Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Best scope for 22 cal rifle

I'm a lot more fisherman than I am hunter so need some advise. What is a good scope that won't break the bank for my 22 cal. rifle. I would like to be accurate at 75 yards with long rifle shells but my old eyes don't do well with open sights anymore! Any suggestions? I am also wanting to help teach my grandson some shooting skills.

How much do you want to spend?

One rule of thumb for scopes is don't spend more on the scope than you did on the rifle. That said, there are some really good scopes out there. You have to give us a budget.

About the grandson. make him use the iron sights first. Breath control, sight alignment, and smooth trigger squeeze is a must for young shooter to learn. Lots of dry-firing will help mature his skills.

2 cents added for free.

I like to go to a gun shop and look thru their scopes they have in your price range, mostly looking thru them and evaluate your clarity, field of view and other options available such as variable power which is not as important on a 22 caliber, I guess you shouldn't spend more then you do on your gun but I am liable to, obviously if you have a cheaper model of gun its not going to be as consistent as a higher grade gun but as long as you have an reasonable quality gun, a really clear scope will make a huge difference in your accuracy, especially when your eyesight, like mine, is fading a little, I have been known to spend more on the scope then the gun, a good one will make a huge difference.
My 17HMR being a decent example, I have more invested in the scope then I do in a pretty good Ruger brand gun, that thing will drive tacks way on out there well over 100 yards. love it, now I also put a suppressor on it, which cost a good bit more then the scope. Good Luck!

I go by the adage that you should typically spend more on the scope than the gun, and I typically do. Replaced my Bushnell scope after a few years on my 10-22 when the reticle broke. Bought a Leupold 3x9 and have loved it for over a quarter of a century on that same gun. Have Leupold scopes on all my long guns. Tried a Nikon once and had to have the nitrogen replaced when it fogged. They did it free, but I have never had a Leupold fail. Even their lowest cost scopes are exceptional. I put a Leupold Crossbones scope on my TenPoint crossbow when the stock scope failed. After one of the limbs delaminated, I bought a Ravin crossbow and have to change out the stock scope for the Leupold. The stock Ravin scope is pretty good, but even with lighted reticles on the Ravin scope, the unlighted Leupold offers better low light target acquisition. I call um like I see um. Leupold scopes are not cheap, but nothing is more expensive than buying something that does not do the job that you bought it for.

I bought my old remington .22 with a scope already on it, used it that way for years till my buddy pointed out to me the giant wide reticles were covering most of my tiny targets I was shooting at, I upgraded it to a much better one and its like night and day difference. I have a couple nikons, so far so good, havent had any problems with them yet, fingers crossed.

For your .22, I'd recommend...

This scope

In all fairness, my Nikon was on a 12-gauge rifled-barreled shotgun that is serving its new owner fine since they refilled the nitrogen. The scope is supposedly OK on this gun based on Nikon's literature. They repaired it at no cost to me, so they are a top-notch company that honors the lifetime warranty. I really appreciate good optics and reliability.

Thanks everyone, and I did start the grandson on open sights. I just really want to improve my ability with the scope. My thoughts pricewise is Extreme top price being $200. Hoping for something really nice in the $150 range. Thanks!

With young eyes, I shot my 10-22 really well. Perhaps open sights are the best option at that price point?

"Rifle scopes, it turns out, are like dates: Good ones don’t come cheap."

https://www.fieldandstream.com/10-best-budget-riflescopes/

I would plan on spending a couple hundred at least, you can actually get a pretty sweet rimfire scope for around 200. I will guarantee you wont regret the few extra bucks, especially if your eyesight is not like it was 20 years ago.

And for $300 you can get this:

https://www.amazon.com/Leupold-0603-2422-174182-VX-Freedom/dp/B08QSKGZPL/&linkCode=ll1&tag=fsmag-20//?tag=camdenxfas-20&asc_source=browser&asc_refurl=https://www.fieldandstream.com/guns/10-best-budget-riflescopes

RAH, Nikon is now out of the scope business. That happened about a year ago.

I also believe in spending more for glass than you spent on the rifle, but I ALSO believe that you purchase the scope for the distance and light conditions that you will be shooting in. i.e. no need to buy a $1,000+ 50mm objective, 34mm tube 6-30 scope if you will be doing most of your shooting within 100 yds mid-day from a standing/kneeling position.

