Why a rimfire scope ????

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T.B.G.

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I'm in the process of buying a higher end .22 rimfire bolt rifle. It has been suggested to me by friends to buy a good quality "RIMFIRE" scope such as the Leupold VXII 3x9-33mm...My question is is it necessary to buy a rimfire scope or a good quality rifle scope 3x9 or 4x12 40mm.. Most of my shooting is between 10 yds to 100 yds and perhaps a little further if I'm feeling like I'm in the zone.........OPINIONS PLEASE....:rockOn:
 
I believe most if not all rimfire scopes will be set for 50 yards where as a normal rifle scope will be set for 100 yards. But if you get a rifle scope with adjustable objective then most will focus right down to 10 yards or so anyway.
 
I've been it told it's due to the difference in paralax between rimfire and centrefire scopes. Without being too sure of what paralax is (sounds like it makes you poop), all of our rimfires have standard rifle scopes on them and we have no issues.
 
A rimfire scope will have less paralax error (a perspective error induced by changes in eye position behind the scope) and be sharper in focus at the close distances often shot with rimfire. That said, if you are happy with a centrefire scope at the distances you will be shooting, then go for it. For indoor shooting at say 15 or 20 yards, a centrefire scope is just too blury IMO. Best of both worlds is a parallax adjustable scope, just make sure it goes down to as close as you intend to shoot. I do find the parallax adjustables have a slight drawback in that they do require focus changes, and the fixed parallax seem to be a one size fits all solution and less work if you shoot one gopher at 15 yards and another at 100.
 
As the other posters mentioned, shooting at closer ranges with a rimfire scope is easier on the eyes due to the parallax being set for 50 yards versus 150 yards for a standard centerfire scope. If you have a scope with adjustable objective it is very handy for rimfire shooting. Also, rimfire scopes like the Leupold ones have extremely fine cross-hairs with target dots. This is handy at longer ranges for smaller targets like gophers, it sucks to have a thick cross-hair obscure the gopher completely at longer ranges.
 
For higher magnification target scopes (say > 10X) it is highly desirable, for rimfire and centrefire alike, to have an adjustable objective, so that parallax can be dialled out.

Oftentimes scopes with adjustable objectives that are intended for centrefire rifles, will not allow adjustment of parallax closer than 50-ish yards. You want a scope that will adjust down to 20 yards, and possibly even a bit closer. Presumably scopes labelled "Rimfire" would include this capability.

For scopes without parallax adjustment, they are set at the factory to be parallax-free at one distance. "Centrefire" scopes are usually set up to be parallax-free at 200 yards, "shotgun" scopes to be parallax-free at 100 yards, and "rimfire" scopes at a closer distance (not sure if 20 or 50 yards is typical).

You certainly can use a "centrefire" scope on a rimfire rifle and vice-versa. These labels are usually used to denote that the particular features of a scope are suitable/applicable/desirable for XX-style of shooting.
 
I've got a Luepold FX-II 6x36 scope on my .22 Ruger 77/22. Parallax on such scopes is generally set for somewhere in the 100 to 200 yd range. This is definitely a bit of a problem at 25 to 50 yd target shooting, just barely fuzzy enough to be distracting.

Rimfire scopes are preset for 50 yd parallax.

Doing it over again, I'd take a real hard look at the Burris Timberline variable 4.5x14x32 with adjustable objective. These are pretty reasonably priced, super compact, certainly good enough quality for a .22, and very flexible for a variety of shooting from 25 yds out to wherever you want to push this caliber.

http://www.burrisoptics.com/timberline1.html#45x14x

timber4_04.jpg


That said, I picked up a Nikon Prostaff 4x Rimfire scope off of Ebay for my son-in-law's .22. Very impressed with quality for the dollar.
 
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