CZ 457 Varmint .22

Thank you for your reply !
Leavenworth
In the $1500ish and under range the most popular scopes I see on the rimfire PRS circuit are the Vortex Venom, Vortex Strike Eagle and Athlon Ares. I have used all three and for the money I think the venom is pretty good, if you want to stretch the budget the Ares 5-25 is great.

Arken's name gets thrown around but there was a whole long thread on the Long Range reddit talking about how Arken basically pays youtubers/influencers to talk up the scopes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/longrange/comments/wsened/arken_commentsposts_now_require_mod_review_and/
https://www.reddit.com/r/longrange/comments/vbrznv/does_anyone_have_any_experience_with_the_arken/
 
From what I've learned over the last few yrs, the 1500.00 level will get you a pretty danged decent scope with decent mechanics and good glass, if you go to the 1800-2400 range, you get excellent mechanics, and the glass, tough to tell the difference from 3500.00 stuff. Last one I bought was a Tract Toric, there are similar scopes made by competitors, some from the same factory, some from the other two Japanese mfgrs that seem to occupy that bracket in pricing, Nightforce, Bushnell, Zeiss, Athlon , Trijicon, Delta, Apex, Sightron and probably some others have these companies building some scopes for them as well. If you can swing it, that stuff is well worth looking thru. Here is a sample of what is out there, who makes it as well; https://sageratsafaris.com/master-list-ffp-long-range-rifle-scopes/
 
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Thank You Jones I will check out the link !
Leavenworth
From what I've learned over the last few yrs, the 1500.00 level will get you a pretty danged decent scope with decent mechanics and good glass, if you go to the 1800-2400 range, you get excellent mechanics, and the glass, tough to tell the difference from 3500.00 stuff. Last one I bought was a Tract Toric, there are similar scopes made by competitors, some from the same factory, some from the other two Japanese mfgrs that seem to occupy that bracket in pricing, Nightforce, Bushnell, Zeiss, Athlon , Trijicon, Delta, Apex, Sightron and probably some others have these companies building some scopes for them as well. If you can swing it, that stuff is well worth looking thru. Here is a sample of what is out there, who makes it as well; https://sageratsafaris.com/master-list-ffp-long-range-rifle-scopes/
 
You may wish to reconcile a few things before you decide how much to spend on a scope for a CZ 457 Varmint. The scope can't make the rifle and ammo shoot better than possible.

Regardless of the scope and regardless of how much you spend on ammo, a CZ 457 is a mass produced factory rifle, with a mass produced factory barrel. The odds are that, while it will likely be better than many North American made firearms, among .22LR rifles won't be an especially great shooter whether it has a $2000 scope or one that's less than half that.

If you shoot entry level match ammo such as SK varieties or similar Eley (e.g. Club, Sport, Contact) an expensive scope won't change how the ammo performs. In other words, it won't matter if the scope is $2000 or $500. Even if you find the best lots of ammo for the rifle, regardless of cost, it won't matter if the scope is $2000 or half that.
 
You may wish to reconcile a few things before you decide how much to spend on a scope for a CZ 457 Varmint. The scope can't make the rifle and ammo shoot better than possible.

Regardless of the scope and regardless of how much you spend on ammo, a CZ 457 is a mass produced factory rifle, with a mass produced factory barrel. The odds are that, while it will likely be better than many North American made firearms, among .22LR rifles won't be an especially great shooter whether it has a $2000 scope or one that's less than half that.

If you shoot entry level match ammo such as SK varieties or similar Eley (e.g. Club, Sport, Contact) an expensive scope won't change how the ammo performs. In other words, it won't matter if the scope is $2000 or $500. Even if you find the best lots of ammo for the rifle, regardless of cost, it won't matter if the scope is $2000 or half that.

Not everyone is shooting groups on high contrast paper targets in perfect lighting with no time pressure.

Add in multiple distances at small steel targets which have no paint remaining under a time crunch and scope selection changes significantly.
 
$699 + taxes before sale price = Vortex Venom 5-25 x56 MRAD. I own a 457 Varmint Precision Chassis rifle which runs about $1700’ish these days assuming you can find one and 1st scope was the Venom. I was going to going $1500+ on a scope and a couple of the best .22 precision shooters in the province told me I didn’t need to spend that much, go with a Venom. The scope has 25mil elevation adjustment which will allow you to shoot, should you choose to do so, out to 400m. Moved the Venom over to another rifle but it was excellent on the 457. Now hunting for another one at sale price i.e. Black Friday hopeful to mount on my still in the mail Tikka T1X. You will also need a set of rings that allows for off-set cant, Burris XTR Signatures for $200+ are a good choice as they come with sets of cants from 0,5,10 and 20 to setup you rifle for you and the discipline you will be shooting.

Once you hear that “ping” off a metal plate at 200, 300 and more, you’ve drank the cool aid and are now addicted....but what a fun addiction. PRS competitions are a ton of fun no matter what level you are at with your shooting skills, be it beginner or veteran. Great community, loads of fun, cheap to do once you’ve spent the initial setup dollars. IMHO.
 
