Best Rifle Scopes Under £800: Where the Value Actually Sits

Rifle scope pricing in the UK is not a smooth curve, and the shape of it should change how you shop. This guide is built on the actual price distribution of the rifle scopes we hold rather than on a round number picked from the air — and because that distribution moves as ranges come in and out of stock, it is worth saying at the top that the shape of it has already changed once since this guide was first written. What follows is the current picture and what it means for a budget.

What the distribution looks like now

Counts and bands checked against live stock on 16 August 2026, covering rifle scopes only — mounts, rings and prism sights are counted separately.

The gap that used to be here has closed

When this guide was written there was a complete void between £800 and roughly £1,030 — not a thin patch, nothing at all — and that void was the original argument for making £800 the ceiling. It is no longer there. Trijicon's tube scope ranges arrived and filled it, and they also roughly doubled the number of scopes under £700.

We are leaving the correction visible rather than quietly restating the band, because the reasoning is the useful part: check where the clusters actually are when you set a budget, because they move. The substantive distinction that remains is not a price void but a change in what you are buying. Below about £800 the catalogue is low-power variable optics and traditional hunting scopes. Above it you move into illuminated and first-focal-plane glass, longer magnification ranges and dialling turrets. That boundary is real even though the gap has gone.

Prices change with the exchange rate and with the manufacturers, so we have deliberately not printed a figure next to any product name below. The product page is always the authority.

Under £500: the honest working tier

A more interesting group than the price suggests.

• The classic 3-9x40 hunting scope. The Burris Fullfield E1 3-9x40 with the Ballistic Plex shotgun reticle and the muzzleloader version are the cheapest rifle scopes in the catalogue, and 3-9x40 remains one of the most sensible specifications ever drawn for British woodland ranges.
• Scout scopes. The Burris Scout 2.75x20 is the forward-mounted, long-eye-relief answer for a rifle that will not take a conventional over-action mount.
• Genuine 1-6x and 1-10x LPVOs. This is the real story of the sub-£500 band. The Primary Arms SLx 1-6x24 with ACSS Nova, the SLx 1-6x24 with ACSS Aurora 5.56 metric and the SLx 1-10x28 with ACSS Griffin M10S all sit here, as do the SIG Sauer TANGO-MSR 1-6x24 FFP and the TANGO-MSR 1-8x24. A true 1x bottom end at this money was not available five years ago.
• The Burris RT-6. The RT-6 1-6x24 with the illuminated Ballistic 5x reticle is a second-focal-plane 1-6x for people who want a plain, bright, uncomplicated LPVO.

The Primary Arms ACSS Aurora 5.56 metric reticle deserves a specific mention on a British site: its ranging and holdover subtensions are laid out in metres rather than yards, which is what you are actually shooting at on a UK range.

£600 to £700: the traditional hunting scopes

This band changed the most, and it is now the place to look if you want a conventional stalking scope rather than an LPVO. Trijicon's Huron and Ascent ranges sit here: plain, non-illuminated, second focal plane hunting glass.

• The Huron 3-9x40 with the German #4 reticle is the pick for woodland stalking — three heavy posts and a fine upper wire, a European pattern designed so the eye finds the centre against dark ground. The same body comes with BDC Hunter Holds or a standard duplex.
• For more top-end reach, the Huron 2.5-10x40 and 3-12x40.
• The Ascent 3-12x40 and Ascent 1-4x24 use a BDC Target Holds reticle on a 30 mm tube, which suits range work more than the hunting field.

The honest caveat on all of them is no illumination at all, which is felt in the last twenty minutes of legal light. How the Trijicon families divide up is set out in Trijicon rifle scopes decoded.

£500 to £800: more magnification, better turrets

Two of those are packages rather than bare scopes: the Burris RT-6 kit and the TANGO-MSR Compact with the offset ROMEO1 both include a red dot, which is a materially better deal than buying the two separately if an offset sight was on your list anyway. Our guide to red dot vs holographic vs LPVO covers when that combination earns its weight.

