Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Rimfire scopes

Because I'm a curious sort and yes, I know what happened to the Cat. LOL Anyway, I was wondering what would be the rimfire scope of choice if you could only pick one scope for rimfire use. The use would include informal target shooting, Squirrel hunting, and just all around plinking.
As some know, mine is the old Burris 6X mini AO scope.

A couple of honorable mentions for me is the Leupold FX-II 6X36 with fine duplex and parallax set at 40yds.
One other that I'm really liking is the Tract 3-9X40 rimfire scope.

Leupold 6.5 X 20 efr, 2nd choice would be a Weaver V16

Don’t have one, but the Tract 4-12 AO looks pretty good. Like all 1” ones though, it’s lacking in adjustment range, which can have you holding over if you go long.

I have one of your little Burris 6s on my 457. It fits neatly behind the rear sight. My 10/22 CSC has a SWFA MOA 6x. I really like the fine dot in the center of that one, and the numbers next to the bottom lines let me hold without counting. Tracking has been spot on.

[quote=K22

A couple of honorable mentions for me is the Leupold FX-II 6X36 with fine duplex and parallax set at 40yds.
[/quote]

That or the 4x, for satisfying the criteria you stated for a light rifle used for casual shooting and woods loafing (and I've put my money where my mouth was on that one). For serious work, which for me means competition with heavy vintage single shots, please make it a 20x Unertl.

Everybody's needs are different, as are everybody's approach to filling them depending largely on whose propaganda they bought into and where they plink & hunt. This could be an enlightening thread, or at least an amusing one!

Classic Weaver 4x32 or a vintage K4. Best variable IMO is the Nikon 2-7x32 P-Rimfire, unfortunately discontinued. If shopping new today would go with the Leupold.

Leupold 4X.

I use the same scopes I would for my centerfire rifles.

If a 42mm objective lens isn’t too wide for you, the Burris Veracity 2-10x42 would cover most anything a .22LR can do, close or far:

https://www.burrisoptics.com/riflescopes/veracity-2-10x42mm

Mine’s on a .22LR Contender:

Pretty much any decently lightweight scope will do. Don't know how dark or overgrown your squirrel hunting places are but in general I'd recommend at least a 36-40mm objective just to help with the resolution, all else being equal.


Some fwiw info - any Leupold 3-9 scope with their standard duplex reticle will give you a precise 100 yard aiming point. At 9x that reticle covers 6 MOA point to point which means the tip of the bottom post is 3 MOA or 3" at 100 yards below the crosshair. A .22 high velocity bullet sighted in at 75 yards drops right about 3" at 100 yards.

Also, 3 MOA covers 1.5" at 50 yards which just about coincides with the mid range trajectory of that .22 bullet sighted on at 75, so you can get a good enough aiming point at 50 yards by holding just below the top post.


If you find a scope you like but it has a longer parallax setting than you want, you can change that. Never done it myself but offer this link as a public service, or menace as the case may be.

Changing Parallax On a Non AO Scope Yourself?



Can't stick to just one scope but to sort of answer your specific question, I've gone with two scopes for general purpose shooting. A Leupold VX-II 3-9x40 centerfire scope with duplex reticle is on a CZ 457 American for the reason mentioned above.

My two "informal plinking to 200 yards" rifles both wear the Leupold VX Freedom 3-9x40 with their Rimfire MOA reticle. It has a 60 yard parallax setting and the reticle has 25 hash marks below the crosshair in 1 MOA increments, that's 25 MOA total holdover which is plenty enough out to 200 yards. The view is bit busy under the crosshair but within 75 yards you just use the crosshair anyway.


"Serious" rifles all have SWFA 10x40 scopes with mil quad reticles, but those are large and heavy and not something you really want to tote around a lot.

Interesting answers, hoping to get more.
At the age I've now reached, actually at the age my eyes have now reached, getting a scope to focus and be clear can be a challenge. When fast focus became available I was surprised how well my eyes liked it. It was to the point that the older Leupolds would not focus clearly for me at close range even with the parallax set at 50yds. For what ever reason, the fast focus scopes worked in that regard. Why some of the optic companies rimfire adjustable objectives are only going down to 50yds. is beyond me when they used to go down to 10yds. That is one of the many reasons I like the Tract 4-12X40 AO scope and the old Burris 6X mini AO's.
As Jim in Idaho brought up, I have changed the parallax on several fixed parallax scopes. The hardest part is getting some of the outer rings to break loose.

