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Airsoft scope

Airsoft scopes are essential to get the best accuracy from your airsoft replica. They’ll help you get the best out of the game. With multiple magnifications and different reticles, we’ve got an airsoft scope for every situation. Read more

This is why you need an airsoft scope

Part of the appeal of an airsoft scope is the fact that it looks absolutely awesome on your replica. But the main reason to buy a scope for airsoft guns is to make them more accurate. Using an airsoft rifle scope will gain you more accuracy than when using open sights or a red dot. Another advantage of using an airsoft gun scope is that it’ll allow you to scope out the field from a distance too! Both qualities will definitely give you an advantage during airsoft, making the investment absolutely worthwhile.

Which airsoft scope is best?

As airsoft is played over relatively short distances, there’s little use in mounting a high magnification airsoft scope. The best airsoft scopes are those with a low to medium magnification. It would be quite logical to think the more zoom you use, the better you can see the target and the more accurate you can aim. That’s true, in a way, but it will be hard to find something back that you’ve spotted first with the naked eye. That’s because the surrounding image will disappear when zooming in, making you lose the reference points that you need to orientate yourself. A simple example: There’s a group of three bushes, behind the right bush is a tree and you see movement near the middle bush. When looking through a scope with a very high magnification, the only thing you’ll see are some leaves and branches, without knowing which bush you’re looking at. You can’t use the tree as reference, except when you start panning to orientate yourself. And even when doing that, it will be hard to find the point where you saw movement.

In addition, not only the image will be enhanced, so will be your movements. The smallest movement in high magnification will result in a big shift of the image. This will result in a shaky image where it is hard to focus on a fixed point. It’s also very hard to keep the reticle steady on target. When zooming out, you go back to a lower magnification, which will make the image steadier. As a bonus you’ll get to see more reference points and aiming will instantly prove to be much easier.

So, in short, in airsoft we’re not using high magnifications. But which magnifications do we use on our BB gun scopes? Well, very popular are the 1-4x or 1-6x airsoft DMR scopes. These scopes have a minimal magnification of 1x, offering you a very wide field of view. You’ll see a lot of your surroundings, making it possible to use reference points as orientation. And if you feel the need for extra zoom, a 4x or (max.) 6x magnification will be plenty to get a detailed enough image of your target at 30 to 50 metres, without the image getting shaky or blurry. Plenty of airsofters will just opt for a 2x airsoft scope with a nice wide field of view or a 4x airsoft scope as the perfect compromise. Single magnification airsoft scopes are lightweight, straightforward to construct and therefore often quite a bit cheaper than variable magnification scopes.

However, if you’re using a sniper replica up to 80 metres, you can certainly use some extra magnification. A popular airgun sniper scope is the good old 3-9x with its three times zoom, while the four time zoom 4-16x is also often used. As a sniper, you’ve got a reasonably wide field of view with these airsoft sniper scopes, while you’ve got plenty of magnification for a detailed observation. As a sniper, you’ve got the advantage of having your replica often supported, which means you can use higher magnifications and still keep the image quite stable.

How to zero an airsoft scope?

Zeroing an airsoft scope is easy to do yourself. Place a paper target at the distance you find yourself shooting at the most, aim and pull the trigger. Do this about five times, still aiming at the same point, and you’ll get a group of holes. It’s best to use a sand bag, bipod or even a rolled up towel for support, as you need to keep the replica perfectly still. Because what you’ll do now, is aim again at the target, but instead of firing another BB, you use the turrets to adjust the reticle to slide over the group of holes you just shot. All the while keeping the replica perfectly still. What you’re doing is aligning the reticle with the point of impact. Calibrating it effectively.

Especially airsoft snipers will be shooting at substantially different distances. For them, it would be recommendable to buy an airsoft scope with a reticle featuring markings like Mil-dots or subtensions. With these, you can zero the scope on the average distance that you’re shooting at the most and use the markings to hold over when the target is further away and hold under when the target is closer. Which marking you need, is best to determine by just trying and remembering. This is exactly the skill that makes the challenge of airsoft sniping. The markings on the horizontal crosshair can be used to correct wind deflection. Of course, these reticles can be of use in airsoft scopes on any replica, but on these a simple reticle without markings will often do just fine.

Worth considering when buying an airsoft scope is an illuminated reticle. Such a reticle looks just like a normal reticle, but the centre (or sometimes the whole reticle) can light up, often in bright red. The advantage of this, is when you’re shooting against a dark background or low light circumstances, that the reticle will clearly contrast against the background instead of being barely visible. However, even during daytime and with a clear background, an illuminated reticle can be very useful. As the contrast is big and the reticle will automatically draw your eye to its centre, you are able to keep your focus fully on the target. Especially with moving targets, this is a big advantage.

One last word about mounting your airsoft rifle scope. Every scope has its own eye relief. This is the distance between your eye and the ocular (the lens you’re looking in). At this distance, you’ve got a full and clear view without dark or blurry edges. When the eye relief is too big or too small, the image won’t be complete, often just displaying a blurry little dot, moving around in a dark circle. We take care to mention the eye relief for all airsoft scopes in our webshop, so you’re sure the scope you’ve got your eyes on will actually be a good fit for your replica.

Buying an airsoft scope

It doesn’t matter if you’re living in the Netherlands or on the other side of the world. We’ve got a huge selection of airsoft scopes in all popular sizes and we’re sending them globally. As we’re also specialised in sport shooting and hunting, our rifle scope assortment vastly expands beyond airsoft scopes too. So if you’re looking for something a bit different, we’ve got you covered. All our scopes are made by well-known manufacturers and we make sure to only stock top quality that can withstand the biggest recoil. Not that you’ll be having lots of recoil when airsofting, but it’s comforting to know our scopes are built to last.

If you need some more information about our airsoft scopes, please feel free to ask one of our experts for advice. You can ask staff in our store or contact customer service. Our people will give you sound advice and make sure you’ll buy the best airsoft scope that suits your wishes and your budget.

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