In this buyer's guide, let's take a look at the best rifle scope for 308 for hunting, plinking, military & competition. These scopes provide excellent reticle system for beginners as well as experienced long range shooters.
While the learning curve for long range shooting can be challenging, these scopes are great on most 308 flat top rifles and precision bolt guns.
Let's check them out
7 Best Rifle Scopes for 308
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- Magnification: 5-20X
- Objective Lens: 50mm
- Focal Plane: 1st Focal Point
- Exit Pupil: 2.5 - 10mm
- Eye Relief: 3.9 in
- Overall Length; 15.8 inches
- Weight: 37 ounces
- Tube Size: 35mm tube
- MOA Adjustment Range: 0.25 MOA / Click
Why pick Vortex Razor HD Gen 2 - The Vortex Razor HD Gen 2 is top-notch for hunters and precision shooters. Why? It offers clear views, a sturdy design, and many reticle options, making it great for a 308 rifle.
This 35mm scope is exactly what serious shooters have been looking for. It gives lots of adjustment for distant shots. Designed for the AR platform, it's perfect for medium to long shots. The 5-20X50 model provides the right magnification to shoot accurately with a 308 bullet.
If you change rifles, the Vortex Razor will still serve you for years.
A standout feature? Its advanced L-Tec turret system. It's combined with other top-notch features, delivering precise shots.
Made of high-quality aluminum, it's tough and durable. Plus, its special coil spring system can take on more stress than usual springs. This means it stands up to recoil and keeps its aim spot on.
Pros
- Micro-adjust zero setting gives infinite zero setting spots, which allow zero to be set between clicks for optimal accuracy
- Built like a tank using a single-piece tube with rugged construction to withstands hard recoil and impact
- Just over the top high-quality glass
Cons
- This thing can get heavy
- Magnification: 3-9X
- Objective Lens: 40mm
- Focal Plane: 1st Focal Point
- Exit Pupil: 1.9 - 8mm
- Eye Relief: 3.3 - 3.5 in
- Overall Length; 11.61 inches
- Weight: 14.4 ounces
- Tube Size: 1" tube
- MOA Adjustment Range: 0.25 MOA / Click
Why Diamondback - This is the "You get what you pay for" product. A solid one-piece constructed scope makes it indestructible and resistant to heavy recoil. The Argon purging process ensures the scope is water and fog proof.
It's way more affordable than any of the 6 scopes recommended above, and it works. It's one of the best 1000 yard scope for 308, 30-06, 270...etc with the best price. Once it's zeroed on something like Winchester Model 70 it's all set to take on to hunting trip.
Shockproof - Rugged construction withstands recoil and impact.
Gather as much light as possible - The 50mm objective lens gives the shooter as bright as possible image through the scope for any hunting lighting condition with exit pupil perfectly around 5mm at 10X power.
Added Fast Focus Eyepiece - Allows the shooter to quickly and easily adjust reticle focusing, and works for people wearing corrected lens
Capped Turret - Capped turret protects the turret to avoid accidental movement of the turrets, and it also allows quick re-indexing of the turret (no tool needed) to zero after sighting in the riflescope.
Great hunting reticle - The Dead-Hold BDC reticle is the single best all-purpose hunting reticle intended for a wide range of hunting and long range applications.
- Magnification: 5-25X
- Objective Lens: 56mm
- Focal Plane: 1st Focal Point
- Exit Pupil: 1.9 - 8mm
- Eye Relief: 3.6 - 3.8 in
- Overall Length; 15.7 inches
- Weight: 33 ounces
- Tube Size: 35mm main tube
- MOA Adjustment Range: 0.25 MOA / Click
Why Leupold - It's similar to the Vortex RAZOR HD Gen 2 but feels even sturdier. The glass offers excellent clarity from edge to edge, especially in very low light.
Designed for the newest long-range rifles and bullets, its performance is outstanding. The outside lens has DiamondCoat 2, which lets more light in and resists scratches. In short, this scope's clarity ranks among the best.
35mm tube for more click adjustments - This first focal plane scope is built for long-range shooting for more turret adjustments up to 100 MOA clicks for elevation and 50 MOA clicks for windage.
Added non-bolt interfering magnification throw lever - The integrated magnification dial throw lever allows for fast dialing, and it stops at the 1 o clock, which doesn't interfere with the action of the bolt on a bolt gun even if the bolt is oversized
Twilight technology - It allows better color and contrast consistency in low-light environments. It adds up to 30 minutes of illumination while eliminating 90% more glare-producing light than its competitors.
Improved rotation identification - Getting lost in the turret is no fun and it causes confusion. The new turret numbering designates the first rotation second & third rotations, the button extrudes on the last rotation so the shooter doesn't get lost in the turret rotations.
Intuitive windage indexing line - Stay behind rifle while adjusting windage without getting over the top of the scope. The new indexing line allows the shooter to work the windage adjustment and stay behind the scope without changing the shooting position
Why RAZOR 1-10X - The Vortex RAZOR 1-10X FFP is the newest low power variable optic on the market today that's considered a true CQB and long range hybrid optic compared to its 1-6X and 1-8X predecessors.
The new 10X magnification doesn't change the weight of the scope, in fact, this 34 mm scope is weighs similar to the Vortex Razor 1-6X, and while the 1-6X has been highly successful, Vortex wanted increased magnification range, a first-focal-plane (FFP) reticle and no increase in weight.
Improved ocular lens for bigger eye box at 1X - For running and gunning type of shooting, it's important to get on target fast with a full field of view.