Choosing between them

• Shooting a straight-pull or gallery rifle inside 300 m? A 1-6x or 1-8x LPVO is the right tool, and the sub-£500 group covers it fully. See optics for a straight-pull AR.
• Stalking? The magnification you want starts low, not high. Our deer stalking scopes guide explains why the bottom end of the range matters more than the top, and the deer stalking scopes collection is filtered for it. The Huron and Ascent above are the budget entries for that job.
• Rimfire? Check the mounting before the glass — most British rimfires and air rifles carry an 11 mm dovetail rather than a Picatinny rail. Read 11 mm dovetail scope mounts and scopes for a .22LR rimfire.
• First or second focal plane? Only a couple of scopes in this band are FFP. If you hold rather than dial, that matters; if you dial, it does not. FFP vs SFP explained settles it.

What the band does not buy you

Three things separate this tier from the glass above it, and it is fairer to name them than to imply the difference is only branding.

• Top-end magnification. Nothing here goes far beyond 12x. If you want a 3-18x or 5-25x for hill work or F-Class, you are shopping well above this band.
• Exposed dialling turrets with a zero stop. The scopes here are built around holding on a BDC reticle rather than dialling elevation and coming back to a hard stop. That is a legitimate way to shoot inside 300 m and a liability beyond it.
• Illumination and adjustable parallax. Fixed parallax is normal at this price and is entirely correct for an LPVO. On a magnified stalking scope, the absence of an illuminated reticle is the thing you will notice first in poor light.

None of that makes a sub-£800 scope the wrong purchase. It makes it the right purchase for a defined job, which is the only sensible way to buy glass.

Budget for rings, because none of these include them

Every scope above is supplied without rings except where the listing says otherwise, and rings are not a rounding error — a 30 mm pair runs to a meaningful share of a sub-£500 scope. Get the height right first: the lowest ring that still clears the objective bell gives the firmest cheek weld. Our rifle scope rings and rifle scope mounts collections cover it, the mounts and rings buyer's guide explains cantilever, one-piece and quick-detach, and if your rifle is a Tikka, Sako, CZ or Blaser read the fitment guide for those actions first.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest rifle scope you sell?
The Burris Fullfield E1 3-9x40, in its Ballistic Plex shotgun and muzzleloader variants. Both are conventional 1-inch-tube hunting scopes rather than cut-down budget optics.

Is there still a price gap between £800 and £1,000?
No. There was when this guide was written, and Trijicon's tube scope ranges filled it. There are now scopes throughout that band. The distinction that remains is one of specification rather than availability — illumination, focal plane and dialling turrets arrive as you go up.

Is a sub-£500 LPVO a real 1x?
Yes on the models listed here — they are true 1x at the bottom of the range, which is what makes both-eyes-open shooting work. What you give up against the premium tier is edge-to-edge clarity and eye box forgiveness at the top magnification.

What is the best budget scope for deer stalking?
In this band, a Trijicon Huron 3-9x40 or 2.5-10x40. Both are conventional second focal plane hunting scopes with a low bottom end, which is what British stalking actually needs. Accept that neither is illuminated.

Do I need a licence to buy a rifle scope in the UK?
No. Optics are not firearms and are not entered on a certificate — the framework is set out in do you need a licence for a rifle scope, red dot or torch.

MOA or MRAD turrets?
Whichever matches your reticle. Consistency between turret and reticle matters far more than the choice itself — see MRAD vs MOA explained and the MOA at distance chart.

Start with the full rifle scopes range, or go straight to LPVO rifle scopes, Primary Arms optics, SIG Sauer rifle scopes, Burris rifle scopes and Trijicon rifle scopes. For a lower budget still, our best red dot sights under £300 guide covers the unmagnified option, best weapon lights under £250 does the same for torches, and optics for fox and night vermin control covers the after-dark side. UK-stocked, with £5 tracked UK delivery — the detail on duty and VAT is in buying optics in the UK.