How To Choose The Best Rimfire Riflescope

[Talyn]

A complete guide to finding the best rimfire riflescope for your needs.​

How To Choose The Best Rimfire Riflescope

In the market for a rimfire riflescope? Here's how to choose the best model with the most appropriate features for your shooting needs.

gundigest.com

 

[Snake45]

I discovered long, LONG ago that most ".22 scopes"--in those days, 7/8" tubes--were junk.

So for about a decade, I scoped all my .22 rifles with used 1" scopes from local gun shows--usually 3X-9X. Duplex reticle preferred, but price was uppermost. I liked to pay between $25 and $35 for these. I bought Bushnells, Weavers, and Tascos and maybe a couple other brands and they all worked well.

And then I discovered parallax.

Parallax is important in .22 scopes. As the article says, most "big game" scopes have their parallax set at 150 yards or so, and most .22 rifle shooting is done at between 20 and 100--maybe 125 at the outside--yards. Yes, you can manually adjust the parallax of a fixed scope for shorter range--say 50 or 60 or 75 yards--but parallax will still "move" the crosshairs around at shorter or longer range by an inch or more.

That's why adjustable objective is now the #1 thing I want in a .22 scope. I don't care if it's "side adjustable" or on the objective bell, I just want to be able to adjust it easily between 20 and 125 yards or more.

Everything after that is just a matter of personal preference, AFAIC. Power, reticle, brightness, price, whatever whatever whatever. Unless your .22 scope has adjustable objective for parallax, everything else is just mental mastubation.

My best, most accurate .22 rifles now all have AO scopes. One's a 4X-12x, one's a 3X-9X, one's a 2X-7X. They all work great for anything I want to do with these guns out to 125 yards or more.

Here endeth the lesson.

 

[mikep]

I discovered long, LONG ago that most ".22 scopes"--in those days, 7/8" tubes--were junk.

So for about a decade, I scoped all my .22 rifles with used 1" scopes from local gun shows--usually 3X-9X. Duplex reticle preferred, but price was uppermost. I liked to pay between $25 and $35 for these. I bought Bushnells, Weavers, and Tascos and maybe a couple other brands and they all worked well.

And then I discovered parallax.

Parallax is important in .22 scopes. As the article says, most "big game" scopes have their parallax set at 150 yards or so, and most .22 rifle shooting is done at between 20 and 100--maybe 125 at the outside--yards. Yes, you can manually adjust the parallax of a fixed scope for shorter range--say 50 or 60 or 75 yards--but parallax will around at shorter range by an is now the #1 thing I want in a .22 scope. I don't care if it's " adjustable" or on the objective bell, I just want to be able to adjust it easily between 20 and 125 yards or more.

Everything after that is just a matter of personal preference, AFAIC. Power, reticle, brightness, price, whatever whatever whatever. Unless your .22 scope has adjustable objective for parallax, everything else is just mental mastubation.

My best, most accurate .22 rifles now all have AO scopes. One's a 4X-12x, one's a 3X-9X, one's a 2X-7X. They all work great for anything I want to do with these guns out to 125 yards or more.

Here endeth the lesson.

I learned about parallax by experience as well. Once i switched there was a big difference and will not go back to a non-AO scope.
I have only one scoped .22 rifle. A “frankengun” Model 75 topped with a Bushnell Banner 4-12x AO. Decent scope that i got on sale for $100. It makes for small groups and lots of fun.