In the USA, we hunters and shooters enjoy an incredible number of choices when it comes to firearms, ammunition, suppressors, muzzle brakes, rifle scope and rings in which to mount them. In fact, it is almost overwhelming to make the choices of what pieces to put together to build a rifle within your limited budget or to put the best of the best together to build the custom dream gun you've always wanted.
We are focusing here on rifle scopes and rings. Our commentary is not individual item reviews and tests but rather a generalized guide and commentary on manufacturers with which we have ample personal experience.
Scope Recommendations
Here, you get the opinion that is worth what you paid to get it. It's just based on a lot of money spent, mistakes made, lessons learned, and experience gained. So, not in any order, cost-wise, alphabetically, or any other, we can say that the best bets for happiness with your scope purchase are Swarovski, Zeiss, Nightforce, and Kahles. Next level includes Leupold, Steiner, and Trijicon. This is not to say that other brands are bad or unworthy. But the old saying, "Buy once, cry once" probably arose because of rifle scope purchases. We leave it to other sources of information to do the detailed tracking, turret clicking, chromatic aberration, fringing, pincushioning, reticle evaluating, and accuracy testing. We learned from such sources as well and recommend, when considering the best glass for your application, that you do the same.
Rifle Scopes We Have Known
Tangent Theta scopes are expensive. Not THE most expensive. But they are super premium in performance.
armament.com
Zero Compromise intends to be the single best rifle scope builder in the world. They are certainly in the running. If you have no budget restrictions, they are worth a look.
zcompoptic.com
Swarovski scopes are without a doubt among the best in the world. Their glass is simply outstanding and both First and Second focal plane scopes are world class. Highly accurate, built like tanks, but not overly heavy. Kahles are high-performance scopes and are now part of the Swarovski Optiks Group. Excellent performers, great warranty and service.
swarovskioptik.com
Arken Optics produces budget friendly scopes that tend to focus on functionality. Current generations (Gen III) use Japanese HD glass so are improved over previous offerings. Reliable but tend to be very heavy compared to comparable models from other manufacturers.
arkenopticsusa.com
Athlon Optics is another budget-friendly builder with a wide range of offerings. Again, weight seems to be the tradeoff for lower prices. Glass is ok.
athlonoptics.com
Leupold is built in the USA and proud of it. The iconic scope with the gold ring around the objective lens. There are scopes for every budget and application. They are generally very good to excellent and often touted for their reliability and durability.
leupold.com
Tract Optics are mid-range price for a better than average scope. If you want to speak to the President/Owner of the company and discuss your particular needs, don't be at all surprise if Jon Allen or Jon LaCorte (co-owners) answers the phone and spends however much time you need to get you squared away.
tractoptics.com
Bushnell is an American company that makes a variety of sporting optics. Scopes are generally ok but not best in class. Various price points at different quality and performance levels.
bushnell.com
Burris has been around for awhile and generally makes a solid product. Their Eliminator scope is a technical marvel and is surpassed in functionality and technology by the Swarovski DS Gen 3 which is itself incredible. Lots of choices and price points.
burrisoptics.com
Vortex is a solid Midwestern based company (Wisconsin) that produces products in Japan and the Philippines using good to great glass and designs for almost every purpose and ranging from entry level budgets to the expensive but outstanding Razor Gen 3 superscopes. There is something for everyone available via Vortex but the most distinguishing characteristic of Vortex is the no questions asked lifetime warranty on its products. Very safe choices, especially at the higher end.
vortexoptics.com
Nightforce is among the best American scope manufacturers. Built in the USA, the glass is from really good to really great, with price points to match. The company made its name supplying the most robust, consistent, and durable scopes to the US military, especially for the hostile conditions encountered in the theatres of the Global War on Terror. Just plain solid with no quit in them.
nightforceoptics.com
Zeiss produces among the best riflescopes in the world. Their glass is simply amazing. On par with Swarovski for light gathering and clarity. First and second focal planes scopes are available for different purposes and at different price points. I'll say it again—Zeiss glass is as good or better as any on Earth.
zeiss.com
Steiner may not be as well known as competitors like Swarovski and Zeiss but they make some truly great scopes. Very durable as demonstrated by being mounted on my .416 Rigby which generates, shall we say, enough recoil to break the internals of a lesser product. Fair prices for a very good set of products.
steiner-optics.com
Trijicon is a more recent entrant into the rifle scope world and it makes a number of interesting scopes, with innovative reticles, compact sizes, and, as with all Trijicon products, a reputation of high quality, durability, and bullet proofness.
trijicon.com
Schmidt & Bender was at one point THE gold standard is precision rifle scopes. Every SWAT sniper or guy doing long-range overwatch in combat theaters demanded a S&B PM II scope. Having used one for years, I can say they are reliable, accurate, and repeatable. Also heavy compared to other top shelf options. Expensive and I think have been surpassed in the market by newer, more aggressive designs and technology. Still, widely used and relied on in mission-critical situations.
