For Those Wondering "How Much Magnification Do I Need on my Rimfire for 50 Yards?"

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grauhanen

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For Those Wondering "How Much Magnification Do I Need on my Rimfire for 50 Yards?"

A question I have asked in the past is "How much magnification do I need on my .22LR for shooting at 50 yards from the bench?" A lot of shooters are shaped by their hunting experience, which in my part of the country usually doesn't involve long distance shooting and where a 2-7 or 3-9 does the job.

But how much is needed to see and hit a target at 50 yards from the bench with a .22LR?

Here are some images that were (to my knowledge) first posted by poster JEE on RFC. They are available on Google images.

The crosshairs on these images are very fine at, I believe, .024 MOA (I'm going by info from Weaver). The target dot is .125 MOA.

My understanding is the smallest circle (the center dot) is 0.100", the next is 0.300". Shooters may be able to extrapolate from these images how much magnification they need for targets they shoot.



 
grauhanen said:
A question I have asked in the past is "How much magnification do I need on my .22LR for shooting at 50 yards from the bench?" A lot of shooters are shaped by their hunting experience, which in my part of the country usually doesn't involve long distance shooting and where a 2-7 or 3-9 does the job.

But how much is needed to see and hit a target at 50 yards from the bench with a .22LR?
Click to expand...

I'm happy with my groupings at 50 and 100 meters with a old Japanese-made Bushnell Sport View 3-9 x 32AO. Its cross hairs are at least 5 times thicker than the pics above.
 
Smaller might be fine, but, if you look at most of the 50yd challenge successful shooters use lots of power. Easier to hit a small target when you can see it. It would have been nice to show the same target at 4x.
 
We have had shooters attend to our BR50 shoots with a 3-9 and left without firing a shot.
To prove a point for 100 yd./m. rimfire BR I used a 3-9 on a Marlin 39M and the ammo selected was CCI Select.
That was good for a 2" group but I tried a number of brands first. That rifle was never used in any competition.
14 or 16 power would be about right although 12 could pass.
My grandson shot at 100 m. for the first time a week ago with an Anschutz 1416 HB and a Bushnell 4200 6 - 24 set at 24.
His scores were 540 and 573. None outside the scoring rings on his second attempt and he was figuring out the wind.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
2-7 works fine for me
Click to expand...

This works for me, but I'm more worried about shooting gophers than paper.

Get past 7x or 8x, and it becomes a paper shooter. In the field, it gets easy to become "scope lost" with higher magnification - you spend too much time waggling your rifle around trying to get the target into the glass.

If you're looking at target shooting on paper, then go big. But remember, magnification isn't everything. A 7x Leupold will give you a clearer picture than a 32x NCStar piece of crap. Optics quality is as important, often more important, than optics magnification.
 
For those wondering what the target would look like at lower magnification, at 8X the target would be half the size of the image that appears at 16X. The target viewed at 4X at 50 yards would be one-quarter of the size of the image that appears at 16X. With second focal plane scopes the reticle size (crosshairs) would remain the same.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
2-7 works fine for me
Click to expand...

No it doesn't.... perhaps for your purposes, but the suggestion of this thread is tight groups on paper, and nobody can compete with 7X... hunters and plinkers are often of the opinion that anything over 9X is ludicrous... spend some time at the bench chasing tiny groups and you soon realize that your biggest handicap is being able to accurately place your aiming point on target... this requires clarity and magnification. Try more power and a finer aiming point and watch your group sizes shrink.
 
grauhanen said:
For those wondering what the target would look like at lower magnification, at 8X the target would be half the size of the image that appears at 16X. The target viewed at 4X at 50 yards would be one-quarter of the size of the image that appears at 16X. With second focal plane scopes the reticle size (crosshairs) would remain the same.
Click to expand...

Or expressed another way; at 8X your aiming point will cover twice as much of the target as it will at 16X... making consistent placement twice as difficult.
 
I wouldnt use anything less than 36x if its for shooting for small groups or any of competition targets. Its pretty hard to shoot good scores if you cant see the x dot or if the crosshair covers too much of the target.
 
I did the 50 yard rim fire challenge with a Bushnell AR 3-12 power set on 12 power. I had my 32x Sightron in the case just in case i needed it, but I didn't. Once i got settled in with the supports, found the right ammo, my Savage Mark 2 had no trouble performing, and 12 power was plenty to see the centre of what i was aiming at, and show if i was steady or not.

TO me, accurate shooting isn't so much about being able to see the fibres of paper in the 10x. Its about seeing the target well enough to know what center looks like, and knowing if you are steady. A good clear 4x scope can be enough to see your target properly, as long as your reticle doesn't obscure the target, but at 50 yards or more 4 power might not be able to show you how steady your hold is.

Personally I don't think magnification on its own matters much in your system, but works together with a variety of other factors to give you the right information so that your skill can take over and get the job done.

Like Grelmar said, clarity matters at least as much as magnification, but then reticle pattern, parallax adjust, etc also play a roll.

I think some of these guys using 24x + magnification on their rimfires are using those scopes because its what they have, not what they need. Most of the .22lr bench rest shooters I meet also shoot br or F class in larger calibres at longer distances, and just swap the equipment.
 
I purposely put 36X on my competition rimfires. It is the way to be able to shoot the best groups, period.
A good accurate match HB 22 rimfire, shooting match ammo it likes, with 36X FCH or 1/8 moa dot....pure bliss, and tiny groups. D
 
I have a 5-25 HD-5 on my Anschutz 1927, and I was shooting sub.3" five shot groups at 50m in the wind and rain. I am waiting for a calm day to see how much I can improve on my previous results.
 
Several years ago I was able to get 1 inch 5-shot groups out of my cheap Savage MKIIF with an old Jap-made Bushnell Sportview 3-9 x 32AO (as well as my CZ452 Style and Varmint, both equipped with Korean-made Bushnell DD 4-12x40AO) scopes set to maximum magnification, with Winchester Dynapoints. Of course not all groups were 1 inch, only about 50-60% on a calm morning. I've said this many times before. I know, some of you think I'm full of it.

I think just as important as all-out magnification, quality lenses and fine reticles, are a steady sandbag rest and proper scope focus, i.e. zero parallax.
 
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