax control brings targets at any distance into sharp focus. And Vortex’s Dead-Hold BDC reticle, based around MOA subtensions, is a fast and useful hold-over reticle with references for shots at distances most hunters might encounter.

It’s not a 1,000-yard precision scope, but it’s also not intended to be.

Our test confirmed the glass is an improvement from the Crossfire II scopes that the HD line replaces, but only marginally better than its price-point peers. The Vortex finished near the bottom of our low-light test, and testers noted its generally dull and contrast-less image.

The Crossfire HD earned higher marks in its controls. Testers described the ¼ MOA turrets as “spongy” but they tracked precisely and returned to zero. We’d like to see better turret indexing, but the ability to rezero the dials is a nice feature. The close-in parallax setting makes this a great rimfire or small-game scope, but the second-plane Dead-Hold reticle is useful for standard center-fire calibers.

With a 100-yard zero, the first elevation hash, at 1.5 MOA, conforms to a 200-yard drop. The second hash, at 4.5 MOA, roughly conforms to a 300-yard hold. With 11 MOA of elevation holds, the system should get hunters close out to 500 yards, though it’s important to note that the subtensions are valid only at the scope’s highest magnification, and users are wise to tune the reticle (and magnification) to their own rifle and load.

As one tester said, as we compared the Crossfire HD to scopes costing 10 times as much, “It’s a $200 scope. What do you expect?” But our expectations have been met and exceeded with this very capable, affordable, and versatile new scope. The same can be said for the 2-7×32 and 3-9×40 Crossfire HD’s we tested, but the 4-12×44 is the most capable configuration of the trio.

Read our first look at the Crossfire HD for more information on the full line.

Best Electronic Rifle Scope

Burris Eliminator 6 4-20×52

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Pros

• Built-in laser rangefinder
• Distance-adjusted illuminated aiming point
• Classic scope form factor
• Easy-to-navigate button inputs
• Connects to BurrisConnect app
• Remote control adds versatility

Cons

• Fairly complicated input sequence
• Electro-optic prohibited for hunting in some states

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Key Features

• 
  Uses CR123 batteries

• 
  Remote control fires rangefinder

• 
  Simple operation

• 
  2,000-yard rangefinder

• 
  Built-in environmental monitor

• 
  Highly visible digital heads-up display

• 
  Distance-adjusted alerts for problematic ballistics

• 
  Choice of capped or exposed turrets

• 
  1/8 MOA click values

Burris has finally nailed the Eliminator. After previous iterations were defined mainly by eye-watering optics, then coatings that accentuated the display at the expense of the target, and external lines that made the laser-rangefinding scope look more like Battleship Galactica than a serious hunting optic, the Eliminator 6 is an elegant, versatile, and extremely effective long-range scope.

The Eliminator 6 is so good that the test team had an interesting dilemma: Do we judge it on the same basis as its non-electronic peers, or should the Burris have its own category. It’s that disruptive, harnessing its own excellent internal laser rangefinder with the BurrisConnect mobile app to provide precise distance-adjusted aiming points literally at the touch of a button.

The Eliminator is so good at its job that it’s illegal in some jurisdictions. States that prohibit weapon-mounted electronics won’t allow the scope in most big-game hunting seasons, and keepers of fair-chase records like the Boone and Crockett Club similarly won’t accept trophy animals taken with optics that feature built-in rangefinders.

Does the Eliminator 6 make things too easy? That’s not for us to judge. But we can confirm that the scope is extremely effective at placing bullets from a wide range of calibers from a variety of guns at distances from reasonable to ridiculous. We had to tweak the app to get it to accept the ballistics of our 40-grain Remington .22 target loads, but once mastered the inputs, we could walk that little bullet out to 400 yards and back to our 25-yard zero in less time than it took you to read this sentence.

But the Eliminator 6 proved its mettle above center-fire rifles on steel targets out to 1,200 yards.

If operation of the scope is simple, loading all the ballistics dope into the mobile app, then porting it into the scope takes some doing, but if you have a digital native to help, it’s a clear (enough) and straightforward process.

The scope also elicited some complicated opinions among the Outdoor Life test team.

