Mike Fellon

Picking a night vision scope is nothing like buying a daytime optic. With a regular scope, more magnification and a bigger objective gets you better performance, end of story. Night vision flips that on its head. Some of these scopes look great under a half-decent moon and turn into mud when clouds roll in. Others … Read more

The .300 Winchester Magnum isn’t a cartridge you pair with just any scope. This round was built to reach way out there, consistently delivering energy at distances where most other calibers are running out of steam. I’ve watched too many hunters mount scopes that either can’t handle the recoil or don’t have enough magnification to … Read more

The Mosin Nagant’s straight bolt handle creates a problem that modern rifles don’t have. Mount a traditional scope over the receiver and you can’t work the bolt. Your options: pay a gunsmith to bend the bolt handle and drill the receiver, which permanently alters a piece of history, or go scout-style with a long eye … Read more

Rimfire scopes occupy an odd middle ground that a lot of shooters misjudge. You can’t just grab a budget centerfire scope and expect it to work at 25 yards without parallax problems. What you actually need is glass designed for the way rimfire rifles get used: close enough that parallax matters more than most people … Read more

The .223 Remington gets used for everything. Coyotes at 350 yards across a pasture, prairie dogs at 400, punching paper at the local range, running drills on an AR-15. That versatility is the whole appeal of the cartridge, but it’s also what makes picking a scope for it surprisingly tricky. A scope that’s perfect for … Read more

The M&P 15-22 is one of those rifles where people consistently overthink scope selection. I’ve watched shooters mount high-end, feature-packed optics on it, convinced they need tactical capabilities they’ll never actually use. What you truly need is straightforward: clear glass for rimfire distances, a reticle that won’t cover up squirrel-sized targets, and a lightweight setup … Read more

The AR-556 puts you in an awkward spot that most AR owners eventually face: you need close-range capability for home defense or tactical use, but you also want precision at 100 to 300 yards for target work or varminting. Slap a red dot on it and you’re limited beyond 100 yards. Mount a traditional hunting … Read more

The Remington 700 doesn’t care what you use it for. I’ve seen these rifles set up for everything from thick-cover whitetail hunting to 800-yard steel matches, and they handle it all. That’s the problem when you’re choosing a scope: a 700 in .308 Winchester is just as capable at 50 yards in the woods as … Read more

The .270 Winchester does a lot of things well, and that’s exactly what makes picking a scope for it tricky. This is a cartridge that shoots flat enough to reach across a Wyoming prairie at 400 yards, holds enough energy for elk inside 350, and still works in a Texas brush stand at first light. … Read more