Short and relatively long range scope (rimfire)

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evan the cdn

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I am brand new to optics. I've been shooting pistols for about 3 months and I just bought my first rifle (CZ 452 Varmint). I got it for a very fair price at K&E here in Saskatoon and I highly recommend them if you're in the area. The service was awesome.

Before I did any reading on scopes I expected to pay somewhere between 100 and maybe 300 dollars on the high end for a scope designed for rimfire rifles. After doing some reading I've almost convinced myself to spend close to $800 but I'm not quite there yet.

The majority of the shooting I'll be doing during the winter will be on a 25 yard indoor range. While it's warm I plan on doing some gopher hunting and longer range gong shooting at around 200 yards. Is there a scope that will be useful from 25 to 250 yards? Should I get a cheapo rimfire scope for now and learn first hand why people are willing to pay more for better scopes?

Any advice, impressions, or experience is welcome. :)
 
You need a lower powered scope with an adjustable objective.I have a leupold 3x9 efr on my air rifle that would be suitable.It works fine as close as 20'.It isn't overly bright for the price,but it has stood up to my high powered air rifle,and high powered springers are harder on scopes than many magnum centerfires.

Personally though,for 25 yards,most regular riflescopes do just fine.I have an elite 3200 3x9x40 on my modded 10/22 and it does a good job.
 
I use a 4x fixed, it is fine up to 50 but then kinda iffy there. Past that if the target is smaller than an orange you probably will have a hard time seeing it. 3-9 will probably be your best bet, just go to a shop and take a look through some. Look at close stuff then far and see how it is.
 
evan the cdn said:
I am brand new to optics. I've been shooting pistols for about 3 months and I just bought my first rifle (CZ 452 Varmint). I got it for a very fair price at K&E here in Saskatoon and I highly recommend them if you're in the area. The service was awesome.

Before I did any reading on scopes I expected to pay somewhere between 100 and maybe 300 dollars on the high end for a scope designed for rimfire rifles. After doing some reading I've almost convinced myself to spend close to $800 but I'm not quite there yet.

The majority of the shooting I'll be doing during the winter will be on a 25 yard indoor range. While it's warm I plan on doing some gopher hunting and longer range gong shooting at around 200 yards. Is there a scope that will be useful from 25 to 250 yards? Should I get a cheapo rimfire scope for now and learn first hand why people are willing to pay more for better scopes?

Any advice, impressions, or experience is welcome. :)
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If you plan on doing target shooting and varminting you'll want a higher magnification. 14x being the minimum.

Rimfires are harder to find good stuff for. The Bushnell Elite scopes will work since their parallex goes down to rimfire ranges, The Leupold EFR scopes are excellent for rimfire. There are a few others as well.

For an indoor 25 yard range (Most likely only 20 yards) you'll want an Adjustable Objective. I have a rimfire with a Burris 3-9x 40mm that doesn't have an adjustable objective. When target shooting I really notice that I don't have AO.

Don't buy cheap. I'd go middle of the line. Leupold VXII maybe. Falcon Menace 4-14x, and the varmint one 4.5-18x 56mm. Youl'll want to have parallex adjustment down to 10 yards for indoors.
 
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Hey Evan man, hows it going? This is Colin(the chinese one), we met at the range the other night. glad to see you bought the cz. If you ever wanna do some shooting, pm me or hit me up on msn (ssjcrow@hotmail.com). As for a scope, ya, AO is gonna be important for winter since pretty much all scopes, even the rimfire ones, are set to 50+ meters. Alot of people seem to like the Mueller scopes for a cheaper(around 200 i think?) price, though i dont know how cheap they would be in canada.
you might wanna try silhouette shooting too once it warms up or before winter is here, though i dont know if saskatoon has many participants so you just might be doing it by yourself.
 
Hey Colin. Thanks for the input. I'll send you a PM once I get a scope sorted out.


My current list of maybe's from cheapest to most expensive is as follows:

Bushnell Elite 3200
4-12x40 $330
Falcon Menace
4-14x44FFP $390
Bushnell Elite 4200
4-16x40 $500
Leupold VX-II
4-12x40 $550

I think they all have adjustable objectives and they all fit within the magnification I think I'm going to need. Right now I'm leaning toward the Falcon but it's tempting to just go with the brand that seems to be the most popular/common (Bushnell).
 
For target shooting you can use all the magnification you can get. With 14x at 50 yards and you are trying to put them all through the same hole, even 14x doesn't seem enough. I'm not saying get a Weaver 36x for a general purpose gun, that would be a mistake, but simply that you need not fear high magnification for target shooting.

For out in the field, you will appreciate a variable that goes down fairly low. When the gophers pop up at close range, its rather annoying to have only the tunnel vision of high magnification as you swing the scope about trying to find in the crosshairs what you see with your eye. I think the recommendations for something in the 4-14 range will serve you well for a multi-purpose gun.

The adjustable objective will be appreciated at the range, but may like the variable power that's set too high, be annoying at times in field. You can however live with it. I'd like to try a side focus scope and see if that works better in the field for fast adjustments. On the other hand, I don't shoot enough gophers to make the investment worthwhile as I already have a scope I like.

