The Firearm Guide: Your different types of optics (scopes)

When it comes to firearms, oftentimes you'll see a huge variety of optics mounted on top of them.

Sure, you could always stick with the ol' reliable ironsights, but a lot of optics, such as red dots, make it not only easier to land your shots, but also increase the speed at which you get onto and begin firing at your target.

Lets go over the different types of optics, so you can decide which one might fit you best.

Telescopic

Telescopic sights are optical sights that use some sort of magnification to enhance their associated optical aiming pattern, or reticle, in order to give the firer a better visual aid.

But, in simpler terms, its an optic that zooms in on the reticle built into it. The zoom function can either be adjustable or non-adjustable.

It may be a tad hard to see, but the reticle is designed to provide the user with a few different capabilities.

The most important one is being able to easily account for bullet drop. If you notice the lines leading from the bottom of the red dot downwards, it allows the user to make adjustments that will affect how far the round is fired.

The lines that mirror to the left and right of the center of the aiming circle are lead lines. These lines allow you to measure and correct for lead, if you know how to use them.

A lot of time when you are searching for telescopic optics, you'll see "3x zoom" or "16x zoom" and the like. A general rule of thumb is that the bigger the number, the greater the zoom.

Anything over 4x zoom, in my opinion, is more useful when firing from medium to long range distances that span from 250-300 meters and onwards. Anything shorter than that is good for close to medium range from about 25 meters to 300 meters. Anything closer than 25 meters and you really shouldn't miss!*

*Experiences may vary

Reflector or Reflex

Reflector, or Reflex sights, superimpose (lay) the reticle onto a reflective glass in the optic using an illuminated source also built into the optic.

Think about how projector screens work in movie theaters. The screen itself isn't doing anything - everything is presented from the projector. A reflex optic works more or less the same way.

Basically, an illuminated light, which can be a simple red dot or another pattern, is reflected off the glass of your optic and that's what you see.

The perk of having a reflex sight is that the picture is going to remain on the same point no matter how you decide to angle yourself. This is what makes these sights incredibly reliable. All you really have to do is properly zero them in on your target and then as long as you lay your reticle onto the target there's a good chance you'll hit - depending on the range, of course.

These types of sights do a good job at reducing parallax, which is incredibly important in maintaining your consistency and accuracy.

Holographic

A holographic sight utilizes a laser diode in order to illuminate the reticle holographically 'etched' into the glass element in the optic.

While very similar looking to reflex sights, a holographic sight does things a bit differently. Instead of reflecting an image like in a reflex sight, the holographic sight already has one etched into the glass.

The etching is then illuminated via a laser diode and multiple mirrors in order to create a holographic, 3-D representation.

This allows it to act very similar to a reflex sight, but with the added ability of being able to be altered via controls on the optic as well. This means that holographic sights have the ability to account for different firing considerations such as range or windage, increasing their accuracy.

How can you tell the difference between a holographic sight and a reflex sight? Well, besides being adjustable, holographic sites are a lot bulkier than reflex sights. You generally won't find a holographic sight on anything smaller than a rifle.

I hope this provided you with knowledge on your common firearm optics.

As always, feel free to check out the other articles and leave suggestions and feedback!