LPVO for 22

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mineguy

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I am considering a LPVO for use on a 22 for gopher shooting. Curious if anyone else has been using them. Was hunting gophers back in Saskatchewan last spring after a hiatus of many years and kept my Vortex 5-25 on my 22. Found it was more magnification that I needed and was on 5X all the time except for the occasional long shot that likely should not have been taken anyways.
So have been toying with the idea of a lightweight LPVO with a reticle that is not set up for 5.56. There are a few out there but hard to find. Most LPVO's seem to have the parallax set at 100 yds or greater and fixed.
Thinking 1-6 power although now there are 1-8 and 1-10 but those are getting as heavy as a regular scope so not seeing the advantage.
The range of LPVO's I have looked at include:
Athlon Midas BTR G2 1-6x24 with the ATRS 16 reticle. That seems to me as useful for holdovers/unders depending on the shot distance 18 oz.
Higher end is the Zeiss V6 1-6x24 with the ZMOA reticle #95. Again with the hold overs and around 18 oz.
Some would say just get a 3-9 like I used to have as a kid and likely are not wrong. Thought I would toss this out for discussion to see what others think or have done.
 
try Minox allrounder 2-10, seems the magnifications and size suit your needs well. It's just a little pricy though.

I have a leupold 1-4 on henry, and I have hard time to see the target beyong 50 yards. So I would go at least 6X or 8X
 
I have a couple Leupold rimfire 2-7x32 Freedom scopes on gophers guns, love them, although they have close to doubled in price the last 5 years. Very light and clear, nice reticle, perfect for gophers. Not ideal for paper punching at 100 yards, but its fine for popping hole diggers. I've heard the gophers near Killdeer are big, happy shooting!
 
Grain said:
I have a couple Leupold rimfire 2-7x32 Freedom scopes on gophers guns, love them, although they have close to doubled in price the last 5 years. Very light and clear, nice reticle, perfect for gophers. Not ideal for paper punching at 100 yards, but its fine for popping hole diggers. I've heard the gophers near Killdeer are big, happy shooting!
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LOL Yes they are. Was good getting back that way last year. Big and fat in the Bengough, Coronach and Willow Bunch area as well.
 
I have a Vortex 1-8 Strike Eagle on my 10/22. It would be great for gophers 50 yards and in. I really like the reticle out to 100 yards. Mine is sighted in for 25 yards and I use the third hash mark down for 100 yards with standard velocity ammo.
 
mineguy said:
Any issues with the focus in so close? Image is good?
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At 25 yards with 8x if you look hard its a touch out of focus but not noticable unless you really look for it. If you turn it down to 6x or less it's sharp. I sighted my rifle at 25 yard using 8x and it was fine. But I don't think I'd ever use 8x that close. At 50 yards 8x is sharp.

There is very little parallax error at 50 yards and in. There is some but not enough to make a difference on a 10/22.
 
I'm an Ontario-based gopher-shooting fan too, and take every opportunity I can to go west and take a poke at them. I struggle with the scope question too. After maybe 4-5 dedicated gopher trips over the last decade, I think I'm further from understanding what the "perfect" scope might be, not closer. Same with the gun.

I HAD thought a heavy varmint barrel with a powerful scope would be the best choice, I pictured myself shooting prone 99% of the time taking long shots. That does happen every day out shooting, but with the # of improvised-position shots and the # of times you're in/out of the truck, I think a varmint-weight barrel is actually a poor choice. Bummer, as my gopher gun lives out west now and there is little incentive to have two out there...or travel by air with one and the expense that brings with it.

Gun is a CZ452 varmint in 22LR, scope is a Sightron S1 4-12 AO HHR.

While it doesn't answer the LPVO question, I think a 3-9X AO (or SF) scope with a 1" tube might be the best all-around option, provided it's a model that can "focus" down to about 10-15 yards. One of the Leupold EFR (AO) models like this might be hard to beat; https://www.leupold.com/vx-freedom-3-9x33-efr-airgun-fine-duplex-riflescope On my spring 2022 trip (more gophers than I've ever seen) I spend almost a whole day with my S1 @6X before realizing, didn't feel like it was lacking...so I'm still wondering. Obviously, you get what you pay for when it comes to scopes but experience tells me that if I'm trying to reach distance-wise with a lower-magnification optic, the lower the power...the higher the quality of glass it needs to be. Might be a comment on my age/eyes too.

I've since set-up a new rifle in what I imagine to be the "ideal gopher" gun, whether or not it ends-up out west is another question. It's wearing a 3-9X AO.
 
