Scope with the most eye relief?

[deadon]

In your opinion what is the best 40 mil,with the most eye relief. I am getting away from the scopes with adjustable paralax,for hunting? They have cost me shots because I am slowing down in my old age. Thank you in advance

[rossman40]

Luepolds usually have good eye relief, it is one of their "trademarks". One of the marks of a good variable power scope design is good eye relief that doesn't change much when you change magnification. A good 3-9X will change less then a 1/2", a cheaper design may change more then 1". Like everything you can not always trust the manufacturer's claims and before putting down the cash check it out yourself with your eyes. I have one cheap scope that while it has great eye relief at 4X, when you crank the power up to 16X your "up on the scope", probly less then 3".

[deadon]

rossman, When I think of eye relief I am thinking it means that saying from 2 to 5 inches away from the scope you still get the field of view, is that correct? i may not even be asking the right question.Some scopes you have to get real close to see the full view, when you move back too far its like you have tunnel vision.When I shoot in mild weather its OK but get 10 layers on in 20 degree weather I have to really strain to get close enough to see. Some scopes you move forward or back it makes no difference. Am I asking the right question or is there another term I should be using? Thank you

[rossman40]

No, you got it right. That is a mistake a lot of guys make, they set the scope up when it is warm and they just have a light shirt on and then when they hunt they have another 1-1.5" of clothes on. Then when they do have to get up on the scope they are all out of position. You want a decent amount of scope relief with a heavy kicker. With 3" or less you have to pay attention to your form or you could end up with a scope cut. My 10ML has got me twice, both times I was out of form trying to lean around a tree and the gun slipped off my shoulder. It looks bad when your bloodier then the deer.

[ozark]

Having a scope with good eye relief is nice to have. Naturally, the length of the stock, recoil pad and clothing tend to alter things. These along with your normal method of cheeking the rifle makes mounting of a scope critical. But there is some good news here also. It seem great to have a clear view of the full field it isn't needed for accuracy. As long as the crosshairs are on your target tunnel vision doesn't change bullet impact. If the rifle is sighted in so the bullet hits on the crosshairs that will be where they hit provided paralax is true at that range. Perfect eye relief, or eye relief that gives you a full field of view is desirable but I have tested this by backing away from the scope to the point where I had very little of the full field and the bullet still impacted on target.
Scope manufacturers claims are a bit deceiving in that they insinuate that you can move your eye a full three or more inches without effecting the field of view. I have not found that to be true. Maybe others have. The specifications of most quality scopes are close to the same regarding eye relief claims.

[boarhog]

The Nikon Omega I have has the most eye relief on any scope I own. They claim 5", but I haven't measured.

[Jon]

I really enjoy anything I can learn about using a scope. I was irons all the way now that the eyes have failed it is something new to learn. And I'm learning there is a lot more to it than I had thought. So keep all the info coming.
Jon

[smokeless77]

deadon

This is one of the scopes I use. zeiss constant 4" eye relief 3-9x40 for hunting deer in my area, lots of woods not real long shots. Depending on the distance you shoot you might want something with a little more power? I had it for years never a problem.

www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000425214609920

[deadon]

Thank you all for the great info!!!

[ozark]

To understand eye relief we need to know what it is. Eye relief is that distance the eye needs to be from the scope to get a full field of view. If the scope has a 3.5 " eye relief then the eye being 3 or 4 inches from the scope is not perfect. Think exactly 3.5 Inches as perfect and everything else manageable or maybe not.
How the rifle is held and cheeked determines how far forward or rearward the scope is mounted. If the eye relief is 3 Inches then the eyepiece should be three inches forward of the eye when the shooter is their shooting position. This means that shooting position is as critical or more so than scope eye relief. Getting banged with a scope doesn't mean the eye relief is wrong. It may mean the scope is mounted wrong or that the shooter has poor shooting techniques.
I have never been cut or touched by a scope and I have shot some rifles that had heavy recoil. I credit this to having been taught the correct way to hold and cheek a rifle. If the rifle is cheeked properly then the eye will move rearward with recoil. Injury occurs when the scope moves rearward while the eye remains stationary.
If you are a stock crawler then you need to break that habit. It is a bad one.
My goal here is to show that scope mounting and sound shooting techniques eliminates most concerns about the eye relief discussion. Having a six inch eye relief means that you can be lax on sound shooting techniques and still not get touched by a scope.
When I shoulder a rifle I pull it into my shoulder firmly. If I have extra clothing on I compress these against my shoulder before cheeking the rifle. When the rifle fires it is secured to my body snug enough so that we move together.
I think many folks thinks of eye relief as being anywhere within the specified distance. a three inch eye relief means exactly three inches to have a full field of view. But, as I alluded to in a previous post, it is not necessary to have a full view to have accuracy. Hope this sheds some light for those who needs it. The experts are not getting banged with a scope. lol. I just had to throw that punch. If it banged into your eye, I am sorry.