K22: My choices for my favs are close to Kirk J's - first would be the Weaver V-16 (four to 16 power variable with A/O feature) with the fine crosshair and fine dot reticle.
Next would be the WONDERFUL - no the OUTSTANDING - Leupold 6.5x20 A/O with E.F.R. feature. Mine have the fine Du-Plex reticles but if I could find one with the Leupold Dot or fine crosshairs and fine dot reticle I would buy it instantly! My reasoning for putting the Weaver V-16 as "first choice" over the Leupold 6.5x20 E.F.R. is the vast difference in costs.
Good luck with whichever you choose if you are looking to scope up some more rimfires.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks for the input VarmintGuy.
I'm really not looking to scope up anymore rimfires or centerfires. Like many others, I have a shelf with many scopes, some still sealed.
I was just curious what others have settled on for rimfire scopes, especially Squirrel hunting scopes they prefer.

At 19 I would have been fine with a K2.5 and a simple crosswire. At 69 most rimfires in the frequently used category have a mil reticle, 4 or 6x base magnification if variable, 6x or 10x if fixed, repeatable and accurate adjustments, 30-34mm tubes. Heavy, all of them, like I care.

My favorites have lit reticles, too. Better late than never to realize how that feature helps in relatively low light.

Been messing with a LH4 4-16 lately, and like it lots. More than decent value at $200-ish. Checks every box for my purposes. That would be my choice, if had to pick one.

Exceptions are on .22s rarely used now: my 1966 Ans 141 with 3-9x EFR Leup, a 10/22 with Aimpoint R1 Micro that kids gravitate towards at youth events, 9422 and Gr2 ATD Browning with factory open sights. A 52C Heavy has a 20x Super Targetspot, and a 1712 has the 6.5-20x EFR air rifle scope that came with it.

I haven't found a rimfire scope that I've liked more than the Leupold VX-2 Ultralite Rimfire EFR 3-9x33mm fine Duplex matte that is on my Ruger 77/22 RSI. That EFR will focus and parallax correct that reticle image down to 10 meters which is a whole lot closer to my normal red squirrel range than a centerfire scope parallax set to a much longer distance. Admittedly it rides around at the 4x magnification setting most of the time.

My most used squirrel killers wear a Nikon 2-7x32 and a Weaver 2.5-7x28. I've easily killed a couple thousand gray squirrels with these scopes over the years and they've proven more than adequate.

I’ve got a 2X - 7X Vortex Crossfire on the CZ 452 Trainer and Leupold 4X on the custom SS Ruger 10/22 with the black synthetic stock and a trigger job. The CZ has a lighter spring for the trigger. Also has Millet engraved rings as do the the other two. The other Ruger is a SS Walmart special Mannilicher green laminate stock. It has a Simmons 44Mag 3 -9 X on it as it was all I could find on my budget in silver when I got the rifle many decades ago.

K22 the Burris 6X mini is a gem - especially for squirrel hunting and is my second favorite - right behind the leupold 6X compact AO with a Leupold dot. This is for hunting and general usage - I like the light weight the most and plenty of power. The Weaver V-16 and Leupold 6.5-20X EFR are my favorites for target and silhouette. There are many others mentioned that work great also!

Just my two cents😊

PennDog

This is my favorite:

Sightron SIH Rimfire 3-9x32 RF - Crosshair #31019

I really like and have several Leupold VXII/2 4-12x40AO with fine duplex. Am also fond of the VXII 3/9x33AO EFR Compact, have a couple of these as well. Between these, I go with which ever works best for the individual rifle.

My only .17 HMR, a Ruger M77/17 sporter, wears a VXII 6-18x40. Good fit.

+1

A 3.5-10x40 on my hunting rig, a BSA SS5, a VXII 4-12x40AO with fine duplex on a CZ 457 Varmint, and the biggest scope on a CZ MTR or LRP stock but that's mostly for target shooting.