Lets clear up some common misconceptions about scopes.

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Agree with all of that but would add:

A scopes Ocular Lens does not produce a cylinder of light which we call & measure as the Exit Pupil - it produces a Cone of Light which varies in length with the zoom of the scope magnification. A slice across the 'tail' of that cone of light would represent the scope users' personal preferred Exit Pupil be it 4.5mm or 5.5mm. That point will always move fractionally with each change of magnification.

Glass, even specialist Optical Lens Glass, is not as transparent as many think. A solid metre cubed piece of glass would allow very little light transmission, therefore the thicker lenses used for very large Objectives are counter productive!


 
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I have watched several threads extolling various Virtues attributed to field telescopes (real name for a riflescope) and decided to not to bore everyone with my decided & possibly decisive views on the matter(s).

However two frequent comments always raise my hackles :)

"Adjusting Parallax"

"Light Gathering"

BOTH concepts (when applied to this subject) are completely UNSCIENTIFIC (ie. that which can be measured and that which is repeatable).

They are, in fact, just marketing speak.


On a side note:
I really must put up something about those 'ancient, cranky' old scopes the old varmint shooters used - you know the type with the pathetic external adjustment cradles and weedy thin tubes and tiny lenses, that measured half the length of one's rifle. 

Because they were obviously a pile of old cr@p...

Hang on a minute...
 
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LoL, BRS, are you ‘ancient and cranky’ ? I know what you mean, even with my limited experience on optics I see no more light coming to my eye through my 60mm 30mm tube Sightron than my Bushnell Elite 1" tube 40mm. The Elite has a clearer picture depending on my mental state and eyeglasses. Half is what one WANTS to see. A chap pays $1,500 for optics, by golly it WILL be clearer than what he had before! And I LOVE the optics of old. We DO have the POTENTIAL to have better with todays coatings and robot arms, but those 35 inch long scopes are cool as hell, and WORKED! Any hunter that could hit a prairie dog at 200 yards on 7x through a dime width tube is a BadA$S.
 
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Too right Duncan!

The first documented use of an "Rifle Scope" I can find, is during the US Civil Wars BTW.

One area where we (us modern types) seem to have lost the plot entirely is the ocular housing (on most, but not all scopes) there's no overhang of the tube these days - the lens is practically flush -that's an apt word because the result is a milky white out when the sun is anywhere near over your shoulder.
 
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