First Glass

T

The Gun Nut

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Hello Kind People,

I will buy my first rifle tomorrow, a CZ 457 in 22LR.

I don't know how much I should be spending on scope before I hit the point of diminishing roi. That said I think 500 or so is reasonable.

I plan to primarily use my rifle to practice long range shooting and later move on to a bigger caliber like 308. Being a complete nooby, however, I need to start from 50 yards and build up my skills to maybe 300 or more. I believe that means parallax adjustment would be important.

I have no idea if ffp or sfp is better suited for my purpose.

What scope do you recommend?

Any general information regarding scopes and what my criteria should be would be appreciated as well.

Please ask me any clarification you might need.

Thanks in advance,
A New Nut
 
Look for FFP, good MIL reticle, 10MIL turret revs, side focus parallax, and lots of internal travel, zero stop is not that important if you have the proper rail.... My favorite 'budget long range' rimfire scope so far after owning a bunch of different scopes is the Vortex strike eagle or Athlon Midas tac both are 5-25s with 34mm tubes and 56mm objective with over 30MIL elevation travel.
 
So at 500$ you can for sure find what you’re looking for. However transitioning to longer ranges with centre fire might not go well. I just compared three scopes last week on guns at the range. A 900$ vs a 2200$ vs a 4500$(on sale) scope. Now they all did 100 yards no issue what so ever however as you started to play with things you would notice imperfections in some of the glass, colours being off, not as bright etc.

Now all that being said when I first started shooting Rimfire out to 100 yards I used a 450$ Nikko Stirling Diamond FFP. First one went in for warranty replacement due to dust on the reticle but outside that it worked for said purpose. Now that I’m chasing tiny groups at 100 and 200 with Rimfire I’ve sold that scope and waiting on a fixed power or potentially a variable magnification 8-32 ranges.

For centrefire I’d stick to a 5-25 range. Going with a bigger objective for more light. A larger tube diameter for more elevation travel is fantastic for the longer ranges with Rimfire. Start with at least a 20moa rail an depending on the scope get a 30 MOA rail. Starting new I think Mil reticle and turrets make life a little easier just for math sake. (Think imperial vs metric) I’d avoid scopes like cabelas covenant scopes as they seem to use Mil turrets but an MOA reticle or Vise versa and that sucks.

If you plan to shoot at a single magnification (where the SFP reticle is true) but with variable magnification I’d go with FFP the are practically the same price these days and it doesn’t matter for budget mostly.

Personally I have shot and or owned the following brands:

Vortex
Leupold
Athlon
Bushnell
Nikko Stirling
Cabelas brand
Sightron

My rifles all currently wear Athlon BTR Gen 2s as I find them a good value for money. Older Bushnell Elites used can be great value as well or watch Canadian tire as they like to clearance stuff every so often. If you want to get the most out of your 500$ ish budget go used and search the forums regularly and you will find something. Also be prepared to extend that budget. You will still find allot of people live by the old saying of your optics should be 2-3 times the cost of the rifle but I think rifle costs have gone up and optics have gotten better for cheaper as well.

I think between 500-1000$ you can get exactly what you’re looking for new. Under that used.

Goodluck on your journey and let us know what you choose.

B
 
Not sure how "long range" one can git with a 22 r/f?

I'd step up on the first one so when you get to the .308win neck of the game you could
swap it over there.

Then pick up a mediohhkerr one for the 22.

JMHO

Old Redfields can offer up some pretty fine glass if you can find a 5 Star.
Weaver Classics are no slouch either.
 
For a 457 I'd suggest getting a 'canted' rail, like 20 or 30*, to allow you to 'reach out' with a 'low-cost' scope. I agree the Athlons are a good value for the price range and FFP is best for going over 50-yds. I prefer MOA over MIL just to avoid math problems, you should consider your math skills and research each. My 457 V-MTR has an Athlon Argos BTR G-2 8-34x56 FFP with a 30* rail and Burris Sig XTR ring set for more distance options. The rings cost ca $175 but can add up to 40* on top of the rail (if I ever 'need' that ).
 
I think you should be on youtube for a while longer and figuring out what you want out of your glass.

Check out videos by Ryan Cleckner. Has some great video on setting up scopes, understanding reticles and such.

$500 will get you on the bottom end of anything of value for distance shooting with the 22lr. Yea I get it you are new at this, but in no time you can be shooting out further than 50m and will want the better glass. It hurts more when you buy a scope and shoot it a few time only to realize you need to upgrade right away.

You want to find something with a good amount of adjustability, so you can dial the scope when going distance, not just hold over. You want to add a cant to your system, with either a rail, or rings or a combination of. You do this so you can get to the bottom end of your scope adjustability, so when you dial out you have the most room. Dialing out to 300m requires a lot of room of adjustability. The burris XTR signature rings give you the ability to add cant in the rings.

I shoot my set up out past 300m and have a combination of 60 moa cant with rings and base. It is a blast shooting out to 500m with a 22lr round.
 
Thank you all for your valuable information and suggestions! I truly appreciate it.

Reading through your replies I learned that:
1. I need to stretch the budget to 750 or 1000, to get a decent enough scope, usable on my cz and my next rifle. That's fine as I'm looking for the best bang for my buck, not just a cheap glass.
2. To cover longer distances, I will need rings/rails that are either at or adjustable to at least 20MOA. This is (I'm guessing) due to the high bullet drop of 22.
3. FFP is king!
4. 5-25 is the power I need to cover all grounds.
5. Mil or MOA is fine, but don't mix and match. (I'm good at math don't worry :) )

Am I missing anything?