The improved ocular lens gives a bigger eye box and more head movement at 1X for the shooter to throw the rifle to their shoulder quickly and then get a full field of view and acquire the target before squeezing one off.
At 1X the field of view is the best we have seen to date on the market.
NEW EBR9C To Maximize Reticle Versatility - The new EBR9C is optimized for CQB and at 10X magnification with a bright center red dot followed by 4 hash marks to guide the shooter's eye quickly to the center for fast target acquisition.
At a higher magnification range, the EBR-9C reticle on the first focal plane provides a full feature hashmarked reticle using MOA based subtension lines for ranging and windage corrections.
Improved Horizontal Line Subtension - The added horizontal line features 0.5 mil harshmark for finer adjustment with thick 1 mil hashmark for moving targets.
When you need to range and engage targets down range with precision, go with the EBR9-C reticle
Improved Magnification Dial Ring - Unlike other LPVO with stiff magnification dial ring, the RAZOR 1-10X is much easier to turn without feeling stiff, and the scope comes with a quick magnification switch lever to help the shooter change power faster
- Magnification - 5-25x
- Objective Lens Diameter - 50 mm
- Adjustment Graduation - 1/4 MOA
- Eye Relief - 3.4 inches
- Tube Size - 30 mm
- Focal Plane - Second
- Length - 15.79 inches
- Weight - 31.2 oz
Why people love Vortex Optics - By now, everyone in the industry knows the Vortex brand. They make a large selection of optics for shooters.
The Vortex Viper PST 5-25X50 is a second focal plane scope with a sharp glass quality, no noticeable distortion of any colors, and it has great light transmission than other scopes.
Vortex Optics Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 is a second-generation with significant improvements to Gen I. the scope is more durable and comes with better glass, larger eye box and eye relief.
The Gen 2 version also finally upgraded the turret adjustment similar to their high-end Razor line, which means no more shims for adjusting your zero stop.
The Viper PST is the versatile choice for 7.62 and 6.5 CM rifle owners that want a multi-use combo for hunting, competition and shooting tactical with its glass etched EBR-7C reticle.
If you want to check out more rifle scopes with reticles best suited for 6.5 Creedmoor, get the Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x56 HS Zero Stop MOAR because this scope can handle other heavy kick calibers.
- Magnification - 3.5x FIXED
- Objective Lens Diameter - 35 mm
- Adjustment Graduation - 1/4 MOA / click
- Eye Relief - 2.4 inches
- Length - 8 inches
- Weight - 14 oz
Why pick ACOG - This battle scope has become iconic over the past 10 years, seen in pictures of soldiers with it on their guns. It's one of the toughest optics the U.S. military uses. Made from super-strong 7075-T6 aluminum, it's nearly unbreakable and can handle shocks well.
Even young Marines and soldiers, who might be a bit rough with their gear, find it reliable. It's truly made for those who handle their guns roughly.
What sets this optic apart is its small size and better distance for eye comfort compared to the regular 4X ACOG. It allows the shooter more room to move their eye while keeping a clear view. This makes it the top compact scope for 308 and 223 caliber semiauto rifles.
Overall it has a great magnification and weight for medium-range engagement up to 400 yards, and its superior tank alike built quality made its way onto the list for best rifle scope for AR10 308 and 6.5 Creedmoor rifles.
Battle Tough Body Construction - Indestructible 7075 T-6 Aluminum construction the hardest material you can build a scope, and the ACOG scopes are the standard issue optic for rifleman in the military, and it's built for warfighters
Exact Target Distances & Holds - Most ACOG models feature a bullet drop compensating and target-ranging reticle for decisive aiming.
Improved Eye Relief & Eye Box - Eye relief distance has been improved on the 3.5X35 model compared to the 4X32 model. The shooter gets 1" additional eye relief distance to prevent eye smack or helmet bump
Accepts Many Aftermarkets ACOG Mounts - Depend on what your tactical rifle setup is, the shooter can buy various aftermarket ACOG mounts whether be fixed mount or quick detach mounts. The ACOG is made ready to be customized
Multiple Reticles Offers - including crosshair, horseshoe dot, and chevron
ALWAYS ON, ALWAYS READY - Most ACOG® models are battery free including the 3.5X35, featuring a tritium/fiber optic illuminated reticle that automatically adjusts the brightness based on available light.
Sig Sauer SIERRA3BDX 6.5-20X52 mm - Most Affordable SMART Optic
Sig Sauer is now officially an optic manufacturer in the industry, while they're already one of the industry's leading beast making world-class firearms, they're new to the optic world.
They didn't just make regular scopes like other companies, what they did is they have leveled up to the competition in long-range shooting by introducing the Ballistic Data Xchange ( BDX ) series electro riflescopes with a digital focal point that can be paired to your smartphone and Sig Sauer rangefinder, which lets the scope calculate holdover automatically without the user doing math.
For hunters, the BDX also shows the distance and kinetic energy transfer indicator that tells the hunter if it's a clean ethical shot, which is called the KinETIC built into every SIERRA3BDX series products.
Pros
- BDX rangefinder assist with auto holdover calculation, so the shooter can just range the target, point, and shoot
- Magnification dial automatically adjust holdover point accordingly with a digital focal point
- KinETHIC provides assistance in assuring ethical hunt by indicating when energy on target drops below a threshold
- Store ballistic data into your Smartphone and transfer it to the scope
- Great for new shooters
Cons
- You might quit learning the fundamental of long range shooting because this technology has made it too easy
Additional Resources
As the content creator of badassoptic.com, My background in the firearms industry and shooting sports gives me the experience to recommend tried and true products and keep away subpar ones.