15 Best Rifle Scopes for Hunting in 2024

After reviewing dozens of scopes from many different companies ranging in price from $50 to well over $2,000, I am finally ready to write a completely unbiased review of my favorite scopes on the market for hunting in 2024.

If you don’t want to read this whole post, here is what I’d tell a friend to buy at each major price point.

• Under $250 – Burris Fullfield IV 4-16 (check current price)
  • What I Like: Lightweight, easy to use, parallax adjustment, decent glass
• Under $350 – Athlon Argos 4-20×50 (Check current price)
  • What I Like: Excellent glass quality for the price, simple and reliable capped-turrets, rugged design is very durable, excellent forever Athlon warranty. Also, I think a 4-20 magnification is the most versatile.
• Under $600 – Athlon Helos BTR Gen II 4-20×50 (Buy it on the Backfire Shop)
  • What I Like: An exceptionally great hybrid hunting/long range scope. Great glass, first focal plane, illuminated reticle, zero stop, locking turrets. Honestly, this scope is pretty unbelievable for the price. It easily stacks up against much more expensive options.
• Under $1,300 – Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18×50 (Check price on Amazon)
  • What I Like: I love this scope. It’s lightweight, great glass, I love the turret lock button, and all the rings move easily (unlike the Vortex). Really the only negative are the incredibly tiny allen set screws that they use on the turrets which are sometimes hard to find and adjust.
• Price is no object – Burris Eliminator VI (Buy it on the Backfire Shop)
  • What I like: The Eliminatory simply makes you a better and faster hunter. It has a built-in rangefinder and does your ballistics for you. It shows an illuminated dot in the scope of where to aim to compensate for the bullet drop. I was skeptical until I bought one and was IMMEDIATELY converted. I hit every steel plate going from 100 yards outs to 1200 yards. It’s mind-blowingly awesome. Nothing else competes with it.
    • Note, this scope is illegal in Utah and Idaho for hunting.

Why You Can Trust This Review

• I tested over 50 different scopes from 12 different brands
• I spent over 200 hours testing and reviewing the scopes
• No company has paid to have their product recommended in this review
• Because of my Youtube channel on guns, I have a reputation to uphold. I have to be sure I’m bringing you the best, unbiased content.

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If You Want a Simple, Inexpensive, Capped-Turret Scope

I’ll be frank. Some scope companies try to pass off some horrible scopes in their capped-turret category. Because tracking isn’t as important, and because many of the capped-turret scopes are inexpensive, some of the trashiest scope designs I’ve seen are on capped-turret scopes.

First, a few scopes that I do NOT think you should buy in this category. The Sig Whiskey 3 has very thick shadowing around the edges of the image that make it feel like you’re looking through PVC pipe. The (relatively expensive) Bushnell Nitro drops the distance from your eye to the scope too much as you zoom in. The Leupold VX-Freedom is a good scope, but I had issues with the reticle going out of focus and a loose rear focus piece. The Vortex Crossfire II had poor sharpness and a picky eye box.

In my opinion, there are two stand-out options for scopes in this category. The Burris Fullfield and the Athlon Argos 4-20.

The cheaper of the two options is the Burris Fullfield E1. At less than $300, it’s a very capable scope for the price. They make versions with different options, but I’d recommend getting one with a parallax adjustment. Parallax is basically a focus knob, but it also controls the alignment of the reticle to your eye. You’ll shoot more accurately and have a better optical experience with a parallax adjustment.

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My Favorite Exposed-Turret Scopes for Hunting

When I’m buying a scope just for me and not for review, I always get an exposed turret. In my opinion, it makes the gun much more useful for a wide range of target and hunting opportunities. I’ll break this part of the blog post into sections based on price.

Here’s What I’d Get If You Have < $400 to Spend

Frankly, I wouldn’t buy an exposed-turret scope under $300. Why? Because the purpose of an exposed turret is to allow you to dial for elevation, and I haven’t personally found a scope in the very cheap category that has reliable tracking and solid enough optics to recommend it. If you’re under $300, I’d get a capped-turret scope.

I tested several exposed-turret first-focal-plane scopes under $500 recently. Here are some of their specs.