Good to see you have a decent budget for optics. I took a look at the Tasco varmint scopes and wasn't impressed with the image quality at magnification over around 12-14x.
 
I appreciate all the input guys.

Does anyone have the opinion that it would be a mistake to buy a Falcon Menace (4-14 or 4.5-18)? They seem to have a lot of features for the money but I find that combination can sometimes be misleading. Ever since I saw "Tactical Khakis" in Zellers I've been suspicious of products that are marketed that way.
 
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evan the cdn said:
I appreciate all the input guys.

Does anyone have the opinion that it would be a mistake to buy a Falcon Menace (4-14 or 4.5-18)? They seem to have a lot of features for the money but I find that combination can sometimes be misleading. Ever since I saw "Tactical Khakis" in Zellers I've been suspicious of products that are marketed that way.
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I have a couple of the Falcon Menace 4-14x FFP scopes coming. One of them is going on my target Ruger 10/22 to replace the Burris. I'll let you know how it works out. This rifle is my plinking/hunting/informal target shooter. It's an all around rifle for me. I opted for the 4-14x because of this.

I have a 1.5-5x 30mm illumintated Falcon Menace. It's a decent scope. The glass is good and it works as advertised. Excellent features/quality for the money.
 
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Epoxy7 said:
I have a couple of the Falcon Menace 4-14x FFP scopes coming. One of them is going on my target Ruger 10/22 to replace the Burris. I'll let you know how it works out. This rifle is my plinking/hunting/informal target shooter. It's an all around rifle for me. I opted for the 4-14x because of this.

I have a 1.5-5x 30mm illumintated Falcon Menace. It's a decent scope. The glass is good and it works as advertised. Excellent features/quality for the money.
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Thanks Epoxy7. Have you heard anything about the order that got called back because of glass issues?
http://blog.snipercentral.com/?p=71
I don't mean to open another can of worms if there's already a thread about it. In that case just a link would do.
 
Buy Bushnell Legend 5-15x40. It is around $200. A $700 Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x40 is clearer, but the difference doesn't worth $500 on a .22 rifle.
 
I have a couple of Bushnell 6500s, a 2.5-16 and a 4.5-30, they are both very nice scopes but are physically too large for many rimfires due to the 30mm tube,IMHO.
 
ben hunchak said:
I have a couple of Bushnell 6500s, a 2.5-16 and a 4.5-30, they are both very nice scopes but are physically too large for many rimfires due to the 30mm tube,IMHO.
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That's a good point. My Ruger 10/22 is the Stainless target model so I'm hoping the Falcon isn't too big (30mm tube). For my upper end rimfires I usually go Leupold VXIII EFR (1 inch tube). They look good and work well for rimfire. But $$$$. The VXII EFR is another option. I wish Zeiss Conquest (1 inch tube) had parallex down to 20 yards. The lower mag models go to 30 yards which isn't bad but still not low enough. The higher mag modes only go down to 50 yards :(. Otherwise I would have gone with a few more Zeiss Conquest.

It's tough finding the perfect scope. It's even tougher finding one for rimfire. We'll see how the Falcon works out. If it's not well suited for rimfire, I have enough centerfires. So no loss.
 
ben hunchak said:
I have a couple of Bushnell 6500s, a 2.5-16 and a 4.5-30, they are both very nice scopes but are physically too large for many rimfires due to the 30mm tube,IMHO.
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If I can find rings to work with the dovetail and a 30mm tube isn't that the only hurdle? CZ makes rings specifically for the 452 in 1" and 30mm, and I'm also looking at the BKL 300.

What else could keep a 30mm tube from working on a rimfire?
 
evan the cdn said:
If I can find rings to work with the dovetail and a 30mm tube isn't that the only hurdle? CZ makes rings specifically for the 452 in 1" and 30mm, and I'm also looking at the BKL 300.

What else could keep a 30mm tube from working on a rimfire?
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There might be something in a Warne ring. I have a set on my CZ-527 that was made for the CZ dovetail. I don't know if they have them in the 30mm tube or for the 452 though. I know their rimfire rings which I have on order are 1 inch only (looks like a Leupold PRW ring). If absolutely necessary you could always do the rail thing.
 
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I have 3 Leupold VX III 6.5-20 EFR scopes, and they seem quite good for my very accurate rimfires, although I admit, a serious benchrest match will see the 24x or the 36x on top of the Anschutz or 40X Remington. The higher magnification becomes an asset when shooting any targets beyond 50 meters. AO is absolutely necessary if you are shooting very close range. Regards, Eagleye
 
Eagleye said:
I have 3 Leupold VX III 6.5-20 EFR scopes, and they seem quite good for my very accurate rimfires, although I admit, a serious benchrest match will see the 24x or the 36x on top of the Anschutz or 40X Remington. The higher magnification becomes an asset when shooting any targets beyond 50 meters. AO is absolutely necessary if you are shooting very close range. Regards, Eagleye
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Are those benchrest matches for rimfire or centerfire?
 
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