Top Three Osprey Tactical Scopes Reviewed

Posted by Team Buy Osprey Global on Feb 9th 2021

Top Three Osprey Tactical Scopes Reviewed

Mini Reviews For Top Three Selling Osprey Global Riflescopes

  1. AR Optic Riflescope 3-9x42 - AKA “The Compact” Is Most popular with AR platforms and close to mid range capabilities and famous for its forgiving eye relief.
  2. Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 - Ospreys time selling long range Riflescope. Built primarily for longer range shooting but can double up easily with hunting applications.
  3. Tactical Riflescope 6-24x50 - Ospreys tactical and all round hunting optic. This Signature of Osprey Global rifle scopes for hunting and targets.

1. AR Optic Compact 3-9x42

This is not just Osprey Global's best selling tactical riflescope but Ospreys best selling riflescope of all time. It is primarily an AR Optic, and is pretty much the opposite end of Ospreys tactical series to the Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50. The AR Optic Compact Riflescope 3-9X42 is commonly known as “The Compact” by Osprey customers and reps alike. You know a riflescope has to be pretty popular to earn itself its own nickname. The selling point of “The Compact'' is its huge eye relief. Osprey Is known for its already impressive eye relief on their optics but they have dones something special with this one. There is no moving or adjusting your head to get on target, even when you push through the magnification range. This is why you can get onto target so fast and why it is so popular with the AR-15.

Osprey Global Compact 3-9x42 on grass

2. Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50

The Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 is one of the longest standing in the tactical range. With a large magnification and top end Hoya glass it is an obvious choice for long range. The turrets are ⅛ inch clicks so you can make small and precise adjustments no matter what distance you are reaching out to. It only drawback is that it is not as fast on the bottom end as other options in the tactical domain. This means it may not be ideal for little piggies. Since you are beginning at a ten power magnification you really want to be looking out beyond the hundred yard mark more often than not. Great for blind hunting and targets out to and beyond a thousand yards.

3. Tactical Riflescope 6-24x50

The Tactical Riflescope 6-24x50 is one of the top selling hunting specific riflescopes. Unlike the Osprey Tactical  10-40x50 riflescope, it can do low, medium and long range as opposed to just long range. Ideal for every range and style of hunting; it is still very capable at long distance due to its 24 power magnification and its ⅛ inch precision turrets clicks. You can take down hogs easily using the big eye relief and fast target acquisition of the six power or reach out to a long range Elk in the with the same breath and bullet. You also have the option and opportunity to strike accurately at the benchmark of the thousand yards if you wish. Great all range hunting riflescope that can do it all.

Osprey Global Tactical Series - Explained.

Great, the three best sellers of the Osprey Global Tactical series, but what exactly is the tactical series I hear you ask. It is a category of riflescope that Osprey global have that runs the gauntlet of capabilities from the AR Optic Riflescope 3-9x42 to the Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 for long range effectiveness. The tactical series has every range of scope for all style and size of rifle but it is basically the Signature Series of Osprey Global. A solid line of hunting and tactical optics that are built well, have lit or illuminated reticles and can all stand up to a fifty cal recoil over and over. 

Think bread and butter optics that have premium glass, superior production but not all the bells and whistles that increase an optics price without necessarily increasing its all over usefulness. They are reliable scopes that will hold zero amongst any real world scenarios. They don’t have the pop and drop turrets, zero resets, built in rangefinders or any other stuff thats great to have but painful on the wallet.

Osprey Global Tactical Series Riflescopes Mounted

Osprey Tactical Series Pros

  1. Reliable
  2. Affordable
  3. Clear
  4. Simple

Osprey Tactical Series Cons

  1. Basic
  2. Limited premium functions

Why Did Osprey Create The Tactical Line Of Riflescopes?

Osprey Global made the signature series to let hunters have a premium riflescope at an affordable price. It sounds like a cliche but that market wasn't serviced. The hunter who wants an affordable optic but with an emphasis on glass and reliability. Take the  Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50, a riflescope capable of a thousand yards, and when it was introduced there were very few optics capable of that range that were under five hundred dollars. Ospreys owner wanted every American to be able to afford an Osprey optic and for the Osprey Global to be something reliable that you could proudly put on your biggest baddest wolf of a gun. The option used to be a choice between cheap or reliable but the tactical series changed that too affordable and reliable.

What Sets Apart The Signature Tactical Series:

The signature series sets itself apart from cheap riflescopes in a variety of ways: What follows are the seven most important differences between the Osprey Global's tactical series and what we shall call " The other guys".  Basically it is a what makes us different and pointing out the different quality points to keep an eye out for whenever purchasing a new riflescope regardless of brand.