Leica rifle scopes are, as would be expected of Leica's super performance glass, excellent. They are comparable in price to Swarovski, Zeiss, and Kahles, although definitely not as commonly seen on the rifles of highly demanding shooters. Nevertheless, solid line of scopes.
leica-camera.com
Sig Sauer is a huge manufacturer of all things firearms (except for shotguns) and that includes their lines of rifle scopes. They have standard military type scopes as well as "electro-optics" and rangefinder connected scopes. Their AR-15 lines are exceptional. The BDX line, while interesting, is less compelling than other options. Pricing is generally reasonable but, in our view, Sig's guns and red dots are first rate. Scopes, meh.
Rings and Mounts Recommendations
We know it's dangerous to have opinions on anything in the gun world. Even the debate over 9 mm vs .45 ACP has gone on for decades without anyone changing their minds. Same is true with .30-06 versus the world. You're either for or against. An idiot or a savant. So it is with even scope rings and mounts. That said, we've been around long enough and have enough experience to have a point of view. Take it for what it's worth to you. If nothing else, we give you enough information to check out on your own. Make your own choices.
In no particular order, we'd unhesitatingly recommend premium rings and mounts from any of the preferred scope manufacturers. As far as third party goes, we like Talley rings for non-super magnum applications. Same with Seekins. If you had one choice, price and weight didn't matter, and bullet-proofness was essential, AREA 419 Match rings would be at the top of the list. We are aware that there is some new technology coming on to the market. We'll update when we've had some experience with it. Not yet.
Scope Rings We Have Known
Virtually all manufacturers of rifle scopes also manufacture scope rings for their riflescopes and each suggests they are the perfect match for their scopes. We have no reason to disagree with these claims but there are certainly a lot of companies that make third party rings for mounting your optic. So, in addition to checking the websites of the rifle scope manufacturers listed above, the following third parties may warrant your consideration. Those listed are manufacturers with which we have ample experience.
Talley Manufacturing offers a huge variety of scope rings. You can find rings for almost every mounting system including rails, and bases. We have found Talley to be high quality, cost-effective, and having great customer service and customer advisement.
talleymanufacturing.com
AREA 419 offers extreme precision and ultra-high-quality rings and mounts, in both Match and Hunting grades. Expect high performance and robust quality at corresponding prices. Highly recommended for harsh duty, mission-critical applications.
Spuhr products are mission-critical, typically heavy-duty rings and mounts. Often the choice of special operators and PMC's performing in extreme environments, they are considered gold standard for harsh duty where failure is never an option. Price matches high expectations.
spuhr.se
Midwest Industries makes a variety of third-party add-ons including scope rings and mounts. Typically heavy-duty, not light, and fairly expensive but solid, durable, and interesting rail mounting capabilities.
midwestindustriesinc.com
American Defense Manufacturing scope rings and mounts are typically like so many third-party products, heavy duty, although these are typically not hyper priced. They are by no means cheap but nor are they at the top of the pricing pyramid. Very solid quality and always a good choice.
admmfg.com
Warne rings and mounts are of a solid quality at very reasonable prices. While we NEVER recommend skimping on hunting or shooting rifles and anything associated with them, the fact is that Warne products are fairly low price but solid quality. A lot of their products are aluminum and not steel, which explains pricing differences to some degree. Except for the most critical applications, there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing Warne.
warnescopemounts.com
Hawkins Precision rings and mounts remind us of the Willy Nelson song "I Gotta Get Drunk" wherein the legend sings "I'm gonna spend my money, call everybody honey, and wind up singin' the blues!" Great products but typically top tier pricing and while great quality, we're not sure that these are sufficiently differentiated to warrant the cost. But then again, we've found them to be pretty bulletproof.
hawkinsprecision.com
Seekins makes solid rings and mounts at mid-tier pricing. Strong choice.
seekinsprecision.com
Badger Ordanance is without question an All-American manufacturer of hard use scope rings and mounts of various kinds. Available to fit virtually any application you may have in mind, Badger takes great pride in its precision, serial numbered and matched ring sets. Often the choice of military and law enforcement, you get what you pay for.
badgerordnance.com