It’s no secret that better equipment improves your accuracy with your firearm. That certainly applies to scopes, and you will get what you pay for. 500 yards is a common distance for long range shooters to work towards, and the scopes can get as fancy as you like with bluetooth connections, automatic bullet calculations and more, or they can be simple.

Either way, you want something that has high quality glass and a clear picture. At 500 yards, you’ll definitely want to use a scope with plenty of magnification so that you can easily see your target. At that distance, you will also have to think about wind drift and bullet drop, so a scope with some well defined hash marks is ideal.

How Much Magnification Do You Need To Shoot 500 Yards?

If you plan on hitting targets reliably at 500 yards, you are definitely going to need a bit of magnification. I typically follow the rule of 3x magnification for every 100 yards you shoot, and that would mean you want at least 15x magnification to reliably shoot targets at 500 yards. I wouldn’t mind having a little extra magnification than that if you want to see your target a little better, or stretch your shot out past 500 yards.

Just remember that if you get a scope with a crazy amount of magnification, it is going to come with a bigger objective lens. That is great for getting a clear and bright picture, but it increases the overall size and weight of the scope, and if your objective lens is too big and therefore tall when you mount it on your rifle, you will have a poor cheek weld on your stock.

Common Cartridges For Shooting 500 Yards

If you want to reach out to 500 yards, you will absolutely have to account for bullet drop. Although less bullet drop means that there will be less room for error when you are shooting. The uber popular 6.5 Creedmoor is going to have about 40 inches of drop at 500 yards, but the tried and true 308 Winchester is going to have around 50 inches of drop at this distance. The 6.5 PRC is another cartridge that has around 40 inches of drop at this range. 300 Win Mag drops just under 40 inches at 500 yards.

The fact is that there are so many cartridges that can be used to shoot up to 500 yards, that there is no way I could list them all here in a helpful way. The important thing to know is that you do not need a huge cartridge to make it to this distance reliably, and no matter what you choose, you have to account for some significant drop.

You can expect cartridges like the ones mentioned here to score around 3 or 4 out of 10 on the Sportsmans Recoil Table. So while their recoil is a little stiff, it is nothing crazy, and a standard 3 to 3.5 inches of eye relief on your scope is more than enough to get by.

Most Affordable Long Range Scope: Vortex Viper HST 6-24x 50mm

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It is no secret that if you want a scope that is well suited to shoot over 500 yards, you are going to pay a pretty penny. Well, this Vortex scope manages to be a great quality scope but still costs less than $750 and most scopes in this class are going to cost well over $1,000. Plus, it is a Vortex and comes with a lifetime warranty!

It has a wide 6 to 24x magnification range. I said earlier that you only needed 15x magnification to reach 500 yards reliably, and that still holds true, but if you want a little magnification or dream of reaching out to nearly a thousand yards every now and again, this scope isn’t going to limit you. Along with its 50mm objective lens, you are going to get a well magnified and bright sight picture.

The lenses themselves are fully multi-coated and you get to choose between an MOA or MRAD system for this second focal plane reticle. The Vortex Viper HST is also well built and is waterproof, shockproof, and fogproof, so you can be sure your scope can put up with whatever you throw at it.

Pros	Cons
Waterproof, Fog proof, Shockproof Capable of Ranges Out To 800 Yards or More High Quality Glass & Coatings Lifetime Warranty	Not Ideal for Targets Under 200 Yards

Pros
Waterproof, Fog proof, Shockproof Capable of Ranges Out To 800 Yards or More High Quality Glass & Coatings Lifetime Warranty
Cons
Not Ideal for Targets Under 200 Yards

Best 500 Yard Rifle Scope: Hawke Frontier 3-18x 50mm

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If you want a high quality scope that is fairly new to the market, the Hawke Frontier is the scope for you. This scope comes with a lot of great features, including its MOA Pro Ext Reticle that is in the first focal plane. First focal plane scopes tend to be a bit more expensive, but they are preferred by long range shooters.

You get a great magnification range on this scope, 3 to 18x. So you can still easily find targets under 100 yards with lowest power, and comfortably reach out past 500 yards with the maximum magnification of 18x. The 50mm objective lens also ensures that you are going to have a clear and bright sight picture through your fully multi-coated lenses.

While you may not have heard of Hawke before if you are not a big time long range shooter, they produce awesome scopes, and the Frontier itself has been featured on many “best of” lists in recent years. You can’t go wrong with this waterproof shockproof, and fog proof scope.

Pros	Cons
Large Magnification Range High Quality Glass & Coatings High Quality Build Great Turrets / Extremely Adjustable Waterproof, Fog proof, Shockproof	Overkill for Hunting Under 300 Yards

Pros
Large Magnification Range High Quality Glass & Coatings High Quality Build Great Turrets / Extremely Adjustable Waterproof, Fog proof, Shockproof
Cons
Overkill for Hunting Under 300 Yards

Western Hunting Scope: Vortex Viper HST 4-16x 44mm

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The Vortex Viper HST is a staple for Sportsmans customers, this version already has over 200 five star reviews from happy shooters. While we already mentioned an HST on this list, this scope offers a different magnification range, which changes how it should be used.

Although it can certainly reach up to 500 yards with its 16x magnification, that is likely its max. However, if you are a hunter who found this article because they plan on going on a western hunt where you will really need to stretch out those shots, this scope is perfect. Many western hunts require 300 yard or more shots, and with the capability of this scope, you can shoot as far as you feel comfortable at a live target.

Like the scope before, it has fully multi-coated lenses and comes in the MRAD or MOA system with a second focal plane reticle. This is a great scope for hunters that can last a lifetime, which is actually guaranteed with Vortex’s Lifetime warranty!

Pros	Cons
High quality lenses for clear and bright images MOA and MRAD options Great for long range hunting and shooting Lifetime Warranty	Not Ideal for Close Range Hunting

Pros
High quality lenses for clear and bright images MOA and MRAD options Great for long range hunting and shooting Lifetime Warranty
Cons
Not Ideal for Close Range Hunting