If you want a scope that will live on the rifle for a long time, I'd look into something with an American name brand (not Barska, etc) that has a 1" tube, 3-9 power, 40 mm objective and is considered to be a "rimfire" scope OR have an adjustable objective. Reason for the last part is that regular rifle scopes are typically set for parallax @ 100 yds. A 32mm tube while find for young eyes, won't bring a whole bunch of light through it for aging eyes.

esshup - What is your assessment of the $300 Leuplod that I posted a link to above? or here

https://www.leupold.com/vx-freedom-3-9x40-rimfire-moa-riflescope

Journyman, your link to the scope shows 3 different models. Which one are you speaking of?

I am looking at a hawke Vantage IR 3x9x40 for $170 . I'm very new to scopes. What does subsonic mean for a scope? Also what is "Mil Dot"?

Rah, that Leupold scope looks interesting! The reticle will allow you to judge the distance to the target and the size of the target when set on 9x.

Subsonic = bullets traveling slower than the speed of sound
MOA = minute of angle (it calculates out to be 1.047" @ 100 yds)

I think that Leupold would be a good scope for a .22. My recommendation is to get flip up Blizzard scope caps for it. That way you will keep dust and dirt off of the lenses when not using the scope.

I am comfortable using MOA when talking about group sizes, adjusting a scope, Highflier is probably more comfortable in Mils than I am. I can convert MOA to inches in my head if needed. Maybe not exact, but close enough to be accurate within 2,000 yds.

I just looked at the Hawke scope. Never had a scope that could change the color of the reticle, that is used mostly for low light. All my illuminated scopes have a red reticle when turned on, it's black when it's off.

Since I don't use mil dot reticles, I am not familiar with them. Here is an example I pulled off the internet. A MIL-Dot reticle refers to a standard, specific pattern of duplex crosshair reticles with four small 0.25 mil diameter dots placed along each axis. ... The distance between the centers of any two adjacent dots on a MIL-Dot reticle scope equals 1 Mil, which is about 36" (or 1 yard) @ 1000 yards, or 3.6 inches @ 100 yards.

IF you want to use the reticle for aiming points once you set your zero, you will have to decide whether you will be using standard velocity ammo (1200-1260 fps) or sub sonic ammo (<1,050 fps). The problem that I see with the reticle that is set for a certain ammo velocity is that if the velocity is 100fps+ different than from what the reticle is set at then the reticle won't be accurate for your aiming points.

Now remember the center "X" will always be your zero for the ammo that you adjusted the scope for. i.e., if you bought the HV Hawke scope, and you were using the standard velocity ammo and sighted in the scope using that ammo both the center "X" and the dots would be accurate for bullet drop at different distances. If you wanted to use subsonic ammo in it, you'd have to re-sight in the gun so the "X" was where the bullets were hitting, the dots would still not be accurate for where the bullet would hit at different distances. The dots are not spaced equally, unlike a mil dot or MOA reticle. With those reticles you could zero your rifle for the particular bullet, then use the marks to calculate where your bullet will hit. I will make a small cheat sheet and tape it to the stock. That way I can use the reticle to get the distance to the target if I didn't have my laser rangefinder, look at the cheat sheet and use the marks on the reticle to adjust my aim point. Sounds a lot more complicated than it is.

Very educational ESSHUP! Thank you very much. my rounds are all 1260 and a few say 1280. That is all I can find around here so I will be using the scope with them. Does that help anyone decide what I need? My targets may be as large as an otter! Still probably no more than around 75 yards.

If you buy the Hawke scope, please let us know how you like it. The scopes that came with both of my crossbows have both green and red lighted reticles. They need them because the optics are not as good as the unlighted Leupold scope, but the lighted reticles still do not make up for the low light performance of the Leupold. I have found that the red works best at dusk and the green works best at dawn. I use a laser range finder when hunting to avoid math LOL...

Hard to beat a Leupold

Agree with you Dave , don’t think you can beat a leupold. They are tough

For under $200, you can't find a better scope than a Burris Fullfield II 3x-9x.

For under $150, a Bushnell Trophy 3x-9x.

Burris is $150 on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Burris-Fullfield-Hunting-Ballistic-Reticle/dp/B0941TPNGF

Buy a Leupold as others have said and call it a day!

I like crossbow scopes with the range finding reticles for my .22's. They won't match the distances intended for them but you can take notes. With that said we spend a lot of time launching .22's at 300yd targets (just for fun) so having something other than a single crosshair is nice.

Something I've found great for my aging eyes is the scopes that have an adjustable focus. They are like binoculars in that you can adjust them to your eyesight and not have to wear glasses while shooting. This lets me keep my cheek weld much stronger.

