Point that high end 4x scope at a gopher hunkered down in the grass 200 yards out and tell us how that works out for you.
Gophers are vermin and as such deserve to be shot en mass.
Yes I shoot gophers at 200 yds with my rimfire rifle. With some practice it can be done on a fairly regular basis. At longer ranges you are either likely to connect or miss completely. Even shooting gophers at close ranges does not guarantee an instant kill.
First off, the OP is asking whether to scope or not as he is used to iron sights. Assuming that he'll need to take out gophers at 200 yards ropes him into gear that likely isn't optimal for everything.
Secondly, gophers are native North American mammals with as much right to occupy the plains as buffalo, the health of your cattle notwithstanding. They deserve a clean shot and sufficient killing power as much as any other sentient life form.
I've got a 4x12 AO B&L and have taken them on occasion at about 150 yards (with CCI Stingers IIRC), when the wind was low and I had a good sight picture. But again, the gear I used for gophers was more specialized than a general purpose .22, and you wouldn't see me hiking many cut lines with it. The 2-7x RF is much better all-round. My .308 wears a 4x compact that fits the rifle perfectly. 28/4= a 7mm exit pupil which is excellent for low light, especially coupled with the resolving power of better glass. I don't plan on taking deer past 300 yards anyway, and most deer on the continent are taken within 150 yards.
A fun all-purpose .22 with more than sufficient accuracy out to 100 yards (IMO the responsible lethal limit of the cartridge on things bigger than gophers) is well served by a compact 4x or 1-5x or 2-7x lightweight, high-quality scope mounted low to the bore axis. Lower powers provide field of view and brightness in thick bush and dim weather. Light weight and compact form factors preserve the handling characteristics of the rifle better. Simpler internal mechanicals which eschew AO or even variable powers, coupled with better glass and coatings make for a much better experience overall with the rifle. From photography, I know that zooms require more lenses and let less light through at the same given focal length as a prime lens, often at the cost of sharpness. Often, a zoom is a compromise where a fixed power is superior overall.
http://www.chuckhawks.com/under-scoped.htm
EDIT: Incidentally, that Leupold 2.5x on the 10/22 in the picture could me mounted a fair bit lower with a Weaver T01 mount and a set of low Burris Z-rings. Would be almost like iron sights and 2.5x.
Also, I've noticed that the fine notch and bead sights on rimfires made in the first half of the 20th century often totally outclass the factory iron sights of today.