[tar12]

IMO,nothing compares to the Zeiss in terms of eye relief,clarity,quality.The reticle on the Zeiss is etched onto the glass,therefore it is not magnified like others.This means the eye relief stays focused throughout the ENTIRE magnification range.This in turn assures at high magnification that you are not covering your target up as can happen with traditional reticles, this is of course dependent of target size.They track without fail.My original Zeiss 3x9x40 has to have close to 6,000 hard recoiling rounds on it.Numerous shotgun slugs and 300 grn loads out of the 10 ML.It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.In my experience they are the only scope to hold up to hard,hard abuse.Others mileage may very! ;D ;D I spent years buying "bargain" scopes.I finally woke up one day and realized I could have bought half doz. Zeiss scopes with the money I spent on inferior scopes.So my Zeiss saga began.Cant tell you about their customer service as I have never had need to use it.Thats my .02 on the subject....ok Bigmoose your turn! ;D

[jims]

Tar12: I was going to mention Zeiss but I knew you would be answering eventually so I held back. ;D I only have had one of their scopes, they are indeed good.

[rangeball]

Bushnell makes a 3x9x40 banner that they advertise as 6" of eye relief. I have one on my slug gun, haven't measured it but the eye relief does change when you up the power.

[12ptdroptine]

I have about 10 I think...of Leupold's...everything from a 2x7x33 shotgun scope to a 4.5X15X40 on my .243....... I love every one of them..Never had a failure. Last year I bought a Nikon Omega...Felt like a trader! I couldnt convince myself to like it... But the more I look through it the better I like it... I do believe it has 5 inches of relief. clear and bright...I really cant find any fault with it...yet ... And I keep trying. Though not as hard as I was. I have it mounted on my 20ga. Ultra sluggr now and waiting to dial it in. Now 5 inches of eye relief has its advantages and Disadvantage's also....for me anyway. When I back out there 5 inches or so it opens a pretty large perifrial(SP) vision area...those thing's to the outside can cause a distraction for me.. However after my 12ga opened my eye up a couple years back I think I can learn to get used to it......Hope I havent confused you here.. Good luck Drop

[topusmc]

eye relief, what is to long, what is to short. I am not an optical scientist, but for what its worth, here is my opinion.
Depending on the purpose of shooting, bee it, competition, target, hunting, or just plinking, will determine what the length of your stock should be. The way we dress will play a big part in this measurement, as mentioned. This should be your first consideration, and the stock should be lengthened or shortened depending on your feel.
With a stock that fits, you now can have your scope mounted. Some scopes will not mount correctly on some guns. This is do to the length of the scope and the mounting surface available on a given scope, and the distance between bases. There are ways to get all three working. Before buying a scope, make sure that it will fit, or know what you need to do to make it fit.
I am 75 years old and have been shooting since I was ten. All these years I fought with different scopes and all ways to mount them and have found that the eye relief will and does impair the image of your target. Scopes that change the image one way or the other when changing power are a no-no, and most cheep scopes do. I have lived with that up to two years ago. Thats when I ordered a 30 MM . Thats all I use now. I have not had a problem since . The 30 mm tube seams to be less sensitive to eye relief, and definitely offers a much brighter image. I must tell you, My scopes are up to 6 x 40. How the 30 mm tube does on higher power, I cannot say.
Maybe these old eyes are tricking me, but thats my find.

[deadon]

topusmc, are you saying a 30mm tube verses a 1 inch tube? I have nicon, leupold ,burris and one simmons scope and I think they all have 1" tubes.

[topusmc]

deadon;
Yes, thats it, a 30 MM tube. I think most scopes come in both 1 In. amd 30 MM. I have two of the cheeper ones, a bushnell, and a Nikko Stearling. Both are 1.5-6x42. Both of these scopes have an illuminated red dot, if you don't want the red dot you still have the black dot. I don't shoot or hunt as much as most folks, but so far they are doing fine. I don't shoot anything but muzzleloaders. The 30 MM scopes are somewhat bigger than a 1 in. and probably weigh more.

[ozark]

Length of neck is a factor to consider. Some folks seem to have no neck while others looks like they could eat a green apple and would be ripe by the time it got to the stomach. Scopes can be mounted forward or rearward and they sell scope mount extensions to extend this adjustment. With the scope mounted properly obtaining good full field vision can force the shooter to get into a better shooting position. I have seen shooter crawl up closer to get good field of vision and in doing so placed their cheek in a much better shooting position. Having a limited space where the shooter sees the full field is not always a bad thing.

[rossman40]

I have had several guys wanting stock mods. Mainly F-class guys that normally shoot prone but get the rifle on the bench and the rifle just doesn't fit them as well. Then there are guys that have found shooting in the summer and the fall requires LOP adjustment.

As far as 30mm tube scopes, I will not buy another 1". Stronger tubes and newer 30mm tube scopes have better performance then the older ones that had a 30mm tube but with 1" guts (Leupold, Burris even the Jap made).

[cmcculley]

I have shot with many scopes and found that my Sightron scope had the longest eye relief. But this was a couple of years ago while I was shooting silhouette competition. Other scopes my have a longer relief now. I've been very pleased with my Nikon Elite 3200 and my Weaver Grand Slam also. All have good relief and very good fields of view. The more you can compare scope information side by side the better you are. www.midwayusa.com has good info on the scopes they carry. Hope this helps.