The suggested scopes were (in no particular order):
Athlon Argos BTR G-2 8-34x56 FFP
Athlon BTR Gen 2s
Athlon Midas tac
Bushnell Elites (maybe 4200)
Vortex strike eagle
Arken EP5 5-25x56
Bausch+Lomb 3200 or 4200 series

Is there anything else you may want to suggest? And is there any scope on this list that you think doesn't belong here?

I'm going to look for a good deal (sale, used, etc.) on any of them otherwise.

PS: Good news! I bought my CZ 457 Varmint today!
 
For the scope base / mount, you mentioned 20MOA. The rule of thumb is that you find out the elevation turret adjustment range of your scope, divide it by 2, and that is the ideal angle on the base / mount.
So on the 32 mrad elevation adjustment scopes, that works out to a 60 MOA base / mount.
 
kamlooky said:
Yew missed the most importint one………Leupold.

Yump’in Jiminneezs.
Click to expand...

I was gonna say! Why no one even mentioned Leupold haha
When I first googled good scopes for best scopes for 22lr, leupold was always on top. Which model or series do you recommend?
I've heard good things about the vx3 hd.

Btw thanks a lot for your help. I couldn't have decided on my rifle, had you and other great members of CGN not helped me my original post about my first gun.
 
adamg said:
For the scope base / mount, you mentioned 20MOA. The rule of thumb is that you find out the elevation turret adjustment range of your scope, divide it by 2, and that is the ideal angle on the base / mount.
So on the 32 mrad elevation adjustment scopes, that works out to a 60 MOA base / mount.
Click to expand...

I did not know that! Thank you.

Just so that I understand, the way that was calculated was:

32 * 3.4377 (to convert it to MOA) / 2 ≈ 55 ≈ 60 MOA right?
 
I'm running a 452 Lux and I went a completely different direction. While scopes with rails gimmicks and gadgets are great fun to f*** with, I guarantee no matter what 1st scope you buy, you will shortly want something else.

A 3 x 9 will work fine out to 100 yards; put a 20 degree rail on your rifle, and you are compensating on near targets. Big scopes are heavy, and require higher mounts. Higher mounts means you will likely have to add a cheek riser of some sort. More bulk and more weight. If you have iron sights, you wither need to remove the rear one, or mount your scope even higher.

After running all kinds of scopes over the last 50 years I bought a SunOptics 3 X 9 "Shorty-40", mounted using short mounts; and for perfect eye relief, it sits just behind the original tangent sight on my 452. Mil dot reticle allows me to reach out to 100 yards easily without the addition of an even higher rail. It has Parallax adjustment. Worst feature is the weak, almost unpreceptable clicks when adjusting the scope; however, not a big deal, and it holds zero.
CS31-3940MD_700x.JPG


I am running a much more expensive Riton on my 6.5 x 55 Zastava which I use for Varmint hunting, but it would be too big and heavy for a .22 that I use for plinking and target shooting. I am very happy with this scope for my purposes, and if I buy another scope, I would certainly look at them first. Lifetime warranty as well, but I don't know of anyone needing to use it.
RIT100-02.jpg
 
sk8snwmx said:
Leupold doesn't even make a scope with the features he is looking for unless he triples/quadruples his price point...
Click to expand...

Heez look'in fur suggestions.
I supplied.

Never know iff'in oar when one might strike'er rich.

Add something yewseful to this thread..................K..............?
 
Meroh said:
I'm running a 452 Lux and I went a completely different direction. While scopes with rails gimmicks and gadgets are great fun to f*** with, I guarantee no matter what 1st scope you buy, you will shortly want something else.

A 3 x 9 will work fine out to 100 yards; put a 20 degree rail on your rifle, and you are compensating on near targets. Big scopes are heavy, and require higher mounts. Higher mounts means you will likely have to add a cheek riser of some sort. More bulk and more weight. If you have iron sights, you wither need to remove the rear one, or mount your scope even higher.

After running all kinds of scopes over the last 50 years I bought a SunOptics 3 X 9 "Shorty-40", mounted using short mounts; and for perfect eye relief, it sits just behind the original tangent sight on my 452. Mil dot reticle allows me to reach out to 100 yards easily without the addition of an even higher rail. It has Parallax adjustment. Worst feature is the weak, almost unpreceptable clicks when adjusting the scope; however, not a big deal, and it holds zero.
CS31-3940MD_700x.JPG


I am running a much more expensive Riton on my 6.5 x 55 Zastava which I use for Varmint hunting, but it would be too big and heavy for a .22 that I use for plinking and target shooting. I am very happy with this scope for my purposes, and if I buy another scope, I would certainly look at them first. Lifetime warranty as well, but I don't know of anyone needing to use it.
RIT100-02.jpg
Click to expand...

Thank you, I added your suggestions to my list. I do agree with your point about big scopes. I'm going to stick with smaller scopes.
 
I have some 52mm bell scopes that I have never needed to use rings taller than 1", and when I had 56mm ones they were in the 1 1/4" tall max, so you can still mount the scope low and not have to worry about cheek risers. I want to say the tallest I have ever had to mount any of my scopes was 2" center of scope to center of bore. You will want this number to input into "dope" calculation charts, or if you use a unit with it included in it.

When using a target rifle, you plan to have it heavy, so a heavier scope is a benefit to helping reduce the recoil effect and help hold your sight picture in the scope, so you can see your shot impacts, so you can make adjustments on the fly. You will see this to a limited effect with 22, and more so when you get to the larger calibers. Yes, even a 22lr has some recoil, and you see that effect with target rifles, and higher zoom scopes on them.

Remember aim small, miss small. I use my 4-25 target scope on the 22lr usually at max power, even at 50m. Most cheaper scopes you will not have the luxury of using max power as they get fuzzy at the top range of magnification.
 
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