Im looking for a 4-12 for my Marlin heavy barrel 17 HMR. I use it mostly for woodchuck hunting in the warmer months and paper shooting. Maybe some occasional fall turkey hunting. Im considering the Bushnell trophy XLT or the Nikon Prostaff rimfire. The bushnell has the AO (do I really need this?) and the DOA reticle which might be nice for precise hold-over. The Nikon has a calibrated reticle for .22 LR, but thinking I could reference the drop to something on the HMR. The nikon is fixed parallax at 75 yds. Thoughts, suggestions? I also have a weaver classic 3-9 that I might try. After a summer shooting chucks with the tasco world class 3-9 that came with it, anything would be an upgrade.

FWIW: you don't need the AO...the scope I like best on the 17HMR is a Burris 3x9 Ballistic Plex. The hash marks are very usable out to its effective range, and quick. Parallax has never been an issue...

Killing me, jut sold one of those. Thought about trying it, will have to give the weaver a go...I felt like I needed more magnification with the tasco, but junky optics can give you that impressions when your actually lacking clarity.

A couple of guys on rimfirecentral did a test with AO parallax , they shot looking straight down the middle of the scope then as far off center as possible . It made about 1/2" difference as far as they could tell after many groups.

I have a 5.5x16.5-44 nikon monarch on my cz 17hmr -it's a little big but I like being able to see little targets way out there.
I have a 4x12-40 monarch on a suppressed cz 455 - and like that magnification real well.
INGWE ,

You gotcha four taste critters there -good shooting !

my Ruger 17 HMR wears a 4 x 16 Tasco....

at one of the Campfire get2gathers down in AZ,
Dave ( Palidin) used mine, on a group shoot contest...

a shoot off was required between Dave and Ben ( Mudhen) who was shooting a Savage...

They had a shoot off 3 times...no one could tell who the winner was... until Darby pulled a set of calipers out of his truck....

Dave ended up the winner, by 3/1000ths of an inch...

so that 4 x 16 Tasco didn't hamper him in the least...

Yeah, what he said. I've had one on my Marlin 17V for forever, and the Burris works great on it. They DO make a 4-16 with the same reticle, if you REALLY think you need it, but I've hit range rats at 250 yards with it, no trouble.

Ive got a spare quality centerfire 3-9 hanging around. Im gonna give it a whirl and see if I really need the extra X's. Hope to tag an archery buck this week and get out after some fall turkey.

I put a Redfield Revolution 4-12 on mine and had Leupold reset the parallax. As I recall, they recommended 65 yards and charged $35. Now, it's fine for squirrel hunting distances as well as chucks.

I think part of my desire for more magnification is wanting to be able to place the shots more precisely. Ive had mixed results with the 17 HMR on groundhogs. Some die like there hit by a centerfire, others not-so-much. Better optics would allow for better shot placement. I thought about buying a Tikka in .222 as I see they are available, but like the little bark (or lack there of) of the 17HMR is a good thing in the small farm fields I hunt in the summer.

I have a Sightron S1 4-12x40AO on one of my 17HRMs and really like it. I have a Weaver V16, 4-16x42AO on my favorite 17HM2, a Marlin 917M2S, and love it for shooting squirrels.

My Marlin has the same 6-18x Simmons it came with. My CZ has a VX-II 3-9x standard scope. That scope has shot many a sub-1" group @100. Might like a 4-12x VX-2 some day, this one is not lacking. YMMV

get you a little more magnification purchase a weaver 4-16 with AO I think it will work better for you.

msquared - "I put a Redfield Revolution 4-12 on mine" - this probably allows you to pick which nostril to shoot at. Great way to use a re-purpose a center-fire scope. Homesteader

I have 4x12s on both my rimfires. They are bell AOs and I would like to score a "cheap" side-focus. I've found the focus really handy for ranging. I'll focus, move my head a bit to see if I'm good, then peek at the yardage and hold. Inside 75 yards it doesn't matter that much unless it's a "head shot" on a hider, but past that, it's nice to crank the power and be able to arc them in.

My Ruger 77/17 VT wears a Leupold 4-12X AO Fine Duplex. If I were to do it again I'd get the same scope but with CDS or a VH reticle.

12X comes in handy surprisingly often in trying to pick out a digger squirrel in the shade of a bush in grass / etc. Often times what gives he location away is the reflection off the eyeball.

TomM1: I prefer the wonderful Weaver V-16 (4 to 16 power variable WITH adjustable objective!) for my Ruger 77/17 V/T in 17 HMR.
I have Hunted Rock Chucks, Prairie Dogs, Coyotes, Fox's, Badgers, Raccoons, Wild Turkey, Skunks, Porcupines, Jack Rabbits and Grouse with my 17 HMR and this scope - I can find NO fault with it for any application after more than 12 years of use.
I mostly use this Rifle/scope combo for Ground Squirrel Hunting and for this and all my other uses I highly recommend the adjustable objective feature.
YES, "you do need it"!
Best of luck to you with whichever scope you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I'm with VarmintGuy. I got a Weaver 4 X 16 for the 17 HMR custom that I just finished. The rifle is used for both hunting and 50 yd. benchrest matches in the summer. You can get fine crosshairs and a dot. It has competition adjustment knobs that aren't as high as most. I find that very handy.

I wouldn't dream of putting a scope on a rimfire that didn't have an AO.

Well, sounds like the weaver 4-16 is a pretty good combo. Ive got a pentax 4-12 on the way. Its not an AO but I'll give it a whirl this summer and see how well I can see the chucks popping their heads up.

I have several Weavers on a few rim-fires I love em.

While I like 4-12x40AOs and 4-16x42AOs on heavy barrel rimfires, Marlins and Savages, I find them to be a little too large for light barrel rimfires and prefer non-AO scopes for those applications. I like scopes to be in physical harmony, size wise, with the rifle on which they are mounted. That is probably why I have so many 2-7x scopes mounted on light barrel rifles and so many 4-12x40 scopes mounted on heavy barrel rifles.

Despite all of them having heavy barrels, my RAR-Predators in 204 and 223 have Weaver V16s installed, while the 22-250, 243, and 6.5 Creedmoor have 4-12x40s installed, all five via Warne Maxima fixed rings.