Free Shipping & Free Returns*

FREE SHIPPING on Over 250,000 Products

Shop now and get Free Value Shipping on most orders over $49 to the contiguous 48 states, DC, and to all U.S. Military APO/FPO/DPO addresses.

Enjoy our FREE RETURNS

We want to ensure that making a return is as easy and hassle-free as possible! If for any reason you are not satisfied with your purchase, simply return the item within 30 days of receipt, and we'll cover the cost of return shipping. Learn more about our Return Policy.

Shopping Cart

what is a second focal plane — 1 Answer

by GARY, from MI, United States Asked on October 2, 2019

Name Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10x40mm Rifle Scope (4.8)
Currently Unavailable View Product
Continue As a Guest
Saving...
Sign In or Create an Account (optional)
Why use an OpticsPlanet.com account for my questions and answers?

Having an account with OpticsPlanet.com makes writing questions and answers even better! We’ll save all of your questions and answers in your account, provide you easy access to them, so you can see how the community has responded.

If you’d like to add a question without creating an account, you can proceed with filling out the fields on this form.

Show
Sort by
Filter by
Expert Answer
A
Answered by Armando R., Gear Expert, from IL, United States, on October 10, 2019

First and second focal plane refers to the position of the reticle inside the scope. A second focal plane scope has the reticle position inside the scope that the when the magnification is changed the reticle stays exactly the same. This changes the subtensions of the reticle and means it is only accurate at one magnification setting (usually max). First focal plane means the reticle is positioned so that when the magnification changes the reticle changes with it making the reticle subtensions accurate at all magnification settings.

6 of 6 found the following answer helpful.
Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
Last updated 2025-11-12 UTC.