“This is the hands-down winner of the rifle scope test, if the battery works,” noted tester Todd Netto. “If it dies, the scope is almost worthless.”

Tester Nate Ward noted that the (very fast) internal rangefinder has a narrow beam divergence, meaning that it often picked up grass in front of a target, or required several retries to range smaller targets. But Ward observed that, when used with the Bluetooth-enabled remote control, the rangefinding is more precise, simply because the shooter doesn’t have to move the gun to activate the LRF.

“The remote really is a handy tool with a ton of utility making it much easier to trigger the rangefinder,” noted Ward. “Or a spotter can trigger the remote.”

Our quibbles with the Eliminator 6 were with the app (not intuitive, too many menus to navigate) and with the scope’s operation (cumbersome to rezero both the elevation and windage turrets, fuzzy focus).

But once you spend time on the inputs, the Eliminator 6 quickly, confidently, and disruptively achieves its value proposition: to range, hold, and shoot out to 2,000 yards, matching both the wind and elevation holds to the specific field conditions and to your specific bullet ballistics. It instantly shows that adjusted aiming point on its illuminated second-plane reticle. To hit your target, simply hold the dot and pull the trigger.

This sixth edition of the Eliminator is by far the best iteration of Burris’s franchise, and in our opinion absolutely worth the price.

Lightweight Hunting Rifle Scopes

Zeiss Conquest V6 3-18×50

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Pros

• At 22 ounces, lightweight
• Simple ballistic stop
• Excellent glass
• Capped windage turret
• New AHR second-plane reticle

Cons

• At $2,000, relatively expensive
• Exposed elevation turret might turn inadvertently

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Key Features

• 
  50 yards to infinity side parallax control

• 
  ¼ MOA turret click values

• 
  Liberal mounting dimensions on 30mm tube

• 
  Excellent low-light performance

• 
  Reticle designed for long-range hunting

You’ve seen this scope previously, sort of. Zeiss’s classic 6-times magnification hunting scope has two important new features. First, the windage turret is (finally) capped, in recognition that most hunters hold for wind and rarely adjust their windage turret after zeroing their scope. And Zeiss has added its excellent MOA-based second-plane long-range hunting reticle to this do-everything scope. The AHR (Advanced Hunting Reticle) design is clean and open inside a #60 duplex but features 20 MOA of elevation hashes and another 20 MOA of windage holds on either side of the center crosshair. It’s a fast, effective, and precise hunting reticle, though like all rear-plane designs its references are only valid at the highest magnification.

As a package, Zeiss has done a nice job of taking a workhorse optic and tweaking it to deliver for Western hunters. And it hasn’t left behind any of its optical performance. The V6 was runner-up in our low-light test and stunned testers with its crisp, clear, and vibrant image. Its controls are smoothly precise, and its overall handling is mannerly. Its 50mm objective surely helps with its optical performance, making it a great pick for a last-light whitetail scope.

“Practical. Simple. Nice” That was the terse conclusion of tester Ky Idler.

But testers who gravitate more to scopes with features like illumination, first-plane reticles, and electronics rated the design as decidedly old-school.

“Basic. Boring. Simple. Functional. Not for me,” countered tester Todd Netto.

We dinged the Zeiss for being overpriced considering what it doesn’t bring to the party. But we also considered that the V6 brings European handling (and Japanese glass) in a functional and durable package that costs a cool $1,000 less than premium European scopes. Weighing just 22 ounces, this scope is at home on every mountain rifle in production, and its elegant lines make it a great mate for classic rifles, too.

We’d like to see a version of the V6 that has a locking elevation turret to ensure that the dial doesn’t move in the field. But that’s about the only fault we can find in this bright, functional, boring world-class optic.