I have a safe full of rifles with different brand scopes. I see no problem with Leupold, Burris or other major brands. The trick is to match the sights to the goals/use/ caliber. I have a safe full of guns with different sights. My 30-30 and 7.7 Jap are mostly hog guns with open sights.

I spend most of my shooting time in the high fenced back yard with a single shot 22 and a cheap scope practicing trigger pull. The ammo is 22 Colibri without powder. Quiet as my Xbow and no issues with neighbors. I go through between 500 to 1000 rounds per month. Why that many? Because I’m older than sin and getting shaky.

What the heck, didnt know they had such an ammo available? I will have to check that out, I have a 17HMR with a suppressor, I love shooting it, not completely silent, sounds about like a 22 shot.

Very impressive DD1!

I also have bad shakes (central tremor). Is your training capable of overcoming your shakes? I would like to be able to still take some mid-range shots if I could be more certain of correctly placing the round.

interesting info about this ammo, you learn alot here!

This is a cartridge that contains no gunpowder. The little 20gm bullet is solely propelled by the powerful Eley priming mix. For this reason, it does not generate any significant pressure. Due to the lack of noise when fired, the .22 Colibri may be shot indoors, even in the living room, provided a proper back stop is available. The .22 Colibri may be used to eliminate pests such as rats. It may be fired in any .22 LR rifle or pistol, however, it will not cycle the slide of semi-automatic guns. It has a solid point made of lead. The Colibri is about twice the weight of a .177 caliber pellet but doesn't go as fast. However it hits a bit harder than a .177 pellet

I love the Colibri ammo! Been shooting it forever out of my single shots and also load my snubnose revolver armadillo pistol with it. That snubnose leaves my ears ringing if I don't have ear protection on and have regular ammo in it. So if I'm just out and about it's nice to have in a pocket to chase the occasional varmint with.


You guys that practice with purpose... have you tried the Mantis X system? It's a dryfire device connected to an app on your phone that diagnoses your shooting issues (torques and whatnot).

I just bought my fist Leupold for my 300 blkout. Got a VX-3HD, which was a tad more than I would spend on a 22lr. Glass is very clear.

catscratch,

Do you have that Mantis system?

I am afraid to "normal" practice with a purpose, because I am such a poor shot. I am worried that I would actually reinforce my bad habits!

Rod, I don’t have the shakes(I guess).

I shoot only off a rest so not much chance of a shake. I can’t hit much of anything that’s standing still without a rest.

Good.

Precision shooting is a fun sport, and it really does lower the stress and blood pressure of the guys I know that do it.

I can feel a shake creep in while pulling the trigger on a bench-rested 22! Even on paper targets. So not buck fever and not a flinch.

I am spotting you a few years, so I was just hoping you had some good advice to keep me shooting well as I continue to get older!

CC and Dave, .22 ammo is filthy dirty, so you will need to concentrate on cleaning the carbon out of the rifle every few shooting sessions. Let the rifle talk to you, keep notes. Some are more accurate when kept clean, some are more accurate when dirty. I'll post a pic of the scope that I just bought for my .22 Hornet (CZ 452 American with the set trigger).

Rod: I don't do long range target shooting, but I do some long range shooting. I whacked a coyote at 867 yds some years ago, using the LR gun, first shot out of a cold clean barrel in a year with that rifle. Now to be honest, the 2nd shot out of that rifle at that time missed the 2nd 'yote 10 minutes later because I forgot that after the first shot I have to adjust 2 moa up to compensate for the dirt that is in the barrel from the first shot.

First shot from a clean barrel is ALWAYS 2 moa higher than the subsequent shots. FYI, the piece of lead/copper that I sent at the coyote was .284" dia, 180 grains, and had a MV of 3385 fps. It's zero'd @ 300 yds and I typically have to adjust up 13.75 to 14.5 moa @ 1,000 yds from that zero depending on atmospheric conditions and altitude.

The colibri can mess up a barrel; even with no powder. Since I only shoot for trigger pull help, I don’t worry much about accuracy. It’s certainly not precision stuff but at approx 50 feet it’s good enough. At 79 yoa, I shake if I don’t practice a lot. Colibri makes different ammo and you have to look carefully to assure that you are getting the short with no powder. When I find it, I buy several bricks.

I shoot off a rest at a target that is backed with a big piece of steel slanted forward to direct the lead down into the dirt. I recover it. I’m shooting in the city limits so I need something quiet.

BTW, the no powder is often advertised as sans poudre.