Model	Focal Plane	Weight (Ounces)	Tube Size	Illumination	Where It’s Made
Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16×44	First	22.85	30mm	No	China
Athlon Talos BTR 4-14x44mm	First	24.15	30mm	Yes	China
Primary Arms SLx 3-18x50mm	First	26.2	30mm	Yes	China
Blackhound Genesis 4-14×44 FFP MOA	First	24.75	30mm	No	China
Arken 4-16×50 SH4 Gen2 FFP	First	37.2	34mm	Yes	China

Arken – Weeding through the list, the Arken is far too heavy for a hunting application. It’s a really cool scope for target shooting and I use one on my kid’s competition 22lr rig, but it’s just not a hunting scope. Also, I dumped all of the scopes into my pool to test water intrusion. Every scope EXCEPT the Arken passed the test. Arken called me afterward and said they are changing their gaskets in future versions of the scope to address the issue, and replaced mine.

Blackhound – I like Blackhound as a company, but I just haven’t seen any of their scopes yet that I feel beat out the competition for any specific price point. Their products lack innovation. It’s the typical scopes coming out of the same factories from Japan and China as many other manufacturers, but with no effort put into industrial design, clever turret capabilities, etc. It’s decent stuff as I highlighted in this video, but when I compare it to similarly-priced competition, I just don’t see a reason to choose the Blackhound.

Athlon – Athlon’s Talos is a very odd-looking scope because the side turrets don’t line up (similar to the Blackhound), but it’s an impressive scope nonetheless. It’s built well, but the optical quality and fit-and-finish doesn’t match the Vortex in my opinion.

Primary Arms – The Primary Arms offering is $100 more than the Vortex, but 1/3 lbs heavier and the corner sharpness didn’t match up. It’s probably the second best option in this price point in my opinion.

If You Want Made In the USA – Notice that all of the above offerings are made in China. Your only option for USA made is the Leupold VX Freedom 4-12×50 (link to Amazon). It has an exposed turret, nicely design image with little scope shadown, and decent brightness. However, my rear focus dial came loose over time and caused the reticle to go in and out of focus. I can’t recommend gear that fails on me in testing, but I’m sure my experience was rare. Overall, it’s a good choice.

The Best Option Under $500 – The first scope in the exposed-turret world that I’d recommend is the Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16×44 (link to Amazon). I spent a tremendous amount of time testing this scope and it tracks perfectly (at least more accurately than I was able to test). Tall target, box test, it passed every test I threw at it.

Here’s What I’d Get If You Have < $1,000 to Spend

The best scope in this price point is actually under $600 and it competes with many scopes that cost hundreds of dollars more. It’s the Athlon Helos BTR Gen II 4-20×50.

The Athlon tracks perfectly when you dial the turret, which is something that many scopes in this price point struggle with. Speaking of the turrets, you’ll have all the features you need like locking turrets so you don’t accidentally bump them when out hunting, and a zero stop to make it easy to return to your sight-in distance.

The Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×40 (link to Amazon) is another solid option. The scope is impossibly light at just 16 ounces, but still gives you a great focal range of 4.5-14x. I’ve written before about the best scope magnifications for hunting. At 4.5mm when zoomed out, you can still shoot a big game animal at 20 yards and see enough of the animal to place a shot. At the long end, you can see a single bullet hole at 100 yards for sighting in. Perfect.

But it’s the top turret design of the Leupold VX-3HD that makes this scope so useful. Like Leupold’s higher-end scopes, it has a button on the turret to make it impossible to accidentally spin the turret without pressing the button. In that regard, it makes the scope as good as a capped-turret scope for making sure the turret doesn’t get bumped. But with a push of a button, you can take full control.

The only issues I have with the VX-3HD are: (1) I got a little ding in the front bell of the scope that was easily banged back out but I think it should be reinforced there, and (2) I wish they offered the scope in more reticles other than just basic duplex and windplex.

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Here’s What I’d Get With > $1,000 to Spend

With a budget starting at $1,200, you can get a world-class hunting scope. In this category, it’s harder to declare a single winner because the options are all so good. However, there are about 4 stand-out scopes in this category from which you’ll likely want to choose.

As a preliminary matter, check out the Leupold Mark 4HD. It’s a new scope that came out in 2024, and it just might be the best hunting scope around $1200. Really the only thing I don’t like are the incredibly tiny set screws in the turrets that are hard to find an allen wrench for and sometimes work loose.