Read Next: Great rifles for Mountain Hunting

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Pros

• At 20.7 ounces, extremely lightweight
• Versatile hunting scope
• Low-profile mounting
• Excellent low-light performance
• Ships with throw lever and sunshade

Cons

• Second-plane hash reticle useful at highest mag
• Extremely large eyepiece

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Key Features

• 
  Locking pull-to-turn elevation dial

• 
  Push-button center-dot illumination

• 
  15 yard to infinity side focus

• 
  4 inches of eye relief

• 
  Non-transferable lifetime warranty

Hawke is marketing this new version of its Endurance 30 scope as the “Mountain Hunter,” and there’s a lot to argue for that designation. The 3-18×44 is one of the lightest scopes in our test, and with side focus, center-dot illumination, and a versatile hash-style reticle in the second focal plane, this scope will do everything the Swarovski Z5i will do at a third the price, or less than half the price of Leupold’s VX-5HD Gen 2, which has similar attributes.

Hawke delivers this performance for around $700 by sourcing this scope from China. But hunters and shooters who associate Chinese-made optics with disappointing glass and performance should give the Endurance 30 a close look. The scope finished near the top of the category in our low-light test, outcompeting a number of 50mm scopes in brightness, and we detected no edge distortion or optical aberrations.

The controls are mannerly, from the tight locking pull-to-turn elevation dial to the capped windage dial and the smooth and precise side focus, which sharpens targets from 15 yards all the way out to infinity. The push-button illumination, with 11 intensity steps, is especially noteworthy. Similar to Leupold’s FireDot illumination system, the dot fires up with a push of the left-side switch and ramps up and down in intensity from daylight bright to just visible for twilight hunting. It’s a system that’s hard to find on scopes priced under $1,000.

The test team had mixed feelings about the hash-style MOA-based reticle with 8 MOA of windage references on either side of the illuminated ¼ MOA center aiming point and elevation references that conform to the drop of popular center-fire calibers. With a 100-yard zero, the first elevation hash at 1.75 MOA conforms to a 200-yard drop, the second hash (4.25 MOA) at 300 yards, and so on down to 17 MOA on the vertical stadia. For hunters accustomed to standard BDC reticles, it’s a quick and useful design.

But some testers found the non-linear hashes confusing and noted that the drop references only work at the highest magnification, thereby limiting its utility.

“The turret is solid,” noted tester Todd Netto, who said the Hawke is a great scope inside 500 yards. “The second-plane arrangement makes this reticle useless.”

Our conclusion, though, is that the new Hawke lives up to its billing as a competent and reliable scope for a lightweight mountain rifle. It’s light, rugged, bright, its 44mm objective mounts low on the receiver, it has ample mounting geometry along its 30mm tube, and the 3-18x magnification range matches pretty much any hunting scenario we can imagine. For about $700, it’s priced right for its prodigious performance.

See It

Pros

• New 30mm tube
• Updated eyepiece illumination module
• Subtle click at 100 yards on side parallax dial
• Best glass in the test
• Ballistic turret makes dialing to distance simple and fast

Cons

• At about $2,100, an expensive scope
• Ballistic turret takes time and attention to set up

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Key Features

• 
  Choice of plex, wind-plex, and bullet-drop reticles

• 
  10-step center-dot illumination

• 
  Second-plane reticle

• 
  At 19.7 ounces, extremely lightweight

Next to Swarovski’s heirloom-quality Z8i, this is the most aspirational scope in our test, with superb glass and dexterous controls. It’s also a hard-working hunting scope, at home on any lightweight mountain rifle and capable of making quick range-adjusted hits out to about as far as you’d want to take a shot on game.

Swarovski has updated its venerable Z5 line with this 30mm tube — enlarged from the standard 1-inch model — and plex reticle that features windage hashes at 2 MOA increments. But the heart of the Z5i (the illuminated-reticle designation) is Swaro’s intuitive color-coded Ballistic Turret, which provides 4 distance-designating rings. Making hits is as simple as ranging your target, turning the dial to the color that corresponds to the distance, and holding on the target with the center dot. No worries about holding “Kentucky windage” in the reticle or translating yards to MOA and dialing your turret to a random number.

Like most custom dials, it pays to spend time with the inputs. If you short-cut the process of tuning your dial to your specific load’s performance at specific distances, then you can only expect “good-enough” precision from the system. But if you spend the time and really fine-tune each distance tab to the demonstrated performance of your load, then you’ll find this is one of the fastest hunting-specific systems in the industry.

