Field & Stream Hunting Optics Handbook: An Expert's Guide to Riflescopes, Binoculars, Spotting Scopes, and Rangefinders

By Thomas McIntyre

Book Overview

Hunters often spend more money on optical equipment than they do on rifles, and yet they usually know very little about "glass." Binoculars, rifle scopes and range finders cost a minimum of $1,000 each. That consumer wants to ensure he's spending money on the right products. This book informs the reader what kind of performance to look for in optics, depending on where they're going and what they're hunting. Good binoculars and scopes vastly improve a hunter's focus and range. Specific products are reviewed and presented here - with photos - in an easy-to-understand shoppers' guide that will vastly improve the hunting experience.

Thomas McIntyre is a contributing editor at Field & Stream, where he regularly tests new optics. He lives in Wyoming.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599210444
• ISBN13: 9781599210445
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Get thee glass eyes

From Chas S. Clifton's May 10, 2008, nature blog review: You Say Binocular... I say binoculars, but Tom McIntyre's The Field & Stream Hunting Optics Handbook actually covers shooting glasses, rifle and telescopes, binoculars, and rangefinders. And flashlights. The Hunting Optics Handbook is moderately technical. You need to know some formulas to compare the "twilight factor" of two different spotting scopes you are comparing, for example -- how well they work under low-light conditions. But along with the useful, contemporary information, McIntyre packs in a lot of history (of lenses, iron rifle sights, and marksmanship), and that history makes this book something more than a technical treatise. He suggests, for instance, that General Custer's bad day on the Little Bighorn in June 1876 might have been partially due to his "low-powered, undoubtedly high-dispersion-lens field glasses." Since serious purchases of spotting scopes, etc., can run well into three figures--or more--doesn't it make sense to spend $15 and a few hours educating yourself first? And then keep The Field & Stream Hunting Optics Handbook on the bookshelf the pleasure of reading about a medieval pope's eyeglasses or Hiram Berdan's sharpshooters.

F$S Hunting Optics

A good book to have to help sportsmen in understanding what they should be using, how it works and why quality is indelibly written into reliablity of sporting optics. I'll bet the author is both a hunter and an Opthalmologist or OD which favors the reader in technical correctness and pracitcal field use of riflescopes, spotting scopes, and binoculars. There is excellent info here for expert and beginner. Glad I bought this little book.