I also really like the Leupold Mark 5HD 3.6-18X44 M5C3 FFP TMR; HOWEVER, it’s 5 oz heavier than the Vortex Razor LHT, so I picked the Vortex for my lightweight hunting rifle. The Leupold is a very convenient focal range for hunting, it’s first focal-plane, provides great glass quality, great reticle options, and of course that Leupold CDS turret system that I just feel is several steps ahead of the competition. The turret allows for a positive button lock to maintain zero, and a custom dial you can order for free. There are, however, two problems with the Leupold. It’s heavy at 26oz and it uses an odd-ball 35mm tube size that makes getting rings difficult.

A lot of hunters end up with the Vortex Razor HD LHT 4.5-22×50 FFP (link to see price on Amazon) for a lightweight mountain rifle. I really love a lot about that scope, but in the end, it isn’t for me. The glass quality is just okay for the price, and the magnification ring is SO stiff that it makes me come out of the scope in order to adjust it. That’s really the number one thing that I didn’t like on that scope.

However, the Vortex Razor HD LHT beats out the Leupold in one critical area–weight. The Vortex weighs just 21.7oz compared to 26.5 on the Leupold. It doesn’t sound like much, but the Leupold feels like a CHUNK when you hold it compared to the Vortex. Also, the Vortex uses a more common 30mm tube size, so it’ll be easier to get good rings. The Vortex, however, has a magnification ring that is way too tight and requires me to come out of the scope in order to force it to where I want it to go.

There are, however, still other fantastic options to choose from. Kahles makes some exceptional scopes, but all of them seem to be a few ounces heavier than the competition in my experience. The Swarovski 3.5-18×44 P BT is an awesome looking scope, but I don’t have much personal experience with it. Zeiss has a great V8 line of scopes, but none of them quite match the zoom or weight numbers I’d like to see for hunting. Zeiss’s Conquest V6 line is great.

Before You Buy, Make A Few Crucial Decisions

Capped or exposed turrets?

The turrets are the dials on the top and side of the scope that allow you to adjust the scope for elevation and windage. If you will never shoot past 200 yards, there is no point in having exposed turrets. Just zero your scope, put a cap on it so it won’t get bumped, and be done.

However, many people like being able to go hunting with their rifle, and then also use the same gun to shoot long-distance at the range. An exposed turret is a huge benefit for hunting past 200 yards so you can precisely adjust the scope elevation to match the distance from your rangefinder–without first needing to remove a cap covering the turret.

The only drawback to an exposed turret is that it could get accidentally spun while hunting, which would cause you to miss. Fortunately, many scopes have turret locks, or you can simply check the scope to make sure it’s on zero before shooting. Personally, I always choose the versatility of an exposed turret, but pick what works for your needs.

First Focal Plane, or Second Focal Plane?

In a first focal plane scope, the reticle (crosshairs) gets bigger and smaller as you zoom. This makes the distance hash marks accurate no matter what you zoom to. A second focal plane scope has a fixed reticle that doesn’t grow or shrink depending on your magnification, which always makes the reticle the perfect size.

Do not get hung up on first vs second focal plane. I have a general preference for first focal plane scopes, but I own and enjoy scopes of both types. The one thing I don’t like is a second focal plane optic with a complicated reticle, because the markings will be completely off unless I keep my magnification fixed.

What Magnification Is Best?

I have a whole blog post on selecting the right magnification (zoom) of a scope, but I’ll give you the shortened version here.

For hunting, I like to have a wide end of less than 5x zoom. At 5x it, can be tough to see enough of the animal in the scope to know where you’re aiming at if the animal is within 30 yards. You just see hair. But even 4.5x (just 0.5x less zoom) is acceptable for me. So I like a 3, 4, or 4.5x zoom for the bottom end. 5 is too high for a versatile hunting scope in my opinion.

On the high end, I like more magnification than some other hunters who are happy with a max of 9x. Personally, I train better when I can easily see a bullet hole in paper at 100 yards. It makes sighting in and grouping MUCH easier. You can see a bullet hole at 100 yards with about 11x magnification, but it becomes comfortable at 14x.

Keep in mind, though, that unless an animal is very far away, you probably won’t need that much magnification when hunting. If you zoom in too tight on the animal, you won’t be able to see your bullet impact because of the recoil, and you may not see what happens to the animal after the shot.

What Brands of Scopes I Like, and Which I Would Avoid

I’m gonna take some serious heat in the comments for the following list, but it would have been helpful for me when I was newer to at least get a very general idea of some of the brands in the industry. Don’t put too much into this, because some models in the “good” category make a couple “fantastic” specific models even if there are other models they make that I’m less excited about.