Swarovski has developed a smart and useful online subtension tool to help with understanding how your scope performs at various magnifications and measurement units. Google “Swarovski Scope Subtensions” and a scope- and reticle-specific interface allows you to play with different inputs.

The Z5i has a number of curious but useful features that aren’t immediately obvious. The 50-yards-to-infinity side focus has a subtle but noticeable click when you turn to 100 yards. It’s a smart feature that allows users to feel the distance without looking at the dial’s indexing. The elevation turret also features a locking tab that ensures the dial won’t move in the field. It’s a small thing, but a smart feature that other brands would be wise to emulate.

Some testers wanted directional arrows on the turrets to confirm left/right and up/down, and others wanted more tactile buttons on the eyepiece illumination module. But those are small gripes that don’t detract from the charms of this scope, or the prodigious talents its ballistic turret, best-in-glass glass, and mannerly controls bring to a hunting optic.

Sig Sauer WHISKEY6 3-18×44 FFP

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Pros

• First first-plane reticle in WHISKEY6 line
• Locking exposed elevation turret
• MOA-based hash-style reticle
• First-plane design boosts versatility
• Compact build fits most rifle platforms

Cons

• No illumination
• Reticle hard to see below 5x
• Rifle bolt hits throw lever at max power

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Key Features

• 
  50-yards-to-infinity side parallax

• 
  Handy throw lever

• 
  Easy-to-rezero turrets

• 
  MOA Milling Hunter 2.0 reticle

• 
  Very compact at 11.9 inches long

For those hunters who fell in love with the compact WHISKEY6 but who felt limited by the second-plane MOA Milling Hunter reticle, Sig Sauer has an answer. This is the same compact scope that mates with AR carbines, ranch rifles, modular chassis rifles, and every bolt gun in production, except that now the WHISKEY6 has a first-plane reticle.

The result is an even more versatile hunting scope that can pinch-hit for mid-range precision target work and precision rimfire competitions. With the FFP version of the WHISKEY6, Sig has joined the trend of scope-makers serving the Western long-range hunter, who wants an optic with features to make shots in the 500- to even 1,000-yard range.

The WHISKEY6’s controls are certainly capable of that sort of long-range precision. The exposed elevation turret, with about 60 MOA of adjustment (25 MOA per revolution) has a push-button lock to keep it from moving inadvertently. The windage dial is capped, as it should be. If the scope is held back, it’s because of its glass. We struggled to get targets tack-sharp, and the WHISKEY6 scored near the bottom of our low-light test.

The disappointing optics showed up in tester Todd Netto’s conclusion: “Love the size. Love the features. Bummer on the glass.”

Testers further noted that the first-plane reticle isn’t very visible below about 5x, and without illumination, the fine reticle references can get lost against busy targets. But from about 7x to 18x the reticle is fully visible and the hashes are nicely spaced and easily navigated.

If it’s not a ground-breaking optic, the WHISKEY6 FFP offers shooters and hunters an option in a very useful size and configuration. An investment in better glass would elevate this compact scope from the pretty good to the great.

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Pros

• Useful second-plane bullet-drop reticle
• 10-yards-to-infinity side parallax control
• Excellent glass
• Velvety controls

Cons

• At 14.5 inches, an extremely large scope
• Bullet-drop references aren’t intuitive

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Key Features

• 
  Capped turrets

• 
  30mm tube

• 
  BDC Hunter Holds reticle

• 
  Lifetime warranty

Trijicon has extended its Huron line of non-illuminated price-point scopes to include this big optic configured for big-game hunting. At around $700 real-world street price, it’s not an entry-level scope, but rather features Trijicon’s excellent glass and velvety controls but no illumination or fancy first-plane reticle. It’s a bright, durable, honest hunting optic.

We especially liked its glass. The 50mm Huron won our low-light test, beating European models that cost two to three times as much. And testers noted its generally bright, crisp image.

But testers, who had been switching between scopes in this year’s test with exposed turrets and more sophisticated reticles, dinged the Trijicon for its fairly pedestrian precision attributes.

“The glass is clear. The parallax and power adjustments are smooth,” noted tester Nate Ward. “It does what it’s asked based on the features that it has, but doesn’t really excel at anything. It feels overpriced.”