Thanks 22 LR Guy.
Sort of my take on it as well. Last year I used my CZ 455 Canadian in a KRG chassis with the 5-25 vortex. That had the regular pencil barrel and shot well. It now spots an IBI barrel which is a touch heavier. We were driving around the fields in a pickup truck and popping them. Never shot prone at all. High power not needed at all. One spot we pulled out our camping chairs and shooting sticks with a bag of jerky. Sat there for a couple hours in the patch.
We got 400 over 2 days and my friends wife had 1500 so far that year by the time I arrived on the scene. Hundreds more left. Hawks and vultures would hang around for the bodies. Did not bother with the tails for the bounty.
To me the glass and the reticle are becoming the most important. The glass for clarity as I am getting older eyes also. That said a few days of scanning for gophers instead of looking at a computer screen did me well.
The reticle would just help on the holdovers. Did not find myself dialing the scope in. So this is where I was wondering about the lower power, lighter weight scopes but with a good reticle. Sight in for 50 yards and adjust the hold. Used to do that years ago and obviously have spent too much time on the bench lately.
Leaning towards the 3-9 or 2-7 also and something with good contrast for those cloudy days.
I am unfortunately Ontario based now also and thought about leaving my gopher gun with my rancher friends plus ship some bricks of ammo. It did not cost me to bring them with me on the plane due to status from flying too much. The hassle was the paper work in Toronto because nobody was familiar with the procedure. In Saskatchewan on the way home no hassle at all as the people there see hunters all the time.
Just purchased a T1X and may set that up as the leave in Saskatchewan gopher gun. I have a few scopes kicking about to put on it before hunting season but was looking at the options.
The problem with starting this thread is it has me longing for shooting some gophers now especially as I see green grass on my lawn.

Some photos. Sat in our chairs by the old house and it was loaded with gophers around it.
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@mineguy nice pictures of nice property.
Then why are you selling your leica amplus 3-18? I thought it is a good candidate for 22lr, I still have it on my Annie 1712 and love it. Size/weight/quality is just perfect on that rifle.
 
JQIAN said:
@mineguy nice pictures of nice property.
Then why are you selling your leica amplus 3-18? I thought it is a good candidate for 22lr, I still have it on my Annie 1712 and love it. Size/weight/quality is just perfect on that rifle.
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Looking for a lighter weight option at the moment but it likely will end up there in the short term until it sells because the T1X arrives this week. It is a lovely scope but surplus and was replaced by a Zeiss V4 on my 222. While the field of view on the V4 is slightly less I find the Zeiss to be a bit brighter for my eyes. Weight is about the same.
With an LPVO it would be a lighter less costly scope. For the price of the Leica I could get 2 of the Vortex Strike Eagles or Athlon's and would work fine for gophers or 1 and a bunch of ammo. Currently have a Z3 4-12 with BRH reticle on my 308 which is an even lighter weight option and would be bright as well. If I go that route then may put the Leica on the 308. Have a VX6HD on my other hunting rifle and have been impressed, very impressed. But it also cost twice that of the Z3 so am torn a bit. The Z3 with the BRH is an awesome deal in my opinion for a hunting scope.
 
mineguy said:
Looking for a lighter weight option at the moment but it likely will end up there in the short term until it sells because the T1X arrives this week. It is a lovely scope but surplus and was replaced by a Zeiss V4 on my 222. While the field of view on the V4 is slightly less I find the Zeiss to be a bit brighter for my eyes. Weight is about the same.
With an LPVO it would be a lighter less costly scope. For the price of the Leica I could get 2 of the Vortex Strike Eagles or Athlon's and would work fine for gophers or 1 and a bunch of ammo. Currently have a Z3 4-12 with BRH reticle on my 308 which is an even lighter weight option and would be bright as well. If I go that route then may put the Leica on the 308. Have a VX6HD on my other hunting rifle and have been impressed, very impressed. But it also cost twice that of the Z3 so am torn a bit. The Z3 with the BRH is an awesome deal in my opinion for a hunting scope.
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I hear you. I used to have same dilemma when purchasing scopes for 22lr rifles. I ended up having couple of beasts (such as Leica PRS and Minox ZP5, Vortex razor gen 3….etc), then I started to scale back to less such as nightforce nx8. Then I started to shuffle the scopes around different calibre and tell myself big bore needs big scope to match it or expensive rifles need conspicuously valued scopes to compliment them.
Now I’m at a “I don’t care anymore” stage. Just leave those scopes on there for a while and wait and see kind of attitude.
Partly because I have to stop spending on scopes now to mentally/financially prepare for a camera purchase :)
 
I don't hunt or shoot pests, but I regularly use a March 1-8x and also a Nightforce 1-4x LPVO on rimfires. They're overkill I guess but I like having the reliable turret adjustments and don't need the extra magnification (everything is usually set at 4x or 5x). Guns have come and gone but the nice scopes aren't going anywhere. The NF has 75 yard fixed parallax but is now discontinued. The March is adjustable down to 10 yards.
 
I run a Gen 2 Razor 1-6 LPVO on my custom 10/22. Its specific use is gopher pastures in Saskatchewan. I go through a few thousand rounds a year with it. Absolutely love the LPVO for that purpose. You can zoom it right down for those gophers at 5 yards and zoom it in for those one that sit out there at 100. Ideally a 1-8 would be perfect.
 
Look no further than the Vortex Viper 1-6 second gen.
No horshoe recticle...just a red dot (should you decide to use illumination).

No BDC holdovers calibrated for specific load...just bunch of hash marks corresponding to pre-determined MOA (you can also get the MRAD version).

The eye box is very forgiving and the glass is excellent...as they say, it is 90% of the Razor for 50% of the price.

The only thing you will need to get is an aftermarket throw lever.
 
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