Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Really good RF rifle scopes?

What are some of the better new or vintage RF scopes for a .22LR sporter weight rifle?

You shooting squirrels or tiny groups on paper???

I favor leupold vari x2 3-9x33 EFR if you can find them at a reasonable price. Gloss black is generally harder to find and more exspensive. There are other scopes that will work of course...but these are my favorite.

Leupold 6X compact with adjustable objective has always been my favorite sporter/squirrel rifle .22 scope and have several on Remington 541s, CZ 452s, Cooper 57s, Kimber 82s, and a custom or two. The Kahles 2-7X is a great scope but I think they only made about 10🤔😄…..if you can find one of those they are awesome. There are a bunch of others - any of the Leupold rimfire series (and efr as mentioned), weaver classics rimfire series, Nikon efr, for the older (vintage) scopes. I haven’t had much experience with the newer rimfire scopes but others have mentioned some that I have yet to try - there’s also that March 1-10X scope that I’ve been itching to try but I’m not into 30mm scopes on a sporter .22 (this might be an exception though?!).

PennDog

I have both 2-7X and 3-9X Leupold rimfire scopes. Great scopes! I like them best when they were on sale a couple of years ago for $199 at Bass Pro or Cabela's. I actually have them on Savage M23's in 25-20 and 32-20. Perfect match for these light, trim rifles.

Would start on paper, and graduate to head-shooting cottontails.

Leupold VX2 4-12 AO fine duplex.

I like my SWFA 10X42 30MM scope really well for my Ruger American Lam. 22LR H. B.

It will focus parallax down to 15 yards for close shooting squirrels in the head.

Virgil B.

I forget about this model having an AO option with fine duplex. Not a bad way to go.

Exactly the scope that the shooting editor of Field & Stream magazine picked in his “Best Of The Best”article a few years back for a rimfire scope. That one is on my 22/77 Ruger RSI and the 2x7 rimfire Leupold is on my Winchester 61, but I like that 3-9x33 EFR rimfire better. That AO eliminates any parallax down to 10 meters which is about my usual red squirrel range. The Duplex is rather fine which comes in handy for a squirrel head shot. You will likely pay more for that older one used than you will for the newer Leupold Frontier rimfire scope

Replaced Leupolds with 10x MQs on a 10/22 and 64 sporter Anschutz regularly used for pigeons and crows. Put a 6x MQ on a new WMR American. Not so much the glass, as the superior mechanics.

They adjust closer than 15 yds. Might vary with individual eyes. MQs go to 10 meters nominally, but at the focus adjustment stop see a crisp image at 25 feet. Have a VX2 3-9 EFR still on another '66 Anschutz. Use it for very close red squirrels on the bird feeder.

I’m starting to thing the SS 10X is going to be the answer. I’ve also got an Athlon Helios Gen 2 here trying for the roll. I’ve got a SS 2.5-10 rimfire on back order too which might could be awesome…we shall see.

all around .. 6.5-20 x40 VARI -XIII ERF... probably the most popular scope in small bore silhouettes for many years..

I have a SWFA fixed 10x on my Tikka T1x. It's primarily range gun, so I don't care how much it weighs, and the extra magnification is nice.

On my lighter .22s (22 Ranger, BMR, 10/22) that I'll actually take into the field, I have 2-7x Leupolds. They are nice and light, so I don't have to carry around more than I really need.

I also have a Vortex 2-7x35 rimfire scope and a Weaver fixed-4x, I just use them as much.

I would put a SWFA on it if I didn't care if it carried like a bench gun. Just a bit heavy for me. Weaver used to make an AO 4-16 that was popular, and I think Sightron. I haven't kept up with what the cool kids are shooting these days. Rimfirecentral or such might be a good source for what folks like today.

Just as a side note. AO won't make the difference between hitting a rabbit in the head or not. You will however have a hard time putting every round through the exact same hole at 50 yards without it. If you are cool with dime to quarter size groups, you probably won't need it. Leupold can change the parallax to 50 yards on any of their scopes. An older 2-7 or 3-9 Leupold can make a nice rimfire hunting scope.

I have one . But if you like this one you will love the VX2 6-18 AO. Hasbeen

Those Leupold 6-18s are a great compromise between size, weight, length and the magnification range.

I don't know. "Really good" is highly subjective when we are talking scopes for a rimfire rifle. We all have our preferences and for different reasons. This is how most of mine are set up:




The AO is probably the most important thing to have on a rimfire, if shooting very far. Not necessary if you are shooting within 100 yards or so. Here's another good scope that has worked well on some of my rimfires. Weaver v16 (4-16x42):


A subject where YMMV quite a bit.

💯 all the way! Or get lucky and find a old vari x ii 4-12 they’re my favorite! Have them on all my non target rifles

That old Japanese v16 is probably one of the best scopes ever made!!! I have one and absolutely love that thing! Shame they don’t make them like that anymore