Specifically, testers felt at that price the scope should have a zero stop, exposed locking turrets, and a reticle with more obvious references. Indeed, it took online research to learn the subtensions of the second-plane Hunter Holds reticle, which are actually extremely useful for most center-fire calibers.

At the scope’s highest magnification, the first elevation hash corresponds to an approximately 200-yard hold with a 100-yard zero. The second hash, at 8.32 MOA, corresponds to the drop at 300 yards. With magnum loads and a 200-yard zero, the first hash is approximately a 300-yard hold and the second a 400-yard hold. The reticle has wind holds every 5 MOA on the horizontal stadia out to 15 MOA.

It’s a proven and useful reticle design, and once hunters prove their specific load ballistics the system is fast and fairly precise, even if the subtensions don’t conform to cardinal MOA references.

With its 50mm objective and largish dimensions, the Huron is built for larger bolt guns. But if you’re looking for a durable low-light elk scope or an optic to take last-light whitetails at moderate distances, this is a great choice.

How We Tested the Best Hunting Scopes

Because rifle scopes are essentially aiming devices, we evaluate them on a different basis than binoculars or spotting scopes, optical instruments that have broader utility. We’re interested in the precision of a rifle scope, so our scoring criteria gives more weight to attributes that achieve that goal.

We test optical performance, same as we do spotters and binoculars. But we spend more time on four criteria that we think are the beating heart of a solid rifle scope. Our interior aiming system considerations are reticle style and utility, illumination, reticle references, and visibility. Our exterior aiming system evaluation considers turret positivity and indexing, the scope’s zero stop, parallax control, and total adjustment range, or how far shooters can stretch the turrets’ elevation and windage clicks. We also test a range of attributes that we bundle under the heading precision, which includes turret tracking, return to zero, the trueness of the scope’s magnification, parallax, and field of view. And then we ask testers to rate a scope’s shootability, which considers eye relief, eyebox, the ease of use at various magnifications, and the scope’s versatility.

That last consideration — versatility — is probably the most meaningful in this category. We’re interested in scopes that can span a wide range of uses, from ringing steel at a mile to killing a twitchy mule deer at a quarter that distance. Target-shooting attributes are a plus, but so is portability, a clean but useful reticle, precise and positive turret clicks, illumination, and clear glass. We also reward scopes that can do triple duty as close-in rimfire target optics, mountain hunting companions, and long-range competition scopes.

We put all submissions through the same criteria. First, we measure optical resolution, using the diminishing black-and-white lines of a 1951 Air Force Resolution Target to score the optical performance of each submission. We also measure the low-light performance of each “versatile” scope by mounting them to tripods and focusing them as a group at 200 yards at a black-and-white resolution target at twilight, all in order to measure the brightness and sharpness of the glass and visibility of the unilluminated reticle.

We break our 10-point scoring into four general categories: optical performance (25 percent of total grade), aiming system (50 percent of total grade), design (15 percent), and value (10 percent). The average of these categories is the basis of our grades, detailed below.

Optical performance includes the resolution and low-light tests plus the more subjective assessments of image quality and brightness. Aiming-system performance assesses interior and exterior aiming system, precision, and that squishy shootability assessment. Design considers the exterior finish, interior blacking, mounting dimensions, and durability.

And then our price/value score rates how much scope — along with warranty and amenities such as rings, extra turrets, and lens covers — you get for your money. The rifle scope that gets the highest overall score wins our editor’s choice award for the best in the category; the optic with the highest price/value score wins our great buy recognition, and we give other awards based on specific attributes.

How We Grade Hunting Scopes

Our 100-point evaluation adds up to a total numeric score, but we translate those to grades for each submission. The optical performance grade combines the scores from resolution, low-light, and image quality. Our aiming system performance grade aggregates the interior/exterior aiming system, precision, and shootability scores. The design grade considers construction, innovation, versatility, and durability. And then the price/value grade is our value grade.

To earn an excellent grade, the average of that category must be 9 or higher, which is extremely hard to achieve. Very good is an average score of 7 to 9. A good grade is 5 to 7. Our fair grade is 3 to 5, and poor is anything under 3.