Hey I just started shooting last year and gopher hunting this year. I got a 10/22 and because of the stock on mine it needs medium rings. I found myself missing every once in a while because it shoots higher or lower at different ranges due to the difference in height between the scope and the barrel. I started to get better and finding the ranges but is there any way to minimize how much the point of impact changes at different ranges? Is there a certain zero range that would help? Any response is appreciated. Sorry if it is a dumb question.
Newbie Needs advice!
- Thread starter K.s.47
- Start date
Best to get the lowest rings that you can. There is nothing else you can really do to minimize the POI change at different distances.
Just practice, pick your zero setting (what distance you will shoot most, a lot of people pic 25 yards or 50) and then just practice hold over shooting for other distances.
Just practice, pick your zero setting (what distance you will shoot most, a lot of people pic 25 yards or 50) and then just practice hold over shooting for other distances.
thenerdboy
Regular
- Location
- NB, Canada
You might find a sweet spot from 18 to 25 yards depending on ammo that is back on target at 50 yards and is never more than 1.5" off POA from 0 to around 70 yards. You can work this out easily with a ballostic calculator and would do you well for hunting scenarios.
You may want to look into a Hawke scope with side winder wheel. A friend of mine shoots airgun field target with a high pressure rifle and he is amazing with a scope. He will take a shot at 25 yrds then click up 20 clicks and be bang on at 75 yrds then click back down a dozen and be spot on at 50 yrds he has it figured out to 120 yards. Its a big wheel that attaches to the side of the scope and allows you to mark your ranges. Once you figure out where to set it shots are just deadly.
If you don't want to spend the money on a sidewinder they also make some very nice lower priced scopes with mill dot marks on them which are a lot finer then you will find on most Center fire scopes. I had a banner 6-18 and the mill dots were so far apart they were useless under 100 yrds. when I was shopping for one I was looking at the Hawke vantage.
Also another problem you may have is parallax error. Set your scope on a bench. Take your head off the stock look at something at 30 yrds at max magnification, move your head do the crosshairs move?
For rimfire I use a Bushnell banner 4-12 with an adjustable objective to correct parallax. I really only shoot my rifle on the 50 yrd range so I don't really need to do a lot of clicking but with the adjustable objective my scope is clear at 12x from 5-100 yards with no error.
If you don't want to spend the money on a sidewinder they also make some very nice lower priced scopes with mill dot marks on them which are a lot finer then you will find on most Center fire scopes. I had a banner 6-18 and the mill dots were so far apart they were useless under 100 yrds. when I was shopping for one I was looking at the Hawke vantage.
Also another problem you may have is parallax error. Set your scope on a bench. Take your head off the stock look at something at 30 yrds at max magnification, move your head do the crosshairs move?
For rimfire I use a Bushnell banner 4-12 with an adjustable objective to correct parallax. I really only shoot my rifle on the 50 yrd range so I don't really need to do a lot of clicking but with the adjustable objective my scope is clear at 12x from 5-100 yards with no error.
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^this. Get that scope as low as you can, figure out what ammo the gun (and gophers
) like best, then practice...practice...practice... My gopher rifle wears a Sightron S1 scope ($300-ish) 4-12 AO with their "HHR" reticle. Basically, a duplex reticle with hash marks that allow you to guesstimate quick hold-overs. I zeroed my rifle @ 50 yards, then tested where the POI (point of impact) was @ 75 and @ 100....and how that jived with the position of these hash marks. Spot on, little high/little low etc. A couple of range trips practicing just that prepped me for a solid week of gophering and well...didn't work out so well for the gophers. 
At the sort of distances where you need a scope most of the elevation misses will be due to bullet drop. Using a scope that has a reticle with hack lines on the vertical can really help provided you shoot it in practice enough to know which hack line below the center pip relates to which distance.
Another option if you're a fair weather ground hog hunter is to look into a scope that has a larger dial style turret which allows for rapid and easy elevation changes. Some rimfire specific scopes even come with different knobs with calibrations for specific weight rimfire bullets. But either way the easy to see numbers and a little cheater table of settings vs distances for the ammo you are using taped to the shoulder stock makes adjusting elevation for distances easy and rapid to do. No one scope setting will do it all for you.
Another option if you're a fair weather ground hog hunter is to look into a scope that has a larger dial style turret which allows for rapid and easy elevation changes. Some rimfire specific scopes even come with different knobs with calibrations for specific weight rimfire bullets. But either way the easy to see numbers and a little cheater table of settings vs distances for the ammo you are using taped to the shoulder stock makes adjusting elevation for distances easy and rapid to do. No one scope setting will do it all for you.
The bullet drop for .22 LR "Is what it is". As mentioned, BDC type reticles are about the only way to get to know your hold offs for distance. The other option to consider is a .17 HMR, since they are much, much flatter shooting.
Haha. I have mine sighted in at 20 yards right now and I'm needed to aim a few inches low most of the time. I'll look for a scope with hashs on it for cheap and push my zero distance back a bit. I'll play around with it one day when I get a day off and let you know what worked best for me. Thanks for the help.
