Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Mil-dot or BDC reticle on a rimfire......

I have a Nikon Mil-dot on a 10/22 that my son's been using but haven't shot it much myself. I also have another Nikon with the BDC reticle coming in hopes of using it on a 77/22 heavy-barrel 22lr.

I'm planning on using these for plinking/hunting from 20+ to ?? yards and would like to hear other's experience (pro/con) with the Mil-dot and/or the BDC reticle on their rimfire(s).

What's a good zero?

How effective (in terms of range) are these when shooting sub-sonic, standard or high-velocity ammo?

Any tips for getting the most out of these set-ups?

Well..I've been shooting rimfires at longer ranges for over 30 years..Before the advent of milldot and ballistic reticle scopes I would use Duplex posts, etc. Here are some things to remember. Sorry if some of this seems pretty basic, I'm sure not meaning to talk down to you here, it's just I have found the below to be important. Some of them they apply to just about any rifle when using multiple aiming points in a reticle to plot trajectory.

1) Using any reticle for aiming points is not going to make the round the rifle is using any more powerfull or shoot any flatter. The cartidge's effective killing range is the same. Keep this in mind.. A mildot is not going to magically make a 22LR into a .22mag etc.

2) When working out the trajectory points compared to aiming points in your scope, the best thing to do is settle on one good accurate, killing load you will use- then go to the range and verify it yourself with YOUR gun. Rimfires have an advantage here since it's cheap to shoot and the lack of recoil makes it easy to verify your hits. I would try to do it on paper though, to be exact.

3) Most reticle setups change subtension(dimensions) as magnification changes and it gets pretty damn complicated trying to keep up with that if you are constantly changing powers. Most mill dot scopes are set to be true mills at 10x on a variable, BUT many are not. So, sight in your rifle at a usable power that also makes the reticle subtend true mills and leave it there. Unless you are shooting insects with a 22 LR at 100 yards, 10x is plenty out to it's effective range, anyway.

4) Keep it simple. On a .22LR the effective range on Prairie dogs sized game on up with HVHP loads is about 100 yards. If you sight in dead on at about 40 yards, most HV loads will be about 1 mildot low at 75yards(2 inches) and 2 milldots low at 100 yards (a little over 6 inches). The 40 yard zero means well under 1/2 inch mid range trajectory out to that point.

5) The lone exception to the above range limitations may be gopher/ground squirrel shooting- they are smaller animals and can be killed with 22 LRs out to 200 + -if you can hit 'em. For everything else, I would stay inside 100 yards with a .22LR at least on game. John B ( Mule deer here on the 'Fire) can fill you in on that racket- he as a P.H.D. in such work..

Here's what i use on my Charger--



It's a 3-9x Rapid Reticle--www.rapidreticle.com
I prefer tree reticles for their windage reference. This reticle is set up for std. 1450 +/- fps. so it matches the trajectory of Stinger loads out of this rig (1435). I have gotten 3" groups at 150 and 6-8 @ 200 in ideal conditions. Here's mom shooting it--



and buddy Mitch--


Watch the lot #'s of the RF ammo--velocities change a lot between them.

Thank you guys for the info and suggestions.....