You may not know this, but scopes for your pistol are necessary as well – almost as much as having one on your rifle. In general, scopes improve your accuracy and help you shoot down your targets quickly. Therefore, for a better hunting and shooting experience, there’s no reason you should forego a good pistol scope for your gun. And so, here’s our roundup of the best pistol scopes you can buy for your gun and everything you need to know about pistol scopes.
What is a Handgun Scope?
Handgun scopes are the perfect upgrade for your handgun that allows more accurate shooting. You’ll find a lot of information about rifle scopes, but pistols go underappreciated for the most part. However, their form and function are just what you need to take your hunting experience with your handgun to the next level. The whole point of a handgun scope is to make sure you can shoot targets accurately from a distance.
Do Long Range Pistol Scopes Work?
Shooting with a long-range pistol scope at a distance is far better than no scope at all. With a long-range pistol scope, you get better accuracy, more control over your shot, a higher quality image, and an overall improved shooting experience.
Handgun Scope vs. Rifle Scope
Most gun owners end up equipping their rifles and handguns with top-notch scopes.
If you want to know more about rife scopes, Follow the article below
11 Best Product Reviews – Pistol Scopes
1. DAGGER DEFENSE –Combat Vet Owned Company- 45 Degree flip-up Sights
The Vortex Optics Crossfire II Rimfire is an excellent entry-level scope for new hunters. It’s a popular choice among shooters and offers a range of features at a very attractive price.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
The glass on this scope is excellent – with a coated lens and all, you’ll rarely have trouble locating your target. Moreover, the scope is ready for several different hunting applications.
The reticle is quite good as well. The reticle follows a design that makes it perfect for all-purpose hunting. Furthermore, even after magnification, the reticle’s size does not change – an advantage of using an SFP reticle.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
If you’re looking to avoid getting hit in the eye with your pistol scope, the Vortex Crossfire offers long eye relief. We could shoot comfortably during our hunt with the pistol while maintaining a reasonable distance from the scope to avoid ending up with a black-eye from the recoil. With long eye relief and a forgiving eye box, we focused on acquiring targets and shooting them down rather than having trouble keeping our eyes safe from the shot recoil.
Durability
Crafted from aircraft aluminum, shatterproof glass, and an O-ring sealed, nitrogen-purged interior, you can use the Vortex Crossfire II in almost any hunting condition. Also, you won’t have to think or worry about stains & scratches on its lens.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
The capped reset turrets on the body of the scope made it very easy to make elevation and windage adjustments during our tests. Furthermore, we were able to adjust zero after acquiring targets and firing for a while with great ease.
Parallax & Magnification
The scope delivers 2x and 7x magnificent at the minimum and maximum range, respectively. Additionally, the parallax for the Vortex Crossfire II Rimfire is set at 50 yards.
Mounting & Rings
For mounting options and rings for the Vortex Optics Crossfire II Rimfire, you can look at the Vortex Optics Hunter Riflescope rings.
Is the Vortex Crossfire II Rimfire worth the money?
With an excellent lens, high durability, and excellent eye relief, we had a great time using the Vortex Crossfire II scope. If you’re looking for the best .22 pistol scope, we recommend getting the Vortex Crossfire II Rimfire, as it’s well worth the investment into firing accurate shots with your pistol.
If you want to know more about Vortex, Follow the article below
2. Burris Handgun Hunting Scope, 2X-7Xx32mm, Silver Nickel Plex Reticle
The Burris Handgun Hunting scope is an excellent choice for hunters who need an accurate shot and a scope that delivers high-quality magnification. As an alternative to the vortex handgun scope, the Burris is a great choice.
Although the Burris is great for Magnums, you can mount it onto almost any pistol or rifle for a clear shop.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
In lower magnifications, the image is crisp, clear, and bright. Although you’ll have to hold the scope closer as you increase the magnification, you can still rely on the scope for a high-quality image.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
Although the scope provides excellent eye relief, the more your zoom in, the closer you’ll have to hold the scope to your eye. Therefore, you might want to be more careful before firing a shot, as at the highest magnification, the scope might hit you from the recoil. Nevertheless, eye relief is sufficient in lower zooms for easy target acquisition and hunting.
