STOCKS AND SCOPES AND MONEY, OH MY!
I won't get into get into the whole issue of scopes vs. iron sights, which has nothing to do with being "pure Appleseed" or cheating or anything else, since for some of us it's more a matter of eyesight and how old you are. If you are an old fart like me and can’t see the 400 yard target, you need a scope.
If you are still young, well, you can put it off for a while, but
some day you will probably need a scope. Doesn't hurt to start learning now.
I am not an expert in scope optics, but this is what I have learned, based on the Appleseeds I have shot, and on the purchases and returns I have made in the last year. I hope this saves you some time and money!
When you go to buy your first scope, there is a lot of scope specification nomenclature to learn, like “eye relief,” “objective lens,” and “vignetting.” These are all important, but aren’t worth a dime if the “length of pull” (LOP) of your stock is not correct for your body.
IT’S THE STOCK, STUPID or “I COULD ‘A HAD A V8”
More than anything else, the length of the stock determines where your eye will be at the rear of the scope. (This issue may not be as critical if you are using iron sights.) The LOP also affects other things like felt recoil and how comfortable you can be in certain shooting positions.
If I may be so bold, we don’t seem to discuss LOP enough at Appleseed. The LOP issue may not be discussed much at Appleseed, I think, because of our emphasis is on (1) “off the rack” rifles with iron sights and (2) the Ruger 10/22. Although the 10/22 is the best rifle to use for Appleseed, many of the Ruger models do come with a carbine or youth-sized stock that is too short for some of us, especially in sitting positions.
Determining one’s proper length of pull is an easy process, but seems to require a simple piece of gadgetry that none of us instructors seem to have--yet. (We currently solve the problem using trial and error with loaner rifles having different-sized stocks.)
The trial and error process didn’t work for me, so I went to a gunsmith to find out why. He had one of those length-of-pull measuring devices and put me through the process. He determined that my length of pull was whopping 15 ¼” with a thin shirt, which is longer than most people’s are. With padding or a heavy winter coat, we decided to make the stock 14 ¼” and I bought a $20 Pachmeyer rubber slip-on recoil pad (
http://www.grafs.com/product/194646) for use in summer.
Now that I had my LOP well in hand and knew that my eye was always going to be in the same place (using the “turkey neck” technique taught at Appleseed), I was only then ready to buy a scope.
(It didn’t actually work out that way, because I had already bought the damn scope. We live and we learn, I guess.)
For me the most important feature of a scope turned out to be what is called "vignetting." That is the amount of black area one sees around the periphery of the image if the eye is not properly aligned with the rear of the scope. If the eye is properly positioned, one sees a full image with no black area at all.
The amount of vignetting of a scope is directly proportional to the size of the scope’s objective lens. The objective lens is the one at the front of the scope. The bigger the objective lens, the less is the vignetting.
I have found that an objective lens smaller that 50mm produces too much vignetting for me. I tried a scope with a 42mm objective, but sent it back. The next scope I buy will probably have a 56mm objective, if that’s an option. A larger objective also has the advantage of gathering more light and thus being more effective in dawn or dusk situations.
Eye relief (the distance one’s eye, when properly positioned, is from the rear lens of the scope) turned out
not to be as important as I thought. Salesmen will say if you have a high power rifle with lots of recoil, you want lots of eye relief to avoid having the scope hit your eye during the recoil. Well, that may be true, but if the scope’s hitting your eye, you’re not positioning the butt of the stock correctly in your shoulder’s sweet spot. Once you get the butt of the stock properly positioned, your whole body, including your eye, moves back with the recoil as a single unit. Problem solved.
Extended eye relief (3” or more) does lend an advantage to one’s ability to mount the scope on some rifles, however.
Hope this helps and saves you some time, money, and frustration.