What scopes are you running on yours? I threw an old Nikko on mine as I had it lying around, but think I should probably invest in a new scope for it. Perhaps a cheaper Vortex or Leupold Rimfire or AO.
A new Nikon 3x9 or 4x12 even 4x16 , might be cheap now they stopped making them. At the bottom end around $300 or so , a vortex or Burris. Loopys are good but I’m told the entry level stuff is shite. Nikko Stirling make decent stuff for the money. Bushnell also make good entry level scopes. I think it comes down to brand preference and what features or reticle you want. Narrow down what features you want, what budget and what magnification and then see what falls in that bracket.
Mine has Nikon Prostaff 3-9 or 3-12, I don’t recall, same reason, that’s what I had spare. First scope I ever bought and one of two I bought that’s not Vortex or Leupold (looks guilty, I may have a few). I run those two pretty much exclusively, unless something is thrown in with a rifle.
Vortex and Leupold warranty are much of a muchness these days. Sure you won’t get it replaced if you set it on fire (maybe you will?), but you know, don’t set it on fire. Quality, I would say at lower magnifications like 3-12, both are similar, clear, solid. If I had to pick one though, I would say Leupold is that tiny little bit crisper.
Few years ago, Leupold was a lot more expensive. And now, top range Vortex is still a lot cheaper, like 6-15 upwards. However, at the lower range they are at a similar price point. I’d go with Leupold Rimfire VX-Freedom series. Have one, love it, cheaper than Vortex centrefire scopes. There’s also Vortex Copperhead scope (4-12). I was looking at it for 303-25 and it’s very cheap. so cheap that it made me do a bit of reading (without pictures!). Like big boy reading! I hate that. Most reviews pretty much say the same thing, when you crank it up to 12 it gets fuzzy and made in China. Old Vortex were made in Phillipines, so perhaps factory shift and lower quality equipment or bad QA (or both). Anyway, Coperhead is cheap, probably for a reason, I’d stay away from it.
There’s one on ozgunsales.com (http://www.ozgunsales.com/listing/77187/as_new_leupold_vx_i_2_7x33mm_duplex_reticle.html) - but it’s not calling out explicitly that it’s rimfire, I suspect it may have been used on centrefire and perhaps doesn’t hold zero anymore. Or I could be completely wrong and it’s centrefire, but smells wrong. Brand new from Cleavers are about $100 more ($320-$345) + shipping. And few other centrefire Leupolds are at similar point, so maybe worth getting centrefire one.
Another one you could look at, if you like lower power magnification is: VX-Freedom 1.5-4x20. Not very good in low light, but solid AF, have it on my 45-70.
Finally, Bushnell (the “second” one I have). Bushnell Rimfire 3-9x40 - solid, good, blah, blah, blah, cheap. But when you look through it, you can see the guts of it and machining marks, if you look up or down… Nothing about it feels cheap, to be perfectly honest. Other than being able to see machining marks with peripheral vision, so to speak. Also, weighs a tone. Like a brick. Really, noticeably heavy.
My 2c.
Disagree.
I will bow to first hand experience. I’ve heard a few complaints from different people and sources.
The reality is, in decent daylight at .22 distances, scopes are much of a muchness. I’ve used all sorts of scopes on all sorts of .22’s. Assuming the rifle is zeroed, I can’t say they have any noticeable effect on group sizes.
Completely agree with much of a muchness at 22 range and daylight. Main callouts were weight and quality, rather than glass itself.
I thought Air rifle and rimfire scopes were built just as strong or stronger than their Centerfire versions. Air rifles really knock scopes around.
The main difference between rimfire and centerfire scopes being the paralax setting.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
That was my understanding too.
In fact I was advised to use air rifle scopes for shotgun slug shooting as they are ment to be better at handling heavy recoil.
Certainly Air rifle scopes are supposed to be built to handle a bit of recoil. But rimfire is probably the opposite not much happening in the way of recoil there.
I have a scope from way back on mine again something I had in a draw an old Simmons but they are pretty clear and was quite expensive for the time, at least against my income.
NFI here
Parallax adjustment is not a focus adjustment. In the low end scopes it may be more a focus adjustment but strictly speaking it is not.
There are a lot of very experienced shooters that don’t understand parallax. not an easy topic esp for me to cover.
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