1 - The Glass 

    Osprey Uses High Quality Glass

The Osprey Tactical Series has the fully multi coated Hoya ED glass that increases light transition. Hoya is one of the premium glass companies in the world and is in many top brand riflescopes and binoculars. No matter how efficient your optic design if you have low grade glass you can kiss clarity good bye. Clarity in glass is important not just in low light situations but in every situation. Good glass can really make a difference even in the middle of the day. 


Osprey 10-40x50 Riflescope on grass

    2 - The Glue

    Yes The Glue Matters

Many Riflescope companies literally use superglue in their optics. Have you ever held a scope up to your ear and heard a faint rattle in the scope as if there is sand in the tube? That is the brittle superglue breaking off under recoil. It isn't necessarily bad, but can be annoying and shows the scope changing under stress. 

Whereas Osprey uses a Loc-Tite composite that was chosen specifically because of how it handles not just recoil but also the extreme temperatures of cold and heat which can affect optics drastically. People hunt in Wyoming snow and Texas summer ( hogs are an ear round target in Texas) and having the right glue can be the difference between success or failure.

    3 - The Diopter and the Convex

    Ospreys design makes all the difference

Now we are getting into the secret sauce of how the optics are made and it may get a bit technical. The piece of glass you put your eye to is called the diopter and the other side of that on the interior of the scope is essentially the glass called the convex which curves away from the dioptic. When the tactical series was engineered they adjusted the convex glass to take more advantage of light that gets into the riflescope. If you take the Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 or any other optic from Ospreys tactical range you will be able to cover two thirds of the glass up and still be able to see your target accurately. It can do this because of both the quality of the glass but also because of the unique design of the diopter/convex combination. 

    4 - The Eye Relief

    Ospreys Industry Leading Eye Relief Explained Briefly

This leads to one of Ospreys main selling points : Their huge eye relief. So again it is a patented technology that only the owners and select engineers know the secret to but after extensive experimenting and trial and error with eye boxes, diopters, glass and convex design they hit a winning formula that allows a large eye relief. 

The larger the eye relief the more comfortable the shooter and with comfort comes speed. Even on long distance riflescopes, such as the Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 MDG/IRF where you would traditionally have minimal distance to find your view, you have an increased eye relief when compared to similar optics with similar magnification. This same eye relief technology is why the AR Optic Compact 3-9x42 is so fast and why our hunting riflescopes are so comfortable.

    5 - The Reticle

    How Does Ospreys Reticle Handle High Recoil

All of the tactical lines have an etched reticle. An etched reticle is where the reticle is actually engraved or “ etched “ on the glass. Many lower price point optics have a variety of less reliable and cheaper ways to form the reticle. One popular way to create a reticle is by using a stretched wire as the reticle, which is more reliable than it sounds, but they can actually “sag” over time. Once it sags once then the problem can easily recur after it has been re adjusted.

Whereas with an etched reticle that is embedded and engraved in the glass can only move if the whole glass shifts. The glass is held in with the Loc-Tite composite so the chances of the glass shifting is very slim as well. So from the long range Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 all the way down to the AR Optic Compact 3-9x42, the entire tactical range can handle some serious recoil.

    6 - The Colors

    Osprey Globals Illuminated Reticles

All of the tactical line comes equipped with illuminated colors on the reticle. They are not always necessary but they are absolutely crucial in certain situations. Check out Illuminated reticles, Are they necessary for a more in depth look at when and how to optimally use your illuminated reticle. Basically if you are aiming at a dark hog in low light with a black reticle its almost impossible to get on target: adding a subtle blue to your reticle will get you more confidently on target in those iffy situations and won't affect your accumulated night vision.

    7 - The Price

    More Bang For Your Buck With Osprey Global

Osprey Global is known for having great value for money and the Ospreys Tactical Series is no exception. A thousand yard optic like the Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50 for less than $500 and premium AR optics for the same price as a magnifier in other brands are just two examples on how far your money will go with Osprey. 

If you want something super specific, or are attached to a particular reticle Osprey may not have exactly what you need. On the other hand if you want something reliable, clear and comfortable then osprey has that in abundance.

Osprey Tactical Series

Summary

With every range covered from AR optics to the full long range sniper Tactical Riflescope 10-40x50, most people will find something effective to their needs in this range. The design, glass quality, patented convex engineering combine to make a clear , comfortable and reliable riflescope without a huge price tag. If you want absolute clarity and small changes like precision reticles and re-settable pop and drop turrets then the ELITE range may be worth the extra money. If getting on target is what you want, then. o matter your target, the tactical series is all you will every NEED.

Either way the Tactical Series is here to stay.