Best Rifle Scope Under $500: 10 scopes tested head-to-head

I bought 10 rifle scopes to give you a completely unbiased review of the best rifle scopes under $500. The scopes considered are all approximately 4-14 magnification, which is very common for a hunting and general purpose field scope.

Special thanks to Blackhound for sending me their scope to review when I wasn't able to purchase one since they were out of stock. Blackhound is a great company with excellent customer support. I suspect the copy I received is an outlier with the top turret problem. I will continue to support them in the future.

[jasonbubb]

I really hope you do this video again in 2024. Scopes have changed and we NEED another

[tec]

This is literally probably the best scope review ever, I can't even fathom how much effort and time and detail went into testing all of this for all of us, so for that thank you you got my like!

[KendallGray]

Bro you're the goat! Thanks for doing this!

[Jagsdon]

Thanks for the review. I purchased the Arken Sp5-25 as I no longer can afford the higher end scopes and was very pleased with the quality of these scopes. I bought a second one and am still at 1/3 the price of many scopes. I find I can go out and shoot more as I have several rifles with a good scope versus one rifle with an excellent scope.

[blantant]

We appreciate the time and effort that went into this. This is really one of the best scope reviews I have ever seen.

[richardsmith]

I started out with a Vortex Strike Eagle 1-8x24. After a few trips to the range, I found my old eyes needed more magnification. I ordered and received a Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6-24x50. I have it mounted on Vortex Pro rings and will go to the range this week. It sighted in very easy and 100 yards + should not be a problem. Got the scope on sale at Optics Planet and Vortex customer service is TOPS and they have a unlimited, unconditional lifetime warranty. That speaks a lot for the company and their products and I will be a customer for life. You produced a outstanding review and thank you for your time and dedication in this great review !!

[petergeorge]

An important consideration is warranty. I decided to test the Burris forever warranty. I had a 2-7 Burris that I took of a rifle 20 years ago that would no longer hold zero, this scope is now about 40 years old. I took it to my local gun shop, they sent it to the importer for examination and they subsequently replaced it with a new 3-9 scope at no cost. That is an unbeatable warranty. I subsequently bought a 4.5-14 Burris and am very happy with both scopes

[cfrank]

That Burris looks right up my alley! Thanks for putting this together for new guys trying to get out into the field.

[meagleo]

Watching you punt all the scopes into the pool was oddly satisfying.

[KevinWood]

All jokes aside....THANK YOU!!!!

This is pure honesty for a change!! Arken and Blackhound, like Vortex, has bought the opinions of so many youtubers...I greatly appreciate your honesty!!

The Blackhound and Arken, while both decent scopes for the money, have terrible chromatic aberration and both have reticle issues (Arken too thin and Blackhound too 'busy')

As far as what u mentioned about the larger objective lens bringing in more light. I know that has always been the what people think but I personally do not.
**Here is how you should look at it....if you held a straw north/south at noon and next to it you held another straw with a HUGE funnel on top of it to pull more light down the straw....the result of light coming thru the 2 straws would be IDENTICAL!!!!
You can not force more light through the same size straw, regardless of the objective lens!!!

And the larger body 34mm vs 30mm vs 1" DEF does not effect light, only allows more turret travel.

[backfire]

I did my best to give good reasoning to support my personal choices for the winners here, but seriously these are all good quality scopes. If you end up with an Athlon, Primary Arms, Leupold, or any other because of your personal preferences, you’ll have a good scope too.

Also, I really think I just got an unlucky copy of a Blackhound. There are tons of positive reviews of Blackhound scopes, so don’t let my experience dissuade you from working with a great company like Blackhound. However, I had to be honest about the flaws I experienced with mine.

[Theother]

Thanks for all your hard work, here in the UK we pay far more for anything firearm related, so it's great to have a starting point to work from. In my experience, scopes earn their money from 100 yards onwards, I generally shoot 22LR out to 100, but i'm toying with the idea of a 22WSM to compliment it and a 223 for 300 yards, peace and love from Surrey ( where Harry Potter lived) lol.

[louiscapasso]

Jim, I'd like to say thanks for the opportunity to come and participate in this. It was a blast, and a tough time with that many choices. Your choices are spot on.

[craigdaugherty]

I have an Athlon Argos BTR 6-24x50 FFP in MOA Reticle and it functions perfectly for me. As for turrets, I removed the heavy grease from the turrets and used a light weight oil. It made the clicks louder and more tactile.

[stephenhorvath]

Hey Jim! Just want to thank you for all the time you put into your videos and how honest you are about the experiences you have with all test subjects. I have referred a bunch of people to your channel and I love the mentality that Backfire operates on. Special thanks from Canada!

[kweeks]

Good video. A couple of years ago I took out a newer Redfield($199), Leupold Marksman($229), vari-x I, II, III, and new Mark 5 ($2099) and tested them side by side. Even the difference between the Vari-x I and II was considerable in low light transmission and clarity. For the bulk of people, I would guess that the $199-$299 offerings were sufficient. But a scope like the vari-x III or "better" can really make the difference, especially in low light conditions.

[rubenalonso]

This channel is slowly but surely sneaking to be one of my favorites to watch.

[gerrygadget]

I've been waiting for this review FOREVER! Thank you so much!

[BornHandy]

Great video. I kept finding videos that were just compilations of scope advertisements, but you actually took the time. Thank you.

[darrylpacholko]

I have 2 Diamondback HP 4-16 x42 Vortex scopes. I mounted 1 of them on a Weatherby Vanguard 7mm rem mag. Our whitetail season starts on the 15th of November. 7 minutes into legal shooting time a buck steps out and I harvested him. The light transmission was excellent in the low-light conditions. I love Vortex, the price, quality and warranty are comparable to anyone else. I paid 429.00 for mine here in Canada.