Rifle Scope Type Introduction
In my opinion, hunting, as well as target shooting would be a mundane experience at best without a rifle scope. The beauty of scopes is that they not only permit the shooter more accuracy by magnifying the target, but they also identify other objects in the field of vision, which greatly enhances safety. The magnification takes place by diverting light through the use of telescopic lenses. Consequently, a rifle scope is essentially a telescope, with the lenses being the most important element. The two lenses are called the objective lens, which is the lens farthest away from the handler, and the ocular lens, which is the lens closest to the eye. It is the ocular lens that magnifies the light which passes through the objective lens. Magnification factors are prime considerations because the correct type of scope must be chosen based on its purpose, for example hunting or target shooting. Scopes used for hunting typically have lower magnification, particularly if one is hunting at close range to their prey. This will permit a wider field of view as well as being able to quickly identify a target within close proximity. Alternatively, a scope as high as 20x magnification would be ideally suited for smaller targets at distances of 400 yards for example. Scopes also are ideal for gathering light which facilitates shooting accuracy during periods of low light such as early morning hours or later in the day. There is one more type of scope which is called a tactical scope. From this, each category of scope can be further broken down into optical applications which are more specialized.
The Leupold Name
‘Leupold’ refers to the manufacturer of the scope. In fact, the actual name of the manufacturer is Leupold & Stevens. The founder, Marcus Friedrich Leupold, was a German immigrant who initially was in the business of repairing survey equipment with his brother-in-law Adam Voelpel. As such, in 1907, the original name of the company was Leupold & Voelpel. Marcus partnered with a man named John Stevens in 1914 and it became Leupold & Stevens in 1942, with rifle scopes sold under the ‘Leupold’ name.
The term ‘rimfire’ refers to the description of the cartridge used in the rifle, which in this case has no primer to speak of, but instead, has the priming compound located within the rim which is activated by contact with the firing pin, as opposed to ‘centerfire’ which has the primer located at the center of the base of the cartridge. This primer is actually a small metal cup at which the firing pin strikes, thus producing a spark. Cases of both types of cartridges are made up of brass, but the centerfire type of cartridge must be made up of a harder type of brass due to the fact that they are subject to higher chamber pressures. Soft brass is more suitable to leupold rimfire cartridge types because the firing pin must be able to crush the hollow rim which contains the priming compound.