I went to an intro to PRS match at my range in February and was immediately hooked. I looked through a few different scopes and shot a few other people's rifles and ended up buying an Athlon Helos gen 2 6-24x56 after my first couple matches. The scope was $800 +tax, so pretty reasonable. It's advertised to have 29 mils of elevation travel, but mines more like 33-34 mils. 34mm rings aren't exactly cheap though, and if you're going to shoot PRS matches, you'll want at least a 20 moa rail and/or Burris signature rings with the offset bushings. Matches at my range have targets out past 400m, and I've shot it out to 500 on the centerfire range.
Kristian
 
The OP, Leavenworth, says "I plan on using the above rifle for targets and possible competition . I may take it hunting

How would you scope this rifle"?


Not everyone is shooting groups on high contrast paper targets in perfect lighting with no time pressure.

Add in multiple distances at small steel targets which have no paint remaining under a time crunch and scope selection changes significantly.

That's a good observation about not everyone shooting groups on paper. Unfortunately, it's completely irrelevant.

I didn't say anything at all about shooting groups. What I said applies to the OP's purposes, which include shooting targets, possibly competing, and possibly hunting.

Perhaps it needs to be put more simply.

Why put an expensive scope well north of $1000 on a mass produced factory rifle with a mass produced factory barrel? No scope that's much more expensive than the rifle itself can make it shoot better, especially for the wide ranging uses the OP has in mind.
 
$699 + taxes before sale price = Vortex Venom 5-25 x56 MRAD. I own a 457 Varmint Precision Chassis rifle which runs about $1700’ish these days assuming you can find one and 1st scope was the Venom. I was going to going $1500+ on a scope and a couple of the best .22 precision shooters in the province told me I didn’t need to spend that much, go with a Venom. The scope has 25mil elevation adjustment which will allow you to shoot, should you choose to do so, out to 400m. Moved the Venom over to another rifle but it was excellent on the 457. Now hunting for another one at sale price i.e. Black Friday hopeful to mount on my still in the mail Tikka T1X. You will also need a set of rings that allows for off-set cant, Burris XTR Signatures for $200+ are a good choice as they come with sets of cants from 0,5,10 and 20 to setup you rifle for you and the discipline you will be shooting.

Once you hear that “ping” off a metal plate at 200, 300 and more, you’ve drank the cool aid and are now addicted....but what a fun addiction. PRS competitions are a ton of fun no matter what level you are at with your shooting skills, be it beginner or veteran. Great community, loads of fun, cheap to do once you’ve spent the initial setup dollars. IMHO.

The Signature rings are all on sale right now, saw XTR`s for 80.00, Stoeger specials for Black Friday, can`t remember if it was Flaherty`s or Stoeger site for sure though, pretty sure it was Stoeger site.
I find the medium to be a bit high for me though, the rail is .50 high, then the rings, lot of room under a 50mm scope. Certainly be OK with a 56.
 
The Signature rings are all on sale right now, saw XTR`s for 80.00, Stoeger specials for Black Friday, can`t remember if it was Flaherty`s or Stoeger site for sure though, pretty sure it was Stoeger site.
I find the medium to be a bit high for me though, the rail is .50 high, then the rings, lot of room under a 50mm scope. Certainly be OK with a 56.

I just checked Al Flaherty site, $80 for 30mm Burris xtr rings, $185 for the 34mm version. 1" ones are only $74, but not it's not likely that anyone would be considering a scope with a 1" tube for anything to do with PRS. I needed more cant than the rings would give me, seeing how I don't have a canted rail on my rifle, so I made new bushings on my 3d printer to get around 50-55 moa total.
Kristian
 
I purchased a scope on the weekend . It’s not the right one for what I would like to do with it !
I’m going to take Horseman 2 ‘s great offer and come and look through some scopes that fellas are using in competitions
Leavenworth
 
The type of competition matters a LOT.

No use looking through a bunch of benchrest scopes if you plan on shooting silhouette, or a bunch of silhouette scopes if you plan on shooting PRS.
The requirements are different and not compatible.
 
Grant Mac could you take the time to post a scope used in each discipline ?
It might help me !
Thank You !
Leavenworth
The type of competition matters a LOT.

No use looking through a bunch of benchrest scopes if you plan on shooting silhouette, or a bunch of silhouette scopes if you plan on shooting PRS.
The requirements are different and not compatible.
 
Grant Mac could you take the time to post a scope used in each discipline ?
It might help me !
Thank You !
Leavenworth

To narrow it down and make it easier for you, why don't you tell readers what competition you see yourself taking part in. (If you don't know what might be available, that might be the subject of another thread.)
 
Im going to look at the Forums on here and see what interests me . Thank You for the heads up grauhanen !
To narrow it down and make it easier for you, why don't you tell readers what competition you see yourself taking part in. (If you don't know what might be available, that might be the subject of another thread.)
 
Lots of confusing advice. Buy quality in whatever brand and model you eventually decide. Don’t pay any attention too the half the price of your rifle or your rifles not worthy of a quality glass! CZs are capable of very fine accuracy and pretty sure many are on the rimfire challenge pages. Have fun and pick what will suit your needs and accomplish your intended uses. Cheers Chris
 
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