For years I used 2-7 and 3-9 only on .22's. The 3-9 was pretty good. Once I tried 4-12, I became a huge fan. For targets, etc to 100 yd with a rimfire, try a 4-12AO first. For close range where AO is a pain, set it to 30 yds and 4x: that works well for anything.