One of the biggest trends in rifle shooting and hunting is the yearning by many to shoot at animals from extended ranges. Long gone are the days, it seems, where a 300-yard shot was seen as long-range shooting. Nowadays, the 300-yard mark is apparently where some shooters start for a warm-up before moving on to kill tiny critters like springbok at ranges far exceeding what was previously considered to be long range.
While I’m not one to stand in the way of progress, I feel that the fashion towards long-range shooting has had a negative influence on the riflescope market in general. The latest trend in riflescopes seems to be in favour of 30mm main tubes instead of 1-inch main tubes, 50 or 56mm objective lenses instead of 36 or 40 mm objective lenses, and even worse, a lot of unnecessary magnification. The most serious misconception that apparently took root, however, is that the human eye is apparently capable of absorbing limitless amounts of light, thanks to larger diameter main tubes and objective lenses.
The reality is that the pupil of the human eye (assuming a person on the lower side of 40 and in good health) can dilate to a maximum of 7mm in adverse lighting conditions. Add in advancing age and the inevitable aches and pains, and the ability of our eyes to gather light decreases further with age. This, and it is a vital factor to determine how much usable light a riflescope or a pair of binoculars can actually transmit to the human eye.
