Sounds like a lot of you guys have had the same experiences I've had. However, what I'm finding is the more guys who I actually shoot with (instead of just talk about shooting), the more guys in my circle are buying bigger scopes for their rimfires and other rifles and enjoying the heck out of them.
I will admit that for aesthetics the 4-12 x 40 is just about the perfect scope for hunting with a rimfire and I have a couple rimfires that are more outfitted for aesthetics than actual use for game. However, when I get serious I usually up the xfactor on my scopes so I am not limited to shooting at paper or easy to see targets of opportunity.
I always wonder how a guy can complain about what I put on my rifle in order to squeeze the most performance I can out of my shooting rather than compromising and putting a short sighted scope on to please someone else... I guess there are Karens all around us...
Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.
As some here understand me, I'm old school. I love precision shooting but have committed myself to doing it while exploring the world of vintage rifles. (Don't sell the old timers short - of course the results that guys were getting 100 years ago don't come close to to what we've come to expect today. But, it wasn't because of inferior equipment or lack of skill, it was the ammo they were saddled with. Top shelf .22 match ammo accuracy back then could be exceeded by the mediocre stuff we shoot today. Therein lies the rub - put a box of Eley Tenex, RWS R-50, or Lapua Midas through a 90 year old top tier target rifle such as a Stevens Walnut Hill, Martini Model 12, or Winchester 52, and prepare to have your eyes opened. Back then they thought they were king sh*t if they could manage a half-inch at 50 yards, but take the same gun today and you can expect 1/4".)
That said, I wouldn't laugh at somebody if they showed up with a racy chassis rifle with a magnificent Hubble telescope mounted on it but I would laugh at myself if I fell prey to such stuff!
I revel in the astonishment exhibited by "The Great Unwashed Masses" at the range who dance around crowing about their Wonder Rifles when they stop to look at the targets I produce with "old timey guns" with "old timey target scopes", which more often than not put their rigs to utter shame. Of course some of that may be the Indian and not the arrow.....
I get you there- most of my guns are from the 40s, 50s, 60s and are Winchester or Remington "vintage" guns and I can't complain a bit about the performance. From 69As to Remington 40X rifles, they are all accurate or they go down the road quickly. When my buddies have issues with their rifles at the range I'm the one they always turn to to shoot their rifle to see what is wrong and either fix or suggest a fix for their shooting problems. Sometimes it's the shooter, sometimes it's the scope or rifle- but we almost always get it fixed somehow.
Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.
And at the end of the day, it's all good. My go-to squirrel and backyard-depredator rifle is a BRNO #2 - a delightful little rifle (the predecessor of the CZ) that'll put 5 of its favorite munitions (SK Pistol Match of all things) into 3/8" @ 50 yards. I worked out its ammo preferences with a much larger scope, but then installed the scope that lives on it - a Leupold FX-II Rimfire 4x with parallax set for 50 yards (and gave up little in precision, on paper). It makes for a good compromise in weight and scope magnification for when these cranky old bones gotta carry it around the squirrel woods all day. Better scopes out there for threading a bullet through a crack in the foliage? Undoubtedly. Would I dream of using the scope in a match? Undoubtedly not. But it's all about compromises at some point and I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of utility for comfort. It works for me, your mileage will probably vary.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
Lets see, three of my rimfire rifles are scoped with straight 4x scopes, two wear 2-7x32's, one a 2.5-7x32, one 3-9x32 and one a fixed 2.5x20. My favorite squirrel rifle wears a 2-7x scope. I've killed my daily bag limit of 6 {we're talking tree squirrels here} in under an hour more times than I can count with that combo and set a new personal record of 6 squirrels in 30 minutes flat with it last season.. I just don't need more for my uses but yours may differ.
I see that there are lots of guys who prefer shorter scopes for their style of hunting and that is more than okay. I don't care what anybody hunts with but I do get tired of people thinking it's okay to criticize my style of hunting, choice of rifles and scopes, or even ammo- all of which have happened- until they see my results...
If I only hunted tree squirrels I would change a couple rifles over to shorter scopes just for this pursuit, but the relatively open grass fields, sagebrush, and alfalfa fields where we hunt ground squirrels require you to be ready to shoot at 20 yards or 150 yards (and perhaps a bit further) , and I get a lot more time shooting paper than hunting squirrels, which are about a 4-6 hour drive away from home. For 90% of my rimfire use a 4-12 or 4-16 scope would be just about perfect for dialing up and down the power range but a short focus distance is often mandatory as those sneaky suckers tend to pop up far too close at times...
Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.
CZ 457 Premium with Hawke 3x9 IR None of my friends laughed...
I have one like that, but it wears a tiny old Burris Mini 6x AO. I think it’ll do just fine for our squirrels and is fun at the range too. Ended up with another 6x, a SWFA with the MOA dials and tiny dot in the center for targets on my 10/22 CSC, primarily for shooting targets. That rifle has had a bunch of scopes on it, but this one seems like a good fit and the fine reticle should make up for the lack of power, given a target that matches up well with it. I like the 100 yard benchrest with an open square. Whatever works, works.
Sheister: I have several quality 4x12, 4x16, 6x18, 6.5x20 & 6x24 scopes on some of my many and varied "rimfire" Rifles. And am a proponent of "lots of magnification" on my rimfire Hunting rigs. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
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