Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics How do you scope your .222 ?

Hi fellas,

I’m curious how you scope your .222. I have a nice old Sako L461 Vixen with a good 3-12 scope on it which I think is good magnification for the great .222

6 x on my Sako. Plenty of magnification for a .222.

Leupold VX2 6-18 lr duplex

The L461 action begs for a 4x compact leupold...

I only use mine for gophers and prairie dogs.. Had a good 10x on it, but went to an older Leupold 6.5-20.. This is pretty specialized for this caliber.. I think what you have would be excellent for the .222 and normal use.. Have another .222 Sako with a 2-7 Leu... But it is my turkey rifle..

6.5x20 Leupold

With rings...

Not a .222 unfortunately, but a .221 Fireball, so close enough. Mine wears a Leupold 4.5-14x40 AO. They tell me that heat mirage gets lots worse over 10x, so I didn't want to go too high. We don't have much to shoot lots of times at like you guys out where the prairie dogs live and the only thing that I can figure was that our Midwest shooters were better than the East Coast shooters and we all but wiped out the ground hogs here years ago. That the 4.5x low power is low enough for an occasional coyote hunt.

I had a Weaver K-6 on my last .222. Was plenty deadly on woodchucks and crows out to 250 - 275 yards.

Remington 660 - Denver Redfield 6x.

Remington 722 - Lyman 8x AO.

Leupold 2-7 on the old 600..

not quite a 222.........but close.....but a 20-222

Vortex PST 6-24x50.........

Savage 20" HB 222R mostly PD's and targets, Vortex Viper 6.5-20 w/target dot.

Winchester Model 70 standard barrel 222R, called coyotes Weaver 1-4x20mm duplex.

O/U Marrochi 12ga/222R called coyotes in closer cover Weaver V-3.

I have a lightweight 222 on a 700 that wears a Leupold 2.5-8 x 36.

My walking-around ground squirrel rifle in .221 Rem wears a Leupold 3.5-10.

The max range for my squirrel shooting is about 250 to 275 yards, so this works well.
I appreciate not having more bulk or weight on this rifle that is carried a lot (Rem M-700).

Mine has had a VXIII 4.5-14 on it, but suddenly and mysteriously started shooting 2" groups. So a SS 10x is getting switched on shortly.

Depends on what your primary use is for the 222. The 3x12 most likely will cover all needs. My old 700 wears a 20x with fine crosshairs for punching hole in paper. My Model 7 wears a 2.5x10 Elite 4000 for all around use.

Konmari: Thusly on my 222's:

#1: Remington 700 Classic = Weaver V-16 (4x16 variable)
#2: Remington 700 Classic = Lyman 10 power
#3: Remington 40XB-BR = Leupold 24 power
#4: Remington 700 Varmint Special = Redfield 6x18 variable
#5: Sako L46 Varmint = Leupold 8 power (Westerner)
#6: Remington 722 = Lyman 10 power
#7: Sako L46 Custom = Unertl BV-20

In short I recommend lost of scope power to take advantage of the inherent accuracy of the 222 Remington cartridge.
Long live the 222 Remington!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

If you have just one gun, scopes like a 2-12, 2,5-10, 3-12, 3-15, even a 4-16 make a lot of sense. I have the luck of owning a few 222's and can pretty much specialize my set ups. I hunt coyotes and with the limited power of the 222 beyond 200 yards your on the downside. Coyotes are a fairly large target and calling them can be a close in affair, I find that having a huge FOV far more advantages than "x's" , a 200 yard shot is a chip shot on them with a 1-4, with most of the shots I take never getting off 1x.

My heavy barrel single shot L461 wears a Leupold VX-2 6-18 x 40 with low knobs and is upgraded with the LR Duplex reticle. Works great on California ground squirrels out to 350 yds.