22 rim fire scope on a center fire?

[englishman_ca]

I have a little varmint rifle project on the go.



It is a Lee Enfield 22 trainer action that has been rechambered to 222 Remington. The bolt was put back to center fire. Vintage Lee Speed wood set. It shoots like a charm but currently has no sights.

At some point Bubba had at it with his hand drill and drilled and tapped the receiver ring and charger bridge for a Weaver TO-1 scope mount.

I put one on and am looking for Millet windage adjustable low scope rings to mount a 22mm tubed Lyman Alaskan.

The scope rail, although made for a 303 Brit rifle, it has only a 3/8 inch dovetail. This is giving me a challenge.
Why would they make a rail for a .303 that takes .22 rings???!!!

There are always old 22 rimfire scopes kicking around, usually complete with 3/8 tip off rings.

So an obvious question came to me which I cannot answer with certainty. Would a 22 rim fire scope hold up on a 22 Rem? Not huge recoil.

I wonder, would it just shake a 22 scope to bits? If not, what make would be good robust vintage scope? Just looking for ideas.

 

[kamlooky]

A Leupold............no problem.

 

[Recce21]

Leupold rimfire scopes are made to the same recoil standards as their centrefire scopes. Literally the only difference is that the parallax is set for 75 yards versus 150 yards.

 

[WobblyHead]

Just fit a set of good 3/8 rings and use any normal scope. I usually go with these from cabelas they designed them to look tactical and the extra bulk makes them able to be used on .303 Enfields without problems. They are also pretty cheap but the do the job quite nicely.
http://www.cabelas.ca/product/27622/sun-optics-sport-38-dovetail-22-caliber-rings

 

[guntech]

They did not make the rail for cheap .22 rings, the Weaver rings meant to fit on the TO-1 base are 1 inch rings (Weaver .22 Tip Off Rings) ... made well enough to withstand center fire recoil more than the cheap .22 rings out there...

 

[SURESHOT73]

I beleive Nikon is good to go also

 

[Cbf123]

Just fit a set of good 3/8 rings and use any normal scope. I usually go with these from cabelas they designed them to look tactical and the extra bulk makes them able to be used on .303 Enfields without problems. They are also pretty cheap but the do the job quite nicely.
http://www.cabelas.ca/product/27622/sun-optics-sport-38-dovetail-22-caliber-rings

Agreed, just put a set of these on a rifle and they're satisfactory rings. Add any scope with a 1" tube (lots of centerfire ones out there) and you're good to go.

 

[englishman_ca]

Finished project.

I gave up trying to find solid 7/8 tube tip-off rings. Maybe they were popular in the 1970s, but they are a little hard to find nowadays. I did find on line but out of country, so shipping more than doubles their cost.


I took a couple of 7/8 inch steel rings that I found in my junk drawer. Cut the bottoms off the bases, made them the same height and made good, flat and square. I drilled and tapped them each for a fine thread socket screw.

I then just ignored the tip off feature on the rail and filed it flat in two areas for two slots in which to seat the rings. The front screw hole was drilled first so that I could align the scope by peeking down the barrel onto a distant target and moving the scope at the back. Marked and drilled the second screw hole and then cranked everything down tight. I was delighted to find that the point of impact was close to the cross hair point of aim, just needed a few clicks.


The end result was the tube was mounted at a lower height than any commercial ring could provide, only 1/4 inch above the charger bridge. That and the high comb on the butt stock makes it just right, giving me a natural alignment of eye to scope.

So I cant remove the scope without tools, which is fine. There is no other sighting, just the scope. The thing is on there rock solid and I am having a blast sighting it in.

I'm getting 3 inch groups at 100 yards shooting from prone without a sling. I know that it could do better if I did my part. For what I need around the farm, the x2-1/2 Lyman Alaskan works fine.