SECRETS OF THE SCOPE

Over the past three decades, I’ve had to extract every bit of accuracy potential from both my recreational and duty rifles. Coached by my precision-driven father on the handloading bench during my teenage years, I developed this same obsession at an early age.

This passion has continued for me as a long-range hunter and a marksmanship, tactics and sniper instructor, as well as when developing and running my agency’s first Designated Marksman Observer (DMO) team in 2014. Throughout it all, attaining quarter-minute-of-angle (MOA) accuracy from any rifle system has been an objective.

Today, the interest in long-range accuracy among the shooting community has never been greater. The exponential increase in the amount of precision rifle platforms over the past decade has been overwhelming for long-range shooting enthusiasts, with a plethora of rifle and optic options now available in a wide range of both new precision-oriented calibers and the time-tested classics.

For any precision rifle to perform at peak potential, all three components within the system (rifle, scope and ammunition) must be of high quality with extremely narrow tolerances to provide repeatable quarter-minute accuracy or better.

For the focus of this article, let’s assume we’re working with a vetted precision rifle from a reliable manufacturer; a quality scope that’s robust and proven to be reliable under even the heaviest