The Best Scopes for AR-15: Top Rifle Scopes Reviewed

If you’ve been itching to put a scope on your AR-15 for a while, then this is the post for you. A good riflescope for your AR will do wonders for your long range accuracy and the fun-factor of shooting at distance.

No matter your budget, we found some really good scopes for your AR-15 at almost every price point. From the good and cheap to the top of the line scope used by military and police.

the best scope for ar15

Keep on reading to see what our experts chose as the best scopes for AR-15 rifles.

UUQ® 2.5-10×40 Clarity+ Combo Rifle Scope for AR-15

For maximum versatility without a huge price-tag, this combo will be right at home on top of your AR platform, and will make it useful as the highly adaptable platform any AR15 can be. The scope has a wide range of magnification, specially for a scope this short, from 2.5 to 10. Mounted on top is a 3 MOA dot reflex sight, for close quarter engagements. It even comes with a green laser.

The mil-dot reticule in the scope is illuminated, giving you a bright beaded crosshair over your image in any lighting conditions. This is a bargain scope for what you get. The laser has caused problems for some, but with the low recoil of an AR15, it should hold up well. The whole system is a little bulky, but if you want a multi-use weapon with no fiddling, this will make your AR15 ready for anything.

Monstrum Tactical 3-9×32 AO Rifle Scope

If you are looking for a range scope that’s still short enough to not look odd on your weapon, and you want it is a sandy color, then you’ll love this wonder from Monstrum Tactical. It’s a lot of scope for the money, which means the coatings on the glass aren’t going to be top notch. The 32mm aperture is slightly lacking for the magnification range, but works fine at most ranges and lighting conditions.

3-9x is typically a magnification range for hunting rifles. This will turn your 223 into a wonderful tool for dispatching varmints and predators on the farm. At the low end of the spectrum, you will get plenty of eye relief and a large field of view. Crank up the magnification for punching paper at 200 or 300 yards, or ringing steel targets out to 500.

CVLIFE 4×32 Tactical Rifle Scope for AR

A 4x fixed magnification scope for your AR15, accessorized with a fiber-optic iron sight on top for close quarter engagements. It comes with red, green, or blue illuminated reticles to suit anyone’s taste in sight picture. The reticle itself has hashes at different minutes of angle from center for accurate hold-over.

Better glass would improve this scope, but for the price, it’s really hard to beat. The setup includes mounting bracket, an allen-wrench for adjustment, and a lithium battery. Not the best thing ever, but for this price, this is as close to a quality 4x setup as you will find anywhere.

Vortex Optics SPR-1303 Spitfire 3x Prism Scope

For more cash without throwing down on a more expensive brand, Vortex Optics offers this fully multi-coated optic that might look plain at a glance, but it has all the necessary stuff, it’s a robust design, and it has some pretty nice features. Not to mention it looks great mounted on an AR15.

Flip up lens covers come standard, as do offset picatinny rails on either side for mounting that laser you might decide to add later. And they actually look pretty clean in this design, not gimmicky. The reticle is a horseshoe design with hashes for typical AR15 bullets at 100-500 yards, and to help gauge range to target. Very cool scope, very nice price. Especially at this high of a quality level.

Trijicon TA31F 4×32 ACOG

Trijicon costs more, but if you have a nice AR15, and you want the number one most iconic scope for it, there’s only one place to look: ACOG.

Battery free, and a fiber-optic run on top to brighten the reticule in daylight conditions. This is the typical 4×32 design that is so popular among these scopes, and features the inverted chevron reticle design in red.

Tested on battlefields all over the globe, you don’t need to worry about anything breaking on this. The tritium phosphor will dim over time, because that’s what tritium does.

And of course, if you want the best, it comes with a very high price compared to other brands. Looks good and functions great on any AR platform.

If you’re serious about getting an ACOG scope for your AR-15 or AR-style rifle, you definitely need to check out our post on the best ACOG scopes for AR-15 here.