Durability
The Burris Handgun Hunting Scope is light and durable. Built specifically for Magnums, you can rely on the scope to put up with some rough use.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
For elevation and windage adjustments, you can rely on 0.25 MOA clicks for zeroing in the scope before your hunting trip. In our experience, we had very little trouble zeroing in the scope. Moreover, the scope, despite being small, holds zero well after 500 rounds.
Parallax & Magnification
The Burris does not come with scope parallax adjustment, and you only get 2x magnification.
Mounting & Rings
To mount the Burris Handgun Hunting Scope, you can use a Burris Optics Ruger-to-Weaver Base Adaptor.
Is the Burris Handgun Hunting Scope worth the money?
If you own a magnum, the Burris Handgun Hunting Scope is a worthy investment. Although you’ll have to sacrifice a bit in terms of eye-relief, you can still shoot comfortably with the scope. Overall, if you’re looking for an alternative to the vortex handgun scope, the Burris Handgun Hunting Scope is an excellent choice for your Magnum.
If you want to know more about Burris, Follow the article below
3. Hammers Long Eye-Relief Pistol Scout Scope – pistol scopes reviews
Now that you’ve had a look at one of the best Burris Hand Gun Scopes, it’s time to draw your attention to the Hammers Long Eye Relief Pistol Scout Scope. For an easy-to-use scope with long eye relief, the Hammers is just what you need.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
With premium-quality optics and a sharp view, you can easily find targets and pin them down with the fine line 4 plex reticle.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
You get between 9 to 9.5 inches of eye relief with the Hammers Long Eye Relief Pistol Scout Scope.
Durability
The durability of the scope isn’t one of its strong points. However, it should still last you for quite a few trips before showing any signs of damage.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
For easy zeroing, the Hammers Long Eye Relief Pistol Scout comes with finger adjustable windage and elevation knobs.
Parallax & Magnification
You get 2-7x magnification with the scope, making it easy to hunt from a distance without scaring prey.
Mounting & Rings
The sight comes with weaver mounting rings.
Is the Hammers Long Eye Relief Pistol Scout Scope worth the money?
The Hammers Long Eye-Relief Pistol Scout Scope offers high magnification for long-range shooting. Therefore, if you like keeping a distance during your hunt, this is the perfect scope for you.
4. Hammers Elite Compact Handgun – Best Revolver Pistol Scope
As the second Hammers pistol scope on our pistol scope reviews, we have the Hammers Elite Compact Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope. It’s an excellent alternative to its cousin and offers a fantastic shooting experience.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
The reticle on the sight features a fine line cross-hair that provides superior accuracy. Furthermore, the lens is fog-proof to ensure you can hunt in all kinds of weather conditions.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
The scope offers excellent eye relief. We had almost no trouble acquiring our targets during our tests with the scope and shooting rapidly while avoiding the scope’s impacts. Furthermore, the scope offers excellent eye relief even in higher magnifications.
Durability
The sight is sturdy and built to last you for years. Moreover, as all good sights should be, it’s shockproof, waterproof, and fog proof. You’ll have no trouble using it in rough hunting conditions and not have to worry about damaging the scope.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
The sight comes with finger-adjustable turret screws for elevation and windage adjustments. Although it took some getting used to, we were able to zero the sight in without trouble, with a click value of 0.25 inches out at 100 yards.
Parallax & Magnification
The sight offers 2x magnification, and so you won’t have to worry about parallax adjustments at large distances.
Mounting & Rings
The sight comes with weaver rings that you can use to mount the scope onto your handgun.
Is the Hammers Elite Compact Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope worth the money?
You’ll find that the Hammers Elite Compact Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope ranks relatively high in many pistol scopes reviews due to its durability, easy to adjust windage and elevation knobs, and excellent eye relief.
5. Hammers Elite Compact Lightweight Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope 2X20 w/Weaver Rings
Here’s why the Hammers Elite Compact Lightweight Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope is the best revolver scope
Glass Clarity & Reticle
Clarity is one of the crucial features of a scope, and this scope shines with its crystal clear glass. With a fine line 4-plex reticle, this scope has a sleek design that focuses on the target.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
With 12 1/2 inches of long eye relief, it helps to target while shooting and hunting.
Durability
The rifle can withstand harsh hunting conditions, and so we didn’t have to think much about it when using it during our tests.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
The sight comes with adjustable windage and elevation screws of 0.25 MOA per click.
Parallax & Magnification
The scope does not come with any parallax adjustments. Moreover, the sight features fixed 2x magnification.
