Sights, scopes, rings & mounts

• *Top 10 scope recommendations*: Our top choices for best scopes, by category.
• ATN: Quality scopes made in the Ukraine. High brightness, 30mm tubes for best light transmission, and innovative reticle designs.
• B-Square scope mounts: Easy-on scope mounts and rings. Most of their products are quality made from aircraft grade aluminum.
• BSA Optics: Value priced, good quality, scopes, red dots, and binoculars made in China. These are the best low-cost optics on the market.
• Burris: High quality scopes, binoculars, and red dots. They also have all-steel scope rings and bases for popular guns. Featuring steel-on-steel click adjustments, with 95%+ light transmission. Today's best value in quality optics!
• Bushnell: "Working Man's" scopes, binoculars, and red dots. There is a model for every budget.
• Butler Creek: Scope covers and caps
• Chipmunk/Rogue: Scope bases for Chipmunk rifles
• Eotech: High quality, rugged red dots used by U.S. troops and law enforcement.
• Glock: Replacement iron sights for Glock pistols
• Hi-Viz: Great fiber optic sights!
• Konus Optics/Riflescopes: Great value and rugged optics! Etched reticle riflescopes, binoculars, spotters.
• Leupold: Premium scopes, binoculars, spotters, mounts, and rings.
• Magpul: Front and rear iron sights for AR15/M16/M4 Picatinny rails.
• Matech: Maker of the BUIS Back Up Iron Sight for AR15/M16/M4 and Picatinny rails.
• Meprolight: Tritium night sights and holographic dot sights. Premium grade.
• Millett: Excellent scope bases and rings for popular guns. Made in USA.
• Redfield : quality, American made optics at affordable prices! This is the new Redfield company, which is owned by Leupold.
• Ruger scope rings : factory scope rings for Ruger's crescent bases
• Samson: Iron front and rear sights for Picatinny mount AR15's.
• Tapco: Scope mounts for AR15's. Sight adjustment tools for AR15, SKS, and AK47.
• Tasco by Bushnell: We stopped selling this brand.
• Trijicon: Tritium night sights and scopes. Premium grade.
• Tru-Glo: Red dot sights, scopes, fluorescent iron sights
• Ultra Dot: Red dot sights and scopes
• UTG: red/green dot sights, picatinny rail and angle mounts and risers, riflescopes
• Walther: Top Point II red dot sight for P22 and G22.
• Weaver: Scope rings and bases.
• Zeiss: High quality scopes, binoculars, and spotters

Selecting the right one

Perhaps the greatest challenge when there are over 3 dozen different optics manufacturers, each producing about 6 to 12 different classes of optics, is choosing the right one! In fact, if you're not confused, you're probably not doing your homework before purchasing. Here's some general advice Andean, Inc. offers that applies to all types of optics, whether they be riflescopes, binoculars, laser rangefinders, monoculars, spotting scopes, or even accessory type items (rings, bases, mounts, scope covers/caps).

Manufacturer advice

Buy the best you can afford! In nearly all cases, you really do "get what you pay for." Going cheap may work, but our experience is that if you bang your scope a little, you will quickly find out whether the manufacturer used good materials, construction methods, and perhaps even quality control. We're finding that there are good Chinese scopes for low cost, but about half of them will not hold up to light duty use. A quarter of them should have never left the factory, and a quarter of them are actually good and dependable products. For example, we dropped NC Star and Tasco by Bushnell because of defects that showed up during shipping, installation, and first time at the range. Factory new scopes packed in sytrofoam should not break. Reticles should not be angled at 20 degrees coming right out of the package. Scope turrets should not be loose when they're designed to be tight. Most BSA and Simmons riflescope models have been really good. In fact, BSA makes two cheap red dot sights (the #RD30 and #RD42) that are definitely worth having.

Brands that have never failed us: Leupold, Redfield (by Leupold), Trijicon, Eotech, Aimpoint, Zeiss, Meprolight, and Burris. Except for Meprolight and Burris, these brands are all American made, or really close to it. Meprolight is made in Israel. Most Burris optics are made in the Philippines or China. If you must have dependability, start with these brands. Not once in all our years of business have any of these products been found wanting.

Leupold riflescopes tend to start at $200 for the Rifleman series. The light transmission is about 93%, they all have duplex reticles, and they all have a no-questions-asked factory lifetime warranty. There are "no frills," but they serve very, very well! Progressive steps up cost progressively more money.