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Riflescopes with Capped turrets

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All-round Hunting Rifle Scopes
Rifle Scopes for Driven Hunts
Rifle Scopes for Stalking
Rifle Scopes for Mountain Hunting
Low Light Rifle Scopes
Long Range Hunting Rifle Scopes

VIDEO

Introduction

There are plenty of possibilities when buying a rifle scope. Firstly, we have to ask ourselves why are we buying it. What is the main purpose of rifle scope we are looking for? When we define almost everything about our needs and try to determine the perfect scope, we still have to answer ourselves what kind of turrets should be the best option for us.

In this article, we are going to briefly discuss the most common turrets of them all – capped turrets.

Capped Turrets

Capped Turrets

Properties

These are the turrets that are being used as the most common choice on rifle scopes. In addition, hunting rifle scopes feature these turrets usually as standard option. Their advantage in hunting situations is that they are low profile. This also means that using them can avoid getting stuck or getting them hit in the bush, between tree branches or similar. They also do not get stuck somewhere on your clothes (pockets, zippers,...) during walking with rifle on your shoulder.

Also, the turrets stay protected under the caps from unintentional movement (adjusting clicks unwantedly). So, should capped turrets always be your decision when buying a hunting rifle scope? Of course, it depends whether the turrets have zero stop or not. For hunting situations, especially in thick terrain, I suggest at least zero stop function. If this function is not an option on your rifle scope, then classical capped turrets would probably be my preferred choice.

What is in common with all capped turrets, is the fact that they are usually only used when zeroing the rifle. Hunters who hunt on planes or mountains and are in need of having more versatile turrets because of easier bullet drop compensations and are also capable of taking longer shots at the same time, usually choose upgraded hunting rifle scopes with BDC (ballistic drop compensation) turrets. Such turrets are normally an upgrade on premium models of rifle scopes.

BDC turrets are probably quite popular nowadays, but majority of hunting rifle scopes still use standard capped turrets. In the past, these were the only form of turrets, found on rifle scopes.

It is important to know that target and tactical turrets can also be equipped with caps, but we shall not mistake them for classical capped turrets. Target and tactical turrets can both be used also without caps and still stay waterproof. However, target turrets are much higher and therefore they can be recognized immediately by their dimensions. If tactical turrets are capped, they are usually of single turn design (turrets are classified of how many times they can be rotated).

One of the important factors when buying a rifle scope are the ranges you plan to shoot at. If you know that most of your shots will be at short or medium ranges, usually there is no need for exposed turrets. If you are a long range hunter, you should probably consider the option with exposed turrets or at least BDC turrets with zero stop function.

Waterproofness of Rifle Scopes if caps are removed 

On majority of classic rifle scopes, the construction is not waterproof any more if the caps are removed. In most cases, there is a rubber O-ring seal on the thread of the caps. This O-ring seal keeps the water out when caps are tightened on the turrets. Waterproofness is the main property that makes difference between target, tactical and classical capped turrets. Target and tactical turrets (if equipped with caps) remain waterproof even when caps are removed from the turrets.

Removed Caps

Rifle Scope with removed caps

Conclusion

Classical capped turrets are preferred choice for hunting rifle scopes and are available on the market ever since rifle scopes are being manufactured. The caps normally stay on these scopes until the rifle has to be zeroed or re-zeroed.

Otherwise, people are not taking them off, because they are not the most appropriate choice for adjusting clicks on daily basis. In normal use, caps are tightened to the rifle scope and their main purpose is protecting the turrets against dust, dirt, water and unintentional movement (applying clicks when not needed).

Capped turrets combine two advantages for most users that use their scopes mainly for everyday hunting. These turrets are at the same time the cheapest ones on the market and also the most appropriate choice for the majority of hunters because of their ergonomic features.

Video presentation of Capped turrets

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VIDEO

Hunting riflescopes are the most common type of riflescopes. For this reason, this is the biggest category on our website. Even though there are many types of hunting-riflescopes, there are some characteristics that many of them share.

A rifle with optics -  hunting riflescope

Mounting solutions - Ring and Rail mounts

Both ring and rail mounting options are available. This is the only category where rail mounting is available, but it is only available with some middle-class and premium scopes. There are four rail mounting standards altogether (the rail option offered depends on the manufacturer):

Schmidt & Bender Polar T96 2.5-10x50 with a S & B Convex rail

Schmidt & Bender Polar T96 2.5-10x50 with a S & B Convex rail

Tube diameter

Tube diameters of 30 mm and 25.4 mm are the most common.

It is important to note that tube diameter does not affect the light transmission rate.

Turrets

Riflescope for hunters is equipped with low-profile, capped elevation and windage turrets. After a scope is zeroed (at 100 m), most users won't make any further adjustments to the windage and elevation. For this reason, the turrets are capped to prevent unwanted rotation.

  • As such optics is commonly used in forests where one can quickly bump the riflescope somewhere, capped turrets are the best way to avoid the unintentional shifts of the point of impact.

  • Furthermore, these are among the most delicate parts and can break if hit too hard.

  • Caps are used to prevent that.

  • With some modern, premium optics, there is an option of purchasing an uncapped, BDC elevation turret which allows the user to quickly compensate for the bullet drop at longer distances by setting the turret to the number for the corresponding distance (1 – 100 m, 2 – 200 m, 3 – 300 m, etc.)

The reticle

Most riflescopes are equipped with a hunting-oriented reticle. Usually, the reticle is a crosshair with thicker lines at the sides and narrower lines towards the center.

  • There are no holdovers or hash marks because it is meant to be simple to use.

  • The reticle is mainly in the second focal plane, meaning that it appears to be of the same size regardless of the magnification, providing minimal coverage of the target.

  • Blaser Infinity with first focal plane reticle configuration is an exception to the rule.

FFP-hunting optics were used in the past but are gradually dying out. Commonly, the riflescope is equipped with an illuminated central dot, the intensity of which depends on its purpose.

Magnification

The magnification is either

  • fixed or

  • variable.

A few decades ago, fixed magnification optical devices were the prevalent type, now it is the other way around. In England, Scotland, South Africa, and some other countries, many users still prefer the fixed type over the variable type. Entry and middle-class riflescopes have a 4–6x zoom factor, whereas the premium ones boast a 6–8x zoom factor.

Parallax

  • Parallax is typically fixed at 100 m.

  • If magnification is above 12x, a riflescope is usually equipped with an adjustable parallax setting (side focus).

Swarovski Z8i 2.3-18x56 has an adjustable parallax turret (on the left)

Swarovski Z8i 2.3-18x56 has an adjustable parallax turret (on the left)

 

Subcategories

There are many subcategories:

Best Hunting-riflescopes

Riflescopes of the highest quality are produced by the renowned European sport optics manufacturers such as:

Such devices are equipped with:

  • an illuminated reticle,

  • commonly a fine, central illuminated dot.

The zoom factor is 6x or greater. There is an option of purchasing an uncapped BDC turret on most. Reticles are in the second focal plane, except with the Blaser Infinity series which features an FFP-configuration.

Premium optics boast:

  • an exceptional field of view,

  • impressive resolution,

  • a high light transmission rate, and

  • a high degree of colour fidelity.

They are difficult to compare because there are only small differences among them, but each series has its own strong point (Leica Magnus series, for example, is known for its incredibly wide field of view).

  • The middle-class devices are not to be overlooked since its popularity has risen considerably in the last few years.

  • Most of these devices are made in Japan and highly popular because of their excellent price to performance ratio.

  • Some European-made devices can also be found in this class.

short presentation is available here

Short Presentation | HuntingRiflescopes | Optics Trade from Optics-Trade