Mounting & Rings
The sight comes with its own set of weaver rings.
Is the Hammers Elite Compact Lightweight Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope worth the money?
Given the Hammers Elite Compact Lightweight Handgun Revolver Pistol Scope features, we can easily recommend it as the best revolver scope in our roundup.
6. Leupold FX-II 4x28mm Handgun Scope, Duplex Reticle, Matte Finish
The Leupold FX-II easily ranks as one of the best pistol scopes. It has several attractive features which help it stand out from the crowd of pistol scopes in the market, and it’s an excellent sight to boot.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
You’ll get a crisp and clear image thanks to Leupold’s glass clarity. Moreover, due to the Twilight Max Light Management System, you can hunt late into the evening and get more light out of your scope than any other pistol scope in the market.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
Eye relief on the Leupold FX-II is standard pistol eye relief – it doesn’t get in the way of your shooting experience and doesn’t worsen as you increase magnification. To be more specific, the scope features 18 inches of eye-relief without magnification.
Durability
The build quality of the Leupold FX-II is excellent. In addition to the body of the sight being waterproof and shockproof, the lenses are fog proof and scratch-resistant. You’ll have a hard time leaving a mark on these sights.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
The sight comes with coin-click knobs at 0.5 MOA for windage and elevation adjustments.
Parallax & Magnification
The sight offers fixed parallax at 100 yards and 4x magnification.
Mounting & Rings
You can use the Leupold Ruger Scope Mount Rings to mount the scope onto your handgun.
Is the Leupold FX-II 4x28mm Handgun Scope worth the money?
For a well-tested and reliable scope, the Leupold FX-II is our pick for one of the best pistol scopes.
7. NcStar 2.5X30 -Best Pistol Scopes
The NcStar 2.5X30 Pistol Scope is excellent for any handgun or Magnum you own. If you’re looking for an alternative to the more popular Leupold handgun scopes, the NcStar has you covered.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
The scope uses multi-coated blue lenses to ensure maximum brightness and high image clarity. Furthermore, it comes with a non-illuminated plex reticle.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
The provides about 10.45 inches of eye relief, but you might be able to extend to about 14 inches if you don’t mind darker sides. You won’t have trouble with the scope, and the eye box is quite forgiving for hunting purposes.
Durability
Our run with the scope held up reasonably well, but the durability is nothing to write home about. You’ll have a standard scope in your hands that can take a little abuse before cracking under pressure.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
You can use the elevation and windage knobs to adjust the zero. However, after a couple of hundred shots, you’ll have to recalibrate the sight again.
Parallax & Magnification
Out of the box, the parallax for the scope out of the box is 100 yards. Moreover, you get 2.5x magnification with the scope.
Mounting & Rings
You can mount the scope onto any standard Picatinny rail or weaver rings.
Is the NcStar 2.5X30 Pistol Scope worth the money?
Although there are better sights out there, you can settle for the NcStar 2.5X30 Pistol Scope if you’re looking for something cheaper or different from other brands such as Leupold handgun scopes. NcStar has something different on offer, and it’s well worth checking out.
8. Sightmark Core SX 4×32 – Best Pistol Scope For Hunting
The Sightmark offers incredible eye relief and many other quality of life features for a pistol scope, making it the best pistol scope for hunting.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
You can rely on the high-quality lens of the Sightmark Core during your next hunting trip to give you excellent images on your next hunting trip. Furthermore, you’ll have a great time using the finely tapered reticle that’ll allow you to quickly hone in on your targets and take them out with ease.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
The Sightmark Core offers extra-long eye relief, making it the perfect scope to mount onto almost any handgun out there. Therefore, you’ll be able to shoot from a comfortable distance with a very forgiving eye box during the entirety of your hunting trip – enjoy up to 14 inches of eye relief.
Durability
Sightmark understands a hunter’s need for a durable scope and delivers with the Sightmark Core. Crafted from aircraft-grade aluminum, the sight is highly durable and will rarely falter. Furthermore, it’s shockproof, waterproof, and fog proof as any good scope should be.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
The sight features capped turrets for elevation and windage adjustments. Therefore, once zeroed in, you’re good to go for several hundred shots before you have to recalibrate your scope.
Parallax & Magnification
The parallax setting for the scope is 100 yards out of the box. Furthermore, it offers up to 4x magnification, thereby allowing you to take down targets from quite a bit far off. During our test runs, we shot down our hunt from quite far away without missing our shots.
Mounting & Rings
The sight comes mounting rings that you can use with a 3/8 dovetail.
Is the Sightmark Core SX worth it?
The Sightmark Core SX is a combination of everything you want out of the best pistol for hunting, and so we highly recommend it as your next pistol scope.
9. BSA 2X20 Edge Series – Best Handgun Scope For The Money
The BSA 2X20 is easily the best handgun scope for the money you can get. Here’s why –
Glass Clarity & Reticle
We had a lot of fun shooting with this scope as the picture quality is impressive. For a fully multi-coated lens, the brightness, clarity, and sharpness were incredible.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
The scope provides 12.2 inches of eye relief, and we could acquire and shoot targets with ease.
Durability
The scope meets all high-quality scopes’ standard criteria – it is shockproof, waterproof, and fog proof. Furthermore, it can take quite a beating before it starts to give way. Although we wouldn’t match it up against high recoil magnums, it’s the perfect budget scope for most pistols.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
Windage and elevation adjustments for the scope are set for 0.25 MOA. You’ll have to uncap and use a wrench to adjust the scope.
Parallax & Magnification
The sight offers 2x magnification and is set for 50 yards for parallax. We had no trouble aiming down sights and shooting targets quite a bit far from us.
Mounting & Rings
You can easily mount this scope onto a dovetail using 1-inch rings.
Is the BSA 2X20 Edge Series Pistol Scope worth the money?
If you can live without finger-adjustable windage and elevation adjustments, all other scope features make it the best handgun scope for the money.
10. UTG 2-7X32 1” – Pistol Scopes For Hunting
This UTG handgun scope has features like deadly precision, sharp and clear clarity, and ease of use – making it one of the best pistol scopes for hunting.
Glass Clarity & Reticle
You can quickly shoot at different distances because of the scope’s red/green illuminated projectile drop compensation (PDC). Moreover, the glass crystal clear optics always land shots on target.
Eye Relief & Eye Box
This scope offers 25 inches of eye relief, perfect for shooting out at full-stretch.
Durability
Constructed from an advanced RoboShot polymer injection machine, you’ll feel like you’re holding a hefty scope that you can rely on.
Elevation & Windage Knobs
You get satisfying clicks from the elevation and windage knobs at 0.25 MOA per click.
Parallax & Magnification
The parallax of this scope is preset at 35 yards, and the magnification is 7x. But because of its preset parallax, the image can become blurry, and the magnification can sometimes make you work a little more to focus.
Mounting & Rings
You can use a Weigand Ruger mount to mount the scope onto your pistol.
Is the UTG 2-7X32 1” Handgun Scope worth the money?
For the massive eye relief, excellent durability, and high magnification, the UTG is well worth your money as one of the best pistol scopes for hunting.
How to Mount a Scope on Pistol
Loads of hunters are wary of mounting scopes onto their pistols, and many find it difficult. However, simplify things, you can get your hands on scope rings. These serve as easy to install mounting options for pistol scopes and make it so that the scope is always straight.
Factors to Consider When Buying a Scope for Pistol
- Eye Relief – Pistols have decent recoil, and you might end up hurting your eye if you don’t have enough eye relief.
- Magnification – You can choose between fixed and variable magnification ranges depending on the configuration of the scope. Most pistol scopes range from 1x to 4x magnification.
- Durability – You should never compromise on durability, as all hunters deserve a reliable and robust scope. Therefore, opt for a scope that uses complex and tested materials in their construction. Furthermore, your ideal scope should be waterproof, fog proof, and shockproof.
- Reticle – You want your reticle to be clear, visible and help you acquire targets quickly when aiming down sights.
- Objective – The objective lens size directly translates to how much light gets into your scope and, therefore, affects the visibility of the image you see. And so, if you want to hunt in low-light environments with your pistol scope, try and get a scope with a significant objective to pull in as much light as possible.
Wrapping Up
Pistol sights are handy to have around if you want to improve your hunting experience or land better shots with your pistol. Regardless of the scope, you choose from our picks of the best pistol scopes, and you’ll have a good one in your hands that you can rely on to shoot your hunt down. Remember to consider eye relief, gun recoil, build quality, magnification, and lens quality when purchasing the proper scope for your trusty handgun.